Finemolds and Hasegawa 1/72 F-4E Phantom II - the Long Nose saga - Completed!

[Spookytooth]

Looks great Giorgio, really great.

With the remove before flight tags added now, she looks ready.

 

You have rain, I have wind LOL.

 

Stay safe.

 

Simon.

[giemme]

On 03/12/2022 at 16:50, Terry1954 said:

 

I am honoured Giorgio, and what an absolutely superb looking sidewinder!

 

Everything about this build is a quality "Giorgio build" down to the tiniest details. Very much looking forward to seeing the Greek bird coming back on line. Both very inspirational builds.

Way too kind, Terry - thanks!   Wait no longer, HAF Phantom is back on track! See below

On 03/12/2022 at 18:06, Biggles87 said:

Wot he said.  

Cheers Bill, thanks!

 

On 03/12/2022 at 20:13, Spookytooth said:

Looks great Giorgio, really great.

With the remove before flight tags added now, she looks ready.

Glad you like it, Simon!

 

Still no RFI for the Turkish bird guys, sorry - weather isn't helping as of late

 

Works have resumed on the Hellenic F-4, though, so let's see: the tail chute door has an additional antenna on this airframe, so I set out to scratch build it.

A piece of styrene rod, rounded at one end, to be inserted in an appropriate hole I drilled in the kit piece

 

Glued in with TeT Quick Setting

 

and once dry, the back end was trimmed flush to the door internal face

 

Glued in place - this time I went for a closed door, for a change  

 

 

My good friend Silvano @phantom61 had kindly donated me some PE leftovers for the canopies; they are for the HASEGAWA kit, but most of them fit the FM kit too. I used clerar UV resin to glue them to the clear parts, here they are: fixed canopy frame

 

 

Front canopy (not a perfect fit, but good enough)

 

Rear canopy

 

On this airframe, the rear canopy sports two external rear view mirrors; they are not included in the kit, but luckily there are spare ones in the HASEGAWA boxing, so when the time comes I'll retrieve those.

Also, there were no PE parts for the canopy latches, so I'll have to come up with some scratch built replacement for those. Meanwhile, I dipped all the clear parts in a Aqua Gloss bath. 

 

I used the clear UV resin also to reproduce the glass window for the pressure gauge, here

 

Time to address the outer wings; you may remember I did cast some resin replacements, just like I did on the HASE kit

 

They needed a few tweaks though, and a bit of repair (see the inside corner on the trailing edge here)

 

Just like on the HASE kit, the underwing hinge needed to be reshaped, to match the FM kit one

 

You might see it better from here, where I marked with a black pencil the correct span

 

Anyway, before that I resorted once more to clear UV resin to fix that trailing edge corner, and the leading edge pointy bit on the starboard wing

 

 

Great adhesion to the cast resin, BTW. Starboard outer wing had no mounting tab (poor molding ), so I had to repalce it with something else, in the form of two segments of steel rod (from a paper clip), glued in place with CA

 

And here's where we are right now with the outer wings: bottom hinges reshaped (although they will become discernible only when some paint goes on)

 

Top side: the strakes were removed and on port one I  carved the slot for the repositioning, but after a good 15 minutes of fettling, I managed to ping off the scratch built replacement from my tweezers, never to be seen again   That caused an immediate mojo loss...

 

Anyway, a quick dry fit:

 

 

That's it for this update, all comments welcome

 

Ciao

[hendie]

A fine looking bird Giorgio.  I love that tail shot, some lovely detail there

[billn53]

Good tip on using UV resin to fix those little flaws on the wing pieces. I use the stuff for lots of things, but you’ve taught me a new trick!

[Terry1954]

Beautiful work again Giorgio. I'm learning much for the day I start on my own F-4 stash. 👍

 

Being a tad forgetful, can you remind me of the origin of those superbly cast slatted outer wing sections? I just checked my Revell F-4F and perhaps they are same?

 

Terry.

 

[Fritag]

Lovely, skilful multi-media construction Giorgio. This UV resin stuff is obvs. quite useful 

[perdu]

Another vote for the utility-ability of UV resin, wonderful stuff and another vote for just how blimmin' wonderful Giorgio's approach to miniaturising Phantoms is.

 

Like others of the audience I keep casting an eye at the three Phantoms in my 'to-be-built' selection...

 

It's a worry.

 

 

 

No way can any Toom of mine begin to match Giorgio's magic, which will leave me exposed as a fraud.    

 

Doh!

[giemme]

11 hours ago, hendie said:

A fine looking bird Giorgio.  I love that tail shot, some lovely detail there

Thanks Alan  It also shows a detail that is no longer there, to wit the fin pitot: somehow I managed to knock it off and I couldn't find it anywhere   Replacing it isn't a big deal, but it was the beautiful FM aftermarket brass part, and that's quite annoying...

