The Greek Spook! - A Finemolds F-4EJ conversion in 1/72nd

[giemme]

Hi everybody! This is a long overdue RFI, since this build was completed in November 2023, so almost one year ago!  

The aircraft is and F-4E Phantom II of the 117th Combat Wing, based in Andradiva, here depicted in her 2014 "40 years Of Phantom II In Hellenic Air Force" livery.

 

Let me start with a couple of pics, more to follow below. Here's one in natural light:

 

 

Same subject, but using color auto-adjust from Irfan View 

 

A few words about the build: this was part of a double build, the WIP can be found here:

The idea was to build two F-4Es with slatted wings, complementing the two kits with parts of each other, according to what is represented best in the two of them. The Hasegawa kit was used to represent a Turkish Air Force machine, whose RFI is here:

For the Greek Spook, I used the Finemolds F-4EJ kit, converting it in a slatted F-4E by doing the following:

 

Scratch built items: 

- Instruments panels, keeping parts of the kit ones and adding bits from stock styrene card, copper wires and spare decals

- 3D printed exhaust cans and air brakes

- air brakes actuators, from rigid copper wire and its plastic sleeve

- canopy latches. from copper wire shaped up and hammered flat

- resin outer wings, cloned from a set of Revell ones, with scratch built and re-positioned wing fences

- drooped ailerons. cutting out and bending the kit parts

- inner wings slat actuators, cloned from the Hasegawa kit

- drop tanks from the Hasegawa kit, improved by removing the side welding strip and replacing it with thin brass pipe

- rear fuselage air pressure gauge, by carving out its square hole and filling in with clear UV resin, and a generic gauge decal on the inside

- DIAS ECM antennae, the intake shoulder ones using parts form the Hasegawa kit, the gun muzzle, tail fin and tail door ones from scratch, using various styrene bits and shaping them with standard sanding tools

- IFF blade antennae (the ones sitting in front of the windshield) again using styrene sheet and sanding tools

- home cut masks for the clear parts, designed by @Gene K and cut using my Silhouette Curio

- RBF tags, printed on regular paper, soaked in Future and with copper wire glued to one end as connection wire/pin

 

After-market items:

- Quickboost seats

- AIM120 and AIM9-L missiles from the dedicated Finemolds set

- Pitot tube, fin sensor and AOA probe from the specific Finemolds brass set

- Slime lights, canopy frames and gun compartment scavenger door from various Eduard PE sets

- Decals and stencils from a Model Maker sheet for HAF special color Phantoms

 

Paints and weathering:

- Camouflage colors using Lifecolor paints

- Metallics from AK Extreme Metal, Model Master Metallizers and Vallejo

- Interiors painted using Lifecolor and Tamiya paints

- Weathering done with tempera and oil paint washes, the chipping on the drop tanks was done with the good old salt chipping technique

 

I'm pretty sure I forgot something, but I won't forget to thank everybody that followed my build, and especially

 -@Gene K for donating the kit, the 3D exhausts and air brakes, the masks cutting files and a ton of other Phantom related things that I'll be using in next builds

- Silvano @phantom61, for donating Eduard PE sets and lending me a precious reference book for Greek Phantoms

- Everybody else who gave advice, shared knowledge or just plainly cheered me up during the build  

 

You all wanna see some pics, now, right? There you go:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some interiors details

 

 

 

 

 

Underneath views, from the WIP

 

 

Last, a "Phamily" Photo

 

As usual. all comments welcome!

 

Ciao

[Alpha Delta 210]

Absolutely sensational and very realistic.

[Gene K]

Amazing builds, Giorgio. I know you inspired several members to model 1/72 Phantoms.

 

Gene K

[Vultures1]

Phabulous work! Inspirational stuff, and you absolutely nailed the weathered Greek camo scheme - well done 

[Hook]

Very nice! Those birds do get weathered extensively, you've captured the look. 

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

[Col.]

