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

[giemme]

On 19/06/2022 at 00:42, corsaircorp said:

Congrats Mr G

Both for the museum trip and the Rhino !!

Well done too for the 1/1 works

And thanks for the Who's who.... I was about to ask for it... Clever guy you are....

CC

Thanks CC   Museum trip was a lot of fun, catching up with 1:1 chores not so much ...  

 

On 19/06/2022 at 08:27, Terry1954 said:

Great update Giorgio, on all fronts!

 

Looks like a great day was had by the intrepid team of BMers, and Jim must have been very pleased with such excellent models.

 

Shower construction looks up to your usual high standard, lawn looks very tidy and I'm sure the pool is better for a clean. Mrs G no doubt pleased on those scores!

 

Oh look, we got some modelling too, with some nicely painted wheel wells! Wise man not to push ahead with metallics though at that point IMHO.

 

T

Thanks Terry - Mrs G definitely appreciated the 1:1 stuff, especially the pool...  

 

On 19/06/2022 at 09:11, The Spadgent said:

Fantastic update G. Better than mine as it involves some actual modelling.

 Those wheel wells look Grand in white. There’s something lovely about a jet wheel well. looking forward to the shiny tail. 
 

Johnny.

Thanks Johnny!  Wait no more, see below

 

On 20/06/2022 at 20:26, Spookytooth said:

All looking good from here Giorgio.

 

Glad you had a great time over here in Blighty.

The Full English and Ales, can`t be bad....

 

Stay safe.

 

Simon.

Full English and Ales definitely good, Simon  Thanks

 

On 23/06/2022 at 15:42, VT Red Sox Fan said:

G, great to put faces to names.  Big question I have is if you have any airbrush tricks for your 1-1 builds. Seriously though, I am looking forward to how the bare metal afterburner area sorts out—I am confident it wil be amazing!  Best, Erwin

See below for the bare metal area  And I do have an advice for 1:1 airbrushing: don't do that!     

 

Alright, not much time for modelling last week, and a lot of heat too, so: I managed to spray the metallics on the tail, starting with AK Extreme Metal Steel:

 

 

 

Then some more masking and I could spray Model Master Metallizer Burnt Metal. Here it is, prior to buffing

 

and a few minutes later, right after buffing (I used cotton buds and a microfiber rag)

 

Then while unmasking I had a little mishap...  

 

I did put it back and re-glued using Gator's Grip. Anyway, the metallic tail after unmasking

 

A small overspray at the base of the fin (don't know how it got there ...  ). Also visible here

 

and some overspray on the bottom part too

 

Despite sealing the masking tape with Aqua Gloss, it did lift up during spraying - I guess I didn't stretched/burnished it down enough... rookie mistake, really  

 

I fixed it by brush and airbrushed a protective Aqua Gloss coat on the whole area

 

 

And there she is, in her current state

 

I will have to do some detail painting, but she's basically ready for decals. Before that, though, I'm not entirely happy with the riveting I did on the stabilators, and since I have an F-4J Finemolds kit in my stash, I'm seriously considering casting resin copies of the stabilators from that kit, they look so much better.... I shall ponder

 

That's it for this update, all comments welcome.

Ciao

[keefr22]

I like that G...!!

 

K

[Navy Bird]

Thine Rhino rocketh.  

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Terry1954]

That matallic tail looks great Giorgio. I have some Model Master metallics which I've not yet used, and although I've had them for some years, checking the jars, they seem just fine. Must give them a try!

 

Good save on the outer wing. Very annoying when that sort of thing happens.

 

T.

[The Spadgent]

Great save on the overspray. Looking top notch.

 

 Johnny

[VT Red Sox Fan]

Concur with Johnny @The Spadgent—great save G!  Looking awesome—best, Erwin

[CedB]

Very nice finish on the tail end Giorgio, very nice  

[corsaircorp]

Decals ?????

Well done Mr G !!

Sincerely.

CC

[Cookenbacher]

That's already a menacing looking Phantom Giorgio

[giemme]

On 26/06/2022 at 21:35, keefr22 said:

I like that G...!!

 

K

Glad you do, Keith!  

 

On 26/06/2022 at 21:50, Navy Bird said:

Thine Rhino rocketh.  

 

Cheers,

Bill

Thank you Bill, much appreciated!

