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

[Brandy]

Did you find anyone else's missing parts while you were in the modeller's black hole of time and space?

Lovely work once more, of course!

 

Ian

[giemme]

On 16/01/2023 at 00:43, hendie said:

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

Not quite, as it turns out, see below...   

 

On 16/01/2023 at 11:26, Fritag said:

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.

 

As above (and thanks for the praise   )

 

On 16/01/2023 at 14:23, Spookytooth said:

Well nice work there Giorgio, as ever.

 

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

 

Stay safe.

 

Simon.

Thanks Simon   And don't give up, you may as well find it!

 

On 16/01/2023 at 17:18, Brandy said:

Did you find anyone else's missing parts while you were in the modeller's black hole of time and space?

Lovely work once more, of course!

 

Ian

Sorry Ian, no, but as I mentioned above, I managed to loose another one and, incredibly, found it again on the floor!  (and thanks )

 

So, after removing most of the sticky out bits from their sprue and cleaning them, I did some dry fit of the main struts and bay doors, and I managed to loose one of the main struts activating arms. It just pinged off my tweezers (as they do), but I found it on the floor of my cave just after a couple of minutes. Second miracle in such a short time! Anyway, the recovered part is visible in this pic:

 

 

it's one of the two small arms at the bottom, right below the main strut.

 

I then assembled the pylons, with their missile launching rails

 

because this bird will sport a load of four AIM-9L (coming from the Finemolds weapons set), to wit these:

 

I love the fact that they are molded in one piece, so just a bit of cleaning and they are ready to go. Well, almost: I drilled a hole in their back end for realism sake:

 

Drop tanks: earlier in this thread I probably mentioned that I was going to use some spare Hasegawa ones, because shape-wise they are much closer to the originals. They only need to have the longitudinal join redone, but as shown with the Turkish bird, it's a relatively easy job. So here are the Hase tanks, glued and curing:

 

They are going to need some TLC, of course, but only once properly cured. 

 

Not much of an update, I reckon, but it's still something....

 

All comments welcome.
 

Ciao

 

[hendie]

Once again, no paint.

 

Just saying

 

 

 

[Memphis]

14 hours ago, giemme said:

Well, almost: I drilled a hole in their back end for realism sake:

IMHO, This didn't need. AIM-9M/L has a gag in the nozzle.

But AIM-9D/G/H didn't have this gag.

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OAjG-yXvwG8/WDhTg5CtVUI/AAAAAAAAItA/rOzOgn1krcoleFPubxlcU8a2Et3Bb6hFACLcB/s1600/c0a6a37f3962b861308ab4025e91716b.jpg

 

 

[giemme]

34 minutes ago, Memphis said:

IMHO, This didn't need. AIM-9M/L has a gag in the nozzle.

But AIM-9D/G/H didn't have this gag.

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OAjG-yXvwG8/WDhTg5CtVUI/AAAAAAAAItA/rOzOgn1krcoleFPubxlcU8a2Et3Bb6hFACLcB/s1600/c0a6a37f3962b861308ab4025e91716b.jpg

 

 

Ah, that's interesting, thank you! I went by these two pics of AIM9-Ls on display:

https://nara.getarchive.net/media/a-view-of-an-aim-9lm-sidewinder-missile-on-a-display-stand-73e262

 

https://c8.alamy.com/zoomsfr/9/b9f1a4bcda0249a4b6358fffd41f8801/2hg5ab2.jpg

 

I wonder if that is a sort of protection that is fitted in particular cases/environments (your pic shows an F-14 on a carrier deck, so salty air, water and all...).

 

Anyway; @phantom61 lent me a book for this build, specifically covering the HAF Phantoms; there are pics of their ordnance too, so I'll check if there's any of an AIM9 back end

 

9 hours ago, hendie said:

Once again, no paint.

 

Just saying

 

 

 

        

 

Ciao

[Memphis]

4 hours ago, giemme said:

I went by these two pics of AIM9-Ls on display:

I usually use photos with plane, but not in museum. In museums often use mackets.