 

10 hours ago, billn53 said:

Good tip on using UV resin to fix those little flaws on the wing pieces. I use the stuff for lots of things, but you’ve taught me a new trick!

Glad if I can be of any help, Bill  

 

10 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

Beautiful work again Giorgio. I'm learning much for the day I start on my own F-4 stash. 👍

 

Being a tad forgetful, can you remind me of the origin of those superbly cast slatted outer wing sections? I just checked my Revell F-4F and perhaps they are same?

 

Terry.

 

Thanks Terry!  The outer wings are indeed copies of the Revell F-4F parts - I have to thank again Silvano @phantom61 for lending me the original parts so that I could use them as a buck for a casting mould.

 

3 hours ago, Fritag said:

Lovely, skilful multi-media construction Giorgio. This UV resin stuff is obvs. quite useful 

Thank you Steve, much appreciated!  

 

2 hours ago, perdu said:

Another vote for the utility-ability of UV resin, wonderful stuff and another vote for just how blimmin' wonderful Giorgio's approach to miniaturising Phantoms is.

 

Like others of the audience I keep casting an eye at the three Phantoms in my 'to-be-built' selection...

 

It's a worry.

 

 

 

No way can any Toom of mine begin to match Giorgio's magic, which will leave me exposed as a fraud.    

 

Doh!

Way too kind, Bill, but when it comes to modelling magic, you're second to none

 

Ciao

[Memphis]

Maybe my post is a bit late. But I want to show how the nozzle flaps (or leaf) work on the Phantom engine of the early versions. The flaps are the same length as later versions. The ring of the early version moves, so it seems to us that the flaps are short.

http://s.ekabu.ru/localStorage/post/44/31/94/f2/443194f2_resizedScaled_740to409.gif

 

[giemme]

18 minutes ago, Memphis said:

Maybe my post is a bit late. But I want to show how the nozzle flaps (or leaf) work on the Phantom engine of the early versions. The flaps are the same length as later versions. The ring of the early version moves, so it seems to us that the flaps are short.

http://s.ekabu.ru/localStorage/post/44/31/94/f2/443194f2_resizedScaled_740to409.gif

 

Nice video, thanks!  I'm not sure I understand why this is late, though...

 

Ciao

[Memphis]

On 4/5/2022 at 11:33 AM, giemme said:

Looks like I owe a public apology to Finemolds about the above subject of how they engineered the burner section of the back fuselage; as usual, my good friend @Gene K has been an invaluable help about that, pointing out to me that the burner area of the fuselage differs from models with short burners (such as F-4C and D, f.i.) and models with long burners (such as the F-4E). See for yourself:

Here's that question that I wanted to answer. These are different versions of J79. This is all. 

[Spookytooth]

Nice work there Giorgio.

The P.E. enhances the canopies quite well.

And nice work on the outboard wing sections too.

 

Stay safe.

 

Simon.

[giemme]

1 hour ago, Memphis said:

Here's that question that I wanted to answer. These are different versions of J79. This is all. 

Got it now, thanks!  

 

23 minutes ago, Spookytooth said:

Nice work there Giorgio.

The P.E. enhances the canopies quite well.

And nice work on the outboard wing sections too.

Cheers Simon, thank you!

 

Ciao

[phantom61]

5 hours ago, giemme said:

Thanks Alan  It also shows a detail that is no longer there, to wit the fin pitot: somehow I managed to knock it off and I couldn't find it anywhere   Replacing it isn't a big deal, but it was the beautiful FM aftermarket brass part, and that's quite annoying...

 

Glad if I can be of any help, Bill  

 

Thanks Terry!  The outer wings are indeed copies of the Revell F-4F parts - I have to thank again Silvano @phantom61 for lending me the original parts so that I could use them as a buck for a casting mould.

 

Thank you Steve, much appreciated!  

 

Way too kind, Bill, but when it comes to modelling magic, you're second to none

 

Ciao

 

My friend...

about the phantoms...
G... asks
Phantom61...  provides

🤣🤣🤣

 

 

Edited December 12, 2022 by phantom61

[keefr22]

Apologies Giorgio, for some reason I've missed your updates and have to say that the Turkish jet is just spectacular! Good updates on the Greek machine too, more lovely detail work!

 

Keith

[The Spadgent]

Lovely work on the final touches, the little chute door and tags are astounding 👏👏👏. Nice to see the second kit getting the love now. I wonder if those pinged off parts have arrived at @perdu’s Modelling bench via that worm hole we all know so well. 🤔

 

onwards dear boy. 
 

