wardog

Scot, Thanks for the extremely kind words. I'm glad you're enjoying the pics even though I take long to build and I don't post pics that frequently. The refueling probe for the F-4 came from the Hasegawa F-4S "Limited Edition" series that included white metal landing gear, refueling probe and ejection seats. It also included rubber tires and a photo etched fret. If I remember correctly, there might have been more than one limited edition version of their 48th scale phantoms. I had the 75th anniversary of naval aviation scheme which was painted in all blue with gold stripes and markings deno

Looking real good. I have a few of those (great) kits myself and hope to start them in the near future. I know what you mean about being busy......."what happened to the days when I'd come home and go straight to the bench....LONG GONE". Good luck with the build and happy holidays.

Alex, Sent you an e-mail with a slight description.

coneheadff, you have a good eye. That is the Hasegawa 1/48th kit with an aftermarket slat set made by Paragon. Not sure how available that set might be these days but it was a nice set. Although you can't tell in the pic, the inboard leading edge flaps are also down. This was common on the F-4B, F-4D and early versions of the F-4S. I have quite a few pics of the spoiler area of this model I can send to your email that way I don't crowd this thread with pics of a different subject.

Throwing these pics in as a farewell to modeling for this year. I will be moving soon and the hobby room is all cleaned out except for the work table and a couple models on top. The other pic shows an F-4S I finished back in 2003 after I got back into the hobby. Hoping to be back on the bench sometime in early February after I'm all settled in.

USMC6094, thanks again for your generous comments. I really wish I could have more pictures of painted parts but the detailing and difficulty of dealing with the rather crude fit of this kit is taking longer than I thought. I planned on uploading some nice pics of the cockpit over the holidays but it just became apparent that I'll be packing and moving rather than building so the build gets delayed once again.

Coming along real nice. I too tried using the Verlinden boarding ladders but I didn't want to deal with gluing the pieces together and the subsequent glue residue. Actually a lot of the pieces on the photo etch fret seem a bit over sized and somewhat thick. Keep up the good work.

Thanks Jesse. By the time I'm done It'll definitely be a "Frankencockpit". Great thing about this site is we can all learn from each other regardless of your skill level.

USMC6094, thanks again for your positive feedback.

Nihad...........looking great. I recently purchased the Monogram version of this bird but I can't say I know much about either kit. I've heard It's not the easiest build but from what I've seen so far you should have no problem. Good luck with it.

Chuck..........great job so far. Love the cleanliness, accuracy and neatness of your work. This might sound a bit familiar but I hadn't checked the progress on this build recently mainly because I'm a 48th scale junkie and usually don't venture too far from that. Guns and bays do look great and I'm sure by the time It's all complete we'll be reading another article on this fine build.

Thanks Nihad, glad you like it.

USMC6094, PW, Cabo91, Cyrus and Chuck............thanks for your comments, It's always nice to get positive feedback from the pros, I certainly appreciate it. Cabo91, I checked the web address on the drill case...www.BitGuy1.com. These drills are sold by multiple people so shop around and compare to the site Plastic Weapons included as well. The picture I included below shows the smallest drills I have, amongst others. The drills in the front with the pink sleeve are a #97 or.0059. That's just under 6 thou. in diameter making it less than half that of a #80. Another word of caution is that m

Steven, if you wan't to indulge in tedious riveting I'd be happy to help you out. I got them from some guy on EBAY under a search for micro-drills. Don't quote me but the name was something like drillbitguy1 or something close to that. I'll see if i can find the exact name when I get home. They aren't exactly cheap but then again nothing is for this hobby. I've got sizes down to about .004 or .005 which is less than half of a #80 at .013 or so. I'll warn you now, if you think #80's break easy you're in for a big surprize.

Here's a few pics of how the cockpit tub is coming along. I still have a long way to go before the tub is finished and the majority of the time will be spent correcting all the fictitious detail that once existed on the original bulkhead. I want to take a moment to say thanks to "Plastic Weapons" for providing me with some technical data I was missing. Some of the improvements to the original tube include a new bulkhead as the original one looked crooked to me and had a lot of fictitious detail. I removed the raised area that was supposed to represent the pilot's pedals and installed actual p

Great job on your prowler. I like the attention to detail such as correcting the scaled up 3 ft. Thick wing trailing edges.....lol. I must admit I'm a little jealous as to how fast your Prowler is coming together......wish I had more time to model. Looking forward to the finished product.

While trying to figure out the cockpit bulkhead situation I decided to dry fit the various aftermarket ejection seats I've collected over the years to see which ones I like and fit better. In all, I have five different types and when viewing the pictures It's readily apparent how different they all are. One of the reasons I wanted to share this information is because of the five seats, only two actually fit the BlackBox cockpit tub (Verlinden & BlackBox). The other three are too wide to fit as a drop-in seat but could possibly be made to fit by either sanding the seat sides or the sides of

Steve.....looking at your post and can't help but notice you took on a big challenge to get you back into the sport. It's also clear to see you haven't lost any speed skills.......still don't know how you can build so fast . Your work is looking 1st rate as usual so keep it up.......waiting to see the finished product.

For those that have any interest in the Monogram A-6E/BlackBox cockpit combination, the following pic shows the crooked bulkhead when viewed from above. Although it's not much, you can see how the taper increases from left to right which is causing alignment problems. If I align the bulkhead correctly, perpendicular to the length of the fuselage, the consoles start skewing to the right when viewed from above. If I locate the cockpit tub to where the consoles are straight, the bulkhead sits crooked. At this point I'm still trying to determine if the taper is enough to be visible once the entire

nimrod77 & cabo91, thanks for the compliments. As far as the detail is concerned, I try to come up with as many unique or creative ideas for the model I'm working on as I typically only like to build one example of that aircraft type and when It's finally done I know I've done as much as I can to it. Since I got back into this hobby I've only built 2 a/c (F-4S & F-8J) and I don't plan on ever building either one again. I have many more unique ideas I haven't shared yet on this A-6 and I will post them in due time but for now I'm concentrating on fixing the crooked bulkhead on the Blac

Paul....After re-reading my post I can see that I described the technique somewhat incorrectly. After the windscreen was ready, I boiled water in a small pot but unfortunately I didn't take the temp. I turned off the fire once the water had boiled for about 30 seconds. Since this was my first time attempting this I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume the water doesn't necessarily have to be at boiling temp but hot enough to soften plastic....what that exact temp is I don't know. After boiling I let the water sit for about a minute and then I dipped the canopy which was held with tweezers at th

Great looking bird. I love the paint scheme and the aligned landing gear. I too use the same canopy polishing method and I love it. Great job.

I've seen Puff the Magic Dragon but I'm not sure if I've seen the other.....Got a pic? Thanks.

dsahling, I have seen that article along with a few others. He did a great job on his F-4. Since I normally use enamels I'm sure I'll encounter my own set of issues. Actually I need to correct myself. I have tried using this technique but only on small parts. I'm sure it's totally different on an entire model. I'm just hoping I don't screw things up because if there is one thing I'm really good at It's that.

dsahling You're absolutely right. Regardless of the somewhat bland nature of the TPS scheme, a great weathering job will certainly make it stand out. I am very familiar with the salt weathering technique although I must admit I've never actually tried it on a model. I plan on using this technique when It's time to paint but not without first practicing a bit.