Other photo in US AF:

https://www.airliners.net/photo/USA-Air-Force/General-Dynamics-F-16C-Fighting-Falcon-401/2655001/L?qsp=eJxVjjEOgzAMRe/imYWqSMBWlo5l6AUsxyWRKIkcD0WIu9cEqVK37/%2B%2BnrwBxUX5o881MfSQGYU8VJBQ8J2h3wCDkOBLB8yBzlnTXprqB%2B68sPwjh8qjjxonweTZmbnuutq8OYoOq93H5EbESQ2f/UMcy4E4U3lhMmFtgWUsGdqr9S7kNGNxsGKYYd%2B/YrdB9A%3D%3D

 

And I find a interesting photo. This is AIM-9J (or N/P):

 

You can see that one rocket has the gag and one hasn't it. I know that before Desert Storm (or on midle 80's) rockets were white color. During war and after that they already had grey color. Maybe white rockets still didn't have the gag and grey already had. I can't find photos with white AIM-9L where I could see this.

[Memphis]

I found something interesting. This is Harrier during Falkland war. You can see that AIM-9L/M hasn't the gag. I see white color of rocket. I think if it is white, when it can have not the gag, but if it is gray when the gag must be.

 

I have looked at many photos. The US Air Force used the white AIM-9L / M for a short time (until 81-82). There are very few photos with military weapons, and not with mackets. But the Allies used white missiles for longer (until Desert Storm). If you are building a Greek Phantom, then it is possible to use white without the gag. I made the mistake, I gave you bad advice to install the gag.

[The Spadgent]

Lovely bit of progress G. Indeed all progress is good progress. 
 

ps. Progress, progress. 
 

J😉

[giemme]

On 26/01/2023 at 14:01, Memphis said:

If you are building a Greek Phantom, then it is possible to use white without the gag

I did check my reference book for the Greek Phantoms: it shows some AIM-9L from the back, all of them with bare nozzle, no gag or cover of sort. Thanks anyway, sooner or later I'll build a model with more recent variants of Sidewinder, so this will come in handy 👍

 

16 hours ago, The Spadgent said:

Lovely bit of progress G. Indeed all progress is good progress. 
 

ps. Progress, progress. 
 

J😉

Alas, no progress to report this time, had a very busy WE....

 

Ciao

[Massimo]

Hi Giorgio,

I've gone through this topic and have to say your Turkish Phantom os a gem!!!

Now I'm looking forward to see how the greek one is progressing as it's my favourite camouflage, but very difficult to replicate.

I'll be watching closely...and learn, as 

among other projects I've got a Spanish Phantom and all the details ypu're adding will help me a lot, even  if it"s a different version.

Looking forward to your next update!

Ciao 

Massimo 

Edited February 5, 2023 by Massimo

[giemme]

9 hours ago, Massimo said:

Hi Giorgio,

I've gone through this topic and have to say your Turkish Phantom os a gem!!!

Now I'm looking forward to see how the greek one is progressing as it's my favourite camouflage, but very difficult to replicate.

I'll be watching closely...and learn, as 

among other projects I've got a Spanish Phantom and all the details ypu're adding will help me a lot, even  if it"s a different version.

Looking forward to your next update!

Ciao 

Massimo 

Thanks Massimo!   Looking forward to your Spanish Phantom!

 

No progress whatsoever on the WE because I was out emulating @Fritag  skiing in Madonna di Campiglio with some friends:

 

 

 

 

 

Ciao

 

[billn53]

Good excuse!

[giemme]

Hi everybody, at last I have some progress to report on this build - albeit meagre, I have to say...  

 

I completed the drop tanks; if you remember, I discarded the FM ones because they have some shape issues, while the Hasegawa ones look closer to the originals - except for the welded join, which is poorly represented in the latters.

 

Easy fix, though, and just like I did for the Turkish F-4, I scribed a seam along the existing plastic join, shaved it off and super-glued a segment of suitable brass rod using the seam as a guide:

 

 

I also add to replace the locating pins, as the receiving holes in the FM kit are spaced differently than in the Hase kit; so again, I (literally) shaved off the old pins and added new ones, by drilling receiving holes in the pylons and gluing in small bits of 0.9mm styrene rod, which was then cut to size.

 

Here's a bit of dry fit:

 

 

 

Not much, as I said, but still progress  

 

All comments welcome

 

Ciao

[hendie]

Nice idea with the brass rod Giorgio.

[Cookenbacher]

That's some fine progress indeed Giorgio!

I'm disappointed that the FM tanks are not up to snuff (I may have acquired an FM Phantom or two in the course of following this thread)

[giemme]

On 12/02/2023 at 22:37, hendie said:

Nice idea with the brass rod Giorgio.

Cheers Alan, thanks - glad you like ti!  

 

4 hours ago, Cookenbacher said:

That's some fine progress indeed Giorgio!

