Kenny J Posted October 21, 2022 Author Share Posted October 21, 2022 Quick update on this without any photos (keep forgetting to take any): I took off as much of the paint as I could and and reverted to the Halfords spray primer, followed by some pre-shading, to get back to where I was. I then tracked down some White-Tack, which is SO MUCH NICER to work with than Blue-Tac for camouflage masking. I've found that 9:1 is about the best ratio of paint to water for the Hataka Red Line, and after a good clean of my airbrush, I'm very pleased with how it's going on - good coverage, nice sheen, just enough transparency for the pre-shade to work. Currently about halfway through the final green, then it's on to the tailplanes, the metal exhaust areas, undercarriage, stores and decals and weathering. Why am I doing the tailplanes separate, you ask? Well, on reading up on the history, construction and operational maintenance of the Phantom, especially at Spangdahlem, I found that there were several corroborating accounts claiming that the tailplanes were frequently the last thing to be painted, because the maintenance crews would leave them in the box and forget about them until after the bulk of the painting had been done. Yeah. Really. Honest. I'd show you my research, but my dog ate it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny J Posted October 23, 2022 Author Share Posted October 23, 2022 Got the paint on and the masking off, so some photos: The photos show the pre-shading to be a bit more pronounced than the naked eye does, but I'm mostly happy. Looks like I need to touch up a couple of areas - the demarcation between the greens on the rear port fuselage is a bit indistinct, and the starboard outer wing is showing the effects of some over-thinned paint. Shade-wise, I think the colours are OK, but looking at some photos of Euro-1 Phantoms, the grey could perhaps have a bit more blue to it, and the dark green a bit darker. https://i.redd.it/q81qbrgjz5v11.jpg And of course, in my search, I've found some photos of the actual aircraft portrayed by the decals, and the camouflage pattern bears no resemblance to what's portrayed in the instructions! Oh well - as I've said before, I do this for fun, not 100% accuracy. https://www.airhistory.net/photo/304903/69-0247/AF69-247 https://www.airfighters.com/photo/80487/M/USA-Air-Force/McDonnell-Douglas-F-4G-Phantom-II/69-0247/ Next steps: paint the tailplanes and metal exhaust bits. Oh, and the nosecone, although that might be the last thing I do because I don't want to break off the probe when I attach it (I've already done the one on the tail fin). 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted October 23, 2022 Share Posted October 23, 2022 Looks good - I was worried that the colours wouldn’t stand out well and they would all look a bit sludgy but they stand out nicely 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny J Posted January 14, 2023 Author Share Posted January 14, 2023 (edited) It's been a while! Life, as usual, has a habit of getting the way of modelling sessions, especially with Christmas and all that. Anyway, after re-priming and painting, there were still a couple of areas where the paint lifted off with the tape, but I patched those up. After that, it was a layer of gloss varnish and on to the decals. They went on reasonably well, although the fin stripe and the shark-mouths cracked a bit. On reference to actual photos, the shark-mouths are are a bit too big and I've mucked up the positioning of one of them a bit. According to photos of the aircraft, they should end just ahead of the cheek A/C intakes, however I've got the port side one going above the intake, and the starboard one going below. I also dropped it, knocking off the tailplanes (and breaking the TINY locator pins which held them on), so those are now held on with superglue and prayers. Another coat of gloss and I've spent the week doing panel washes and sorting out the bits which aren't stuck on yet. Today will be matt-coating everything, and hopefully I'll be able to stick the bits which aren't stuck on yet on, and finally take the canopy mask off. Aiming to call it done by Monday. A couple of photos before my camera battery died: Edited January 14, 2023 by Kenny J 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny J Posted January 14, 2023 Author Share Posted January 14, 2023 Varnish on, masks off. And almost inevitably, I've knocked a tailplane off again, and the nosecone has peeled! It's a fun hobby, isn't it? 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny J Posted January 16, 2023 Author Share Posted January 16, 2023 I'm calling it done! Ready For Inspection thread here: Thanks for all your kind comments and encouragement. Kenny 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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