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

[Alex]

Decals faded to the extent I could do it without causing more harm than good.  Some of them lifted a tiny bit with the first gloss acrylic coat.  I can't tell if that's just the Z-M decals, or if I went overboard on Micro-Set and dissolved off too much of the glue so they didn't adhere optimally.  Even the basics are still a challenge for me sometimes...

 

Anyway, did a final gloss coat and them Tamiya enamel PLW.  The stuff works really well - it's so much better (at least in my hands) than acrylic-based products that it's worth messing with an additional gloss acrylic paint layer just to be able to use it.

 

 

The gloss coat photographs terribly.  It actually looks OK in person.  Eager to get a flat coat on it.

 

The stabilators are still just slipped in place - I won't glue them until after the metal parts are painted.

 

Next up - flat acrylic layer and them more weathering (dirt, really) using oil paint and pastels.  I still have to tackle the whole bare metal aspect of the exhaust nozzles and rear fuselage.  I'm not yet fully settled on how I'm going to approach that.

[Uncarina]

The gloss coat really makes those colors vibrant! I love seeing your build come together. Not long now!

 

Cheers,  Tom

[Alex]

4 minutes ago, Uncarina said:

The gloss coat really makes those colors vibrant! I love seeing your build come together. Not long now!

 

Cheers,  Tom

Thanks!  I'd like to think that it's getting close, but in my head I'm still struggling with exactly how to do all of that heat-scorched titanium on the rear end...

[LSP_Kevin]

I haven't really been following this one Alex, but it looks fantastic!

 

Kev

[Out2gtcha]

5 minutes ago, LSP_Kevin said:

I haven't really been following this one Alex, but it looks fantastic!

 

 

X2!

I hadn't looked in on this in awhile an missed a lot! It really looks fantastic.  Cant wait to see what the end result is! 

[The Madhatter]

Looking awesome there Alex! Maybe you could have painted the roundels which would make weathering easier? Regardless,  this is one amazing example of an F4 in a scheme other than a throwback to Vietnam 

[Alex]

48 minutes ago, The Madhatter said:

Looking awesome there Alex! Maybe you could have painted the roundels which would make weathering easier? Regardless,  this is one amazing example of an F4 in a scheme other than a throwback to Vietnam 

Actually, the roundels are painted.

[Alex]

First round of weathering - oil paint streaking on the underside.  The one photo from below of the plane I'm doing (posted a couple pages back) seems to show a significant break in the amount of staining between the forward, un-panel-lined part of the wing undersides and the rear part that contains the LG bay doors and lots of other small panels under the fuselage.  That's a poor description, so I'll repost the photo:

 

 

And my attempt to recreate that:

 

Photos of top and bottom show additional (presumably lubricant or hydraulic fluid) staining on the flaps, so I've tried to do that as well.

[Uncarina]

Champion work Alex! It sure looks like you’ve captured the weathering.

 

Cheers,  Tom

[Alex]

Oil paint and pastel weathering.

 

 

I *think* this is done, but I'm going to wait and look at it again tomorrow just to be sure before I spray a final flat coat to lock it all down.  In retrospect I should have started the aux fuel tanks with an aluminum layer so that I could chip some paint off of them, but too late for that now.  At least they look roughly as oily/filthy/beat as the real ones in photos do....

 

So probably going to kick off the bare metal phase tomorrow.  I'm giving myself two weeks to finish and then I've got to start breaking down and packing my woodworking shop for the move to the new house.  Given everything I'll need to do over there, it may be quite a while before I start another airplane model.  Nevertheless I seem to have managed to catch the Phantom bug - on my shelf I now have the 1:48 Tamiya F-4B kit with Quinta cockpit details and HGW wet transfer stencils....  So the next project might ALSO be a Phantom...

[Brett M]

Really nice looking weathering. Looking forward to gear on and canopies up!

[Alex]

2 minutes ago, Brett M said:

Really nice looking weathering. Looking forward to gear on and canopies up!

Shouldn't be long now

[Juggernut]

Top notch Alex! Awesome build.  Definitely bookmarking your build as a reference to use when I build mine.

[Jeff T]

Wow!....that is looking absolutely awesome Alex!

 

Ive only just come across this thread, and glad I did.

 

Jeff. 

[chrish]

Wow!

seriously, it looks like you’ve shrunk the real thing!!