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1/32 Revell F-4E - What could possibly go wrong!


RichieB

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  • 2 weeks later...

Evening all, its been a slow week but finally started to paint something as I was getting bored with hacking stuff up.

 

First up the pilots got a coat of finest green and I've started to add colour to the rest of the flight gear. Before painting I had to chop them up a bit to get them to a similar size when seated and re-position the arms so they would be in about the right position to be moving stuff around the Legend cockpit. The poor unfortunate Master Details figures now has a backside Kate Moss would be proud of. The overhead light produces some nice contrast which I will attempt to maintain using paint.

 

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Next up is the cockpit tub which  I have sprayed the grey and NATO Black on the panels. I've also started adding some shading on the grey mainly be doing darker and lighter shades of XF54. As this will be a closed cockpit I'm probably going to have to use more contrast than normal for anything to stand out.

 

20151206_8142_zpsa2cjzi6j.jpg

 

Finally, the cockpit side walls got a similar treatment.

 

20151206_8143_zpswjlciz7p.jpg

 

That's all for now folks!

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  • 1 month later...

Well it's been a while but what with christmas and 3 small kids, time somewhat evaporated. Needless to say, weeks worth of present research, acquisition, and wrapping lasted approximately 14.8 seconds when in contact with a small child. Anyway to business and Happy New Year!

 

I've focused on finishing the cockpit area as I need that complete to start figuring out how all the lighting is going to fit. First up is the cockpit tub, though I'm not entirely sure how much of this will be seen with the cockpits shut.

 

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20160109_8192_zpspoix2vpg.jpg

 

20160109_8194_zpsdznjeamh.jpg

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Thanks Maru, much appreciated!

 

I've managed to upload some more on the rest of the cockpit area....

 

20160109_8206_zpsnlnhynhi.jpg

 

20160109_8207_zpskx6pryng.jpg

 

I've also had a go at the pilots IP. Because I wanted to back light the instruments I liked the idea of using the film on the Eduard set as the PE is opaque. Unfortunately Eduard only so one that fits the Tamiya kit and the size difference is quire noticeable close up. Once installed with a pilot hopefully it wont be so obvious. I've used a couple of other PE items where film allows me to add some back light with the rest of the detail painted on.

 

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The coaming was sprayed then painted with washes to add more interest. I like how it turned out so may use this technique of other parts of the kit.

Next up seats and pilots when I get round to finishing them!

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One of the great things about this hobby is that if you have the time, you can and lose yourself for hours in it even though the the results are not always proportional. I spent a couple of hours working on the Ejection seats but when the wife asked me what I'd been up to I felt Id just started and didn't exactly have much to show for it! Anyway they are more or less done. I've modified one of them to allow the Master Details figure to fit properly and have yet to add the additional straps that attach the pilots to the seats.

 

Error #5 - I managed to break off some of the detail on the lower LHS (an emergency Oxy handle I think) getting the pilots to fit but I figured you'd need a surgical camera to spot the offending item is missing when its all buttoned up.

 

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I added some Eduard PE for the EJ seat placards but they weren't a great fit and I managed to dislodge one into the carpet somewhere. Despite many minutes of adopting the 'praying to the Axminster god' position it still remains illusive. I must have the parts to a whole kit strewn across the floor by now. Oh well, Pilots next! 

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A tip I learned years ago when the carpet monster ate" freshly cut from the sprue parts" was to tape a section of women's tights (nylons) over the end of a hoover pipe and then vacuuming over the carpet. If I was lucky the offending part stuck to the nylon and I was spared having to scrap my model or try to scratch build the part.

My mum and sisters couldn't at first work out what had happened to their tights but when they eventually found out it was me, ouch is all I will say. :doh:

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Since this bird is going to be flying (not into the bin hopefully), its going to need some pilots. As previously mentioned I've had to do some slicing and dicing to get both figures to fit and tried to put their arms somewhere where they might actually be doing something useful rather than flying it hands off so to speak. Having deliberated for a while I now have to chose a markings scheme as I normally try to match the flying kit to the unit. So winner is................. (see if you can guess)

 

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................the 496 TFS from the 50 TFW, USAFE based at Hahn AFB, Germany circa late 70's using the AirDoc book and decals as reference.

 

If anyone has some piccies they'd care to share of this unit when it was operating F-4Es it would be great to see them! The jets have a red fin top and I've seen some photos where the aircrew have a red visor cover so they both get one as you can't beat a bit of colour in the cockpit.

