I took the plunge Tamiya F-4J Marine

[BrokenTail]

Friends,

 

With the help of my Wife, I took the plung and bought the Tamiya F-4J Phantom, Marine. I want to build the mud mover. The BDR patches, does any one have a good way of removing them. Is there a picture any of you have where they are all located and what the panel lines and rivet pattern should be when removed. This is one of my first big planes, like all, I want it to be right ... for me.

 

Are there any pitfalls I should know about other then the intakes? Are the intakes 'fixable' other then covers? I want the visable and clean look.

 

Thanks all,

Steve

[jbrundt]

Friends,

 

With the help of my Wife, I took the plung and bought the Tamiya F-4J Phantom, Marine. I want to build the mud mover. The BDR patches, does any one have a good way of removing them. Is there a picture any of you have where they are all located and what the panel lines and rivet pattern should be when removed. This is one of my first big planes, like all, I want it to be right ... for me.

 

Are there any pitfalls I should know about other then the intakes? Are the intakes 'fixable' other then covers? I want the visable and clean look.

 

Thanks all,

Steve

 

 

FWIW I left the BDR scab patches on mine. They really aren't that noticeable. A micro chiseler from Mission models is a good tool to use for removing them: http://misc.kitreview.com/tools/microchiselreviewbg_1.htm

 

The other tricky place is the horizontal stabs. It can be a pain to paint the titanium section with them in place. I modified mine so I could attach them after painting and assembly. The outer wing panels are also the wrong angle. They should be 12.5 degrees. Make a cardboard angle template to use when attaching them.

 

The cockpit really benefits from aftermarket seats. Legend makes a set, as well as Black Box. There are others available also....

 

I used the Cutting Edge seamless intakes on mine but you can also get Seamless Suckers intakes that work well.

 

There is an article on LSP that details the issues with the Tamiya F-4J: http://www.largescaleplanes.com/Marketplace/Tweaks/F-4J.html

 

Investment in an Eduard PE set for this model is a good thing.

 

Here's a link to my build article here on LSP for the Tamiya F-4J.

 

Jeff

[Ben Brown]

Use DMold's intakes. Seamless Suckers are just about impossible to find. It's probably easier to install a new set of resin intakes than it would be to fix the kit ones. If you don't want to go that route, Harold, of AMS Resin, makes some intake covers that you just drop in.

 

Like Jeff says, it's a lot easier to clean up the seams around the keel between the engines and paint the natural metal areas if you cut the stabilators away from their pivot mechanism and install them later. You'll lose the pivoting function, but I've found that having moveable parts on a model encourages people to try moving other, non-moveable parts. Be sure you leave the semi-circlular bits attached to the stabs when you cut.

 

CAM and Aires make some afterburner nozzles that are the correct size. Tamiya's are too small. Don't bother spending a boatload of money on some out of production Cutting Edge nozzles. They're too small, too.

 

Cheers!

 

Ben

[hornet78]

I;'m currently building the E model, it toohas the patches. What I did to remove the patches was to use and emory board wiht some water. Use a corse grit and work your way down. I wouldn't recommend the chissel since you might gouge the plastic and go to deep resulting in a needed repair job. I would whole heartly recommend the D-Mold intakes. And the CAM burner cans if you can find them. I havn't tried yet but Ihave heard they are the best fitting of the bunch between Aires,CE and the kit ones which allready mentioned are way to small.

 

 

FWIW

Jim

[LSP_Matt]

For any stuff like that I use the sanding sticks and sponges that MasterCasters sells. They're a simple but extraordinarily useful addition to my sanding armamentarium. With the right sponges sanding those pesky seam lines on a cockpit canopy (e.g. F15,16 etc) is about a decent minutes work and the finish is perfect.

 

I have a Legends cockpit and it looks great. I have heard though that its not a great fit. Anyone else find similar??

 

Cheers Matty

[Rob Colvin]

look close some of those panels are on the plane.... and not BDRs. Tamiya just made some of the panels a little thinker than they shoud have. I had James at Nautilus Models draw the patches that were panels and cut them out of super sticky vinyl. He still has them in stock. It includes the underwing brace for the S/ late E/G. I sanded some of the kit ones off and used the "stickers ". I sanded off and rescribed the RAT door. 3 of the "stckers" are in this shot.

 

[Mark B.]

For any stuff like that I use the sanding sticks and sponges that MasterCasters sells. They're a simple but extraordinarily useful addition to my sanding armamentarium. With the right sponges sanding those pesky seam lines on a cockpit canopy (e.g. F15,16 etc) is about a decent minutes work and the finish is perfect.

 

I have a Legends cockpit and it looks great. I have heard though that its not a great fit. Anyone else find similar??

 

Cheers Matty

 

Hi Matty,

 

Check here Old LSP Build. As you can see by the dates I started this build back in November of ought-six (Nov 2006).

 

I contacted Lee Kolosna, he did a bang up job on the Revel F-4E and had a good article over on Modeling Madness (click here), and he told me he had similar issues plus the Legends set has no positive location for the forward canopy's actuating arm. I decided not to use the Legends tub but to use the side panels. I found that I could make them fit into the revel fuselage with just a small gap if I sanded down the top rail detail on the resin parts until they were the same thickness as the rest of the piece. Then I used the PE rails and seals from the Pat Watson RF-4C set to hide the gap.

 

HTH

Mark B.

 

14/07/09 Edited for spelling

[LSP_Matt]

Ah mate,

 

awesome. Thanks for that.

[jim.mucka]

All,

 

I have the Cutting Edge seamless intakes for my build but was a little disappointed with their cross-section after cleaning them up. Does anyone know if the D-Mold Seamless intakes are based on the same master as the Cutting Edge product or a new master?

 

Jim

[Av8fan]

I remembered reading this on ARC.

 

Seems that this store may have a good selection

 

CRM Hobbies in St. Louis. crm@inlink.com

 

crm hobbies

 

Best of luck.

 

Looking forward to the build.

[Barry]

All,

 

I have the Cutting Edge seamless intakes for my build but was a little disappointed with their cross-section after cleaning them up. Does anyone know if the D-Mold Seamless intakes are based on the same master as the Cutting Edge product or a new master?

 

Jim

Jim,

D-Mold did the master for the Cutting Edge #32183. As far as I have heard they are the exact same casting.

Do you have the Cutting Edger set #32183 with the intake trunk cast into the intake?

Cutting Edge did a set earlier #32030 that were just the intake itself.

 

Barry

[DaveJ]

Jim,

D-Mold did the master for the Cutting Edge #32183. As far as I have heard they are the exact same casting.

Do you have the Cutting Edger set #32183 with the intake trunk cast into the intake?

Cutting Edge did a set earlier #32030 that were just the intake itself.

 

Barry

 

I had heard the very same about the D-Mold being the exact same as the CE intakes, but having used a set of the CE intakes and now owning several of the D-molds I think that at the very least the new ones have been 'cleaned up' somewhat. The CE ones were great, mind you, but the new ones seem to have crisper and finer details. May just be the resin being used....

[jim.mucka]

Barry,

 

I have both of the CE sets you referenced. The CE #32030 intake is cast in grey resin and provides a perfect fit. The vents are as well defined as the Tamiya original.

 

The CE #32183 intake with trunks are cast in white resin. This white resin seems to have a little more shrinkage and the vents are less defined. Admittedly, this is very minor but I can see a difference.

 

Since my first reply, I have found out that Dimitri at DMold did in fact create new masters for the DMold intakes. This may account for Dave's observation about the DMold casting being crisper or DMold may just be using a better white-colored resin. Either way, based on the information I have gathered and the comments provided here I think I am going to get a set of the DMold intakes.

 

Jim

[fmitche]

look close some of those panels are on the plane.... and not BDRs. Tamiya just made some of the panels a little thinker than they shoud have. I had James at Nautilus Models draw the patches that were panels and cut them out of super sticky vinyl. He still has them in stock. It includes the underwing brace for the S/ late E/G. I sanded some of the kit ones off and used the "stickers ". I sanded off and rescribed the RAT door. 3 of the "stckers" are in this shot.

 

 

Looks as good close up as it does on a shelf---

[Barry]

Since my first reply, I have found out that Dimitri at DMold did in fact create new masters for the DMold intakes. This may account for Dave's observation about the DMold casting being crisper or DMold may just be using a better white-colored resin. Either way, based on the information I have gathered and the comments provided here I think I am going to get a set of the DMold intakes.

 

Jim

Thanks for that info. good to know.

 

Barry