1/32 Tamiya F-4E post-Vietnam- Kicked up a notch.

[Marcel111]

Chuck, it all looks showstoppingly stunning! GREAT to see her standing there in all her beauty.

Nice final touches there on the ladder and cockpit sill.

Marcel

[JohnS]

A fantastic build Chuck. Very educational, as well. Looking forward to the pic's.

I'm almost sorry it's finished. I'll miss the updates.

Well done! :thumbsup:

[chuck540z3]

Hey guys, I made another mistake, but this time it wasn't a modeling one. I was going to go over many things when I post my pics, including this, which I really should have said already last night:

THANK YOU SCOTT WILSON!!

I was so excited about finishing this model I completely forgot my manners- and I don't need a bunch of pics to say thanks. Thanks to Scott, this became "our" F-4E thread and I'm sure everyone benefited from Scott's incredible and rare pics of F-4's "in the day". Scott enriched my modeling experience greatly as I tried my best to replicate subtle details he knew were important and I now have a new friend, even if it's a cyber one. Thanks again Scott for all your hard work and input.

Very, very nice. She came out beautiful. I can't wait to see how she does in contests.

One minor correction to something you said, the drag chute door doesn't touch the dump mast when it's open; it comes very close, but doesn't touch.

See, there you go again! Just when I think I know what's going on, you point out another tiny detail I wasn't aware of. All the pics I have are from the bottom and they really look like the door hits the drain tube, like the one I took below of a QF-4. The funny thing is, no matter what I did with that little chute door attachment, I couldn't quite get it to touch, so maybe the modeling gods were looking out for me?

This one doesn't have the silver colored cable assembly, but it does point out another thing that I've missed, which is that rod-like T-handle key that inserts into the hole near the small drain tube. I made one some months back, but it seems to have been lost, so I'll just have to make another one before I take pics. I think a sewing needle with the "T" stuck through the eye is just the ticket.

Edited April 3, 2012 by chuck540z3

[maly149]

PHENOMENAL!!!! AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited April 3, 2012 by maly149

[Neo]

Simply amazing great following along!!

did you pick your next target?

Cheers

Neo

[Filipe]

Hi Guys

Fantastic Build. Superb Job.

Congrats

Best regards

Filipe

[Viper01]

Chuck and Scott of course,

Can't believe it's over, I've followed your build from the start, although I'm not a huge Phantom fan and also doesn't have that much knowledge.

But this build was truly inspirational, full of intel and some awesome building skills!

I've learned a lot and enjoyed all the updates!

This is a true masterpiece! Can't wait to see the rest of the photos!

Remy..

[Rogier77]

Amazing build. Lots of detail almost a real F4 Phantom. Damm i need to learn match more about scale modeling.

Where can i follow the master classes?

If there ever is going to be a world championship of scale modeling, this is a finalist for sure.

Rogier van den Berg

[Scott R Wilson]

This one doesn't have the silver colored cable assembly, but it does point out another thing that I've missed, which is that rod-like T-handle key that inserts into the hole near the small drain tube. I made one some months back, but it seems to have been lost, so I'll just have to make another one before I take pics. I think a sewing needle with the "T" stuck through the eye is just the ticket.

All you need is the sewing needle; the cross bar on top (bottom?) of the "T" in your photo is made from a bolt, some spacers and a nut. We didn't have that setup at Ramstein. The rod sticking out of the airplane had a hole in it (that the bolt in your photo is threaded through), and we used a tool that looked like a T-shaped handle with a hook on on the bottom of the "T". Stick the hook through the hole in the rod and use the handle to push up or pull down as you needed while stuffing a new drag bag. The bolt through the rod was a much better way of doing it, I wish we did have that back in the day.

The silver cable was the RF cable for the RHAW antennas on the drag chute door, probably removed during the QF-4 conversion on the jet in your photo.

And Chuck, thanking me just isn't necessary; I got all the gratification I could hope for from watching you use the info I provided to create magic. When I finish my Instrument and Commercial Pilot ratings I hope to jump back into the F-4D you gave me; I don't think I can come close to the skills you have but I hope to make you at least a little proud!

Scott W.