 

Having looked at a number of images I believe the canopy frames where they meet the fuselage were black rather than red as in the AirDoc book but if anyone can confirm that I'd appreciate it! With most of the cockpit items now painted its time to start on the fibre optics and lighting, I sense another learning experience coming on.

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  • 5 weeks later...

Well its been a while however things have progressed a little bit. Actually I spent a fair amount of time working out how I was going to structurally reinforce the fuselage and fit in all the lighting gubbings, I think I'm going to end up with more wiring than the real thing! First up is the reinforcement I made to the rear fuselage which has to take the full weight of the aircraft plus all that resin at the front through the engines.

 

F15E-16Feb16_9834_zpsp941rsbt.jpg

 

 

The clear acrylic tubes will take the rods that will support the jet in flight so I've created 2 bulkheads using a Revell part and a new build. These have been reinforced where they join the fuselage and where the tubes run through. Two holes where then drilled though to provide the correct alignment for the exhausts. This was by no means easy to judge as the engines are not parallel to the fuselage and the Revell fuselage needs to be pushed out a little to ensure it meets the underwing/fuselage part which means the exhausts will not be centric unless you allow for that. As it was I was a little off on the width of the separation between the two exhausts but with the exhaust nozzle on you can't tell. The tubes pass through the rear of the exhausts so I reinforced them as well. The overall effect is pretty sturdy so hopefully this will be sufficient to hold her steady without crash diving into the nearest bin. I also drilled some smaller holes in the bulkhead to allow the wiring to pass through to the tail.

 

Last detail was to add a small gauge behind he window in the rear right fuselage. Its not accurate but it looks better than a black hole!

 

F15E-16Feb16_9836_zpse2vu4moa.jpg

 

Next up, cramming 8 miles of wiring into a 2 inch gap.

Edited by RichieB
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  • 4 weeks later...

Time to light her up! First up I've had to string the fibre optics to the back of the instrument panels which also cunningly served as the wires out the back of the WSO panel. I then had to bunch them together and attach a 3 volt LED to the back. I've gone for warm white as the cold version looked a little too blue. The LEDs are wired so they can be plugged in later to the power supply which makes the soldering a bit simpler, a task that seems to take me twice as long as it should! There's one LED for the front cockpit and one for the rear. I've also added some wander lamps to help lighten the cockpit. They are not strictly accurate as I've put four in to even light both cockpits but they're tucked out of the way so are not that visible.

 

F15E-16Feb16_9838_zpsheiz6hwc.jpg

 

 As you can see, thinning the Legend cockpit down a lot has helped provide space to fit the wiring. Having sorted that out I've now managed to glue the front fuselage halves together including the Sierra Hotel Nose which was an excellent fit.

 

Error #6 - In my man handling I managed to break off one half of the WSOs EJ seat pull-ring and the top of the WSO IP. Perhaps I should have left them off until putting the canopies on but I just wanted to see what it all looked liked when put in place! Patience dear boy.

 

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At least they're starting to look the part!

 

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Looks like I need to add some fill-in around the coaming! This is what the spaghetti looks like underneath:

 

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I now need to sort the tail end lighting out and add some details before joining the two halves. I'm trying to do as much as I can in sub-assemblies as this is one monster of a kit when its bolted together. Stay tuned!

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Hi chaps,

 

Just a quick update as I tinker with a few details. I decided that I quite liked the gun vents in the Eduard set so I thought I'd put them on in place of the plastic representation. Whilst it looked much better it still felt I was just sticking PE on plastic when in reality a whole gun was visible underneath (just!). So with that thought nagging in my head (don't you hate it when that happens) I decided to cut open the holes where the vents would be and put a gun behind them so that you can see it through the vents. As the Revell kit doesn't come with a gun I borrowed one from an F-15 kit and a Quickboost M-61 gun muzzle to finish it off. Mostly you will not see any of the detail so I've kept the gun barrels quite bright for some contrast.

 

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I've also added some plasticard to try and make the gun fairing a bit more rounded as the Revell offering is a bit square. The gun is held with blue tack at the moment but I'll fix it more permanently when I've finished tinkering with the gun fairing and added the vents.

