F-4C Wild Weasel "Brain Damaged". - Rebooted!

[ghatherly]

I am finally making time to build again and this has been my project for the last year.  With our move and GTR being keeping me so busy I had neither the time nor the place to set up a photo area.  Here are some pics of the finishing of the project with the Paint, Decals, Canopy frames, Landing gear, weapons, and final assembly

 

Items used:

 

Tamiya F-4C/D kit

GT Resin  C-Weasel Limited Edition Super Set

Brassie Wheels/Tires

Aeroscale Modern US Jet instrument Decals and Cockpit Placard Decals -  Love these Sets!!!!!!!

Eduard F-4C Interior set, F-4C/D Exterior Set

ARIES  F-4S PE Parts for canopy frame and cockpit

Left over. Speed Hunter Stencils form F-4C. ANG Build.

GT Resin/Quirky Designed/Fantasy Printed Airframe Decals from Super Set

GTR  F-4 J-79 Seamless Intakes with Thierry Laurent's Mastered splitter plates

 

Strike Camera Installation Pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weasel ECM antennas and sensors:

 

 

 

Edited November 13, 2016 by ghatherly

[BloorwestSiR]

Looks great so far Gary.

 

It must be nice being able to finally take a break and get to use some of your great products on a build.

 

Carl

[ghatherly]

Looks great so far Gary.

 

It must be nice being able to finally take a break and get to use some of your great products on a build.

 

Carl

 

Hey Carl,

 

Thanks for the kind words.   IT really is.   I realized when Marcel had difficulty understanding my instructions that  needed to spend more time building and showing how to install the items,  as my instruction writing skills are not very good at all.   What happened there was my fault as it is my job it I am going to build the sets for your folks to make sure they can be used.  That was one our founding goals but it took that for me to realize I was dropping the ball in that respect.....  Sooooooo......I will try to do some build threads for our large complicated sets, and some short instructional threads over on our forum to supplement my poor instructions.   Fortunately,   modelers are great with looking at a picture and figuring things out, so look for lots of pictures and just enough commentary so as not to screw things up.

 

Have great day!

[Guest]

Looks fantastic! And yes, you need to build more.....Harv

[Zero77]

Great to see you back to building Gary !

But there is a huge step between picture #2 and picture #3 !

 

The wheel bays looks awesome ! Are they resin add-ons or only scratch built detailing?

Edited May 23, 2016 by Zero77

[Guest Peterpools]

Hi Gary

Your F4 sure is looking good. Glad to see you back at the bench

Keep 'em coming

Peter

[ghatherly]

hey Peter & Harvey,  thanks for the kind words.  Glad to be back modeling!

Great to see you back to building Gary !

But there is a huge step between picture #2 and picture #3 !

 

The wheel bays looks awesome ! Are they resin add-ons or only scratch built detailing?

 

here are some pics on the wheel wells.

 

For the front i just sharpened up the molded detail by scribing around the details and the steering rod/bellcrank.  This gives them a more rounded look and it separates them from the walls they are attached to making the details stand out.  I use PE from Eduard for the rear wall details and lead wire for the lines.  The unattached ends will go somewhere when the bay is finished and the gear installed.

 

 

 

The main gear wells, are more work.  To keep the legs strong I left the kit attachments in place, but carved around them and adde pivot rods to simulate the real pivot shaft.  Once the gear leg is installed i will seal the seam with CA glue and clean up the area and TU paint.   The side walls had the details removed and I added back detail to mach the actual wall details, added the lines and the shield along the back wall.   I removed the kit beam detail and replaced them with resin copies of beams I made.  ( no plans to sell these ).   Still have to add the decals, detail paint, and wire/plumb the bays.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 24, 2016 by ghatherly

[ghatherly]

Finished up painting the body and details of Fin and the seats today.  

 

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MK 7 MB Seats:   Thes are made from a variety of parts and some scratch building.  

 

 

 

And the results of the CA Debonder disaster!

 

 

 

 

So much for having done for ScottCon in two weeks!  

 

Have a great Holiday and remember why we celebrate it.

 

Gary

Edited May 30, 2016 by ghatherly

[Chek]

Oh no! That must have been a devastating moment Gary, after it was all coming along so well.

 

But despair not - I was just reading a couple of days ago about how Michael dropped ,his WNW Bristol fighter, but was able to not only recover the situation

but go on to take a second place at the show he was aiming for. 

 

http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=62713

 

Btw can you tell me what paints you're using?

Those are one of the better shades of USAF tan and medium green I've seen.

[F`s are my favs]

The painting really looks awesome in the previous photos... why you used CA debonder? Unwanted spill perhaps? I would try to restore the rivets and the panel lines and redo the painting, because it is worth it. This plane is the beast of the beasts. The classic of the classics.  

[ghatherly]

Thanks guys, but it is an easy save as far as the paint part.  no loss of detail,  just a week of stripping, reprising, and repainting.  Ca debonder was from the bottle tipping over and the spray splashed on the paint.  just a few drops, but that is all it takes.  Easier to start over than to repair.

 

For paint I use MM acrylics thinned with Tamiya Lacquer thinner.   I start with the FS Number colors and adjust from there to my visual taste.   I use very thin coats and adjust the color of each coat,

[ghatherly]

Hi, 

 

Been working on this for a while.   I ended up starting over as a shelf came off of the wall the week after the last update and busted the plastic apart beyond a repair.   Now it is used for  paint testing.      Will post pictures shortly.

[ghatherly]

New Cockpit tub .

 

 

 

 

Here is the PE locking details with the pushrods added and installed prior to painting:

 

 

 

Slime light Installation.   I mount the frames but leave the light bar out until after decal installation.

 

[ghatherly]

One benefit I have is that the engines, seats, landing gear, and other parts already completed wee not damaged and can be used on the reboot.    Juming ahead to some paint pictures.

 

Resin intake installation along with side slime light.   Make sure to clean resin parts with lacquer thinner or Tamiya parts cleaner to remove all mold release from resin parts.   I even forget and is makes for paint that never dries!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Here are pictures of the initial painting of the base coats for the 4 base colors of the SEA camo scheme.   I use multiple thin coats over de-canned Tamiya gray spray primer.  I sand with 2000 paper between the coats making sure to thoroughly clean out the surface details.

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

Nice to see you back at it Gary ! Also great to see you actually building.....Harv