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1/32 British Phantom FG.1/FGR.2 conversion for the Tamiya F-4J?


Derek B

F-4K/M (FG.1/FGR.2) Conversion?  

174 members have voted

  1. 1. Would you purchase such a conversion set if it were to be produced?

    • Would you by one/do you think its a good idea?
    • Do you think its not a good idea/ wouldn't buy one?
    • Not relevant to you?


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Hello All,

 

I am just trying to gauge the level of (realistic) interest from modellers for a 1/32 British F-4K/M (FG.1/FGR.2) Phantom II conversion set for the Tamiya 1/32 F-4J kit? As no new kit appears to be on the horizon, I could produce such a conversion set for sale through Eclipse model Design, but it is quite a major undertaking for me, and I do not want to expend a lot of time and money only to find that I sell very few? (hence this poll).

 

I would be very grateful for your thoughts and feedback on this topic.

 

Thank you

 

Derek

 

Edit: Following a suggestions from LSP Moderators - who have suggested a more representative and balanced way of posing the questions - I have now amended them to be more inclusive. As this is the first time that I have attempted to creat a poll post, I thank them for their guidance. Please feel free to continue voting and providing your feedback, which is very helpful to me and is greatly appreciated.

 

Best regards

 

Derek

Edited by Derek B
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I would be interested in a set but it will depend on the final price. Have you thought about doing some other F-4 conversion...late E & G. I think you will have much better chance with these two sets then your K/M version. Just thinking out loud!

 

Mike

Edited by Youngtiger1
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I would be interested in a set but it will depend on the final price. Have you thought about doing some other F-4 conversion...late E & G. I think you will have much better chance with these two sets then your K/M version. Just thinking out loud!

 

Mike

 

 

Mike,

 

I shall obviously try to keep the price down as much as possible in order to make it competitive (and this will, in turn, very largely depend upon how I engineer the breakdown of the conversion and how much detail I put into it).

 

As for other Phantom stuff (such as the late E and G models - as you have suggested), I am always open to ideas and suggestions. The only real problem I have is obtaining accurate reference materials, so I may need some assistance in this area?

 

Thanks for your input.

 

Regards

 

Derek

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Maybe you can talk to Dave Klaus (Meteor Productions), thru his Fine Art Decal website, to get an idea how many he sold.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

 

 

Hi Mark,

 

From what I understand, Dave certainly had some ups and downs with his conversion set, so I have no idea how many sets he produced or sold? Likewise, I do not know what they retailed at either, but price will obviously be a critical factor with a conversion set such as this?

 

Derek

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Yes Of course , I ordered but never received the CE set , so yes a Brit Phantom conversion is VERY high on my wish list , with ONE proviso , decals .. If any conversion like this is to be sucessful , Decals are a must , even if its just the indivdual airframe squadron badges etc ,

 

might I also mention RAF Specific weapons , there are a few from Flightpath but not the 755 CBsor SNEMBA(?) rocket pods, etc. and they might be a useful addition , since the beast was used in a swing role in its early days

 

Oh and the option for a RN F-4K would be nice too!!!!!

 

Ok Derek ?

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Yes Of course , I ordered but never received the CE set , so yes a Brit Phantom conversion is VERY high on my wish list , with ONE proviso , decals .. If any conversion like this is to be sucessful , Decals are a must , even if its just the indivdual airframe squadron badges etc ,

 

might I also mention RAF Specific weapons , there are a few from Flightpath but not the 755 CBsor SNEMBA(?) rocket pods, etc. and they might be a useful addition , since the beast was used in a swing role in its early days

 

Oh and the option for a RN F-4K would be nice too!!!!!

 

Ok Derek ?

 

 

:)

 

Thanks for your vote and advice. By option for a RN F-4K I assume you mean markings? (the poll is for an F-4K/M (FG.1/FGR.2) conversion anyway, which will cover both RN and RAF versions).

 

As for markings, that is something that I shall need to consider? I agree that they shall be needed, but the cost of an all inclusive decal sheet in this scale would really push the price up? I may need to look into that side of things a little more and see if there is a cost effective method of producing some markings (for example, masks may be cheaper than multi-coloured waterslide decals?).

 

Other weapons and accessories? For overall cost reasons, I would aim to make the conversion externally accurate without going over the top in the detail department - this will be a necessary balance. However, I could produce more detailed add ons at a later date that should satisfy any rivet counters deepest desires! (I am pretty well going down this line for the Beaufighter detail sets). The down side to this is that the whole conversion requires very careful planning to accomomdate these additional later detal sets, which all adds time to the project and give me a huge headache in the process :lol: . As for the weapons, well yes, they would also be required, and as I am also currently working on a correction/upgrade set for the Revell Harrier GR.1 kit, many of the weapons needed for that kit will also be equally applicable to the Phantom as well.

 

As I worked on both EE Lightnings, Hawks, Phantoms and Buccaneers during my RAF and BAE Systems careers, I am quite a fan of these types :D

 

Cheers

 

Derek

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Derek,

 

You know where I stand on the subject.

As a Phantom Phanatic I'm ALL in and will provide any assistance I can.

 

Barry

 

Thank you Barry...I may indeed need to call upon your assistance if I go ahead with this project :speak_cool:

 

Thanks

 

Derek

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Derek,

 

I would pass on this conversion, but would DEFINITELY but a couple of conversion sets for an F-4G! :speak_cool:

 

 

Hi Frank,

 

Again, another request for the F-4G, thanks for the suggestion. I would have thought that there were lots of Wild Weasle upgrade sets out there already, but I may be wrong? (I haven't really specifically checked for them, so I don't know to be honest). I do have a 1/32 Revell F-4E, so I may be able to do something for that? (I think that the Tamiya F-4E is pretty difficult to obtain over here in the UK?). Looks like I may need to look at this one as well then to understand what you need!

 

Thanks

 

Derek

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Hi Frank,

 

Again, another request for the F-4G, thanks for the suggestion. I would have thought that there were lots of Wild Weasle upgrade sets out there already, but I may be wrong? (I haven't really specifically checked for them, so I don't know to be honest). I do have a 1/32 Revell F-4E, so I may be able to do something for that? (I think that the Tamiya F-4E is pretty difficult to obtain over here in the UK?). Looks like I may need to look at this one as well then to understand what you need!

 

Thanks

 

Derek

 

Derek,

 

To clarify the blurry picture:

 

The old TAC Scale/CAM set is OOP for ages. It was intended to be used with the Revell F-4E. It was basic to say the least, had an incorrect nose based on the Revell one and was not usable with the far more common F-4F (no slotted stab).

 

The Cutting edge one was far better. It was made for the Tamiya kit. However, it was far more expensive and required the prior purchase of a F-4E late conversion set for the slat wings and some cockpit parts...

 

Flightpath released the nose antenna but no other item!?!

 

Conclusion: The market is currently open! The only available item that may help in such a conversion is the Isracast slat wing set for the Tamiya kit.

 

HTH

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Derek,

 

To clarify the blurry picture:

 

The old TAC Scale/CAM set is OOP for ages. It was intended to be used with the Revell F-4E. It was basic to say the least, had an incorrect nose based on the Revell one and was not usable with the far more common F-4F (no slotted stab).

 

The Cutting edge one was far better. It was made for the Tamiya kit. However, it was far more expensive and required the prior purchase of a F-4E late conversion set for the slat wings and some cockpit parts...

 

Flightpath released the nose antenna but no other item!?!

 

Conclusion: The market is currently open! The only available item that may help in such a conversion is the Isracast slat wing set for the Tamiya kit.

 

HTH

 

 

Thank you Thierry, that does clarify things quite considerably for me. Some questions:

 

New nose: If I used my Revell F-4E (it could be an F-4F, not quite sure?) - mainly because it may be hard for me to get hold of a Tamiya F-4E kit - as the basis for a 'G', would the new nose also fit a Tamiya F-4E kit, or are there major differences between the two kits in terms of fuselage cross-section shape?

 

Slats: Similar question really. assuming that I cannot obtain an Isracast wing slat set as a starting point, I would have to make a new set - no real issue for me (likewise making a slatted tailplane) - but agin, would it fit both kits without major issues?

 

I am pretty sure that this would be well within the scope of my abilities and skills to make, but it sounds like it would have to be pretty inclusive and comprehensive, and would also have to fit both kits...looks like I really need a Tamiya F-4E kit as well then? What I really could do with is a detailed 'blow by blow' account of all of the differences between the F-4E and G models in order for me to assess exactly what I would need to make.

 

Cheers

 

Derek

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