Lovely result

Currently holidaying in Corfu and telling my wife how the aircraft are as faded and filthy as the cars. Now I can show her your model to illustrate that

[keefr22]

Well that was well worth the wait G - absolutely stunning dirty bird....!!!

 

Seriously, that just captures the look of the real things perfectly - fantastic build, paint, weathering & details (love the RBF tags - the lack of those on models with full warloads is a pet hate....!! 🤣 )

 

Lovely work!!

 

K

[Johnson]

Superb! Love it! 

 

And...

 

Gene @Gene K You're back! Great!

 

(Sorry Giorgio, had to say hi to Gene!)

 

Regards,

 

Charlie

[Dave Klaatu]

Very nice, and paint you don't see often!

[Terry1954]

I'm travelling at the moment Giorgio, but simply had to take time out to finally congratulate you on this absolutely sensational F-4. I watched the WIP (and learned a lot) and have waited patiently for the the RFI. 

 

Certainly one of the best F-4 builds I've seen (all scales), and a credit to your skills.

 

Take a bow my friend!!

 

Terry

[Chrisj2003]

Phabulous end result, great WIP and interesting the different effects in different light.  

 

Any more masterful F-4 in the future?

 

Chris

[giemme]

23 hours ago, Alpha Delta 210 said:

Absolutely sensational and very realistic.

Cheers mate, thanks!

 

23 hours ago, Gene K said:

Amazing builds, Giorgio. I know you inspired several members to model 1/72 Phantoms.

 

Gene K

Thank you Gene, glad I haven't disappointed you - after all it's your kit   

 

23 hours ago, Vultures1 said:

Phabulous work! Inspirational stuff, and you absolutely nailed the weathered Greek camo scheme - well done 

Thank you, I'm pretty happy myself with how the Ghost scheme came out!  

 

23 hours ago, Hook said:

Very nice! Those birds do get weathered extensively, you've captured the look. 

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

Thanks Andre!  I had very good reference pictures (and some of those Greek Spooks were really dirty)

 

23 hours ago, Col. said:

Lovely result

Currently holidaying in Corfu and telling my wife how the aircraft are as faded and filthy as the cars. Now I can show her your model to illustrate that

Glad to be of help  

 

20 hours ago, keefr22 said:

Well that was well worth the wait G - absolutely stunning dirty bird....!!!

 

Seriously, that just captures the look of the real things perfectly - fantastic build, paint, weathering & details (love the RBF tags - the lack of those on models with full warloads is a pet hate....!! 🤣 )

 

Lovely work!!

 

K

Glad you like it, Keith - and that you approve of the RBF tags....     

 

18 hours ago, Johnson said:

Superb! Love it! 

 

And...

 

Gene @Gene K You're back! Great!

 

(Sorry Giorgio, had to say hi to Gene!)

 

Regards,

 

Charlie

Hey Charlie, no problem! Mi casa es su casa! Besides, I'm super happy myself to see Gene back on the forum! And thanks for the praise!  

 

8 hours ago, Dave Klaatu said:

Very nice, and paint you don't see often!

Thanks Dave  True, a camo scheme non very often seen, probably one of the best operational schemes IMHO

 

5 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

I'm travelling at the moment Giorgio, but simply had to take time out to finally congratulate you on this absolutely sensational F-4. I watched the WIP (and learned a lot) and have waited patiently for the the RFI. 

 

Certainly one of the best F-4 builds I've seen (all scales), and a credit to your skills.

 

Take a bow my friend!!

 

Terry

Thanks Terry, you are way too kind!

 

 

2 hours ago, Chrisj2003 said:

Phabulous end result, great WIP and interesting the different effects in different light.  

 

Any more masterful F-4 in the future?

 

Chris

Thanks Chris, much appreciated!  

 

Any more F-4, you ask? Well, let's see: I have a separate stash for my F-4 models, currently composed of 1 Academy F-4J, 1 Airfix FG-1, 1 Finemolds F-4D, 1 Finemolds F-4J, 1 Hasegawa F-4S.

