blackbetty Posted March 8, 2010 Share Posted March 8, 2010 This plane has been clogging up my workspace for...., well since 2006 it has an interresting story to it: this was one of the first kits i purchsed after resuming modeling after the 20year hiatus. i always wanted a vietnam aera phantom and especially liked those assymetic loadouts. this was before i knew of all the problems the kit has, the nose in particular, but it was cheap, so i started it, using eduard photoetch for the first time. besides being an archivist i also do exhibitions, like the state exhibition of lower austria in 2007, titled "fire and earth". in the exhibition room dealing with "fire and war" i dreamed of having a real napalm load trainer as exhibit (yeah, right), but had to settle for pics of napalm bombs. because the state is very strict on copright laws for pictures (they have learned their lessons from earlier exhibitions), they would only settle for someting with complete copyright, not being satisfied with internet freeware. here my F4 came into play: the thing wasnt finished at all, but i just threw on a quick (gunze) paintjob and applied decals (only to the starboard side), using napalm canisters from the trump F-105 kit and voilá: an F4 with napalm loadout. the pic in the exhibition looked like this: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackbetty Posted March 8, 2010 Author Share Posted March 8, 2010 a couple of years later, this was its sorry state, after a minor crash, the right MLG collapsed over time i had purchased a resin nose that should correct the mishappen kit part and fitted it, but it was still in primer i had experimented with various bombs for the loadout and seemingly lost a couple of parts (that i was able to find again now) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackbetty Posted March 8, 2010 Author Share Posted March 8, 2010 speaking of the loadout: i will use the MER and two TERs from the A-7 kit (i know they arent as good as tamiyas; but i had them) after a pic in the squadron F-4 book i will use these wapons: 2000lb bomb with fuse extender, TER with three 500lb bombs with fuse extenders, two sparrows in the aft recesses, a fletcher centerline tank, an ECM pod in the forward sparrow recess, a TER with two CBUs and a MER with six snakeeyes first i didnt find a 2000lb low drag bomb, only LGBs, so i settled for a CE 3000lb version with a six-foot fuse extender (to the right you can see that i tried to scratch a 2000lb bomb) i also wasnt particulary happy with all the 500lb bombs i found, they all have different shapes (revell old tool/new tool/trump/tamiya). i ended up using the bombs from the old revell F-15E, because there are lots of them in the kit and the shape is the same as tamiya. for the snakeeyes i fitted the trumpy fins to them the CBUs are made using parts of the trump A-10 kit (ugh) with a new front part and fins more to come, stay tuned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackbetty Posted March 9, 2010 Author Share Posted March 9, 2010 this is how the nose looks, definitely an improvement (sorry for the bad pic) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackbetty Posted March 9, 2010 Author Share Posted March 9, 2010 and with the paint repaired Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilB Posted March 9, 2010 Share Posted March 9, 2010 Nice to see her resurrected! Like the weapons load, fill her up!!!! Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackbetty Posted March 9, 2010 Author Share Posted March 9, 2010 thanx phil! the pit is mostly stock with some eduard PE - definitely not one of my best jobs. thats why i´m gonna close the canopy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackbetty Posted March 9, 2010 Author Share Posted March 9, 2010 the seats are pepped up with eduard too i found out they are too low, especially the rear one, thats why they have stacked sheet under them to raise them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackbetty Posted March 9, 2010 Author Share Posted March 9, 2010 the revell exhausts (on the right) are pretty bad, a lot too short and not much detail the aires cans are in the middle, the are too small in diameter left is the cam offering, good in detail and size Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackbetty Posted March 9, 2010 Author Share Posted March 9, 2010 for this build i will use the cam pipes with the revell fanblades (cut out, at left) and the revell burner ring Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackbetty Posted March 9, 2010 Author Share Posted March 9, 2010 they fit the cam parts precisely, just press them in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackbetty Posted March 9, 2010 Author Share Posted March 9, 2010 the complete assembly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackbetty Posted March 9, 2010 Author Share Posted March 9, 2010 the middle protrusion (whatever its called) on the revell part is a lot too small and pointy, judging by photos so i vacformed a bigger, rounder part that just snaps in. everything can still be taken apaqrt for painting speaking of references: jake melampys phantom book is a great help, as are the old detail&scale publications and the aerofax minigraph books Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackbetty Posted March 9, 2010 Author Share Posted March 9, 2010 i will use the twobobs "SEA heroes" decal sheet for this plane, the one with modex 551 i have a pic of it where the later gunmuzzle is fitted, but the rest is early: no slats, no rhaw on top of the fin criticism welcome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 Looking Good......Can't wait to see how this one turns out. Texas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts