karimb Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 (edited) Hi everyone... First of all let me apologize for not being active on the forums as of late... some of you know this is due to the move out of my country for a new job. This model was the last one i built before moving out, and i got it completed one day before i actually got on the plane to fly out I managed to take some half decent pictures of the completed Phantom on my 5 day stint back home lol not long ago... The quality of the images is not great, i didnt really have time to set up a proper photo booth for the shots, so i hope you guys will like it. Ill give below a quick intro on 'showtime 100' and its crew (Wikipedia) "On 10 May 1972, Lieutenant Randy "Duke" Cunningham and Lieutenant (junior grade) William P. Driscoll flying an F-4J, call sign "Showtime 100", shot down three MiG-17s to become the first American flying aces of the war. Their fifth victory was believed at the time to be over a mysterious North Vietnamese ace, Colonel Nguyen Toon, now considered mythical. On the return flight, the Phantom was damaged by an enemy surface-to-air missile. To avoid being captured, Cunningham and Driscoll flew their burning aircraft using only the rudder and afterburner (the damage to the aircraft rendered conventional control nearly impossible), until they could eject over water" Now regarding the model kit, it is based on the Tamiya 1/32 F4J with the necessary modifications in order to produce an accurate depiction of this specific aircraft on the 10th of May. To be honest i will try to recall the most i can from what mods i did and what products i have used while actually building the model 6 months ago, and try to recall the little problems and issues that came with it, i will also post at the bottom of the post a link to the actual work in progress if anyone wants the possibility of going through it in order to maybe get some inspiration, or just some trick on how to solve some of the issues (there are a couple in the kit :hmmm:lol) The kit is the Tamiya offering of the F4J Phantom II which comes with marines and navy liveries. I have also used for the kit the Eduard BigEd set for the F4J (part 3221), Brassin MB Mk7 resin seats (part632002), Resin wheels (which i lost and still havent found so they are not on the kit lol) and quite a few scratchbuilt items... Regarding references, i have used Squadron F-4 Phantom II in action, Verlinden lock on n8, Squadron F4E Phantom II walkaround 45, In Detail and Scale F4 Phantom II and Osprey's Modelling the F4 Phantom II Now if i can remember well, i had massive issues with the intakes, which i had to hack and completely rebuild modified in order to get a seamless intake area as there is a huge 'step' when the parts are set together. I have detailed the surgical procedure in the work in progress thread. Also of note, the embossed panels all over the fuselage which i had to sand down and rescribe to get a smooth surface finish Another issue i remember concerning the kit, is the angle at which the outer wing sections connect to the main wings. The angle is too steep, i forgot the exact figures of what the angle should be at the mo but i tried to modify the structure by scratchbuilding a working mechanism to be able to raise and lower the wings like on the actual navy aircraft (you have the 'inside' sections molded looks like tamiya toyed with the idea but the instructions only specify the kit with the wings extended) but at the end of the day i decided to drop the idea of movable wings and just went with the wings extended, albeit at the incorrect angle I added scratchbuilt items to the cockpit in order to replicate the oxygen hosing and some little items... Over all the fit of the kit is very good for a model thats relatively old, and i found almost no flash on the big main parts, some on the smaller intricate ones. It also was my first time working with resin which i found to be really nice The seats came with no warping and overall i will definitely consider using the Brassin product on the next modeling run i will do... Paints used were tamiya acrylics, For the metallics i used my favorite go to products, GSI Mr Metal Colour (the buffable paint line) and GSI's Mr Super metallic (non buffable)... For weathering the kit, i used almost all of my bag of tricks lol The aircraft is weathered with the salt technique, hairspray chipping and colour modulation and fading... Further weathering was made with oils, washes and pigments... All the aircraft stenciling was airbrushed on rather than decaled (except for the stars and bars and the main decals) The walkways were also painted on rather than using the decals (the tamiya decals are on the thick side) Decal wise, i found that the tamiya decals conformed well to the surfaces after using multiple applications of 'mr mark setter' and 'mr mark softer', on the downside some of the decals went a bit brittle... The kit took 15 or 16 days working non stop to complete before my flying out deadline (Hence the title of the work in progress Rhino, my goodbye build) I would like to thank everyone for all the support and encouragement i received during the work in progress. Its always such a pleasure to have