jminer Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Hello, I took a few weeks off after finishing my WIANG Viper, but I'm now ready to get back into the mix again. For the Recce Group Build, I'm throwing my hat into the ring with a 1/48 Hasegawa RF-4B converted to an RF-4C from the Nebraska Air National Guard. For this build, I'll be using the older Microscale decals and painting it in the SEA camo scheme with the off-white belly. I'm planning on doing a relatively clean bird with a fresh paint job and full stencils, so weathering will be minimal. Below are some other items I have on deck: Utilize horizontal stabilizers and main wheels from the Monogram F-4C Eduard RF-4C full photo etch set Various resin bits Various scratchbuilt items This is my first attempt at using any photo etch, so I'm hoping I don't mess it up too much. Today was the first day of construction, I started with the front instrument panel. The photo etch was fairly easy to work with, though some of the smaller parts are difficult to manipulate. Regardless, here is the finished result.: I put a drop of Future in each dial face to give it a glass look. If I have time tomorrow, I'll continue working on the rear instrument panel. I'm really happy with how the front IP turned out, I'm hoping the rest of the cockpit turns out as nice. Stay tuned, more to come. Happy Modeling! ;) Justin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yardbird78 Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 You are off to a great start. Keep us posted on your progress. Darwin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mikestomcat Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 Hey Justin, looking really good so far, can't wait to see the rest of your pit Mike. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twhite80 Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 It Has Begun! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yardbird78 Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 He said, "Let there be light" and then there was some. You said, "It has begun" and it has. Darwin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
texgal45 Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 Ooooohhh! Another lovely Phabulous Phantom. Grandma L Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jminer Posted March 5, 2011 Author Share Posted March 5, 2011 Hello everyone, It's been a couple of weeks, but I finally got some time on the bench again. I've continued working on the cockpit while waiting for my replacement piece of etch from Eduard. Let me first say Thanks to Eduard for sending a replacement as the set I received was missing one of the frets. A quick e-mail to Eduard's customer service, and they replied a couple of days later indicating they would send a replacement right out. Very nice. I'm sure it will be a couple of weeks before it gets here, but that's OK. I have enought to keep me busy for a while that I don't need it right away. Alright, on to the construction. I opted to go the kit cockpit route since I had the etch set, but I wanted to dress it up a little more than stock, so I took to scratch building the area behind the rear instrument panel with various bits of sprue, styrene, and wire. The result isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it shouldn't be too visible once the center section of canopy goes on anyway, so I wasn't too concerned about perfection. I think it gives the look I was going for, and that was a busy bunch of wires behind the IP. I also put a bit of wiring on the rear cockpit bulkhead. Again, just enough to add visual interest, not so much for 100% accuracy. I also added a short styrene shelf across the back of the front cockpit bulkhead to close the gap between the bulkhead and the rear IP. That will be trimmed up and painted when it dries. In order to make the rear instrument panel fit and look better, I had to remove the cross braces from the cockpit area of the fuselage halves, so a quick zip with the razor saw and some trimming with the knife took care of those. And while I was waiting for various parts to dry, I also tackled the horizontal stabilizors. I'm using the horizontal stabilizors from the Monogram F-4C as they appear to be a little closer to what the RF-4C had as opposed to what's in the kit. I know I could have filled the leading edges of the kit ones, but the Monogram version doesn't need to be filled and has the triangular braces on the tops already built in. So I cleaned those up and then modified the rear fuselage to accept the slotted fins by drilling out a couple of holes ahead of and behind the kit hole, then cleaned up the elongated version. There, now both horizontal stabilizors will fit. I had to trim the area just around the tabs on the stabilizors as that area is bumped out and, in my opinion, keeps the stabilizors too far away from the fuselage. After trimming, they fit nearly snug with just the slightest of gap between the stabilizor and fuselage. Much better looking from what I can see in pictures of the original. I'm continuing work on the cockpit and will scuff and weather it appropriately, giving it a slight wash for depth. More pictures will follow as the work continues. Stay tuned! Justin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mikestomcat Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 Very nice work so far... Keep the updates coming. Mike. