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Finished - 1/72 Kawasaki T-4 "50th Anniversary"


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Hi! I thought that I should start my kit for this GB before it gets too late. Actually, I am a really slow builder so by starting to post, I'll feel guilty if I slack off! :doh: My entry for this most excellent GB is the Hasegawa 1/72 Kawasaki T-4. I plan on doing the markings for the 32 TSQ 1st Wing when they painted one of their Dolphins for their 50th Anniversary. The one I plan on doing is the red scheme as seen on the box top for the kit.

HasegawaBoxsmall.jpg

To help give the kit some life, I also plan on using the Platz PE set for the T-4.

PlatzT4PEsetsmall.jpg

Like I said, my progress will be slow, but I definitely aim to finish this before the end of the GB!

Have fun modeling!

Mike

:lol:

Edited by Mike J. Idacavage
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:salute:,Welcome Mike,

It's good to see one of these being built for the GB. As johnsan has said, they're such an elegant bird. Please keep us up to date with your progress Mike. I'm also a slow builder and I'm on holidays Dneiliquin in southwestern NSW at the moment, for a few days, but at least I brought the Albatros with me so tomorrow after I get back from a day trip to Echuca I'll do some more work to the cockpit, painting and superguing the sidewall PE into place and the seat PE as well. There isn't much in the way of model shops in Deni, like none, but there is at least shop in Echuca that sells model paints so I'll get my light grey there.

:jaw-dropping:,

Ross.

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Thanks guys!

Hi Jega! ;) I KNEW you would like my choice of subject for this GB! Hopefully, I can do the kit justice.

Thanks Johnsan! I agree, the real aircraft looks pretty good and the Haegawa kit, while not a new mold, is quite good. I'll try and take as many photos as possible throughout the build.

Thanks Ross! I am glad to see that I am not the only slow motion builder in this group! :rofl: For being on holiday, you are getting some nice progress done on the Albatros! This is turning out to be a fun GB. It seems like I am planning on building most of the kits that people are entering in the GB. It's a lot of fun following this group and I am learning some hints for my future builds.

I have been getting a bit done on my T-4. With a little luck, I should be at a spot in the next day or so where I can snap some photos and actually show some progress. To be continued.........

Have fun modeling!

Mike

:worship:

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Like most aircraft modelers, I usually start with the cockpit on a kit. The T-4 is no exception, and I am currently painting and assembling the PE parts for the 'pit. However, as a bit of a break, I started to work on the air intakes at the same time and this will actually be my first in-progress report! Usually I use intake covers as finishing intakes are not high up on my list of fun things to do. However, I decided to try something new for me on this kit. I remembered a tip that I got from a local modeler years ago but never had the reason to try it out. This is a way to get really nice, smooth white intake trunks. This process eliminates some pretty big internal seams according to my friend and others who have tried it.

First, I glued the intakes together and did some rough sanding & filing to eliminate the major seam/step.

T450thRed002MJI04252010small.jpg

I then sealed up the back of the intakes with masking tape. The key to making this work is house paint! Yup, I used house paint to finish the intake trunks. The brand I used (and recommended by my friend in his demo) was Kilz latex paint. It is used for painting wallboard and other areas as a white primer.

T450thRed007MJI04252010small.jpg

Here's a photo of the intakes sealed up.

T450thRed012MJI04252010small.jpg

After stirring up the paint pretty well (I did not do this as well as I should have the first time), I just pipette some paint into the open intake. I then used a toothpick to really coat the internal surface well. Once this is done, I pulled off the tape on the bottom and allowed the excess paint to drain. I taped the open intakes to a coat hanger to let the intakes drain and dry. I did shake out the intakes a couple of times before taping them to the hanger.

T450thRed017MJI04252010small.jpg

That's all there is to it! After drying, here's what the intakes look like.

T450thRed025MJI04252010small.jpg

I actually gave the intakes two coats as the first one was pretty thin. The photo above is after 1 coat. They now look great and it as actually easier to do than write about it!

Have fun modeling!

Mike

:woot.gif:

Edited by Mike J. Idacavage
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I actually gave the intakes two coats as the first one was pretty thin. The photo above is after 1 coat. They now look great and it as actually easier to do than write about it!

Have fun modeling!

Mike

:jaw-dropping:

Know what you mean Mike. I also find actually doing something much easier than writing about what I did and how.

:blink:,

Ross.

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Hi guys! I have some more progress to report on the Dolphin. As I mentioned, I went with using the Platz PE set for this kit. It is an Eduard PE set that appears to be custom made for Platz. It is one of the earlier PE sets and is not pre-painted. I painted the cockpit using MM paints and also painted the PE cockpit panels using MM paints. I did the various buttons and switches using a pin as the paint brush. The camera's high magification does look like the various knobs & switches are overdone, but to the eye it looks pretty good. Here's how the cockpit looks before I seal it up in the fuselage. I usually put the bang seats and stick in as a final step tp prevent them from getting damaged as I handle the model.

T450thRed028MJI04252010small.jpg

T450thRed033MJI04252010small.jpg

Have fun modeling!