 

Next up, the inlet at the front and base of the fin. No one seems to know what it's for but its certainly got a hole in it which the Revell kit doesn't and the kit version is a bit clunky too. I toyed with the idea of just leaving it as I wasn't sure whether I'd make a hash of it and regret removing it in the first place. But then a bought of AMS seized me and I cut the inlet off the kit. Well now it had to be fixed though it took two goes to get the proportions right. However, the result I think looks better.

 

 

F15E-16Feb16_9854_zpsploq3gqn.jpg

 

Right, back to the wiring diagram.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Evening chaps,

Well after a little holiday in sunnier places I've managed to get the project moving again although rate of progress is not likely to be described as 'olympian'. A lot of time has been spent trying to get the surface finish right as this is an area I have traditionally paid scant attention to only to have to revisit it much later after the first few paint layers have highlighted all the work I should have done. With a model this size there is a lot of areas where attention is demanded, at least when I build them there is. 

 

Wiring in the front section is more or less complete with the cockpit fibre optics all grouped to their respective LED and the wander lamp LEDs correctly routed. That all adds up to a lot of wires which now have to join up to the rear section. This contains the wiring for the tail, wing tips and engines. The following picture shows how I have faithfully replicated the endless wiring looms contained in the F-4. Ok so maybe not as many but it sure feels like it at times!

 

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As you can see I've painted the internal intake trunks and attached them to the rear fuselage in anticipation of mating it to the front cockpit. I had to fit the engine LEDs prior to doing this and its a tight fit so luckily they were still working when I'd finished. I've also had to cut some of the bottom of the internal fuselage structure to allow the resin intakes to flex and hopefully fit the front fuselage perfectly... we'll see! 

 

Whilst fiddling with the wiring I've also had the opportunity to have a go at creating some 3D vents using thin strips of styrene spaced by small blocks to simulate the vanes. I've had to thin the fuselage walls where they join to attempt scale thickness but beware of using too much glue as the thin plastic melts easily! You can also see the magnetic strip I've added to the nosewheel area which will allow the nosewheel door to clip on and off and provide access to the LED batteries.

 

F15E-16Feb16_9849_zps72b1ni4r.jpg

 

Hopefully I can start to stick this thing together soon!

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  • 1 month later...

Progress! Well a bit.


 


First up is the requirement to fit a belly strap. Apparently all F-4Es fitted with slats had this mod up to the point where it became an internal mod (thicker skinned airframes). This occurred at some point in the FY70's build aircraft but since the ones I'm interested in are all FY 60's with slats, I needed to add one. Happily GT Resin have designed one out of, well, resin which certainly looks the part with some great detail. Instructions of how to add are a little vague and seen to show a pre-production variant that had a different profile at the end of the ‘arms'. You need to be careful when separating the items as they are quite delicate. Not sure of how thick they actually so I sanded them all a bit thinner to avoid that ‘made from girders' look.


 


Error #7 Don't sand to hard or the resin arms will break into 3 pieces and require some finesse to align them again – guess how I found that out.


 


I also noted that the real deal has a curve cut out of them near the wheel well which is also not apparent in the instructions. However there is an excellent WiP thread on USAFE F-4Es copied at the following link:


http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=224033&st=0  or look under "1/32 Tamiya F-4E post-Vietnam- Kicked up a notch"


 


which has tons or reference detail and a superb build of the Tamiya kit into a Ramstein bird. Kudos to Chuck for his efforts but I don't think I'll be matching that degree of sophistication!


 


2W6A8026_zpslvky83gh.jpg


 


Anyway I chopped some resin from the arms and after a few test fits realised that they were a little short hence the gap filling between them and the main fuselage brace. You will also note that I have butchered (a bit) the area where Revell placed a rather large lump of plastic so I can fit the redesigned Royal fuel tank mount albeit I had to move the fuel tank mounting pin holes back a couple of mm so that the tank would not overlap the belly strap (and it looks more accurate now).  On that note I will attempt to add the detail of the sway braces but I've yet to add the holes for the forward braces or construct the fin holding points. I've also glued the landing gear shut (no going back now!). The fit was not bad with only a little gap filling to be done in one area. You may also spot thay I've filled in the rear Sparrow recesses as they are in completely the wrong place and are quite visible. The front ones are wrong too but the Sparrow missile covers them well after you've cut the top fin off. The final area that will require some attention (on this part) is the fact that the Revell inner pylons are located too far out (apparently). I could have left it but since I'm adding some chaff and flare pods to the pylons they will need positioning correctly or look like they will interfere with the landing gear. I seem to have added more work than I've just completed!


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