RF-4EJ Final flight scheme (Now resurrected) ***** FINISHED****.

[Jabba]

Thanks for that Andy. I am only a hairy stick person, so I will go carefully.

[Jabba]

I have painted the bottom colour and given it the first coat of the lighter green. This Mr Color is a bit like painting with treacle as it is a bit on the thick side (to me anyway with my hairy stick) and seems to dry quickly. I am using it sparingly and hope that the next coat and colour go on well.

 

I do require a bit of help wth the weapons load. Did these aircraft carry any, in that I have seen pictures with the Sidewinder missile rails being carried, but nothing on them. Also what pod did they usually carry on the cnetre line as there are three in the kit, but I don't know which one to choose.

 

 

 

[DaveJL]

Coming along nicely mate.

[Jabba]

10 hours ago, DaveJL said:

Coming along nicely mate.

I think that the photos flatter a bit. I applied a 2nd coat of the Mr Color paint and to be honest I do not like it as it seems to dry as soon as it is applied. I have to apply it rather thickly to start off with and then try too spread it around which is not too easy. I am not sure what I am doing wrong but I think that I may have to find some different paint for the darker Green as I think applying this will be even worse as it is in smaller areas. If I can't find any I may have to stop this project and think of something else, which I would not really like to do.

[DaveJL]

4 hours ago, Jabba said:

I think that the photos flatter a bit. I applied a 2nd coat of the Mr Color paint and to be honest I do not like it as it seems to dry as soon as it is applied. I have to apply it rather thickly to start off with and then try too spread it around which is not too easy. I am not sure what I am doing wrong but I think that I may have to find some different paint for the darker Green as I think applying this will be even worse as it is in smaller areas. If I can't find any I may have to stop this project and think of something else, which I would not really like to do.

What are you thinning the paint with?

[Jabba]

1 hour ago, DaveJL said:

What are you thinning the paint with?

I am using it straight out of the jar as I normally would.

 

 

[Alan P]

1 hour ago, Jabba said:

I am using it straight out of the jar as I normally would.

I find Mr Color is a bit goopy out of the jar. I would recommend thinning it with about 30% Mr Leveling Thinner and using a couple of coats if you're not airbrushing it. (For airbrushing it should be thinned 50/50 in my experience)

 

Don't give up on this mate!

[DaveJL]

9 minutes ago, Alan P said:

I find Mr Color is a bit goopy out of the jar. I would recommend thinning it with about 30% Mr Leveling Thinner and using a couple of coats if you're not airbrushing it. (For airbrushing it should be thinned 50/50 in my experience)

 

Don't give up on this mate!

Would concur with this, MLT is great stuff, I used it with brushes before i switched to airbrushing a number of years ago.

[Jabba]

Thanks you both for you good advice. I have also looked on the tinterweb and it seems that Mr Color paints are lacquer based. So I am going to see if I can find some Aqueous Mr Color paints which are acrylic paint which hopefully will be better suited to my painting style as long as they are in stock.

[Jabba]

@Alan Pand @DaveJL this MLT that you have mentioned is this what you mean? https://www.emodels.co.uk/mr-colour-110ml-leveling-thinner-110.html The reason I ask is that as I said earlier I would look to see if I could find the Mr Color Aqueous equivalents, but unfortunately the number codes do not cross over one for one so I am at a bit of a loss and do not want to give up on this one. This is not just for this build but also for builds of Japanese Phantoms that I have planned for the future in different colour schemes. As I have also said earlier this is stuff that is out of my comfort zone and your advise is very important to me.

[helios16v]

On 10/10/2021 at 8:44 AM, Jabba said:

I do require a bit of help wth the weapons load. Did these aircraft carry any, in that I have seen pictures with the Sidewinder missile rails being carried, but nothing on them. Also what pod did they usually carry on the cnetre line as there are three in the kit, but I don't know which one to choose.

