? re Tamiyas F-4C/D raised panels

[eaglekeeper]

On 2/16/2020 at 7:58 AM, Lothar said:

I had a closer look at the fuselage of the kit I required recently and found that there are a lot

of raised panels all over the airframe. I have my doubts those are correct for a regular flying

example. Are those eventually repair patches replicated from a damaged airframe? Would be

a pitty since it's certainly not very entertaining to remove them.

 

Lothar

The aircraft used for the measuring of the aircraft were ex ABDR birds, the raised areas in question were from repair patches on those aircraft. ABDR ( Aircraft Battle Damage Repair)

[Tony T]

8 hours ago, eaglekeeper said:

The aircraft used for the measuring of the aircraft were ex ABDR birds, the raised areas in question were from repair patches on those aircraft. ABDR ( Aircraft Battle Damage Repair)

 

The BDR thing is a myth. Most of the raised areas on the Tamiya are actual panels but should be flush. 

 

Operational aircraft did have repair or demodification patches whilst in service, long before any were converted to drones or used as static BDR airframes. These flying patches tended to be quite thin, maybe 5-10 thou thick in 1/32 scale, or thin-to-medium printer paper thickness.

 

It's a shame Tamiya won't revisit the F-4s to give us properly proportioned jet nozzles, better intakes, a late production E/F and an RF-4.

 

Tony 

 

 

[thierry laurent]

Imagine a Tamiya Phantom made with the same level of quality than their F-16...

I know I shouldn't write that as this is not going to happen during my lifetime...! 

[jmel]

1 hour ago, Tony T said:

 

The BDR thing is a myth. Most of the raised areas on the Tamiya are actual panels but should be flush. 

 

 

Exactly

[Lothar]

1 minute ago, jmel said:

Exactly

 

BTW, your decals from SB arrived already 

Lothar

[Dave Williams]

Regardless of whether they are BDR patches or not, those raised panels shouldn’t be there and should be sanded down.

[Tony T]

37 minutes ago, Dave Williams said:

Regardless of whether they are BDR patches or not, those raised panels shouldn’t be there and should be sanded down.

 

It's not a regardless: most of those panels need to be inscribed, not simply obliterated. 

 

We haven't heard a peep from Tan Model so, like Thierry, I fear the 1990s Tamiya kits may be the last word on 1/32 J79-powered Phantoms — although there is talk that Zoukei Mura may do them. 

 

Tony 

 

[Chek]

I wonder how many metric tonnes of of plastic has been sanded to dust removing those applique monstrosities?

[Gazzas]

I spent a short time with an RF4-B Squadron.  Climbed all over the plane.  No raised panels!  Very clean!  All flush access panels were opened with a hexagon head driver.

[ringleheim]

10 hours ago, Tony T said:

 

The BDR thing is a myth. Most of the raised areas on the Tamiya are actual panels but should be flush. 

 

Operational aircraft did have repair or demodification patches whilst in service, long before any were converted to drones or used as static BDR airframes. These flying patches tended to be quite thin, maybe 5-10 thou thick in 1/32 scale, or thin-to-medium printer paper thickness.

 

It's a shame Tamiya won't revisit the F-4s to give us properly proportioned jet nozzles, better intakes, a late production E/F and an RF-4.

 

Tony 

 

 

That would be an interesting project for Tamiya, and I think a lot of modelers would be really happy to buy the finished product.

 

A "re-visiting" of the original 1/32 molds and kits and freshening things up where they can be with minimum cost for maximum impact.  Maybe throw in a F/E fret, freshen the molds, include a few new parts that are more accurate, etc.

 

Tamiya has sort of done this over the years with their old 1/12 Formula One car kits.  At least in terms of adding a modern P/E fret to a kit that never originally had one, and re-doing the decal sheets.  

[Dave Williams]

13 minutes ago, ringleheim said:

That would be an interesting project for Tamiya, and I think a lot of modelers would be really happy to buy the finished product.

 

A "re-visiting" of the original 1/32 molds and kits and freshening things up where they can be with minimum cost for maximum impact.  Maybe throw in a F/E fret, freshen the molds, include a few new parts that are more accurate, etc.

 

Tamiya has sort of done this over the years with their old 1/12 Formula One car kits.  At least in terms of adding a modern P/E fret to a kit that never originally had one, and re-doing the decal sheets.  

But they really haven’t changed any of the tooling of the old F1 kits.  Added some PE and new decals, but still same vintage, unmodified plastic.  Look at how long they kept pumping out the old F-14 kit.  Some new sprues with new weapons and details, but still the same half raised/ half recessed exterior and decal cockpit.

[ringleheim]

4 minutes ago, Dave Williams said:

But they really haven’t changed any of the tooling of the old F1 kits.  Added some PE and new decals, but still same vintage, unmodified plastic.  Look at how long they kept pumping out the old F-14 kit.  Some new sprues with new weapons and details, but still the same half raised/ half recessed exterior and decal cockpit.

You take what you can get with Tamiya.  They do whatever they feel like, and obviously 1/32 aircraft isn't a big cash cow for them.  If it was, they would make more.

 

 

[thierry laurent]

Exactly! This is why whereas I have nearly all the LSP Tamiya kits, I'm not waiting for anything from them. Any new kit is just a gift! 

[Ben Brown]

I’m still surprised they never issued a slatted version of the F-4E. Of course that would have required a complete new wing and some other bits. 

 

Ben

[Chek]

What's odd is that considering the finesse of their recent 1/48 scale kits, all their 1/32 range is looking decidedly aged and clunky.