thegoodsgt

I work in 1/72 scale, so black with a drop of Future gives a nice representation of a powered down MFD.

Here is my latest, a Hasegawa 1/72 RF-4B Phantom II. It's mostly out-of-the-box, with only some extra detailing in the landing gear bays and in the cockpit. I painted the model with Tamiya paints, custom mixed using my Mk. I Eyeball based on what looked right based on the one photo I have, in the old Detail & Scale book on Navy F-4s. Weathering was done with an oil pin wash, oil dry-brushing, and pastels. It's a bit heavier than I intended; I tend to get carried away. Decals representing one of VMPF-3's more colorful schemes came from Microscale 72-324. Enjoy! (Some day I'll learn how t

Sounds great! You might contact Don over at www.primeportal.net as I'm sure he'd be eager to host the photos for you.

Very nice work, Brian. The weathering of the gray tones is outstanding!

There's also the old Verlinden kit for the A-7. It includes a nice seat, photoetch whatnot, and lots of black boxes and such underneath the cockpit.

Hi Anthony, Do a search of this forum. There have been 10-15 really good discussions about the Kfir, including some back-and-forth about the 1/72 scale kits that are available.

Thanks, Gino. With all these web sites and forums I'll never get any modeling done!

Paint the airframe, and then paint the wheel wells. Very easy.

Hi Cloud, Don't feel bad. Everyone struggles with canopies. They're difficult to get right. As for the fogging, my crazy suggestion is to just leave it as-is. Removing it may cause additional damage, and unless you scrape off on the residual glue from the canopy and the cockpit sill, it may not fit back on. When I make these mistakes, I leave them on the model to serve as a constant reminder not to do that again!

When I've judged at contests and seen something unusual, I try to give the modeler the benefit of the doubt and assume that he knows something that I don't. Of course most models can be "disqualified" based on more fundamental problems, so the accuracy of the markings rarely come into play. The fin-less missiles remind me of my first experience seeing AIM-9s without them. I was visiting a friend who was a crew chief on F-15s back in the late 1980s, and I immediately noticed that the Sidewinders on his jet didn't have the fins. He told me that a new pilot was even taken aback by that and had a

Michael, I'm a big fan of Tamiya paint. But I also run into situations where they don't offer the exact color I need. Based on the page below, XF18 is relatively close. I'm not one to obsess over exact colors, so what I would do is use that color as a starting point and then adjust it with other colors to get close to FS15042. http://ipmsstockholm.org/colorcharts/stuff...arts_tamiya.htm

Whenever I'm looking for a walkaround, my first stop is Prime Portal.

DFN, nice work! I've always liked the F-89 but natural metal finishes scare me. You've pulled it off very well.

Ian, very nice work on the Lightning. I like it a lot!

I don't think there are any aftermarket decals for the CH-46 (nor for the CH-53, too) for us 1/72 guys. I'd eagerly pay to have custom decals made, but from what I understand, it's difficult to print gray decals with the printers that most of the custom decal guys are using.

Just found one but could always use more. http://www.largescaleplanes.com/Walkaround...hantomii_1.html

Hi guys, I wonder if any of you have a good photo of the walkways on the wings and fuselage of US Navy F-4s? I'm trying to get an idea about where and how they wear and weather. I've look through many of the walkaround sites online, but very few show the upper wing. Thanks in advance. Photos of my RF-4B coming soon....

Unfortunately there are few tricks. I recommend using a high quality paint brush (Windsor & Newton Series 7 brushes, while very expensive, are the best) and practicing to learn how much paint a particular brush will hold and how quickly it transfers onto the part.

Does anyone have experience with the Superscale or kit decals? Does the underlying blue color bleeds through the yellow markings. (I'm particularly interested in the 1/72 scale kits and decals.)

This is not a definitive list of F-4 decals, but it's a start. Also, watch eBay, as RF-4B decals come up from time to time. http://www.modelingmadness.com/decals/decals%20F/f4.htm

I'm planning an A-10 project myself. If you do a search of this forum for LASTE, you'll find some helpful discussions and really good photos.

Hi Mike, I strongly recommend doing a search over in the Tools and Tips section. There have some incredibly helpful discussions that gave me the confidence to finally gave me the confidence to try the black art of scribing! I can't say that scribing is easy, but I've gotten a bit better with only a few attempts under my belt.

Amen, brother. If you're doing all this research and can't determine what's accurate, the odds of someone else knowing better are slim!

Hi Allan, F2H decals show up on eBay from time to time. I keep putting off buying a set for myself.

Another reliable resource is airliners.net. And sometimes a Google image search will turn up good stuff.