 

I'll try to remember to dig through one of my books tonight.  I seem to recall reading something about them a few weeks back when I was doing some research on the EJ KAI & ASM-2s.  I believe 2 of them were more common and could be swapped out depending on mission profile, but 1 of the pods required additional airframe/cockpit integration that was not retro-fitted to all RF-4EJs.  But I don't recall off the top of my head which was which.

[Motty]

On 10/11/2021 at 2:44 AM, Jabba said:

I do require a bit of help wth the weapons load. Did these aircraft carry any, in that I have seen pictures with the Sidewinder missile rails being carried, but nothing on them. Also what pod did they usually carry on the cnetre line as there are three in the kit, but I don't know which one to choose.

 

G'day,

 

It's fairly rare to see the RF-4EJs carry anything on the missile rails.

 

On the centerline, either of the two camera pods are very common, with an ecm pod in the fwd lh sparrow well. I have some photos here which I hope may help.

http://aviationspottersonline.com/phantom-pharewell/

 

and here

http://aviationspottersonline.com/phantom-spotting-at-hyakuri/

As for the paint, I would suggest getting the Mr Color retarder to mix with it as it slows the (very quick) drying time of the paint and would help make it more brush-able. It's certainly needed for spraying them. The Mr Colour Levelling Thinner has retarder in it as well, for the same reason. 

 

Hope this helps.

 

Cheers,

Motty.

Edited October 12, 2021 by Motty
Added photos

[Jabba]

2 hours ago, Motty said:

 

As for the paint, I would suggest getting the Mr Color retarder to mix with it as it slows the (very quick) drying time of the paint and would help make it more brush-able. It's certainly needed for spraying them. The Mr Colour Levelling Thinner has retarder in it as well, for the same reason. 

 

Hope this helps.

 

Cheers,

Motty.

 

I have found this https://www.emodels.co.uk/mr-hobby-mr-retarder-40ml-mild-t-105.html . Is this what you are talking about. Thanks for the photos, I t does help alot, I was just trying to decide which pod is fitted more commonly. From the photos that I have seen I think the one in the top photo is the one that I will go with.

[Motty]

16 minutes ago, Jabba said:

 

I have found this https://www.emodels.co.uk/mr-hobby-mr-retarder-40ml-mild-t-105.html . Is this what you are talking about. Thanks for the photos, I t does help alot, I was just trying to decide which pod is fitted more commonly. From the photos that I have seen I think the one in the top photo is the one that I will go with.

Yes, that's the stuff.

 

Cheers,

Motty.

[DaveJL]

15 hours ago, Jabba said:

@Alan Pand @DaveJL this MLT that you have mentioned is this what you mean? https://www.emodels.co.uk/mr-colour-110ml-leveling-thinner-110.html The reason I ask is that as I said earlier I would look to see if I could find the Mr Color Aqueous equivalents, but unfortunately the number codes do not cross over one for one so I am at a bit of a loss and do not want to give up on this one. This is not just for this build but also for builds of Japanese Phantoms that I have planned for the future in different colour schemes. As I have also said earlier this is stuff that is out of my comfort zone and your advise is very important to me.

That's it Mark! It's great stuff. I use it with Tamiya Acrylics too and there's no issues; same for when I brush paint details with the Tamiya paint.

[Jabba]

Thank you both, I shall get a pot of each on order.

[helios16v]

4 hours ago, DaveJL said:

That's it Mark! It's great stuff. I use it with Tamiya Acrylics too and there's no issues; same for when I brush paint details with the Tamiya paint.

 

I thin down my Tamiya paints as well with Tamiya Lacquer Thinner (yellow cap, not orange) and a few drops of Golden acrylic retarder.  Same effect though a less convenient way to get there.    The MLT is starting to become a bit more available now, so I may try shifting in that direction when my current supply of Tamiya thinner is depleted.  It had been hard to get...hell, the Tamiya Lacquer Thinner wasn't the easiest stuff to find in stock for a while.

