RAF FG.1 XV571 WILD HARE Phantom Conversion

[Anthony in NZ]

3 minutes ago, AlbertD said:

It looks like it all fits up really well.

Thanks Al, yes it's pretty good for a first test fit, but looking at it I am going to definitely need your piece to arrive. There is something funky going on when you combine the resin and Tamiya kit.  There seems to be some sort of twist and size differences.  I am thankful for using the complete (well mostly) lower wing and what I can of the Tamiya kit as it is helping keep all my datums correct...just

[Starfighter]

On 9/26/2020 at 11:11 AM, jimbo59 said:

I think what impresses me most is how neat and clean your work is.

 

That's what I say each and every time as well... Impressive is the right word! Keep the pics coming, Anthony! 

 

BTW, your thread has inspired me to get my QF-4S conversion off the shelf of doom again. Time to finish that old stuff! 

[Derek B]

On 9/26/2020 at 8:53 PM, Anthony in NZ said:

Thanks John, I have developed a 'Do or die' attitude with this.  I have got to the point where I wont let anything get in my way LOL!

 

Great build Anthony, I am really enjoying watching it proceed; my basic mantra is that there is almost nothing on a model that cannot be improved, modified or replaced with the use of plastic card and Milliput (or any other brand of epoxy filler), which is another way of saying that nothing will (or should) stop you.

 

keep on truckin'!

 

Derek

Edited September 28, 2020 by Derek B

[jimbo59]

2 hours ago, Starfighter said:

 

That's what I say each and every time as well... Impressive is the right word! Keep the pics coming, Anthony! 

 

BTW, your thread has inspired me to get my QF-4S conversion off the shelf of doom again. Time to finish that old stuff! 

I agree. I’ve resumed work my F-4N conversion.

[spyrosjzmichos]

The heat shield and horizontal stabilisers were the worst parts of the kit in my opinion...

But I'm sure you'll end up with a cleanly built section once again! 

[Anthony in NZ]

10 hours ago, Starfighter said:

 

That's what I say each and every time as well... Impressive is the right word! Keep the pics coming, Anthony! 

 

BTW, your thread has inspired me to get my QF-4S conversion off the shelf of doom again. Time to finish that old stuff! 

Thanks again Ben, sure means a LOT!  Best of all the QF-4S is going to get some attention, that's brilliant!

 

9 hours ago, Derek B said:

 

Great build anthony, I am really enjoying watching it proceed; my basic mantra is that there is almost nothing on a model that cannot be improved, modified or replaced with the use of plastic card and Milliput (or any other brand of epoxy filler), which is another way of saying that nothing will (or should) stop you.

 

keep on truckin'!

 

Derek

Thanks Derek, your help and knowledge on the Brit Phantom sure has been invaluable!  And I agree, nothing that cant be overcome with plastic card and filler.  Although I think 3D printing will be needed for the reheat cans....  Thanks Derek, I am keeping on truckin buddy!

 

7 hours ago, jimbo59 said:

I agree. I’ve resumed work my F-4N conversion.

That's what makes me most happy, if it stimulates work on another kit...Love the 'N' they carried some of the most beautiful schemes!

 

38 minutes ago, spyrosjzmichos said:

The heat shield and horizontal stabilisers were the worst parts of the kit in my opinion...

But I'm sure you'll end up with a cleanly built section once again! 

 

Yes mate I agree, I have been reading through a few builds and it seems this is a common problem with this kit, I was thinking I had screwed something up!  BTW I have been saving some pics of your EJ build as I liked your approach to several areas.

 

Cheers guys, and thanks!

Anthony

[Marcel111]

Wow that is just beautiful work! Almost a pity to cover it with paint 

 

Cheers,

Marcel

[chuck540z3]

Great pictorial story Anthony, which shows the problems, your solutions and your excellent modeling skills to pull it all off.  Super job!

 

Cheers,

Chuck

[Anthony in NZ]

13 hours ago, Marcel111 said:

Wow that is just beautiful work! Almost a pity to cover it with paint 

 

Cheers,

Marcel

Thanks Marcel, your words mean a lot.  In a strange way, seeing all the structure underneath with my 'Chuck Wash' is interesting isnt it.  Although I am looking forward to paint.  I thought when I started this I would have had the cockpit finished and the lower wing on....nothing like a few hurdles to slow you down aye?

 

7 hours ago, chuck540z3 said:

Great pictorial story Anthony, which shows the problems, your solutions and your excellent modeling skills to pull it all off.  Super job!