 

On 26/06/2022 at 22:30, Terry1954 said:

That matallic tail looks great Giorgio. I have some Model Master metallics which I've not yet used, and although I've had them for some years, checking the jars, they seem just fine. Must give them a try!

 

Good save on the outer wing. Very annoying when that sort of thing happens.

 

T.

Thank you Terry!  I think Model Master Metallics are among the most durable paints ever - and great for buffing! I think you'll like them  

 

On 28/06/2022 at 00:13, The Spadgent said:

Great save on the overspray. Looking top notch.

 

 Johnny

Cheers Johnny, thank you!  

 

On 28/06/2022 at 00:44, VT Red Sox Fan said:

Concur with Johnny @The Spadgent—great save G!  Looking awesome—best, Erwin

Thanks Erwin

 

On 30/06/2022 at 08:31, CedB said:

Very nice finish on the tail end Giorgio, very nice  

I'm glad you approve of, Ced!

On 05/07/2022 at 00:23, corsaircorp said:

Decals ?????

Well done Mr G !!

Sincerely.

CC

Yeah, sometimes I use some of them....  

 

22 hours ago, Cookenbacher said:

That's already a menacing looking Phantom Giorgio

It is indeed  Thanks Cookie

 

Gosh, it's been a while! What with life and this heat and all...

 

Anyway, I'm about to leave for my hols, next Friday (or is this Friday? Please @CedB help me out here ...  ) and I wanted to manage at least some marginal progress. 

I had a conversation with a fellow modeller about the metallic tail end and I realized that I should have expanded on that a bit more. First off, another pic of how I left it last time:

 

 

Not easy to render with a pic, but the bottom metallic sheeting is darker than the side one. Still, I didn't want to go with - say - Titanium, which to my eye is very dark at this scale, but I didn't imply that work in this area was finished. In fact, the initial idea was to play with filters and hues and weathering after the decal stage, but going back to my previous F-4 builds made me decide to anticipate at least one of the steps. So I airbrushed some Tamiya smoke in selected areas, masking some panels and adding some effects

 

Here with some "scraping off"

 

and here with random pattern

 

"regular" weathering will follow in due course. Meanwhile, I also did some very minor detail painting (all by brush), such as the red inner surfaces for the movable surfaces

 

 

 

and the blade antennae on top of the spine

 

 I did also give a black base to the fin navigation light - I'll paint that with Clear Red only once the build is almost completed.

 

Not sure I'll be able to fit in more bench time before I leave. At any rate, all comments welcome.

 

Ciao

 

[Learstang]

Nice work on your Phantom, and I'm very interested to see how you're doing the heat-stressed metal parts! I have a Fine Molds Short-Nose F-4E I'm currently working on. I used Model Masters Burnt Metal on the tail pipes (hand-painted) and was pleased with the results (they came out quite dark, but I liked the effect). I love Model Master Metalizer paints as they work brilliantly with my Badger 150 airbrush. I normally use the non-buffing paints, though. Are the Metalizer paints even available any more or has Rustoleum (ulcers on their soul!) quit producing them? I know they've seriously culled the rest of the Model Master line, at least the enamel part (oh, how I thoroughly detest acrylics for airbrushing!).

 

Regards,

 

Jason

 

P.S. I answered my own question - the Metalizer paints do appear to still be in production. Maybe.

P.P.S. Looking at photographs of the F-4, the tail pipe nozzles were quite dark, so I think I got them right.

Edited July 12, 2022 by Learstang
Additional comments added.

[The Spadgent]

I’m loving the work on the metallic tail but I think my favorite bits are the little red g F lashes. Beautiful.
 

Have a great holiday dear boy.

 

 Johnny

[corsaircorp]

Enjoy your holidays Giorgio !!

Do you want us to stand a watch at your home ??

We used to do it for our dear @Martian.....

 

Well done on the Toom !!

Well, we are waiting for the next post....

So far, I use Alclad but I'll give AK extreme metal another try !!

 

Far niente, nel sole, que bella cosa fratellino

Vino i antipasti ..... 

Even in Belgium.... We are used to it....

Sincerely.

CC

 

[Spookytooth]

Looking good from here Giorgio.

 

Have a great holiday mate.

 

Stay safe.

 

Simon.

