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McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantom II "HAF 40 Years of Phantoms" [Zoukei-Mura 1:48]


Alex

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On 8/8/2021 at 7:33 PM, aircommando130 said:

F-4S slats are different from F-4E slats.......

 

Cheers....Ron

 

The Hypersonic Models AM parts claim to be specifically the slatted wings used to modernize the F-4E.  Not like I'd know the difference to look at them - LOL.  I still have a lot to learn on the whole post-WW2 thing...

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Some progress over the weekend.  I started by trying to sort out all of the main fit issues with the fuselage before moving on to subsequent steps.  To avoid getting putty into the surface detail, I carefully masked around the gap I wanted to fill.

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Then applied Vallejo acrylic putty.  I've started using this product where I formerly would have used Perfect Plastic Putty.  It is water-based, so can be smoothed/formed with a wet cotton swab after application.  Unlike the PPP, it's not really water-smoothable once dried.  The big plus for me is that it hardens to a much smoother, non-porous surface that does not require a special extra primer coat to gat rid of the grainy surface (like PPP does).  The fine applicator nozzle is a nice feature too.

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This was the result.  It needed a minor wet-sand with 2500 grit when fully cured, but that's it.

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I had to repeat the process with the smaller panel just behind the canopy.

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This is the fuselage more or less sorted.  I had to spend quite a bit of time fairing in the small air intakes that sit just ahead of and below the canopy.  The fit was not awesome.

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I then did the engines, in a pretty cursory fashion.  The ends of them will only be visible if you peer down the bore of the intake or exhaust, and since this models is never going to encounter an IPMS judge with a penlight, I didn't go nuts here.  Sprayed everything gunmetal, gave it a black wash, and did some highlighting on the afterburner rings and fan blades with a silver colored pencil.

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Assembled.  Z-M molded a fair amount of detail into the outsides of the turbines, but since there's no provision to open any sort of service panel, they will never be visible.  So I'm not painting them. 

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I spent a lot of time filling/sanding to try and get the seams out of the intake manifolds, which will be visible (somewhat) inside the intakes.  It's smoothish - at least the seams aren't prominent any more.

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Assembled to the lower wing section.

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Thankfully, this assembly dry-fits into the fuselage pretty cleanly.  It's going to require some sequential glue-and-clamp steps, but it looks like it will be possible to get it together without any problematic gaps.

 

The LG bays added and painted...

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I'm actually very close now to assembling the complete airframe, so I thought to preview the color scheme.  I made a test panel to try spraying the colors (from MRP) over both gray and black Mr Surfacer.  For the latter I tried adding some white marbling for effect before painting the top coat.  I've seen many people do this to great effect, so am leaning towards trying it myself.

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I was worried that the blue tone (FS35237) did not look blue enough in the bottle, but painted out (especially on the black base) it looks pretty correct.

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If anything the blue may be a bit faded on the actual airplanes - I will probably do some light overcoats with a bit of white added.

 

The other thing I noted is that the decal set/paint guide I has shown the camo continuing onto the underside of the plane - it's not white or light grey like a US F-4 would be.  I wasn't sure that this was correct, until I found this photo which (under the filth) confirms wraparound camo.

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Still plugging away on this.  Started attaching the lower wing/body section to the main fuselage.

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It was necessary to position the whole thing and lock it in with tape, then glue one "corner" at a time to minimize gaps/offsets.  Overall I was fairly happy with the outcome.  The small sections aft of the wing roots have to be filled and smoothed completely, but there are only a few small panel lines to restore.  Most of the join at the front (which did not fit *quite* as well) at least lies along panel lines.

 

Got another piece of AM delivered.  It's always fun to get stuff in the mail from Japan - the old newspapers used for packing remind me, for whatever reason, of a very enjoyable vacation we took there some years ago.  Definitely on the "go back post-COVID" list.  Having these means I can go back and build the ejection seats whenever it makes sense to do so.

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Now the only thing I'm awaiting is the canopy masks (somewhere in the mail from Bulgaria...).

 

Joins at the front pretty much smoothed out (if not cleaned up).  I still need to flat coat that LG bay - need to do that before going much further on.  