 

Cheers,

Chuck

That's a real compliment from another modeler I look up to.  Thanks very much.

 

Ok, now this is purely an 'info update' for those building a Tamiya Phantom which, may or may not help.

 

Tonights job was to put a spacer inside the heat shield section.  This piece is exactly 40mm long and seems to allow this section to just 'drop in' without needing any filler.  My original Tamiya fuselage is so chopped up I cant tell if it is a result of grafting the 2 together or will fix the std kit.  Anyway, I thought it might be of interest/use for others.

 

As you can see....she aint all pretty on the other side!  Here illustrates where I stretched out the lower section with plastic card as a base to build up the new shape above the reheat cans.

 

I glued (the only piece I ended up using from the WH heat shield area) the circular mounts for the cans as this helps keep the diameter and sizing correct for where the 3D printed cans will eventually go. I also reinforced it with thick plastic card to stop any flexing or changing of shape etc.  Started working on the area at the base of the tailhook too.

The rest of tonights efforts were mixing a 2 part epoxy to sure up the grafts in the fuselage so I dont potentially crack anything later on.

Not a lot of visual progress considering I only got a couple of hours in after work, then a haircut then dinner.

 

Thanks again for all your kind words, you have no idea how this spurs me on to do something every night.  I had no idea there was so many Phantom aficionado's, especially for the British one.

 

Thanks guys, it's nice to know I am putting something back into LSP considering how much I have learnt from you all!

 

Cheers

Anthony 

 

 

 

Edited September 29, 2020 by Anthony in NZ

[jimbo59]

I like that last pic of the interior of the fuselage. It gives a good idea of what cutting edge did to get that British profile.

also I’m gonna try that spacer trick for the heat shield part

Edited September 29, 2020 by jimbo59
because

[Anthony in NZ]

On 9/30/2020 at 1:22 AM, jimbo59 said:

I like that last pic of the interior of the fuselage. It gives a good idea of what cutting edge did to get that British profile.

also I’m gonna try that spacer trick for the heat shield part

Yes, there is a lot to learn from how they tackled this from inside,  I know I have gone on a bit about this, but I am still really pleased WH and Frank Mitchell did this.

 

Well it's been a strange week, with finding out I have a brother I never knew I had....but that's life and I suspect him, his wife and kids will only enrich our lives.  Anyway, I dont know much more at this stage but am away for the day to find out more.

 

In the meantime whilst pondering life I (I wasnt going to bother) used a blade and PE saw and thinned and cut all the slots out of the horizontal stab.  You can only see through it at certain angles like the real thing, but it was good therapy for me this week LOL

 

Sorry I dont have much more to report.  I will probably do the other stab this weekend as it is a nice change from wrestling with this back heat shield 

 

Cheers chaps and I will report back...

Anthony

[AlbertD]

Congratulations on the discovery of your brother. That is really awesome and will enrich your life.

 

The work on the stabilizer looks great. How long did it take you? I don't think I'll try it on my current build but maybe the next one. All I've been able to get done on mine in the last week is a few stencils on the bottom of the fuselage. 

[Derek B]

Congratulations on finding your brother Anthony - a game changer for sure. 

 

I think that you should switch to completing your model as a FGR.2 and give me your slatted tailplanes for my HAF F-4E Phantoms! lol  (good work on the stabs - actually I am always short of slatted stabs for my 1/32 HAF jets (and other scales), which are all Revell - I only have one Revell F-4G kit which does supply the correct slatted stabs, my other two F-4F kits do not).

 

Brilliant work Anthony, please keep it coming (of course, I am always here if you need anything).

 

Cheers

 

Derek

[Anthony in NZ]

On 10/3/2020 at 12:23 PM, AlbertD said:

Congratulations on the discovery of your brother. That is really awesome and will enrich your life.

 

The work on the stabilizer looks great. How long did it take you? I don't think I'll try it on my current build but maybe the next one. All I've been able to get done on mine in the last week is a few stencils on the bottom of the fuselage. 

Thanks buddy, I think it will be a long road, but enjoyable I hope! The stab slots didnt take too long at all, scraped the inside edge until I was almost through to the slots, then pushed my finest photoetch saw through the wafer thin plastic and sawed and sanded the slots.  Pretty easy really, and I think has made a big difference.  I wasnt going to bother but glad I did, it looks kinda cool at certain angles seeing light pass through them.

 

17 hours ago, Derek B said:

Congratulations on finding your brother Anthony - a game changer for sure. 