[PlaStix]

Hi Giorgio. I hope you are keeping well.

That really is beautiful modelling in progress there! As always, I am so impressed with the amount attention you put into every stage of your build.

Kind regards,

Stix

[TheBaron]

Hues and lustres par excellence Giorgio.

This:

On 11/07/2022 at 21:19, giemme said:

how I left it last time:

 

being a particularly heavenly composition from Studio Giemme.

I remain your humble fan.

[giemme]

Hmmm, been quite a long time since I updated this..

 

I just got back from my hols, so inbox first:

On 11/07/2022 at 22:48, Learstang said:

Nice work on your Phantom, and I'm very interested to see how you're doing the heat-stressed metal parts! I have a Fine Molds Short-Nose F-4E I'm currently working on. I used Model Masters Burnt Metal on the tail pipes (hand-painted) and was pleased with the results (they came out quite dark, but I liked the effect). I love Model Master Metalizer paints as they work brilliantly with my Badger 150 airbrush. I normally use the non-buffing paints, though. Are the Metalizer paints even available any more or has Rustoleum (ulcers on their soul!) quit producing them? I know they've seriously culled the rest of the Model Master line, at least the enamel part (oh, how I thoroughly detest acrylics for airbrushing!).

 

Regards,

 

Jason

 

P.S. I answered my own question - the Metalizer paints do appear to still be in production. Maybe.

P.P.S. Looking at photographs of the F-4, the tail pipe nozzles were quite dark, so I think I got them right.

Thanks Jason   I buy Model Master paints form a Polish online store, they seem to have them in stock quite regualrly. Have you posted a WIP of your build?

 

On 11/07/2022 at 23:44, The Spadgent said:

I’m loving the work on the metallic tail but I think my favorite bits are the little red g F lashes. Beautiful.
 

Have a great holiday dear boy.

 

 Johnny

It's the little details, right?     Thanks Johnny!

 

On 12/07/2022 at 00:03, corsaircorp said:

Enjoy your holidays Giorgio !!

Do you want us to stand a watch at your home ??

We used to do it for our dear @Martian.....

 

Well done on the Toom !!

Well, we are waiting for the next post....

So far, I use Alclad but I'll give AK extreme metal another try !!

 

Far niente, nel sole, que bella cosa fratellino

Vino i antipasti ..... 

Even in Belgium.... We are used to it....

Sincerely.

CC

 

There has been a lot of vino, antipasti, pasta, pesce, carne, dolci... the full monty, basically   Thanks CC

 

On 13/07/2022 at 12:16, Spookytooth said:

Looking good from here Giorgio.

 

Have a great holiday mate.

 

Stay safe.

 

Simon.

Cheers Simon, thank you   I did in fact have a great time  

 

On 14/07/2022 at 12:12, PlaStix said:

Hi Giorgio. I hope you are keeping well.

That really is beautiful modelling in progress there! As always, I am so impressed with the amount attention you put into every stage of your build.

Kind regards,

Stix

Thanks Stix, much appreciated

 

On 14/07/2022 at 18:30, TheBaron said:

Hues and lustres par excellence Giorgio.

This:

being a particularly heavenly composition from Studio Giemme.

I remain your humble fan.

You are way too kind, Tony - thank you  

 

No modelling yet, I just checked in to say hi, but normal service will resume shortly, so stay tuned

 

Ciao

[Navy Bird]

2 hours ago, giemme said:

No modelling yet, I just checked in to say hi, but normal service will resume shortly, so stay tuned

 

Egads you sound like me! Which is probably not a good thing. Onward! We need more Spooks.   

 

Cheers,

Bill

[giemme]

On 02/08/2022 at 21:02, Navy Bird said:

 

Egads you sound like me! Which is probably not a good thing. Onward! We need more Spooks.   

 

Cheers,

Bill

Alright, alright, here we go:

 

stabilators received a coat of AK Extreme Steel on the central panel, top and bottom

 

For some reasons, the second pic shows the contrast with the aluminium areas much better - it's actually exactly the same for both sides, it must be the light in the first pic.

