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Wolfpack Phantom - 8th TFW F-4C


John1

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On 2/26/2022 at 12:21 PM, John1 said:

Decided to take a break from endless hours of cutting, gluing and painting lead wire to replicate various pipes and wires in the cockpit.   My break consisted of a few hours of cutting, gluing and painting lead wire into this nice little bit of aftermarket resin:

 

uoe5rET.jpg?1

 

It's a drop-in replacement for the horrid auxiliary engine intake interiors that Tamiya molded into the fuselage underside:

rsOcrkk.jpg?1

 

I just added some additional wires / fuel lines to augment what was already on the resin bits, did some quick painting (a lot of this will be mostly hidden) and called it a day.

 

Zk0pRRk.jpg?1

 

MFYppII.jpg?1

 

Not my best work by any means (although that bar is set pretty low) but when viewed through the intake door openings, it should look pretty nice.   Here's a couple of shots of the real thing.   I'm not even close to what is really there but it's better than what comes in the kit and definitely easier than trying to scratch build all this.

eng_4.jpg

 

eng_2.jpg

 

Now back to adding electrical lines to the cockpits.  Thanks for checking in. 

 

Which brand are these & where did you purchase them? I don't recall you mentioning this. Thanks. 

 

Masterguns

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7 hours ago, MGySgt0372 said:

 

Which brand are these & where did you purchase them? I don't recall you mentioning this. Thanks. 

 

Masterguns

I bought it off of Amazon.   A four-pack of various diameters of lead wire for fishing lures.   Just want online, damned if I can find it now.   Cabellas has a nice set, just search under Fishing > Fly Fishing > Flys and Fly Tying and you'll be good to go.    Never going back to copper or stretched sprue, this stuff is great.  

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55 minutes ago, John1 said:

I bought it off of Amazon.   A four-pack of various diameters of lead wire for fishing lures.   Just want online, damned if I can find it now.   Cabellas has a nice set, just search under Fishing > Fly Fishing > Flys and Fly Tying and you'll be good to go.    Never going back to copper or stretched sprue, this stuff is great.  

 

Roger that reference the lines. Many have been impressed with the items for their scale models from these folks. If linking is permitted..,..( https://anyz.io/shop ) Note: I am not affiliated with them. Just passing on intel on some decent purpose built model enhancement products that you typically don't see elsewhere unless you have the time to make your own similar parts. 

 

***Where did you get those resin auxiliary engine cooling bays? I want to obtain some for my own Tamiya Phantom kits. This has to be one of the best looking model Phantoms I have ever seen...in any scale or brand for that matter. I will certainly refer to it when I get started on my F-4S. Simply outstanding! 

 

Stay safe & well

 

Semper Fi,

Masterguns

Edited by MGySgt0372
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 9/29/2022 at 8:31 AM, MGySgt0372 said:

 

Roger that reference the lines. Many have been impressed with the items for their scale models from these folks. If linking is permitted..,..( https://anyz.io/shop ) Note: I am not affiliated with them. Just passing on intel on some decent purpose built model enhancement products that you typically don't see elsewhere unless you have the time to make your own similar parts. 

 

***Where did you get those resin auxiliary engine cooling bays? I want to obtain some for my own Tamiya Phantom kits. This has to be one of the best looking model Phantoms I have ever seen...in any scale or brand for that matter. I will certainly refer to it when I get started on my F-4S. Simply outstanding! 

 

Stay safe & well

 

Semper Fi,

Masterguns

Hi Gunny,

 

Sorry for the delayed response, been on vacation for a bit.  With regard to those aux engine cooling bays, I found them while looking at an ancient F-4 build on another site.   Didn't think the guy would still be in business but he was.    Nice resin, very good price.

 

 http://partsrparts.homestead.com/start.html

 

Seems like a one man show but he's a pretty good guy.   Purchase from him with confidence.  

 

John

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm back after a bit of a hiatus.  Between a wonderful vacation in London and work being somewhat demanding, I haven't had much time for modeling.   What little time I did have was devoted to continuing to dress out the cockpit.   My main focus has been on the fixed-mid section of the canopy.  Lot of details in this area.  Pretty much a rats nest of wires and general clutter.    A few bits stand out.  Note the cylindrical "bellows" pointing upwards.  This was a flexible fitting that sealed against a similar mating surface on the canopy.   It was the pressurized air connection to pneumatically seal the canopies.   Also note the grey cylinder mounted next to it.   This was connected to a yellow handle in the WSO's cockpit, which allowed the WSO to command eject both him and his pilot.   

1YAZQWS.jpg

 

Here's another shot of this area.   Note the two openings in the frame.   The Tamiya part was molded solid.   

FmLSjcu.jpg

 

Here's the backside of the WSO's cockpit.  In this case, note that the canopy seal "bellows" is installed on the underside of the canopy and the flat mating surface is mounted on the bulkhead.   The opposite of the pilot's set up.   Also note the oval lightening hole at the top of the bulkhead, this was molded solid on the kit part.   Note also the yellowish canopy jettison handle peaking through the small side window. 

rmgf9aI.jpg

 

I spent a hell of a long time on this area.   First off, I drilled / carved out the lightening holes that I noted above.   I then boxed in the upper bow of the roof with sheet styrene.   After that, it was pretty much just adding all the details that I could squeeze into this area.   The Quinta set provided a few instruments for the upper bow in the WSO's cockpit.   I scratchbuilt the canopy inflation seal bellows and mating surfaces with various diameters of styrene rod and PE.   Wiring was added using flexible lead wire and some stretched sprue.       Here's how it looks.  Still have additional wiring and a few small details to add.  I'd say it's about 90% completed.