 

I think that you should switch to completing your model as a FGR.2 and give me your slatted tailplanes for my HAF F-4E Phantoms! lol  (good work on the stabs - actually I am always short of slatted stabs for my 1/32 HAF jets (and other scales), which are all Revell - I only have one Revell F-4G kit which does supply the correct slatted stabs, my other two F-4F kits do not).

 

Brilliant work Anthony, please keep it coming (of course, I am always here if you need anything).

 

Cheers

 

Derek

Game changer alright!  But I am excited to meet him sometime in the not too distant future.

 

Careful what you wish for with those tailplanes....I haven changed the title yet LOL!  But pretty sure she will still be XV571. I am already amassing quite a colection of parts to send you already.

 

Not much done at all this weekend with spending time out of town with dad and house duties....oh and collecting a Lockheed Hudson undercarriage unit from a farm for a friend.

 

Anyhoo, back to the Phantom.  Many of you probably already know the stiffeners on the tailplane are different to the US ones.  So I have started adding them (working on the underside at the moment).  I also used my PE saw and scribed (almost) through the rear half and slightly cutting through at the trailing edge as this is a separate piece on the actual join between the titanium inner section and honeycomb outer section.  Hopefully this will give the appearance with out cutting right through the piece from the trailing edge to the rear spar.

 

 

There is also a row of raised bolt heads along the rear spar which I will add and a row of raised bolt heads on the forward stiffener down towards the tip(I will use Archer rivets for those.  

Here is a photo courtesy of Julien from a walkaround he did over on Britmodeller, although this is an FGR2 stab, the FG.1's have the same set up

 

Once I have given the stiffeners/doublers on the tailplanes a liberal spray of Mr Surfacer I should have the desired effect as these seem to be liberally coated in sealant under the paint.

 

This has been a nice distraction before I get back into sorting the heat shield area out.

 

Derek, did the Brit Toom's have a flatter incidence on the tailplanes compared to US ones?  I thought I read that somewhere???

 

Cheers

Anthony

 

[Derek B]

5 hours ago, Anthony in NZ said:

Thanks buddy, I think it will be a long road, but enjoyable I hope! The stab slots didnt take too long at all, scraped the inside edge until I was almost through to the slots, then pushed my finest photoetch saw through the wafer thin plastic and sawed and sanded the slots.  Pretty easy really, and I think has made a big difference.  I wasnt going to bother but glad I did, it looks kinda cool at certain angles seeing light pass through them.

 

Game changer alright!  But I am excited to meet him sometime in the not too distant future.

 

Careful what you wish for with those tailplanes....I haven changed the title yet LOL!  But pretty sure she will still be XV571. I am already amassing quite a colection of parts to send you already.

 

Not much done at all this weekend with spending time out of town with dad and house duties....oh and collecting a Lockheed Hudson undercarriage unit from a farm for a friend.

 

Anyhoo, back to the Phantom.  Many of you probably already know the stiffeners on the tailplane are different to the US ones.  So I have started adding them (working on the underside at the moment).  I also used my PE saw and scribed (almost) through the rear half and slightly cutting through at the trailing edge as this is a separate piece on the actual join between the titanium inner section and honeycomb outer section.  Hopefully this will give the appearance with out cutting right through the piece from the trailing edge to the rear spar.

 

 

There is also a row of raised bolt heads along the rear spar which I will add and a row of raised bolt heads on the forward stiffener down towards the tip(I will use Archer rivets for those.  

Here is a photo courtesy of Julien from a walkaround he did over on Britmodeller, although this is an FGR2 stab, the FG.1's have the same set up

 

Once I have given the stiffeners/doublers on the tailplanes a liberal spray of Mr Surfacer I should have the desired effect as these seem to be liberally coated in sealant under the paint.

 

This has been a nice distraction before I get back into sorting the heat shield area out.

 

Derek, did the Brit Toom's have a flatter incidence on the tailplanes compared to US ones?  I thought I read that somewhere???

 

Cheers

Anthony

 

 

Hi Anthony,

 

Great work - I'm loving it! 

 

AFAIK, if you mean the anhedral angle of the tailplane (horizontal stabiliser), is the same for both US and British Phantoms, but I will need to confirm it.

 

I have managed to get this decal sheet for my Revell 1/32 RF-4C, which I will complete as a HAF RF-4E, so this my be the first one I complete! (I have to wait until my birthday though to actually have them):

 

 

Cheers

 

Derek

 

 

 

Edited October 4, 2020 by Derek B