[chuck540z3]

All you need is the sewing needle; the cross bar on top (bottom?) of the "T" in your photo is made from a bolt, some spacers and a nut. We didn't have that setup at Ramstein. The rod sticking out of the airplane had a hole in it (that the bolt in your photo is threaded through), and we used a tool that looked like a T-shaped handle with a hook on on the bottom of the "T". Stick the hook through the hole in the rod and use the handle to push up or pull down as you needed while stuffing a new drag bag. The bolt through the rod was a much better way of doing it, I wish we did have that back in the day.

And Chuck, thanking me just isn't necessary; I got all the gratification I could hope for from watching you use the info I provided to create magic. When I finish my Instrument and Commercial Pilot ratings I hope to jump back into the F-4D you gave me; I don't think I can come close to the skills you have but I hope to make you at least a little proud!

Scott W.

Thanks for the tip- so here's how it looks now....

And just to keep Guy happy, I added some more soot. All that nice blue burned metal tinge is now buried under there somewhere!....

And I added some screening to the gun louvers on the inside, followed by a small blast of that same soot....

I finished taking about a hundred pics tonight, so I'll pull everything together for the "Display Case" tomorrow sometime. I hope you guys like them as much as I enjoyed taking them. A couple of them ROCK!, if I do say so myself!

Here's a teaser before I hit the hay....

Edited April 4, 2012 by chuck540z3

[Scott R Wilson]

And just to keep Guy happy, I added some more soot. All that nice blue burned metal tinge is now buried under there somewhere!....

And I added some screening to the gun louvers on the inside, followed by a small blast of that same soot....

Whoa, you missed something... the lower TACAN antenna on the front nose gear door should be black. Is it too late to change it? The mounting base can be either bare metal or painted but the blade is for sure black. It's the same Neoprene rubber as coats the radome and other dielectrics so can be flat to gloss, your choice.

Sorry you had to add soot all over your nice bluing, but that is far more realistic for the time period. F-4s back then, before the smokeless engines were brought into the inventory, had that whole area absolutely black from soot. It accumulated quickly; picture the tail on the #4 Thunderbird F-4E and how black it was just from flying formation with his tail in lead's exhaust stream.

Edited April 4, 2012 by Scott R Wilson

[erik_g]

Phantastic Phantom!

It´s a bit sad this build is completed. It´s kind of like when a favourite TV-series ends. But just like TV series, I think we can count on seeing a sequel to this project?

If this WAS a TV series, it would definitively be an HBO production..

:-)

Best regards

Erik G

Sweden

[Santtu Pikkarainen]

Chuck, congratulations with finishing this wonderful bird! Definitely one on the best builds ever! When I just see some of you results it all seems so easy, but I know it isn't. If my own F-4J would come out only half as good, I would be very satisfied... Thanks for sharing all the ups and downs with us, together with Scott's priceless input this threat became the source for building a great Phantom!

:worship: :worship: :worship: :worship: :worship: :worship:

Looking forward to your next project!

[chuck540z3]

Whoa, you missed something... the lower TACAN antenna on the front nose gear door should be black. Is it too late to change it? The mounting base can be either bare metal or painted but the blade is for sure black. It's the same Neoprene rubber as coats the radome and other dielectrics so can be flat to gloss, your choice.

Sorry you had to add soot all over your nice bluing, but that is far more realistic for the time period. F-4s back then, before the smokeless engines were brought into the inventory, had that whole area absolutely black from soot. It accumulated quickly; picture the tail on the #4 Thunderbird F-4E and how black it was just from flying formation with his tail in lead's exhaust stream.

DANG! This is SO fitting that just when I thought I got most things right, I still screwed up something! LOL, :lol: Oh well, I can still paint it easily now, but there's no way I'm re-taking all these pics in the Display Case forum.

Thanks for all your encouragement guys, I really appreciate it. See you over at the the Display Case -------------> HERE

BTW, I'll post a few small updates when I get that CAT-9 missile built properly, but for now, this project is OVER!

Chuck Sawyer

Edited April 4, 2012 by chuck540z3

[Gervais8]

Truly and awesome build and inspirational.

[ghatherly]

Hi Chuck,

Thanks again for the Revell F-4E kit. I am getting the items together for building it into a "G", with the intention of starting it when the Recce is done. I really want to thank you for taking the time and effort and hard work that went into sharing this build. I learned so much, and now that I started posting I realize how much time that takes up just keeping a thread up to date. I really appreciate the sharing and the bird is just beautiful!!!