Mike

:wasntme:

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Time for a small update on my progress. I now have the cockpit comfortably stuck between the fuselage halves and bottom piece. I then added the two intakes that I started my initial work on. Here's what it looks like now:

T450thRed054MJI04252010small.jpg

T450thRed052MJI04252010small.jpg

I was about to add the wings when I thought through the masking required to paint the landing gear wells gloss white. I could not easily paint these before hand as the wells are constructed with parts of the intake and main body halves. I'll now airbrush my usual white Mr. Surfacer primer/dilute gloss white/2nd coat dilute gloss white after some easy masking. When that is cured, I can add the wings and continue on. To me, it is a lot easier masking and painting the wheel wells now rather than try and work around the high mounted wings!

This actually works well for my schedule as I am off traveling for several weeks for work and will not be back at my modeling bench until the end of May. The gloss white will have plenty of time to cure for several weeks!

Have fun modeling!

Mike

:worship:

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well, after 2 week's travel away from my workbench, I got reaquainted with my project yesterday. The main bit of progress that is worth looking at was the attachment of the wings to the fuselage after getting the wheel wells painted in gloss white. Here's how the Dolphin looks today:

T450thRed057MJI04252010small.jpg

T450thRed059MJI04252010small.jpg

Now comes the slow step (for me at least) in filling in the small seams and trying to repair the different panel lines that I managed to destroy! :coolio: You can see where I used Mr. Surfacer to eliminate some of the seams. I also have the wheel wells & cockpit masked with tissue to prevent any damage. It almost looks like an aircraft now!

While I don't have any photos as it does not look too exciting now, I have started work on the different sub-systems such as the ejection seats, landing gear, fuel tanks, etc. I'll post photos of these when there is something to look at.

Have fun modeling!

Mike

:thumbsup:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi guys! It's been some time since I posted in this thread, so here's a little break in my silence. I have not done much modeling this month due to work conflicts/travel but I should get a bit more time in the upcoming month. While I am working on cleaning up the seams and repairing wiped out panel lines on my fuselage, I did some work on the other subassemblies. The ejection seats are pretty basic in the Hasegawa kit. Using the Platz PE set gives the plastic bang seats some life. I added the different parts to the basic seat and here is how it looks at this stage:

T450thRed040MJI04252010small.jpg

T450thRed043MJI04252010small.jpg

Note the 2 different seat tops. The T-4 uses the small "open square/box" on the front seat only. After I finish painting the seats, I'll post some more photos. Working on detailing and painting the seats is a nice change from the somewhat boring priming and rescribing of the fuselage!

Have fun modeling!

Mike

:D

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  • 2 weeks later...

Progress!! After my usual multiple rounds of priming, sanding, rescribing, priming, sanding..... I finally completed the basic construction stage. I just shot my final coat of primer (Mr. Surfacer) and the T-4 looks ready to go to the paint shop. Here's how the fuselage looks at this stage, ready for the first coat of the final colors:

T450thRed087MJI07032010small.jpg

T450thRed090MJI07032010small.jpg

T450thRed088MJI07032010small.jpg

This next step will be a little slow as I like to wait several days between paint coats to make sure everything is dry and I will be gone for a good part of July. Still to be painted is the final gray color, white and high visibility orange sections and the black antiglare panel on the nose. My next posting of the fuselage will be when it is ready for decaling. I'll be working on finishing the bang seats, drop tanks, landing gear, etc. while the main body is being painted.

Have fun modeling!

Mike

:woot.gif:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here's a short update on my progress. I am in the middle of adding the final colors to the T-4. Later on today I hope to shoot the black antiglare panel on the nose (kit has the panel as a decal but I think paint will look better) followed by the high vis orange wing/tail/stabilizer panels tomorrow.

To give you something to look at in regards to progress, I finished the bang seats. Here's how they look painted up:

T450thRed075MJI04252010small.jpg

T450thRed071MJI04252010small.jpg

T450thRed065MJI04252010small.jpg

The Platz detail set definitely gives the ejection seats some life!

Have fun modeling!

Mike

:thumbsup:

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Hi Julien! Platz has two versions of their PE set designed for the Hasegawa T-4 kit. One is the standard PE set and the latest version is the now typical Eduard pre-colored PE set. I used the older, non-painted set for this build as I had several sets in my stash. If you have a preference, you may want to shop around to get the version you want.

Have fun modeling!

Mike

:jaw-dropping:

Nice build,

I have a couple of these and will now get the platz sets.

Julien

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I have some more progress to report for this build. I completed the color coats for the Dolphin and now it is on to the clear coat stage before decaling. I ran into a small delay in time in getting to this stage.

