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WOW WOW WOW! I really must commend you on your work thus far. The paintjob on that tiny little 1/72 cockpit is better than what I achieved in 1/48th! Your ingenuity in making the EJ Kai mods is also notable (take care to add the taller antennas on the spine and nose gear door after you've decalled). Your decal procedure is very informative.

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Hi mates! Thanks for all of the comments and compliments! :beer:

 

Time for some more updates...I have to admit that decaling is my favorite part of model building. For me, this is when the model really starts to get its personality. And the special scheme for this JASDF Phabulous Phantom really has a unique personality!! The model is really starting to look cool!!

 

Here is a nice overall shot of the design on the wings (I really thought that the wingtip decals weren't even close to fitting, until I realized that the tip itself has to fold over the edge and onto the bottom ever so slightly - I had to resort to Mr. and Mrs. Mark Softer to get it settled down):

 

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There are more stencils to add to the starboard wing. Here is the repair to the gap near the exhaust - almost looks like it was supposed to be that way (notice how the panel lines show through the thin decals - some of those "lines" are my patches overlapping each other!):

 

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And the repair to the gap above "30th" on the port side:

 

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Here's the shark teeth - looks like I'll need to bring the black paint on the cannon muzzle back a little further to meet the decal. I forgot that was usually the case.

 

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Here is a shot that shows the top surface of the port wing. I REALLY like the panel line effect here. I love it when dumb freaking luck prevails! Notice how the stencils were masked over on the real plane when the special scheme was applied. That's why most of the stencils have a grey background, authentically reproduced on the decal sheet.

 

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The starboard side of the fuselage (not sure if the bottom of the "y" was supposed to go onto the wing, but there was no other place for it):

 

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That's it for now, back to finishing the decals. I've mixed up some Gunze paint through trial and error (unknown ratio of H86 Red Madder, aka Angry Red, plus H17 Cocoa Brown). I applied this near the wing tips where the decal had ripped as the decal solvent went to work. It looks like a very good match, so I'll use this to touch up the decals if necessary and paint the top of the vertical tail.

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

PS. My prayers and thoughts are with Dan Wheldon's family today. Such a horrible tragedy and a great loss. Dan was a true champion.

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I've mixed up some Gunze paint through trial and error (unknown ratio of H86 Red Madder, aka Angry Red, plus H17 Cocoa Brown). I applied this near the wing tips where the decal had ripped as the decal solvent went to work. It looks like a very good match, so I'll use this to touch up the decals if necessary and paint the top of the vertical tail.

Great job. Is the red not simply insignia red, readily available in the Model Master and Vallejo ranges? That would definitely make your life easier :)

Arnaud

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...Here's the shark teeth - looks like I'll need to bring the black paint on the cannon muzzle back a little further to meet the decal. I forgot that was usually the case.

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....Cheers,

Bill

PS. My prayers and thoughts are with Dan Wheldon's family today. Such a horrible tragedy and a great loss. Dan was a true champion.

You probably DON'T need to move the black back that far. Had you already found the images of that jet on this link -> F-4EJ Kai 07-8435 on 5057 Phantoms Site

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That is awesome. But please tell me you didnt have to put those stencils on one by one??

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arnobiz said:
Great job. Is the red not simply insignia red, readily available in the Model Master and Vallejo ranges? That would definitely make your life easier :)

Arnaud

Hi Arnaud,

 

Unfortunately no, the red on the decal is not quite the same as Insignia Red. There is just a touch of brown in it - which, quite frankly, is probably wrong. But it was easy to mix up a match (maybe 3-4 drops of the brown). Come to think of it, I have no idea what color the Japanese use for their national insignia. Does anyone know an FS or other designation? The red varies widely in other JASDF decal sheets that I have, which are all from Hasegawa.

 

Cheers,

Bill

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periklis_sale said:
It looks amazing mate!

Are the stencils individual ones?

How did you manage this glossiness?

 

Some of the stencils are individual, but a lot of them are grouped together, especially when they overlap the red, blue, and yellow design.

The white and black paint was semi-gloss out of the bottle, and I overcoated with Floquil Crystal-Cote prior to decaling. I think I will do a final overcoat of semi-gloss clear to get the correct scale effect when it's done.

 

martin77 said:
That is awesome. But please tell me you didnt have to put those stencils on one by one??

Only some of them! Wait until you see the underside, which I decaled last night. Yikes! Talk about a lot of stencils!

 

Cheers,

Bill

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John B said:
You probably DON'T need to move the black back that far. Had you already found the images of that jet on this link -> F-4EJ Kai 07-8435 on 5057 Phantoms Site

 

Thanks for that link! I had not seen those before, and yes you're right the black on the cannon muzzle does not meet up with the shark teeth. I see an error that I made elsewhere though - the red stripe that goes around the fuselage (I think this denotes the location of some compressor stage of the engine) is not right relative to these photos. I lined up the stripe to the panel lines on the model, according to the pictures that came with the decal sheet. But this was done before the special design was applied to the sides of the fuselage because it seemed to me that the line was under the design (but over the design on the top of the fuselage). Oh well, nothing can be done about that now!

 

Cheers,

Bill

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Hi mates,

 

Stencils? Did somebody say stencils? Yikes! The belly of the beast is literally covered with them.