Next one will most likely be the Hase F-4S, but not until next year, and not exactly my next build either....   Sorry, you'll have to wait  

 

Ciao

[Zorglub]

Hi,

 

The result is fantastic.
What beautiful work.
I often return to see the stages of your assembly often enough.

 

What beautiful Phantom s

Edited October 21, 2024 by Zorglub

[Massimo]

What a nice pair!!!!

the greek one is one of the most difficult mixture of camouflage and weathering and you did a great job!

Very realistic!!!!

Bravissimo!!!

Ciao

Massimo

[Drakendk]

Absolutely stunning paint work and weathering. Thanks for sharing 🙂

 

[Ventsislav Gramatski]

Two awesome birds from nearby lands, great work on both! 

[kapam]

I was scrolling through the photos, but then went back to check it is 1/72 scale!

Amazing!  The cockpit detail is incredible!  👏👏👏

 

[The Spadgent]

A glory to behold. Fantastic work on both phantoms. You really nailed that realistic vibe. Wonderful WIP too.  The beautiful subtle camouflage and weathering on this one is superb. 👌

 

 Johnny

[doxasg]

Fabulous Phantom 😍 

Two allies phantoms on the Aegean sea!

 

Congratulations 👏 

Giannis Doxas 

[F-32]

Great build, the paint and weathering look perfect

[Gimme Shelter]

can you let me know how you managed to make pictures of the real thing look like you built it as a model ! What a perfect end result - way, way beyond my skill level. Tip-top on a superb end result

[giemme]

On 21/10/2024 at 16:47, Zorglub said:

Hi,

 

The result is fantastic.
What beautiful work.
I often return to see the stages of your assembly often enough.

 

What beautiful Phantom s

Cheers Cristophe, thank you!  Glad if I can be of any help.

 

On 21/10/2024 at 20:08, Massimo said:

What a nice pair!!!!

the greek one is one of the most difficult mixture of camouflage and weathering and you did a great job!

Very realistic!!!!

Bravissimo!!!

Ciao

Massimo

Hey Massimo, great to hear from you again!  Grazie!!

 

On 21/10/2024 at 22:12, Drakendk said:

Absolutely stunning paint work and weathering. Thanks for sharing 🙂

 

Thanks, much appreciated!

 

On 21/10/2024 at 22:26, Ventsislav Gramatski said:

Two awesome birds from nearby lands, great work on both! 

Thank you Ventsislav!

 

On 22/10/2024 at 02:38, kapam said:

I was scrolling through the photos, but then went back to check it is 1/72 scale!

Amazing!  The cockpit detail is incredible!  👏👏👏

 

Way too kind, thank you!  

 

On 22/10/2024 at 23:52, The Spadgent said:

A glory to behold. Fantastic work on both phantoms. You really nailed that realistic vibe. Wonderful WIP too.  The beautiful subtle camouflage and weathering on this one is superb. 👌

 

 Johnny

Glad you like it, Johnny!   I'm quite chuffed myself at how it came out  

 

On 23/10/2024 at 07:55, doxasg said:

Fabulous Phantom 😍 

Two allies phantoms on the Aegean sea!

 

Congratulations 👏 

Giannis Doxas 

Well, now that I have official approval from Greece, Im even more chuffed!    Thank Giannis!

 

On 23/10/2024 at 15:48, F-32 said:

Great build, the paint and weathering look perfect

Thank you!  Definitely the most complex paint job I ever did, but satisfying in the end  

On 23/10/2024 at 15:55, Gimme Shelter said:

can you let me know how you managed to make pictures of the real thing look like you built it as a model ! What a perfect end result - way, way beyond my skill level. Tip-top on a superb end result

I'm sorry, I can't - I'll have to terminate you if I do...  Thanks for your praise, you are way too kind

 

Ciao

[Cookenbacher]

Oh wow, the Greek Phantom RFI arrives! That finish is just perfect, makes me want to try to build my own Aegean Ghost.

[basket]

Splendid as usual ! 

[gaputz]

Your Phantom is among the best in this scale that I've seen in this forum.  Fantastic job.