When I started this build, I took a look at the decals for this scheme and noted that the orange tips on the wings, stabs and tail were supplied by Hasegawa as decals. Uh oh, this seems like a recipe for disaster in getting this to wrap around the sharp corners of those areas. No big problem, I thought I would simply mask and paint for a better look. The color for the decal that Hasegawa supplies is a classic International Orange, and I had this sitting in my paint rack so I forgot about this step until I needed to mask and paint. Well, I decided I would just double check some photos on-line of the T-4 to see where I should do the masking. I noticed that the orange being used varies from photo to photo from a standard orange to a flourescent orange. Fortunately, I have several photos of the T-4 I am building, and these show the same thing! Bottom line is that I beleive Hasegawa blew it when it came to matching the color. It does look like International Orange in the photo on the box but I think it is due to the difficulty in capturing the proper flourescent color in a photo. I beleive that all T-4s use a flourescent orange for the high vis areas but this does not always show up in the photos on-line or in a book. I have a Platz aftermarker T-4 decal sheet and they also call out for Flourescent Orange for the tip colors.

I ended up ordering the only Flourescent Orange paint that I know, Mr. Color, and then continued on. Here's how it looks now:

T450thRed095MJI07252010small.jpg

T450thRed099MJI07252010small.jpg

T450thRed102MJI07252010small.jpg

The kit supplied the white area on the tail as a decal but I decided that while I was painting a white base for the International Orange sections, I might as well do the same for the tail section in white. Unfortuneatly, I have to use the white decals as Hasegawa printed the tail design directly on the white decal base. I should say almost white as the decals are in the typical Hasegawa light tan/off white color. :unsure:

Have fun modeling!

Mike

:thumbsup:

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Hi! I thought that I should start my kit for this GB before it gets too late. Actually, I am a really slow builder so by starting to post, I'll feel guilty if I slack off! :lol: My entry for this most excellent GB is the Hasegawa 1/72 Kawasaki T-4. I plan on doing the markings for the 32 TSQ 1st Wing when they painted one of their Dolphins for their 50th Anniversary. The one I plan on doing is the red scheme as seen on the box top for the kit.

HasegawaBoxsmall.jpg

To help give the kit some life, I also plan on using the Platz PE set for the T-4.

PlatzT4PEsetsmall.jpg

Like I said, my progress will be slow, but I definitely aim to finish this before the end of the GB!

Have fun modeling!

Mike

:cheers:

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I agree, this plane has such elegant lines! great build so far Mike! :)

Let_models :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I thought I would add a short post as an update as it has been several weeks since I last posted. In a word... ;) :soapbox::doh:

Yup, I have run into major problems with the decals for this scheme. I am about halfway through the decal application and here are the problems so far:

1. These are typical old school Hasegawa kit decals so the large white section on the tail is a light tan. Actually, all the white areas on the decals are a light tan. As I wanted to do the kit scheme, I knew this going in. I understand that they are printing some or all of their current kit decals in-house with another printer/source but this kit is from 2007 and uses their old style printed decaks. I wish they would have used Cartograf for all their special schemes!

2. The kit decals are thick! Again, a typical Hasegawa decal characteristic.

3. Most significant problem - most of the larger decals do not "relax" when drying. In other words, they wrinkle up when using decal setting solution but the wrinkles remain after drying. They do not flatten out like most decals do. I tried one large decal without using anything other than water and this also dried with wrinkles. Yuck! :bandhead2:

4. To add some insult to injury, several of the larger decals like the wing walk stripes dried with some silverig present under the clear parts. Actually, there is quite a bit of silvering under one decal. At least this is something I can minimize by applying more decal set and some future after I finish the application of the decals.

Anyway, this may look OK after completeion and in a photo, but the wrinkles sure show up then looking at the model! I'll post a photo update when I am finished with the decals and fixes (if possible).

Have fun modeling!

Mike

:cheers:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, I survived the frustration of adding the rest of the decals. No matter what I tried, I was unable to remove or minimize the decals that had wrinkled during application. As I did not have an aftermarket set of these decals, and did not want to remove the decals and start again (I have other T-4 kits in the stash), I decided to just bull through this project and have a shelf sitter. Here's how the model looks with the decals added:

T450thRed108MJI07252010small.jpg

T450thRed113MJI07252010small.jpg

Interestingly, the distinctive flourescent color of the wing tips don't show up in the photo as they now look like international orange in the picture. The photo also minimizes the off white look of the tail decal.

After I wash of the decal stains, I plan on shooting a gloss coat, then some slight weathering/panel line emphasis followed by a flat/semi-flat coat. With some luck, I should have this completed by the GB deadline!

Have fun modeling!

Mike

:tumble:

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  • 3 weeks later...

Finished!!! With a few weeks to go before the end of the GB, I managed to cross (make that stumble across :lol: ) the finish line. I completed adding the details after an overspray of mostly flat clear. Here's how the T-4 now looks:

T450thRed128MJI09142010small.jpg

T450thRed117MJI09142010small.jpg

T450thRed130MJI09142010small.jpg

T450thRed120MJI09142010small.jpg

T450thRed121MJI09142010small.jpg

I was happy with how the red/white drop tanks came out so I included a close up. At least the decals behaved on the drop tanks!

The drop tanks do show how off color the tail is as I painted the drop tanks white and used the Hasegawa decals for the tail.

Thanks again for everyone's patience as I bungled through this build. Hope you enjoyed it! The kit really does go together very well and would have been a favorite to me if only the decals did not go rogue on me.

Have fun modeling!

Mike

:monkeydance:

Edited by Mike J. Idacavage
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