Durangokid Posted December 22, 2018 Share Posted December 22, 2018 (edited) 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. 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. 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 Thanks for looking Edited December 22, 2018 by Durangokid LSP_K2, Dragon, mark31 and 21 others 24 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROM Posted December 22, 2018 Share Posted December 22, 2018 Nice work! The cockpit painting is very sharp Durangokid 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted December 22, 2018 Share Posted December 22, 2018 Great job on the cockpit! Mike Durangokid 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted December 22, 2018 Share Posted December 22, 2018 Nice! Honesty, I think the radar screen and consoles/IPs look great. Looking forward to more progress! Durangokid 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durangokid Posted December 22, 2018 Author Share Posted December 22, 2018 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 Out2gtcha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMaben Posted December 23, 2018 Share Posted December 23, 2018 4 hours ago, Durangokid said: I wasn't confident in my modeling skills to pull it off. Seriously ?? Durangokid 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark31 Posted December 23, 2018 Share Posted December 23, 2018 great start on the pit looking forward to see more Mark Durangokid 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcel111 Posted December 23, 2018 Share Posted December 23, 2018 Cockpit looks great! That Avionix pit is a challenge, there are just so many tiny bits to keep on top of. Cheers, Marcel Durangokid 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durangokid Posted December 24, 2018 Author Share Posted December 24, 2018 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 Marcel111 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durangokid Posted December 24, 2018 Author Share Posted December 24, 2018 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. 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. LSP_K2, Fvdm, Seversky and 11 others 13 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durangokid Posted December 24, 2018 Author Share Posted December 24, 2018 A couple of panel line fixes. According to Daco's book these panel lines were for earlier versions. Whitey, Model_Monkey, blackbetty and 7 others 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbo59 Posted December 24, 2018 Share Posted December 24, 2018 i think your being to modest about your hand painting skills. I have a similar project in the stash so i will be following this thread with great interest. Great job! Durangokid 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themongoose Posted December 25, 2018 Share Posted December 25, 2018 Loved the pit. Could you expand on how you got thhe individual marks insid the dials so crisp looking? Durangokid 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durangokid Posted December 26, 2018 Author Share Posted December 26, 2018 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durangokid Posted December 27, 2018 Author Share Posted December 27, 2018 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. I drilled out the little port on the tail and sanded off the brace around the light 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. Thanks for the nice comments fellas... Bryan LSP_Kevin, Marcel111, Peter Gregor and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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