[Jabba]

Whilst waiting for some stuff to arrive I decided to paint the Dk Grey. I would normally have painted the Dk Green, but I thought that it would be better to have some progress with this one. Now the stuff that I am waiing for has turned up. May I ask the question about the ratios that have been stated as I have mentioned earlier I do not normally thin paints down. @DaveJL and @Alan Pmentioned thinning down by 30%. Does this mean that for every 7 drops of paint I should add 3 drops of thinner (or something similar in multiples of 7) or am I talking twaddle?

 

 

 

[DaveJL]

I usually just 'wing it' mate. When the paint is the consistency of milk, that's when I know it's good to go. That's for spraying of course, so for you id suggest just a little thicker and apply a few coats.

[Jabba]

Eek!

[Jabba]

Having thinned the paint down, I did find it a little easier to use but only just. I have now painted the 2nd Green, but I am not sure if I have not transposed the 2 Greens. MInd you I have followed DXMs instructions and the colours that they say. I will now give the other Green (first one painted) another coat, but this time with some thinned down paint.

 

 

 

[Jabba]

I don't know what happened, but this post did not go to the top of the page. So a slight bump so that it does.

[Jabba]

I have now painted the anti dazzle, nose cone and shingle panels. I will leave the blast panels until later. I should now be applying a coat or two of Klear, but at the moment I am not that happy with the paint finish. I am not sure if this is down to the way the paint went onto the model or the actual colours, the 2 Greens still do not look right when compared to photos. I am thinking of abandoning this project until a better time. Wondering if @Red Dotcould take a look and say what he honestly thinks

 

 

 

[Red Dot]

Hi Jabba,

 

I'm sorry to say this, but I think you have got your greens mixed up, although your photos are quite dark.

 

Looking at the top of the right hand wing, from outboard to inboard, the colours should be grey, dark green, light green. Does that match your model, and then carry over to the rest of the airframe?

 

Whilst Mr color paints are great for air brushing, as has been said, you really need to thin them for all applications

 

Lastly, whilst the RF-4EJ is wired for missiles, none were carried. I haven't even seen a photo of missiles loaded at an air show.

 

Normal mission load out was an AN/ALQ-131 ECM pod on the front left Sparrow station, with a recce pod on the centreline, and fuel tanks under the wings.

 

If you are planning more JASDF Phantoms (and why wouldn't you?), then the best book on the subject for modellers is the Model Art Profile F-4 Phantom of JASDF

https://www.google.com/search?q=model%2Fart+profile+ohantom&oq=model%2Fart+profile+ohantom&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i58j33i10i160.7846j0j7&client=ms-android-samsung-gs-rev1&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#imgrc=NtZWlA_6FNl6YM

 

Keep going with it.....

Andy

[Jabba]

10 hours ago, Red Dot said:

Hi Jabba,

 

I'm sorry to say this, but I think you have got your greens mixed up, although your photos are quite dark.

 

Looking at the top of the right hand wing, from outboard to inboard, the colours should be grey, dark green, light green. Does that match your model, and then carry over to the rest of the airframe?

 

Whilst Mr color paints are great for air brushing, as has been said, you really need to thin them for all applications

 

Lastly, whilst the RF-4EJ is wired for missiles, none were carried. I haven't even seen a photo of missiles loaded at an air show.

 

Normal mission load out was an AN/ALQ-131 ECM pod on the front left Sparrow station, with a recce pod on the centreline, and fuel tanks under the wings.

 

If you are planning more JASDF Phantoms (and why wouldn't you?), then the best book on the subject for modellers is the Model Art Profile F-4 Phantom of JASDF

https://www.google.com/search?q=model%2Fart+profile+ohantom&oq=model%2Fart+profile+ohantom&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i58j33i10i160.7846j0j7&client=ms-android-samsung-gs-rev1&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#imgrc=NtZWlA_6FNl6YM

 

Keep going with it.....

Andy

 

Thank you Andy for your honest reply roughly confirming what I thought. Strange but although I did follow the colour scheme from the DXM instructions, it just did not look right. I have hopefully got some paint coming from Japan which are meant for the RF-4EJ, so I am not sure now whether to leave this until they arrive or continue with what I have got. Also I am not sure if I should strip off this paint, but what with I do not know. Anyone have any suggestions?