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Marine F-4J Phantom - Decal time!


Durangokid

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I've been wanting to build this kit for years but I wasn't confident in my modeling skills to pull it off.  I really like the phantom so I hope I can do it some justice.

Here is my aftermarket list:

Avionix cockpit set

Eduard PE

Rhino exhausts 

Eduard Brassin wheels

Yellow Hammer triple trey VMFA-333 decals

Cam stencil decals

Daco uncovering the navy phantom

 

I've had this kit for years so the kit decals were totally yellowed.  I've heard about leaving them in the sun so I gave that a try and it surprisingly made a drastic difference.  The yellow hammer decals are an improvement but I'm not sure they are totally accurate.  

 

So here is what I have done with the cockpit.  These detailed aftermarket cockpits are a challenge for me since my hand painting skills aren't the greatest but they are slowly improving.pnjAXONgj

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I had to do some trimming on the rear wall so it would fit.  It's not really a problem since you can't see it once it's installed.

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The decals are so old that they disintegrate after getting them wet.  This is why I bought the Cam stencils.  I did spray them with a decal sealer so hopefully that will help since there are some decals from the kit sheet that I want to use

 

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Thanks for looking :D

 

 

 

 

Edited by Durangokid
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7 minutes ago, Jennings Heilig said:

HOW did you do that scuffing/wear & tear on the floorboard??!!???  That honest to god looks like a real F-4 floorboard!

 

Thanks Jennings that's nice to hear!  I used Mig heaving chipping fluid between coats.  I first painted alclad aluminum then hand brushed chipping fluid before painting the yellow part.  Even though I'm using Mr. Color lacquer, it will still chip as long as I don't use a heavy coat.  I sealed it with MRP clear before another coat of chipping fluid and the final cockpit color.  Just water and a stiff brush will work.  The only thing I noticed is that I had to go easy once the paint started to chip, otherwise it's easy to take off to much.

 

Hope that makes sense...

 

Bryan

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You are right about the Avionix pit Marcel.  Tons of work and dry fitting to make it work.  I would have rather had the Aires pit but I bought this one many years ago and couldn't justify spending the money.  Besides, I wanted to save that money for the weapons upgrades :D

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So I've got the intakes attached.  They fit well for being aftermarket, just had to do a lot of cutting and dry fitting.  I glued in the cockpit sidewalls after some serious dry fitting.  I'm not sure it was the best way to go but it was the best I could come up with.  

 

I also sanded off all the pesky raised panels and rescribed them.  That was a real pain but they just don't look realistic compared to photos I've seen.

 

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I like to work on my canopies early in the build since I still do the future dip.  It gives them a good amount of time to dry nice and solid.  I first sand them with micro mesh starting with grit 3200 and working my way up to 12000.  I finish them off with Tamiya polishing compounds before dipping them in Future.  In the past I would have problems with little specks in the future after it dried.  I tried everything thinking it was some kind of dust.  Turns out it wasn't dust at all, the future just wasn't completely adhering to the surface.  So I got a flat, soft brush and brushed the future on while dipping them.  That completely solved the problem.  I'm really happy with how they came out.

 

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On 12/25/2018 at 9:12 AM, themongoose said:

Loved the pit. Could you expand on how you got thhe individual marks insid the dials so crisp looking?

 

I'm terrible about explaining things and taking pics along the way.  I painted the IP grey then clear coated it with MRP clear.  The clear can't be acrylic with the way I do it.  I use Vallejo for the details and start by painting the dials black.  I tried hand painting the with detail inside the dials but that didn't turn out well at all so I ended up dry brushing them with white.  That really brought out the details but it also colored the outside of the dials white too but it was easy to repaint them black.

 

I clear coat the grey because it's easy to correct mistakes painting the details.  I just get a fine brush soaked with acrylic thinner and remove mistakes.  It's the best trick I have to help correct my mistakes, and there are plenty.

 

I forgot to mention that I use future inside the dials after everything is finished.  It takes about 6 coats so I'm going to try something new next time since the future shrinks so much and just doesn't look the part.

 

Let me know if that makes sense...

 

Bryan

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I've got the pit in.  I wish I would have taken photos of the sidewalls before I installed them since they are difficult to photograph now.  Speaking of photos, sorry for the poor quality.  I'm taking these with my phone since my good camera is down and my computer with photoshop is down also :(.  My camera should me good to go soon...hopefully.

 

It took some sanding, pre fitting and a bit of cussing to get the pit to fit.  It wasn't the worst fitting that I've had but it did take some work.  I did some work on the tail too.  No matter what I did I couldn't get it to go down without a gap.  I could have just glued it on and puttied the gap but I wanted to keep the tail removable.  After looking at Chuck's great F-4 kicked up a notch build, I stole his idea and attached evergreen strips to the base.  I first sanded off the moulded base before doing this.  This way it actually comes out more accurate after looking at photos of the real thing.  The tail was a bit wobbly so I added more strips to the attachment stub.  That worked out well and it's totally stable now.


 

 

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I drilled out the little port on the tail and sanded off the brace around the light

 

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I also spent a lot of time sanding down all the trailing edges.  The are crazy thick and this is one of those things that make a model look like a model and not the real thing.  It took time because I sand the entire area instead of just the edges.

 

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Thanks for the nice comments fellas...

 

Bryan

 

 

 

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