Tamiya F-4j (Blue Angels) experts

[Gary V.]

Hello, I need advice for this kit to make it Blue Angel!

 

1. There is an antennae or something on the bottom radome where it attaches to the forward fuselage. Should this not be there for Blue Angel aircraft?

 

2. there are also two (what it looks like to me) fuel dump tubes on the bottom of the forward fuselage.. keep/remove?

 

3. The two lights on the bottom of the fuselage, are they colored? (red/green?)

 

4. And lastly, is there any way to fix the intake other than FOD covers or the seamless sucker resin intakes?

 

Thanks for any and all advise!

 

Gary V.

[ChrisS]

Don't know if this has any useful info...but.

 

The Tamiya F-4J Phantom as Blue Angel #2 by Jarrod Cunningham

 

And this...

 

 

And this...

 

[Ben Brown]

Hi Gary,

 

I didn't see it mentioned in my (very) quick scan of Jarrod's article, but the BA F-4s had the short afterburner nozzles as found on the F-4C/D kit. Somebody here or on the HyperScale forum might have an extra set.

 

The nav lights on the underside of the F-4 intakes (those the ones you're talking about?) were clear bulbs under clear lenses, with no reflectors or anything. They would cycle bright/dim at the same time as the clear nav light aft of the cockpit and the red beacon on the tail.

 

I'm not sure what you mean about the fuel dumps on the lower fuselage. Can you be more specific about their location? There are two indentions for the catapult hooks up close to the leading edge of the wing that I think were retained on the BA jets.

 

The Seamless Suckers intakes are a dream to work with compared to cleaning up the seams on the kit intakes. I used them on my Tamiya F-4E and they turned out really nice.

 

HTH.

 

Ben

[Gary V.]

Thanks Ben and Chris!

[Mark B.]

Hello,  I need advice for this kit to make it Blue Angel!

 

1. There is an antennae or something on the bottom  radome where it attaches to the forward fuselage.  Should this not be there for Blue Angel aircraft?

Your are correct, leave it off.

 

2. there are also two (what it looks like to me) fuel dump tubes on the bottom of the forward fuselage.. keep/remove?

I'm thinking you are talking about the extra ECM antennas on the wings behind the landing gear wells out board of the air brake wells that were installed on later F-4Js and F-4Ss. Again not on Blue Angles F-4Js.

 

3. The two lights on the bottom of the fuselage, are they colored? (red/green?)

Clear as stated above.

 

4. And lastly, is there any way to fix the intake other than FOD covers or the seamless sucker resin intakes?

Yes you can fix the kit intakes, but it takes a lot of work. I only did this because I messed up my set of Seamless Suckers and just couldn't bring myself to invest 25 more dollars into a kit that was already costing close to 200 dollars with all the rest of the stuff I had purchased for it sooo... I have been working on the kit parts for about 3 weeks now on and off and am almost to the point of painting and installing them!

 

If you really want to use the kit parts do the following: (This was shown to me by a Mr. Paul Stoner).

 

1) Carefully cut the tops of the ducts that have been molded into the fuselage out. (You have to do this to use the Seamless suckers, only if you use the seamless set you don't have to be particularly careful). This is where the kit's outer intake ducts would shoulder up to the fuselage. Since I was going to be using Seamless Suckers guess what I did! Yep, threw them away so I wound up fabricating the tops using thing sheet plastic and super glue. Something you really want to avoid.

 

2) Now cement the interior intake ducts together (parts B-27 & B-43 starboard, B-26 & B-42 port), and work on the seems in them. (ARC has a really good tip on how to use Squadron white putty and Nail Polish remover to get good seems in tight places). Also cut off the mounting points for the screw and the tabs on the tops of them.

 

3) Now glue the tops (the parts you cut out of the fuselage) in place. Be aware of the sides and get the port side with the port intake and the starboard one with the starboard intake. Once again work on the seems.

 

4) Glue the splitter plates to the variable geometry doors (parts B11 & B18 starboard, B-12 & B-17 port). Take care of the seems on the backs now. They will be visible from the top when installed on the plane.

 

5) Tape the splitter plate/intake door assembly in place in the outer intake duct parts (parts A-1 port and A-2 starboard).

 

6) Now using the back of the splitter plate/door assembly as a guide align the internal ducts with the bottoms of the ducts flush with the bottoms of parts A-1 and A-2 and the inside edge of the duct flush against the back edge of the splitter plate door assembly. You will have to place shims between the ducts and the intake parts A-1 and A-2 to get the proper alignment and glue them inplace. (Note: Only glue along the bottom edge of the intake ducts and between the Intakes (A-1 & A-2) and the shims on the intake ducts. Do NOT glue the spliter plate/door assembly to anything at this time).

 

7) Once the ducts and intakes have dried take the spliterplate/door assembly out and install some thin plastic sheet to smooth out the step on the outer wall of the ducts (the part that Tamiya never finished). Again work on the resulting seems with putty and sand paper. A good way to do the sanding is to tape some sandpaper to a foam rubber paint brush which is normally used to paint corners when painting your bedroom/dining room/living room walls.

 

8) Now paint the insides white add your engine face plates and glue into the fuselage. Oh and now you get to deal with the ever present in each and every F-4 kit intake duct seem problems.

 

So there you have it. In a nut shell: If your not crazy or a cheap b_____d like me

 

(Now Mark is waving his hand and stating in quite still voice) "Use the seamless suckers young Gary. Use the seamless suckers."

 

Oh and btw here is the original photo for the Hase box top listed above.

 

HTH & Cheers

Mark B.

[Gary V.]

Thanks Mark! It sounds like the seamless suckers maybe the way to go.... although, finding a "free" solution is intriguing... but experimenting on $100 kits may not be the best way to figure it out!

 

All you guys have a great holiday season!

 

And thanks again!