 

fUF6xdA.jpg

 

cwiRGeN.jpg

 

stlPBK8.jpg

 

xtWOlCM.jpg

 

CfXk8lJ.jpg

Not quite happy with the paint chipping on the upper intakes and canopy sills.   This area was heavily weathered but I think I'll still do a few tweaks here.   

 

And a final overall shot.  

pVkfVUX.jpg

 

Thats it for now, as always, thanks very much for check in.  

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by John1
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So pleased I caught up with this build again!  Absolutely love all the details crammed into the mid canopy section!  Looks perfect and something for me to aspire to!

 

Certainly looks like you spent a LOT of time in there!  Glad you had a great vacation too, we all need those

 

Cheers Anthony

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Thanks Anthony!   The downside to a great vacation is that going back to my soul-crushing, sweatshop of an office is that much harder.    I need another vacation!

 

I thought I was finally done with the cockpit but then a kind gent on the FB Phantom Builders page posted some nice interior pictures.  Apparently I’ve left off a few details, specifically on the pilot’s aft bulkhead, a couple of “Grimes” lights and a prominent hose (I assume that’s what it is) that connects to the ejection seats.   Would have been great if I saw those pics before I buttoned up the cockpit but I’m going to try my best to add these details.    
 

After that, it’s come down to attaching the outer wings (hopefully in the folded position) and detailing and installing the canopy sections.  It’s been a fun build but I need to wrap this one up.   Got the SH/ICM AH-1G Cobra calling to me from the shelf.  

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So I'm thinking I'm done with the interior.  I added a few "Grimes" lights in the cockpit, a couple of smaller lights under the pilot's glareshield and a "gadget" that is present on the left hand side of the pilot's aft bulkhead.   First off - the Grimes lights.   These are small lights that come with a cord and a spring-loaded clamp so they can be repositioned anywhere in the cockpit, as is necessary.    They come with a few different mounting styles; the one below is mounted on a fixed post.   These lights have been present in US aircraft cockpits since WW2 but tend to get overlooked on most models.   

OIP.-eNd7FD2Vx4a8h59xkJB1gAAAA?pid=ImgDe

I made my lights from a couple of bits of plastic rod, made the base out of scrap resin and the cord out of tightly wound copper wire.   They came out pretty decent but here's the deal - my photography skills are horrendous.   One day I'll invest in a decent light and learn how to take closeups properly.   This shot is crap but if you squint, you can make out the Grimes light on the right-hand cockpit sill. 

HwLtBy1.jpg

There's another one mounted in the same general area in the WSO's cockpit.   Trust me, they look pretty decent.   

 

Aside from two last electrical lines I added in this area, the last "gadget" was the device that is showing shot below, in the pictures at top right and the two at the bottom.   Pictures are from the Modern Phantom Guide (a book that I would love to get my hands on but is apparently completely out of print / out of stock) and were graciously provided by a wonderful Phantom expert over on FB, Mr. Scott Wilson.   The gadget I'm talking about consists of a metal lever that's sandwiched between two bits of sheet metal and connects to a small, pressurized air cylinder.  No idea what it's purpose is but the cockpit bulkhead in this area was looking pretty empty so I definitely needed to add this.    

YwdflQy.jpg?1

 

You can see this in the picture of the cockpit I posted above and also here:

hutb1JA.jpg

Again, sorry for the bad picture quality.

 

Next up, I did a bit of work on the upper fuselage "hump" directly aft of the WSO's cockpit.   I removed a communications antenna that wasn't installed on these early F-4C's, painted the pole-like rendezvous beacon antenna (used to help locate refueling tankers) and added the air-to-air refueling light (used to illuminate the refueling boom during night conditions so the "boomer" in the back of the KC-135 could see it) directly behind it.   This light was simply a clear plastic lense with a bulb mounted beneath it.  There is nothing below the bulb, you can look straight into the fuselage.  For whatever reason, the forward half of the clear cover is painted grey.   This feature was pointed out by Mr. Wilson, otherwise, I never would have noticed it.   Here's a pic that Scott provided which shows the area nicely.   This is an Iranian F-4E but the general layout is the same.   On this aircraft, the rendezvous beacon isn't present, it's mounting post is simply capped.  Note the significant amount of scuffing on both intakes (but primarily on the left one) from pilot and maintainer's foot traffic.  

W3qQ8lZ.jpg

I noticed that in some pictures, the clear cover is a bit out of alignment.   I decided to mount mine a bit "off" as well.  I also tweaked the weathering on the upper surface of the intakes.

Cqp90bA.jpg

 

Here's another Scott Wilson pictures that shows this weathering nicely.  These jets got beat up pretty quickly.  

4JdQo9y.jpg

 

The weathering continued further back on the fuselage, there were also skid marks present on the real jet from maintainers sliding down the fuselage side onto the wing.    I did my best to replicate this feature as well.  Note also the scuffed fuselage directly in front of the air-to-air refueling receptacle. 

PkfAW3F.jpg

 

So that's it for today.  Next up are the canopies and windscreen.   Also need to start trying to figure out how I can mount the outer wings in the folded position.  Wish me luck! 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Terrific build on a great subject, early C models.  Many thanks.  A quick question about factory applied camouflage.  Do we know the serial number or the block when it was introduced to the F-4C.  Just looking for another clue for spotting the early white undersides.  Thanks. Chip

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13 minutes ago, chipper said:

Terrific build on a great subject, early C models.  Many thanks.  A quick question about factory applied camouflage.  Do we know the serial number or the block when it was introduced to the F-4C.  Just looking for another clue for spotting the early white undersides.  Thanks. Chip

I'll take a look at the Fundekals instructions when I get home.   If you can't wait, go to their website and download.  They are free and are an amazing resource.    

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