Ghostbase Posted August 19, 2021 Share Posted August 19, 2021 My entry for this GB, the Italeri / Testors 1/48th scale RF-4C/E "Photo Phantom II" kit #810 which was first issued in 1981, a mere 40 years ago! I like building old kits and, with airbrushing, modern acrylic paints and after-market decals, it is satisfying to make something that is far better than I could have done all those years ago. I have almost finished an F-4S from the same stable and I hope I can learn from that build and apply it here. On to the kit:- 20210819_174510 by Ghostbase, on Flickr The traditional sprues shot:- 20210819_175052 by Ghostbase, on Flickr Decals and instructions:- 20210819_175246 by Ghostbase, on Flickr At the moment I am minded to complete her as a USAFE RF-4C operated by the 38th TRS out of Zweibrucken AB in the mid 80's, with wrap-around SEA camouflage, using decals from the AirDOC 'USAF Phantoms in Germany Late F-4E / Gs and RF-4Cs Markings' sheet. However I have plenty of time to change my mind 😉 20210819_175620 by Ghostbase, on Flickr This is a very basic kit, especially compared to the modern Academy and Tamiya offerings, and it has a long list of faults. I am hoping that I can overcome some of these faults, more about that in a later post. Anyway, good to be here 🙂 Michael 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helios16v Posted August 19, 2021 Share Posted August 19, 2021 Love the recce Phantoms. AirDocs are some nice decals. I used one of their stencil sheets on my Luftwaffe RF-4E I finished a while back. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coneheadff Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 Great project Michael! I'm planning the same build 😃 I'm just gonna use Hasegawa's kit. We're still on vacation and as soon as I have time for some modelling I will post my first photo. Alex 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 13 hours ago, Ghostbase said: This is a very basic kit, especially compared to the modern Academy and Tamiya offerings, and it has a long list of faults. I am hoping that I can overcome some of these faults, more about that in a later post. Anyway, good to be here 🙂 I have a feeling that building your Italeri kit will produce a very interesting build thread. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Filler Posted August 21, 2021 Share Posted August 21, 2021 Another RF-4C build to follow and the second with AirDoc decals. I didn’t even know these decal sheets existed. Looking forward to your updates. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostbase Posted August 21, 2021 Author Share Posted August 21, 2021 A little bit more about this build, I don't know when I purchased this kit but it was probably an eBay special fifteen years ago when you could pick up something like this for under £5 and that was including P&P! It is of the era before Hasegawa raised the standard with their 1/48th Phantom series of kits, the main competitors would have been Monogram and ESCI. The kit's weak areas are as follows:- * BLC vents on intakes depicted by decals * Completely inaccurate cockpit and ejection seats * Windscreen and front canopy out of proportion * No hinge details for an open cockpit * Inaccurate wing tanks and skinny centreline 'gasbag' * Raised surface panel lines Now, I *could* spend a lot on aftermarket however I prefer to raid the spares box as well as 'pirate' spare items from other kits. The ejection seats are the worst parts by far; I was thinking of maybe purchasing a pair of resin seats for one of my Hasegawa kits and using the displaced seats out of that kit. Maybe... Michael 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted August 21, 2021 Share Posted August 21, 2021 Scratchbuild the seats and keep the canopy shut! 😆 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostbase Posted August 27, 2021 Author Share Posted August 27, 2021 A week has passed by and I really need to get started. I have already primed all of the kit parts with Halfords grey primer which helps me to see what needs attention. One thing that does bug me is that on this kit the BLC vents on the top and underside of the jet intakes are depicted by decals. I decided to try scribing these vents using an old dental tool, maybe they will look better? This photo shows the underside of the intake, I have marked the lines of the vents with a fine CD marker pen, the dotted squares are the areas to be scribed:- 20210827_114357 by Ghostbase, on Flickr And the same for the topsides of the intakes, just a little bit more complex... 20210827_114218 by Ghostbase, on Flickr On to the cockpit. This really isn't the most detailed of kits and accuracy isn't great either! This is a basics look:- 20210827_131636 by Ghostbase, on Flickr What are my options? I was intending to build this kit with the cockpit closed up so I could just go for the OOB option using what is in the box. If it is closed up, realistically, what can you see? Option 2 is to replace those awful ejection seats. I do have a couple of the Eduard edition Academy F-4 kits which have replacement resin ejection seats so I could liberate the original kit seats and add them here. Or, I could order a pair of Aires seats for one of my Hasegawa kits and recycle those kit seats here. Option 3 is to purchase a complete resin cockpit for one of my Hasegawa kits and drop the Hasegawa cockpit in here. I don't know, suspect the OOB option will be the one that I follow. Hopefully more this weekend... Michael 20210827_131844 by Ghostbase, on Flickr 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted August 29, 2021 Share Posted August 29, 2021 That cockpit is a bit clunky but it will be easy to paint and as you say, with the canopy closed, what do you see? Same for the seats really, if you scratch-build some tangled harnesses you will distract the eye from the rest of the seat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJL Posted August 30, 2021 Share Posted August 30, 2021 Nice start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted September 5, 2021 Share Posted September 5, 2021 On 8/27/2021 at 8:29 PM, Ghostbase said: the BLC vents on the top and underside of the jet intakes are depicted by decals. I decided to try scribing these vents using an old dental tool, maybe they will look better? Have you done this yet? I had a similar issue and found that I could get a reasonable result by sawing slots with a razor saw. At least my lines were guaranteed to be straight and consistent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostbase Posted September 5, 2021 Author Share Posted September 5, 2021 4 hours ago, Bertie Psmith said: Have you done this yet? I had a similar issue and found that I could get a reasonable result by sawing slots with a razor saw. At least my lines were guaranteed to be straight and consistent. Yes I did however maybe the dental tool I am using isn't strong enough for the job, a razor saw might be a better option. At the moment I am 172 miles away from the 'man cave' however I hope to pick this build up again this week. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostbase Posted September 28, 2021 Author Share Posted September 28, 2021 Nearly a month later, life has got in the way yet again. I apologise for not following the Group for over three weeks now. I decided to really get started yesterday, try as put as much together as possible so that I can spend today applying filler and preparing for the application of paint. I'm not doing anything fancy, it's an old kit, just get it built! And, in fact, it isn't looking too shabby... 20210928_110836 by Ghostbase, on Flickr I have done a bare minimum on the cockpit and I think I have some old instrument panel decals that I could put in there. Will add the seats later when I have finished them. I have joined the wings, fuselage halves and jet air intakes. 20210928_110906 by Ghostbase, on Flickr The photo nose is just three parts on this kit; a nose cone as well as two camera bay halves. There are a number of transparent windows however there is no detail inside. I am going to paint the interior matt black and maybe put some card inside and try to simulate some camera lenses. So far I am happy with the fit which is better than I expected for such an old kit. The underside looks ok too. 20210928_111053 by Ghostbase, on Flickr Now, I might be changing my mind. The original kit does give an option for a West German RF-4E of Akg-52 in 1972. This was the original 'splinter' colour scheme with large 'Iron Cross' markings outlined in white and I think this would look pretty cool as well as standing out from all the Phantoms I have built over the years. These are the colour instructions: 20210928_111437 by Ghostbase, on Flickr The colour call-outs are as follows: Dark Green FS34079 Grey FS36118 Light Grey FS36440 White (for weapons pylon) Are these correct? I thought that the Germans used a different set of colour designations. There is a risk regards using the original kit decals which must be 40 years old however I have just made an F-4S from the same series and the decals were fine so I am willing to take that chance. Michael 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Filler Posted September 28, 2021 Share Posted September 28, 2021 I believe that scheme was known as Norm 72 and the colour refs were RAL 7012 Basalt grey and RAL 6014 yellow olive for the splinter camo and RAL 9006 silver grey for the undersides. Those FS colours are probably close equivalents. If you haven't got the paints already, one option is the Hataka line of paints as they do these colours (separately or in a Modern Luftwaffe set) in acrylic, lacquer and I think a brushable form too. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostbase Posted September 28, 2021 Author Share Posted September 28, 2021 1 hour ago, Filler said: I believe that scheme was known as Norm 72 and the colour refs were RAL 7012 Basalt grey and RAL 6014 yellow olive for the splinter camo and RAL 9006 silver grey for the undersides. Those FS colours are probably close equivalents. If you haven't got the paints already, one option is the Hataka line of paints as they do these colours (separately or in a Modern Luftwaffe set) in acrylic, lacquer and I think a brushable form too. Thanks Filler, this is really helpful and now I know I am looking for Norm 72. I have had a quick look through my collection of Vallejo Model Color and it looks like I will be able to use 893/95 US Dark Green (as FS34079) and 869/162 Basalt Grey exact match for RAL7012 (as FS36152). RAL9006 is a bit more of a challenge. I see that it is often referred to as 'White Aluminium'. I have a Lifecolor acrylic Metallic Set which has their UA793 White Aluminium so it looks like that should match RAL9006. I didn't know that the Norm 72 West German Phantoms were painted with alumimium undersides the same as the F-104G Starfighters were, have always assumed they were light grey so, as always, I live and learn 👍 Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostbase Posted September 29, 2021 Author Share Posted September 29, 2021 Did a little bit more this morning, out with the 'Perfect Plastic Putty' and fill in the gaps:- 20210929_102139 by Ghostbase, on Flickr I have always been quite open that I dislike filling and sanding however 'Perfect Plastic Putty' is very easy to apply and can be smoothed using a cotton bud dipped in water. Not too unhappy with the results:- 20210929_105102 by Ghostbase, on Flickr The undersides not looking too bad either. 20210929_105126 by Ghostbase, on Flickr Looks like I might be firing up the air brush this week 😎 Michael 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostbase Posted November 28, 2021 Author Share Posted November 28, 2021 Last day of this GB and no further forward, lost my mojo quite a bit ☹️ On the plus side at least I got started and most of the hard work has already been done so one day soon the spark will return and I will get my RF-4C finished, hopefully early next year. And I still have time to flip-flop around which markings to finish her in! As always, a big thanks to the Hosts 👍 Michael 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted November 28, 2021 Share Posted November 28, 2021 Don't forget the KUTA GB. Tossing mine over there. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coneheadff Posted November 29, 2021 Share Posted November 29, 2021 14 hours ago, Thom216 said: Don't forget the KUTA GB. Tossing mine over there. Same as my RF-4C 👍 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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