 

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That reminds me - I'm going back kind of to square one on painting and weathering technique here.  For the last few builds I've been messing around with trying to do washes directly over Mr Color and/or MRP lacquers, with mixed success.  Often the lacquer paint, unless really laid down fast and wet with the intention of having a glossy finish, will be a bit porous and absorbent, such that it will stain in a way that's hard to reverse when oil-based wash hits it.  Also, I've found that some lacquers will slowly soften up when exposed to white spirit (solvent in oil paint or enamel washes), even though they are "not supposed to" do this.  And AlClad just basically melts when you put e.g. Tamiya enamel wash on it.  I spent a while messing with Vallejo brand acrylic (water-based) washes, and although there are some tasks I will continue to use them for, they fall short of what you can do with oil-based washes.

 

SO, long story short, I'm back to a many step process of 1) prime the bare plastic in the appropriate color, 2) lay on lacquer color coat, 3) spray a gloss acrylic coat, 4) do oil-based washes, 5) spray a flat acrylic coat.  For the overall paint job on the plane I foresee many more steps intervening to get the right amount of decal fading etc.  It's a bit daunting to ponder, but none of the shortcuts I've tried have been 100% satisfying.

 

 

Seam behind the wing root.  It looks like there's still a gap, but that's just because the CA glue in there is transparent.

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Other side

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The fit of the wing halves with each other is quite good...

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But then there's an annoyingly large gap at the front of the wing root.  That's going to have to be carefully filled with CA to provide enough structural strength...

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Overall it's starting to look like a Phantom.  And it's big - I have no idea what I'd do with a 1/32 model of a plane this large.  This one's going to be big enough as it is when the wings are complete...

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1 hour ago, Wolf Buddee said:

Looks great so far.

 

Is there a way of putting something in between the fuselage and intake trunking to push the outer fuselage panel out and close the gap between it and the wing? Just thinking out loud.

 

Cheers,

Wolf

If I hadn’t already securely glued it down to the lower wing section, then that would be a great idea.  It’s conceivable that I could worm in there and get it loose (it’s only stuck down at the very front).  I had thought about it, and I might try it.  But it’s tempting just to fill it and move on.

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10 hours ago, aircommando130 said:

Lookin really good! I may have to buy another one for a USAF Thunderbird!

 

Cheers...Ron

That would be a fun paint scheme to do.  

 

In fact, that gives me the idea (like I need more model ideas) that it would be cool to do a 5-plane series of all the aircraft the Thunderbirds have flown.

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A big thank you to Wolf for prodding me to go back and seriously look at whether I could free up the side of the fuselage and spring it outward so as to close the gap with the wing.  As it turns out, the answer is yes - I had to sneak a small drill bit in there and drill/grind away the spot where it was glued down.  This is the lash-up that was necessary to hold in sprung outward while the glue set up.

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On the bottom is a pair of curved tip tweezers that are reaching inside and forcing the side out.  I let it harden O/N, but still need to wedge something permanent in there to stop it slowly springing back, as it's under a bit of tension.

 

This was the result.

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Much better.

 

For those who might be considering building this kit, the below shows how to make this easier.  There are three places per side that you can glue the fuselage to the wing bottom section - the red lines fore and aft and the little pillar in the middle marked by a blue arrow.  DON'T glue at the blue arrow, and instead cut away the outer raised part of the pillar, and you will have an easier time doing this trick to make the wings and fuselage sides join tightly...

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For that matter, you could even try to subtly heat-form the fuselage a touch (2mm) wider before assembly, so it would not be under tension...  Live and learn.

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2 hours ago, Alex said:

That would be a fun paint scheme to do.  

 

In fact, that gives me the idea (like I need more model ideas) that it would be cool to do a 5-plane series of all the aircraft the Thunderbirds have flown.

And in fact that would be *eight* different aircraft, now that I've looked more closely...if you want to count the F-100C and D as different and include the F-105B that they only used for six shows...

 

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Starting to fool with the Hypersonic Models resin wing updates.  They provide full replacement outer wings with slats, but also updated inner wing slats.  The pieces have very good detail but are a touch long as supplied...

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Easy enough to trim, though

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The underside.  It will still need a bit of a trim on the end to fit flush with the outer wing.

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Outer wings with slats installed.  The castings are very nicely detailed, with minimal cleanup required.

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Dry-fit to the inner wing.

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It will look less odd once the flaps and ailerons are added.  I think I'm going to paint those off the model, though, and I may (undecided as yet) do the same thing with the outer wings, just to make things less fragile.

poztG5RFj

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And thanks again to Juggernaut for pointing out that the HAF Phantoms all had this wing upgrade.  Getting these parts was well worth the $25 and a bit of a wait to receive them.  They really add visual interest (as well as accuracy) to the thing.

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