Anyway, the outboard portions of the stabs were masked and received a Tamiya Flat Black base coat, prior to airbrushing the relevant camouflage color. Again, this was sprayed to obtain an uneven coverage

 

Same with the tail chute door:

 

I then assembled the PE air brakes

 

I primed them with Mr. Metal Primer-R (by brush), base coated with Tamiya Flat Black and painted FS36118 outside (Lifecolor Dark Grey) and Italeri Insignia Red inside, all by airbrush

 

I wanted the red to look quite dull, so I didn't base coated with white, as I would normally do. All the above parts received a protective gloss clear coat - no pics though, sorry

 

Next I decided to tackle the canopies, in particular the rear one: you may remember that on the HASEGAWA kit I replaced the "hunch" with a resin cast copy of the FM kit. Obviously, the hinges slots are spaced differently in the two kits:

 

I didn't bother checking which one has it right - from a very quick glance, it looks like FM has it closer to the real deal, but maybe not perfect. Anyway, I sawed off the hinges

 

marked the new spots

 

carved them

 

and glued in some replacements, from 0.5mm plasticard, using TeT

 

I took me a second attempt to position one of the hinges right. Anyway, after trimming them to the correct length, I did a quick dryfit:

 

Cool, right? Well, not really: upon removing the tape, I noticed that the glue had leaked under it and frosted a part of the canopy. And doing some cleaning up of the newly added hinges, one of them broke off:

 

So I resorted to plan B, which was of course a better idea   To wit, cutting away the back canopy from the one-piece alternative supplied with the FM kit:

 

 

This way the hinges are already spaced correctly and, as a bonus, the Eduard PE frames designed for the HASE canopy fit just fine. Speaking of which, I tried to glue them on using clear UV resin and a UV torch:

 

It even worked!

 

So I glued in the other two, representing the locking mechanism

 

 

The whole canopy received a protective bath in Alclad Aqua Gloss; next job will be to glue the PE frames on the front canopy too.

 

That's it for this report, all comments welcome  

 

Ciao

[TheBaron]

Smart work with the UV and resin Giorgio. Those details will really pay off as part of the larger ensemble.

[Navy Bird]

Great work on those hinges. I like your preferred solution better than trying to scab on small bits of styrene.   

 

It looks like some of the AK Extreme metallic colour lifted with your tape (not a problem as you were painting over that anyway). Have you seen that issue before? I've been using Alclad II and the Gunze Super Metallics and haven't had that problem. I'd like to try the AK Extreme paints, but I'm not a big fan of paint lifting with tape. (That's why I always hated Testors Metallizer. Come to think of it, I pretty much hate all of Testors paints, but that's another story.)

 

Cheers,

Bill

[giemme]

20 hours ago, TheBaron said:

Smart work with the UV and resin Giorgio. Those details will really pay off as part of the larger ensemble.

Thanks Tony, looks like the clear resin is a winner for this kind of job!

 

31 minutes ago, Navy Bird said:

Great work on those hinges. I like your preferred solution better than trying to scab on small bits of styrene.   

 

It looks like some of the AK Extreme metallic colour lifted with your tape (not a problem as you were painting over that anyway). Have you seen that issue before? I've been using Alclad II and the Gunze Super Metallics and haven't had that problem. I'd like to try the AK Extreme paints, but I'm not a big fan of paint lifting with tape. (That's why I always hated Testors Metallizer. Come to think of it, I pretty much hate all of Testors paints, but that's another story.)

 

Cheers,

Bill

Thanks Bill

 

As for the metallic paint: no lifts there whatsover, I actually sanded back some excess riveting I did earlier on, which only revealed when I airbrushed decanted Tamyia Gloss Alu from a rattle can. That paint is actually very durable, and I masked on top of it after sanding back the unwanted rivet holes. As for AK, I always top coat them with Alclad Aqua Gloss before attempting any masking on them. So far, I had no trouble at all.

 

Ciao 

[Navy Bird]

48 minutes ago, giemme said:

As for the metallic paint: no lifts there whatsover, I actually sanded back some excess riveting I did earlier on

 

Excellent, thank you!

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Fritag]

PE + resin + UV = success.  By the looks of things. Don’t want to encourage you to go pinging-off the etch or owt G - but how secure is the bond do you think? compared with say gator’s grip and cyano.  Asking for a friend…..

[The Spadgent]

Glad you’re back at it dear boy. Hope you had a splendid holiday. I come in here to get away from clear resin and what do I get?  looking fantastic. 
 

Johnny