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Marine F-4J Phantom - Decal time!


Durangokid

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I was going to add the tail parts after painting.  It looked like everything would line up at first glance but after dry fitting several more times, I decided against it.  My biggest worry was painting the metal areas with the stabs in place.  I was afraid to cut the stabs apart because I thought it would lead to alignment issues.  The more I looked at it made be believe I could cut it in a way that would make alignment possible, at least that's what I hoped.  

 

Here is what I did:

 

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Looks like this after cutting

 

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Had to do a few more adjustments so it would fit after the tail was attached...

 

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Needed to ad this shim so there wouldn't be a gap 

 

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When I started this project I told myself, "Self...don't go crazy with all the details and corrections".  Well here I am going crazy with all the corrections, at least the ones I could find.  I just can't seem to help myself!

 

Tail attached:

 

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Need to remove and add some panel lines according to the photos I've seen...

 

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Another thing I said I wouldn't bother fixing...

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I ended up using .13mm sheet styrene to make the covers.  I tried using thin metal but I just couldn't get it to work.  After I glued the vent covers in place, I sanded them down as thin as I could.  I might have sanded one of them too much!  The fix wasn't all that great but I think it looks better than it did before.  I also fixed a few more panel lines.  The black lines you see is the black superglue I use as filler.  I really like using it because it dries almost instantly with the use of accelerator so there is no waiting to sand.  Using the accelerator also makes it dry less hard making it easier to sand.  The color makes it east to see if the lines are filled.  Another nice thing about using superglue is you can rescribe through it better than most other fillers.  

 

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And finally the landing gear. 

 

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If I had to do it all over again I probably wouldn't have worried about the tie downs.  It was such a pain getting them off and them gluing the new ones back on.  I use styrene for the main gear leg tie downs but I might change them to metal.  I'm just not sure I like the look, I don't know why I didn't think of using metal initially.   Let me know what you guys think...

 

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I use .3mm styrene rod for my gear lines.  I could never get the hang of using metal for the lines.  The styrene is much easier for me to shape and glue.  I used to dread making and attaching lines to the landing gear but now I actually enjoy it :D

 

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Thanks for stopping by fellas and please don't hesitate to let me know if there is something I need to change or fix.  I especially welcome any help from Phantom experts.

 

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2 hours ago, Durangokid said:

Thanks guys!  On a side note, does anyone have a photo of the rear motor area of the Aim-7E2 sparrow?  I searched but can't seem to find one.  I did find some on the inert sparrows, is it the same?

 

Bryan

 

Not sure if it's an Aim-7E2, but here's the back-end of an Aim-7.

 

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Found here

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  • Durangokid changed the title to Marine F-4J Phantom - Shelf of Doom???

So I'm moving along just great on my phantom when I knocked it off the desk onto the floor.  Not just any fall but a hard disasterous fall!  It broke both wing tips off, broke the nice seal from the wing to fuselage, broke the HUD off and the seam to one of the exhausts busted open.  This came the day after I dropped the canopy frame on the floor.  No big deal except when I moved my chair back and rolled over it with the chair wheels!  So this thing was destined to the shelf of doom but I'm one of those that can't just let if go.  I have a few unfinished models but only because I got bored with them.  So I took a break for a few days and decided to get back to it.  

 

I had a hard time deciding if I should display the wings extended or folded so since I had to start over, I decided to fold them.  This is taking a lot of work to clean up the parts and remove the evergreen strips I added on to get the correct wing angle.  The wing fold mechanism broke into several pieces on one of the wing tips so that is proving a challenge to fix.  I got the HUD glued back on but the join just doesn't look as clean.  

 

I had to separate the wing to fuselage join to clean it out.  I used superglue last time which I think may have caused it to separate on impact.  This time I used extra thin cement and the join seems fairly strong.  I just need to re-fill the small gap with surfacer.  

 

Here is some work that I had done before the disaster:

 

The little intakes near the nose are too long.  They are even with the nose which isn't the case with the photos I've seen.  I cut off about 2mm but I probably should have taken off 3mm.  At least it's better than it was.

 

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These don't have a hard line where they attach to the fuselage, they have a blended look.  There is also an AOA that goes in this panel for the Naval version phantom.

 

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Not sure how this happened but the splitter plate was in the way of the sparrows.  The only option I had was to sand them down a bit.  I also thinned the little intake part to the splitter. 

 

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Oh and thanks for the photos of the rocket part of the sparrows guys!

 

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Hopefully things go a bit smooth from here, this model is fighting me every step of the way.  I'm gonna have to build another corsair just to get my mojo back haha.  Thanks for stopping by fellas...

 

Bryan

 

 

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