Gidge Posted November 14, 2021 Author Share Posted November 14, 2021 Finally got some time in on the project! Just a quick session in the paint booth doing a couple little odds and ends before glossing in preparation for decals 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gidge Posted November 16, 2021 Author Share Posted November 16, 2021 Cockpit decals going down 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gidge Posted November 16, 2021 Author Share Posted November 16, 2021 WSO instrument panel. It's challenging to get these lined up and positioned correctly on such raised and textured surfaces. The decals have clearly been printed to account for shrinking and warping as the decal solution does it's work 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gidge Posted November 16, 2021 Author Share Posted November 16, 2021 That last little display was a sweetheart of a thing. The decal was printed as one piece but I cad to cut it and do it as three. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gidge Posted November 16, 2021 Author Share Posted November 16, 2021 Seat base decals turned out nice. Remarkably they managed to print the actual text in this scale! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gidge Posted November 16, 2021 Author Share Posted November 16, 2021 Some more aggressive decal solvent certainly made a difference. Has really made the details on the side consoles pop. Thanks to @trickyrich for the tip 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helios16v Posted November 16, 2021 Share Posted November 16, 2021 Oh damn, I missed those seat decals. Gonna have to go back and tag those. Would've been nice to get them before I did the wash & dry brushing. Doh! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gidge Posted November 16, 2021 Author Share Posted November 16, 2021 23 minutes ago, helios16v said: Oh damn, I missed those seat decals. Gonna have to go back and tag those. Would've been nice to get them before I did the wash & dry brushing. Doh! It's easy to miss on the instructions. I'm not sure how visible they'll be after seatbelts are added. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helios16v Posted November 16, 2021 Share Posted November 16, 2021 15 minutes ago, Gidge said: It's easy to miss on the instructions. I'm not sure how visible they'll be after seatbelts are added. That's right...forgot about the belts. I'm hosed. I'll have to remember that for the next one(s). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 7 hours ago, Gidge said: Some more aggressive decal solvent certainly made a difference. Has really made the details on the side consoles pop. Thanks to @trickyrich for the tip yeah, those decals worked out really nicely...... about the only nice things with the ZM decals I found! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gidge Posted November 17, 2021 Author Share Posted November 17, 2021 10 hours ago, trickyrich said: yeah, those decals worked out really nicely...... about the only nice things with the ZM decals I found! Were yours printed by Cartograph? These ones were. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 19 minutes ago, Gidge said: Were yours printed by Cartograph? These ones were. yeap! And talk to a couple of my club members I am not the only one that has had issues with these. I sort or suspect there may have been a faulty batch of decals. Cartograph decals are normally awesome decals, i have used them before without any issues at all. But the ones on my F-4E were complete rubbish! They silvered almost straight away and you could literally blow them off, even a clear coat on top wouldn't hold them in place. I removed 95% of them without ever trying! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gidge Posted November 18, 2021 Author Share Posted November 18, 2021 On 17/11/2021 at 22:22, trickyrich said: yeap! And talk to a couple of my club members I am not the only one that has had issues with these. I sort or suspect there may have been a faulty batch of decals. Cartograph decals are normally awesome decals, i have used them before without any issues at all. But the ones on my F-4E were complete rubbish! They silvered almost straight away and you could literally blow them off, even a clear coat on top wouldn't hold them in place. I removed 95% of them without ever trying! That or they were transported/stored improperly between Italy and Japan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted November 19, 2021 Share Posted November 19, 2021 8 hours ago, Gidge said: That or they were transported/stored improperly between Italy and Japan. could be, hopefully that's the case as I have their limited release ZM F-4EJ in that special silver/blue scheme, would cry if those decals are bad! Other than the E I haven't heard or read of any other issues with ZM decals Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gidge Posted November 19, 2021 Author Share Posted November 19, 2021 On 17/11/2021 at 22:22, trickyrich said: yeap! And talk to a couple of my club members I am not the only one that has had issues with these. I sort or suspect there may have been a faulty batch of decals. Cartograph decals are normally awesome decals, i have used them before without any issues at all. But the ones on my F-4E were complete rubbish! They silvered almost straight away and you could literally blow them off, even a clear coat on top wouldn't hold them in place. I removed 95% of them without ever trying! Here's hoping. It would be a shame but if worst comes to worst there are mask sets to paint it and SMS makes a pearl blue that's a pretty good match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helios16v Posted November 19, 2021 Share Posted November 19, 2021 I think I saw an aftermarket set of this scheme out now too. I forget who did it...maybe DXM? I've seen the markings for the yellow sister ship as well (which I'm tempted by as that's the pin that came w/ my kit). Though I did find this, and he didn't appear to have any adhesion issues in the bit that I skimmed through. So that's promising. https://www.scalemodellingnow.com/aircraft-zoukei-mura-f4ej-kai-phantom2-phantom-forever-2020/7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gidge Posted November 20, 2021 Author Share Posted November 20, 2021 Some wash has really added some contrast 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gidge Posted November 22, 2021 Author Share Posted November 22, 2021 (edited) On 20/11/2021 at 05:02, helios16v said: I think I saw an aftermarket set of this scheme out now too. I forget who did it...maybe DXM? I've seen the markings for the yellow sister ship as well (which I'm tempted by as that's the pin that came w/ my kit). Though I did find this, and he didn't appear to have any adhesion issues in the bit that I skimmed through. So that's promising. https://www.scalemodellingnow.com/aircraft-zoukei-mura-f4ej-kai-phantom2-phantom-forever-2020/7 I've seen that article and another competed build on Scalemates. Both seemed to work out fine which is a good sign. There don't seem to be many completed build out there at the moment which is a surprise to me. My local hobby shop had quite a few across both of their stores and I got the last one. So unless they got most of Australia's allocation it doesn't seem to be that much of a Unicorn so people must just be surfing on them. Edited November 22, 2021 by Gidge Typo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gidge Posted November 24, 2021 Author Share Posted November 24, 2021 Time for some long overdue progress on the cockpit. Between needing sleep and procrastinating because I was intimidated by the WSO's tiny side stick in the right console (which I almost lost) it's been longer than I'd like. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gidge Posted November 24, 2021 Author Share Posted November 24, 2021 After all of that stress the WSO's right hand side console stick is pretty well camouflaged by the side panel. You'd have to know to look for it to see it. if lost a piece of stretched sprue would probably fool all but the most discerning experts. This is on the P sprue which is unique to the EJ Kai variant so possibly not something even most Phantom guys would know to look for. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helios16v Posted November 24, 2021 Share Posted November 24, 2021 Watch out for the WSO canopy release handle once you get that installed. I managed to knock mine off amidst all the test fitting and assembly of the fuselage bits...and lost it. I was afraid the decals were going to look cartoony, so I went the painting route. It appears my fears were pointless. Looking good sir. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gidge Posted November 24, 2021 Author Share Posted November 24, 2021 Cockpit done! With the sills installed it's becoming apparent that most of that detail will barely be visible. 37 minutes ago, helios16v said: Watch out for the WSO canopy release handle once you get that installed. I managed to knock mine off amidst all the test fitting and assembly of the fuselage bits...and lost it. I was afraid the decals were going to look cartoony, so I went the painting route. It appears my fears were pointless. Looking good sir. Thanks for the heads up 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted November 25, 2021 Share Posted November 25, 2021 That's some cockpit 👏👏👏 the sills attached to the cockpit tub is a new one for me, that's a novel design 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted November 25, 2021 Share Posted November 25, 2021 Love the look in that 'pit. Looks great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted December 1, 2021 Share Posted December 1, 2021 that cockpit come out perfect, well done! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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