everyone tag along for a build and this one was dedicated to all of you out there ! I have been trawling around Qatar and the internet trying to find a scale hobby shop to no avail, and presently i dont think moving my whole workshop to Doha would be a sane or sensible idea Now for us to look forward to something lol I have part of my annual leave coming up and i will be off from the 8th of June until the 25th of June, and yes i will be going back home, and yes i will getting my hands on styrene, and again another yes, i will be doing a work in progress woooohoooo Now the only issue is i still havent figured out what model to work on yet, i dont want to work on something that will take up 15 hours a day of the whole time i will be home (i also have a life outside work and modeling, albeit not very exciting lol.... most important is for me to be able to spend time with my daughter which i have seen overall 10 days in the past almost 6 months only) The list of potential candidates is the Trumpy A6A with the full Eduard extras (which i think is a very remote choice as i have a BIG long term plan for that one), The trumpy swordfish mk2 with no additions, Tamiya A6m5 with the BigEd kit thrown in, and some more stuff... the stash is up to the ceiling of the room lol... Im really looking forward to our work in progress together everyone and again sorry for not having had alot of time to be an active part of our lovely community I wish everyone all the best Stay safe and happy modeling Karim Press the LINK for the work in progress thread ! Edited May 18, 2015 by karimb Harold and Girlscanplay2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karimb Posted May 18, 2015 Author Share Posted May 18, 2015 ghatherly, Girlscanplay2, Lud13 and 11 others 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karimb Posted May 18, 2015 Author Share Posted May 18, 2015 Girlscanplay2, Totalize, florin13 and 13 others 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karimb Posted May 18, 2015 Author Share Posted May 18, 2015 One Last thing i forgot to mention The brake chute in the back was scratchbuilt using the ends of chopsticks and foil paper The IFR probe was my first attempt at foiling. i used very thin self adhesive foil paper, a blunted toothpick and cotton ear buds in order to remove the creasing and let the details pop out... thanks again for watching guys... Any and all comments are as always more than welcome!! Karim BiggTim, Girlscanplay2, CODY and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 Nice Phantom looks really great. It might just be the pics but the gull grey looks a bit bluish. Great job though. Never enough Phantoms... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HL-10 Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 That is a stunning F-4! Beautifully built, painted and weathered! Great work really impressive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 Wow, that's awesome Karim! Beautiful build. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Lund Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 Beautiful beautiful work on this one !! What's the story about the Eggert/Fearless names on the canopy rather than Cunningham/Driscoll ? Out2gtcha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peterpools Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 Karim One gorgeous Phantom - simply a fantastic build. I have two F4's in the stash for this coming winter's projects: a F4J to be converted into an F4B and a F4C which will be built as Col Robin's mount. Both Phantoms have full sets of GT Resin parts waiting for when the snow falls later this year. Great seeing your Toon and hearing from you again was surely a treat and i can't wait to see you dig into you next build. Spending time with your daughter is paramount and modeling takes a distant second. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Ray Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 Wow, Karim, that is a beautiful looking bird! Great job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod Bettencourt Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 Really nice work sir. Thanks for sharing. Rod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BiggTim Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 Nicely done, sir! My favorite jet ever!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totalize Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 Wow! sensational build. I have always thought the Showtime 100 was a navy light grey in colour perhaps the blueish grey is more correct for this a/c? not sure. My understanding of the different names is that Driscoll and Cunningham had to launch with another pilot/RIO's aircraft after theirs developed mechanical issues. Perhaps Karim can elaborate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SinuheH Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 Great work, Karim - thanks for sharing - and good luck with your new position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Cross Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 Really nice Double Ugly. karimb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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