I'm disappointed that the FM tanks are not up to snuff (I may have acquired an FM Phantom or two in the course of following this thread)

Thanks Cookie!

 

as for the tanks, back in July 2021 @Gene K posted this picture:

 

Which BTW shows how good the venerable Monogram kit still is - too bad I had no leftovers from the one I used for Sandy Bay-Bee  

 

Ciao

[Spookytooth]

Nice job on the Drop tanks Giorgio.

The bits of brass does the job better in my personal opinion.

 

And the drop tank guide that @Gene K posted to you gives a helping hand too.

Funny how some of the older kits stand up to modern versions.

 

Simon.

[Fritag]

On 2/12/2023 at 9:37 PM, hendie said:

Nice idea with the brass rod Giorgio.

 

Ditto, nicely done G.

 

Bet you wish you’d done an RTV mould of the Monogram tanks when you had the chance.  There’d be an endless supply of resin cast perfection now if you had.  Just saying.

Edited February 16, 2023 by Fritag

[giemme]

On 14/02/2023 at 16:45, Spookytooth said:

Nice job on the Drop tanks Giorgio.

The bits of brass does the job better in my personal opinion.

 

And the drop tank guide that @Gene K posted to you gives a helping hand too.

Funny how some of the older kits stand up to modern versions.

 

Simon.

Thanks Simon!  And yes, @Gene K as usual is a gold mine when it comes to Phantom stuff (but not only, he has many other aviation interests ...)

 

11 hours ago, Fritag said:

Bet you wish you’d done an RTV mould of the Monogram tanks when you had the chance.  There’d be an endless supply of resin cast perfection now if you had.  Just saying.

Still banging my head about that, Steve....   Although, to be honest, back then I had never used RTV and resin for moulding and casting; that happened only a couple of builds later, with the MACCHI MC205. Well, next time I get hold of a Monogram kit, I guess....

 

Ciao

[giemme]

Hi everybody; some substantial update, at least, and even a bit of color (oh  hey  ) even if it's just black, in this report.

Let's see: I glued in the PE slime lights from the Eduard fret

 

 

 

I left off the tail ones, because they are going to placed on top of a decal, so they will have to be added towards the end of the build.

 

I removed the Quickboost seats from their pouring blocks, cleaned them and dry fit:

 

The pilot's one needed a good deal of shave off at the base to actually fit in, but that part part will remain completely invisible anyway once inserted, so loosing some surface detail there was no big deal.

Here are the seats and ejections handles, primed with a few coats of Tamiya Flat Black, thinned with cellulose thinner

 

Canopies: I masked them with the mask @Gene K designed and I cut from Oramask 810 using my Curio cutter

 

 

I then added the canopy latches from copper wire, bent to shape and flattened with flat pliers (glued in with CA)

 

 

Not perfect, but I don't have any spare PE for that, and since they are a very distinctive feature on a Phantom with open canopies, I thought they were better than nothing.

These too received a black base coat

 

Only inside for the central fixed frame, that was then glued in place, initially only starboard side

 

because it needed to be pried open a bit to actually fit port side too

 

So the cunning plan was, once set on starboard side, to gently push form the top and glue it in place with a drop of CA. When I tried that, it just popped off. Which ended up being a good thing, because I had forgotten to remove the inside masking  Off that went, and I repositioned it, this time gluing both sides at the same time with CA

 

ready for cockpit masking, once properly cured.

 

the drop tanks received a flat black base coat and a gloss black one (Tamiya Gloss Black for some reason is not that glossy....  ), in preparation for some metal paint

 

 

Masking for the cockpit and the air intakes to start soon, before I glue in the outer wings and give the whole model a good rub down with IPA, prior to black base coating.

 

All comments welcome.

 

Also, if anyone is interested, I started my second Museum build over here:

 

Ciao

 

 

 

[Massimo]

WOW!!!!

I love the way you treat the canopies on all your builds!!!

Unbeliavable!!!!

[The Spadgent]

Agreed! Lovely details there Giorgio. 👏👏👏👏

 

 Johnny

[hendie]

Lovely detailing G... almost makes me want to do a plank wing.

 

 

Almost I said.

 

 

[keefr22]

3 hours ago, giemme said:

and since they are a very distinctive feature on a Phantom with open canopies, I thought they were better than nothing.

 

Absolutely - and your scratchbuild ones really look the part G!   

 

Off to have a look at your Jug build!

 

K

 

 

[Cookenbacher]

Great update Giorgio, and stunning canopy work!