 

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Next up I have to get the horizontal stabilizers and gear doors painted (and decaled). The we're on to the fiddly bits. Most of the pictures that I've seen of this aircraft show the inboard dual Sidewinder pylons, but with no missiles carried. The Sparrow bays are also empty. One shot I have shows it carrying two of the wing mounted drop tanks, but they are grey and heavily weathered. That would make an interesting contrast with the rest of the plane. What do you guys think? Should I add grey drop tanks or leave the bird clean?

 

Cheers,

Bill

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi mates,

 

I've made a little progress with the Phabulous Japanese Phantom, mainly with the 1:72 scale Aires resin ejection seats. Man, those buggers are small! After removing the seats from their resin base, I painted them according to the USAF F-4E pictures that I found on "The Ejection Site." Whether these are accurate for the JASDF, I don't know. I used Gunze H319 Light Green for the cushions, with a little bit of ModelMaster RAF Interior Green for the cover on top of the headrest. Not sure if you can see it in the photos, but the bottom seat cushions have stenciling, which was part of the decal sheet for this JASDF scheme. First time I've ever put a stencil on a seat cushion in 1:72 scale! The seat frames were painted Testors Flat Black, with a wash of dark grey. Can't say I'm happy with the wash, a light wash on a dark color just doesn't look natural to me.

 

I highlighted the linkage on the side of the seats with Testors Chrome Silver, Flat White, and Flat Yellow. The photoetch seat harnesses are included with the Aires F-4F cockpit set, and they are nicely malleable, making it easy to fold them into shape. They were painted H309 FS34079, with silver for the hardware. I did not do much with the launch rail on the back of the bang seats, since these will not be seen once the seats are installed. But the resin detail there is incredible! Face curtain handles are also photoetch, and the pictures don't do justice to how delicate they look. Here are a couple of shots:

 

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More updates soon, as the model is rapidly taking shape!

 

Cheers,

Bill

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Hi mates,

 

Lots of progress this weekend, and the missus doesn't go out of town until next weekend! Imagine how much work I'll get done then!

First, I gave the entire model two coats of Floquil Flat, which is not flat at all, but leaves a nice "egg shell" consistency. I did this after studying every picture I have of the real JASDF aircraft and concluding that it was not glossy. At best it appears semi-gloss in some pictures.

 

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Next, I finished the afterburner and exhaust nozzles with Gunze Mr. Metal Color Stainless Steel, and sealed with Floquil Crystal Cote. Then, I used a black wash to highlight the exhaust petals. I kind of wish I had gone for the Aires resin exhaust kits as they have a lot more detail. But for now, we'll glue these into the fuselage with white glue, so I can change them later if I want to.

 

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I then dipped the canopy parts in Future and let them dry overnight. The clear parts are the one let-down of this kit for me. The plastic has the look of those 200-year old window panes you see in some of the older buildings, clear, but rippled. The dip in Future helped a little, but the effect is still there. The canopy frames are very ill-defined. Regardless, I masked off the frames and began painting. From what I can tell from the pictures of the real bird, the front canopy was not repainted for the special anniversary scheme and remained grey. The rest were painted black.

 

I took your advice, and assembled the wing drop tanks, painted them FS36375 and used pastel chalks to weather them. They will make quite a contrast with the red, white, blue, and yellow of the fuselage!

 

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Then I had one of those "uh-oh" moments. When I sprayed the fuselage, I did not protect the cockpit. I now had an egg shell finish in the cockpit, and I'd rather have that flat. But if I mask it off and spray it flat, I could lift some of the decals on the front fuselage. Arghhh. Ah, what the heck let's give it a try. So here is my VERY careful masking around the cockpit, rather looks like it's in an operating theatre somewhere!

 

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Lucky for me, the flat went on great, and there was no damage when the masking tape was removed. Whew!

 

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I glued the drop tanks to each wing, and then started work on the canopy parts. The Aires resin cockpit set has some nice photoetch for the rear view mirrors, canopy lock frames, and some other intricate looking doo-dads that I have no idea what they're for. I'll leave you for today with a few more shots of the current status. Looks like we're heading into the main stretch!

 

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Cheers,

Bill

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Hi mates,

 

I've finally finished the beastie! Thanks for all of your help and encouragement along the way! You can see some photos at the Phinished Phantom Gallery (page 2 post 25). Here are some additional pictures of the finished build. Enjoy!

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

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OK, now back to boring grey on grey airplanes...

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Jabba said:
That really is the dogs whats its, well done.

 

"The dogs whats its" - I'm not completely up to date on my Anglophile Training (Chapter 17 "Slang"). Is this the same as the bee's knees? :D

 

Cheers,

Bill

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"The dogs whats its" - I'm not completely up to date on my Anglophile Training (Chapter 17 "Slang"). Is this the same as the bee's knees? :D

Cheers,

Bill

Stunning build Bill, so good in fact i have had to copy your entire thread to saved for future use with the revell phantom i have just acquired :)

Cheers, Stu

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Stunning build Bill, so good in fact i have had to copy your entire thread to saved for future use with the revell phantom i have just acquired :)

Cheers, Stu

You & me both! Didn't realise the Revell Phantom could be converted to such a fine looking EJ-Kai. I've always felt that the Revell kit had an under-sized canopy/windshield as well as too thin a nose. But Navy Bird's one came out looking Fantastic! Good work! I've save this thread for future reference.

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