Keep modeling,

Gary

[chuck540z3]

Hi Chuck,

Thanks again for the Revell F-4E kit. I am getting the items together for building it into a "G", with the intention of starting it when the Recce is done. I really want to thank you for taking the time and effort and hard work that went into sharing this build. I learned so much, and now that I started posting I realize how much time that takes up just keeping a thread up to date. I really appreciate the sharing and the bird is just beautiful!!!

Keep modeling,

Gary

You're welcome Gary. I bought that Revell kit thinking that I would use some parts for my Tamiya build, like the center line tank and slatted wings. The wings won't work with the Tamiya parts and I didn't need the tank, so after I saw what you're doing with a Revell kit, I thought that it would be in way better hands on your workbench than mine.

Yes, these WIP are a real chore, but I found that the rewards of feedback from Scott, Jari and many others made it all worth it. The other benefit is that close-up photography reveals many flaws you didn't know that you had, so it gives you an opportunity to fix most of them before it's too late. By creating a photographic log of every step of the build, it helps you with your next attempt of this kit- and you have a ready source of pics for a magazine article, should you wish to do one. Yes, I'm building one right now.

If I may offer a photography suggestion, I noticed that you just bought a new camera with image stabilization. While that's a good feature to have, for these close-up shots what you really need is a tri-pod and the tightest f-stop aperture your lens will give you. Most of my pics are 1-2 seconds at 100 ISO to get in all the depth of field a tight aperture can give me, so the image stabilization is actually turned off.

[ghatherly]

Hi Chuck. I will give it a try with the camera. I need to do an update on the Recce, but all I have really done the last two weeks is attach the outer wings and cleaning out the gillions of rivet holes. What I have been doing is learning to mold and cast resin using the Recce corrected canopies as tooling. There is so much work in fixing the Revell canopies that there has to be a better way than building them from scratch each time. Besides, if it is clear, I will find a way to screw it up in short order. If I can get the hang of resin casting, I am hoping to be able to cast clear canopies that are the right size, with the correct hinge spacing, and structure in place so I can use Eduard PE to detail them out. Another topic later on.

Any how, much thanks again for the kit and your contributions here.

Edited April 15, 2012 by ghatherly

[Major Walt]

That is ohe phine looking phantom!!!!

[chuck540z3]

Thanks Guys!

I almost forgot that Scott Wilson sent me a very large photo of 68-0393, 3 years after "TAM80" when the rear rudder was replaced, emblems moved or changed and the shark mouth removed altogether. Other than the placement of the formation light on the vertical stabilizer, which is wrong for this bird but correct for other F-4E's that flew in TAM80, I didn't do too bad trying to match the camo-paint scheme. The photo seems to have a major color shift where the dark green is now grey, but it also proves that the stabilator tips were straight yellow and not checked like the fin cap, which the AirDoc decal instructions call for.

One other update, albeit minor. Although I'm still glad I left the vertical stabilizer off this build for ease of decal and paint handling, there is still a gap at the rear where it sits on top of the drag chute and the very front at the air inlet.....

Here is how it looks now. In order to eliminate this gap, I had no choice but to cement the stabilizer on. A neat trick to fill gaps like this at this late stage is to use ordinary white glue, using a wet Q-tip to wipe off the excess. Once dry, you can add a little dark wash and voila! No gap and no glue on the front....

Or the back....

Edited April 16, 2012 by chuck540z3

[Anders_Isaksson]

Inspirational work as always, Chuck!

[Pruz]

Excellent work, Chuck, almost too good to be just a model!

A fine reference work on the USAFE Phantom of that era too, well done and good luck with it, worth a few gongs I'm sure!

Al

[zaxos345]

AWESOME build Chuck, really inspiring one. Looking forward to your next one!!!!

John

[Devilleader501]

I still can't believe the detail and paint work on the Aft of that jet. It is remarkable how you even got those transitions in shades. Great job Chuck I would really love to see some more of your work and not just the Phantom and Hornet in past pictures. You are one of the best modelers I have ever seen and would like to see more of your work.

[mareku]

Superbh Chuck Realy superb!!!!!