Johnny

[giemme]

21 hours ago, phantom61 said:

 

My friend...

about the phantoms...
G... asks
Phantom61...  provides

🤣🤣🤣

 

 

Yeah, we are the Magic Duo of Modelling    

 

15 hours ago, keefr22 said:

Apologies Giorgio, for some reason I've missed your updates and have to say that the Turkish jet is just spectacular! Good updates on the Greek machine too, more lovely detail work!

 

Keith

No problem, Keith! Thanks for the praise!

 

6 hours ago, The Spadgent said:

Lovely work on the final touches, the little chute door and tags are astounding 👏👏👏. Nice to see the second kit getting the love now. I wonder if those pinged off parts have arrived at @perdu’s Modelling bench via that worm hole we all know so well. 🤔

Ah, that's where they're headed!     Thanks Johnny, glad you like it!

 

Ciao

[perdu]

3 hours ago, giemme said:

Ah, that's where they're headed!

 

 

Not here yet G.

 

Sorry

[VT Red Sox Fan]

Wow—the Turkish F-4 is incredible—I really am looking forward to seeing it by the impressive FM Phantom—I am sure the FM F-4 will be a masterpiece—cheers, Erwin

Edited December 13, 2022 by VT Red Sox Fan
Grammar

[corsaircorp]

Astounding Phantom Mr G!

Very inspiring as always !!

Congratulations !!

CC

[giemme]

On 14/12/2022 at 00:39, VT Red Sox Fan said:

Wow—the Turkish F-4 is incredible—I really am looking forward to seeing it by the impressive FM Phantom—I am sure the FM F-4 will be a masterpiece—cheers, Erwin

Cheers Erwin, thanks  

 

On 16/12/2022 at 10:52, corsaircorp said:

Astounding Phantom Mr G!

Very inspiring as always !!

Congratulations !!

CC

Glad you like it, Alain!

 

Happy New Year everybody! No progress to report, as during the holidays I was away for a few days in Barcelona with the family - had a great time, but no modelling whatsoever  

 

However, a week before Christmas I was able to take some RFI pics of the Hasegawa model, so here's the link to the RFI post:

 

 

Normal service to be resumed shortly - stay tuned

 

Ciao

[giemme]

Hi everybody, at last some progress to report on this thread   Now that the Hasegawa kit is out of the way, I can focus completely on the FM one (until I start my next project, that is.... ). So where were we?

 

Outer wings: I completed the modifications by scratch building new strakes (from 0.2mm styrene sheet) and positioning them correctly:

 

 

 

Now, when I say correctly, I don't mean they are 100% true to scale, but to my eye, they look better than the original positioning of the Revell parts, right on the inner edge of the outer wings.

 

Anyway, before gluing them in position, I decided it was time to fix the fin pitot (if you remember, I managed to snap off the brass aftermarket a while ago) and remove from their sprue all the hanging out bits (struts, U/C bay doors, wheels, pylons,...), in order to dry fit them before any paint.

 

At this point, a small modelling miracle happened: I looked into the small drawer where I keep the brass rods and found the snapped off brass pitot! (see it at the bottom of next pic)

 

So I glued it back in place with some CA (while also dry fitting the stabilators - perfect fit, BTW)

 

 

It needs refining, of course, but I'll leave it to cure properly before attempting anything.

 

Here's a shot of the stabilators, I hope you can see the lovely details in them

 

I then started some sub-assemblies on the main struts and wheels:

 

And here are their doors:

 

Again, beautiful details and proper thickness, these look so much better than the Hasegawa parts (no wonder, seeing the age difference between the two kits)

 

That's it for the moment, next I'll deal with the remaining doors, the front strut and wheels and the drop tanks; as for the latters, I'm not going to use the FM ones, because they are quite incorrect in terms of shape. I'll be using some spare Hasegawa tanks, but I'd love to swap their pylons with the FM offering. This of course would require quote a bit if surgery... will see.

 

In the meantime, all comments welcome.

Ciao

[hendie]

A small modeling miracle eh?  You do realize you've now used up all your modeling miracles for 2023 don't you?

 

Wot!  No paint?

 

 

 

[Fritag]

On 1/6/2023 at 3:38 PM, giemme said:

However, a week before Christmas I was able to take some RFI pics of the Hasegawa model, so here's the link to the RFI post:

 

Missed that.  Off there in a mo'.

 

10 hours ago, hendie said:

You do realize you've now used up all your modeling miracles for 2023 don't you?

 

My first thought too.  And by Mid-January.  The carpet monster will be insatiable for the rest of the year now G  

 

Lovely detailed work as ever, Giorgio.

 

[Spookytooth]

Well nice work there Giorgio, as ever.

 

As for miracles, I still looking for the tail wheel leg....

 

Stay safe.

 

Simon.