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twhite80 Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Looking great! What color did you use on the cockpit? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jminer Posted March 6, 2011 Author Share Posted March 6, 2011 Looking great! What color did you use on the cockpit? Neutral Gray from MM. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jminer Posted March 8, 2011 Author Share Posted March 8, 2011 Hello all, I had a little more time to get some work done on the cockpit this weekend. With the exception of a couple of the smaller handles, the photo etch is pretty much complete and everything is assembled awaiting ejection seats. I've been using various photos I've found as reference and saw that the photo etch wasn't entirely accurate. Namely with the color of the radar scope in the middle of the rear IP and on the top left side of the front IP. The PE has them green, but in the photos I had, they were dark red in color. No big deal. I just hit them both with some red on the end of a toothpick and followed that with just a hint of Tamiya smoke color when the red dried. The photos below were taken while the red was wet, so you can't see the darker red color in these photos, but it turned out alright. I scuffed up the floor areas in front of the rudder pedals with some aluminum and then light drybrush of aircraft interior black to simulate worn paint and shoe polish. After everything had dried, I brushed on a coat of Future and then hit the cockpit area with some (now) Flory Models wash. A quick wipedown with a damp cotton swab cleaned up most of the wash leaving a nice depth to the PE parts and cockpit tub. Overall, I'm pretty happy with how it looks so far. Right Front Right Rear Left Front Left Rear Front Cockpit Rear Cockpit Looking Front to Rear Hope you enjoyed the photos! Work's going to have me busy for the next few weeks, so it may be a while before I update again. Justin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twhite80 Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 great looking pit so far! The depth is good in the corners. Looks grimy but not sloppy. Your 'extras' are on their way! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Julien (UK) Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 Looking good. We can never have enough phontom models julien Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jminer Posted April 4, 2011 Author Share Posted April 4, 2011 Hello everyone! Thanks to all for their comments. As predicted, work and home life has kept me busy the past few weeks. I did manage to get a little work done this weekend, however. I was looking at the anemic sidewalls of the kit and decided to add a little more detail to them. After grinding off the kit details with a rotary tool, I took the completed cockpit tub and placed it against each fuselage side and traced the outline of the tub against the sidewalls. From there I took sheet styrene, measured the sidewalls, and cut out the basic shapes. Checking various photos of the RF-4C cockpit, I got a good general idea of how the sidewalls looked, so I tried to replicate what I saw using strip styrene, sheet styrene, various bits of wire, and stretched sprue. The end results are what you see below: Left Sidewalls: Right Sidewalls: I'm waiting for the glue to dry that's holding the sidewalls to the fuselage. I did put a base coat of Neutral Gray down, but I will be spraying the entire area tomorrow for a more even coat. Then it's a gloss coat, a wash, and some detail painting. While it's not really as good as a resin cockpit kit, I like how it came out. It looks busier than the kit offering and it gave me some valuable experience with scratch building. Let me know what you think. I'll be updating when the sidewalls are finished as well as when further progress happens. Happy Modeling! Justin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twhite80 Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 I think you are going to have better luck with the scratch building than I did with the True Details pit. Sidewalls just don't fit like they should. Looking really good! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jminer Posted April 10, 2011 Author Share Posted April 10, 2011 It's been a little while since an update, so I thought I'd throw one out there. I've still been messing around with the cockpit sidewalls trying to get them to look OK. I finally was happy with the results, so I got the paint down, details done, gloss coat, and a wash. I also glued the cockpit to one half of the fuselage after test fitting everything. I also managed to put together a couple of oxygen hoses by wrapping telephone wire (without the insulation) around an inner wire, bending it to shape, and painting it up with some olive drab. Not too many photos of all this, but here are the final results. Right Sidewalls and Cockpit Completed Left Sidewalls Completed And how it all looks together in a mock-up Next part will be getting the camera bay painted up, the cameras detailed, painted, and installed, then I can close up the fuselage. I'll also be working on the various other sub-assemblies as well as trying my hand at using lite brite pegs for the wingtip lights and tail light. I am also kicking around the idea of opening up the drag chute housing on the back, but I'll see how things are progressing with the rest of the kit prior to committing to that. More photos to follow, hope you enjoyed the update. Happy Modeling! ;) Justin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twhite80 Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 I think it looks sweet! I really like the air hoses. I totally forgot those! Looking good! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jminer Posted April 28, 2011 Author Share Posted April 28, 2011 Hello, It's been a while since I've had time to work on the Phantom, but I finally got some time on the bench the past few days. Previous to this, I had performed major surgery on my car as it suffered a catastrophic failure of the lower intake manifold gaskets due to an apparent well known problem with Dexcool eating the gasket material (thanks, GM!). So I took a couple of weekends to tear apart the upper engine of my car, replace the intake manifold gaskets (upper and lower), spark plugs, plug wires, valve cover gaskets, and thermostat. The end result is much better, but it was still a pain. Also, I had to have two teeth extracted (I only have myself to blame for that) late last week. So far, no dry socket, so I'm very thankful, but it still hurts. Anyway, as I said before, I was able to put some time on the bench. I finished up the ejection seats (thanks to twhite80!)as well as the camera bay. I believe I'm ready to close up the fuselage now. Below are the pictures of the finished cockpit, seats, and cameras. I really like how this is all turning out. Without further delay: Left Side Ejection Seats Right Side Ejection Seat Top View Ejection Seat Front View Ejection Seats Front Left View of Cockpit With Seats Rear Left View of Cockpit With Seats Camera Bay Left Side Camera Right Side Camera Downward Nose Camera The seats were painted with MM acrylics and the seat cushion colors were custom mixed as close as I could to the reference photos I was using. Details were painted based on those same reference photos. Both seats were given a light dry-brush of light grey, gloss coated, washed, then dull coated. Ejection seat grab handles were from the kit seat tops cut to fit the resin seats, painted with Tamiya red and yellow acrylic and the black stripes were done with an ultra-fine point Sharpie. The cameras were painted MM acrylic Gunship Grey, given the same treatment of the seats with a light grey drybrush to the corners and highlights, then gloss coated with Future, washed with ProModeler wash, then dull coated with the exception of the lenses. The side mounted camera lenses were painted red and the nose camera lens was painted light green. The nose camera will be added at a later time. I'm ready to close up the fuselage now and get the troublesome intakes attached. From there, it should be smooth sailing getting the wings, engines, and details on. Then off to the paint barn. Hoping to get this done by the end of June providing there are no further car or dental catastrophies. Hope you enjoyed the updates! Happy Modeling! Justin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yardbird78 Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 REALLY nice work on the cockpit and cameras. The seats are spectacular. Darwin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jminer Posted April 29, 2011 Author Share Posted April 29, 2011 Thanks, Darwin! And the fuselage is taped together and drying as are the wings. This weekend, the intakes and engines get started. Can't wait to see this with some primer and camo on it! Justin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twhite80 Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 Justin, Looks really good! I think that your scratch building looks great. Also your camera bay looks waaaaay better than mine. I just painted everything black. Super excited to see it all glued together and I hope you get to camouflaging soon. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jminer Posted June 7, 2011 Author Share Posted June 7, 2011 Hello all, It's been quite a while since my last update due to work and family life. I have been working on the Phantom here and there, but there hasn't been much progress to show up to this point. I've spent a considerable amount of time cleaning up the various parts as well as tackling an issue that happened twice. The glue joint between the upper wing and fuselage broke on me while sanding and rescribing the area. I ended up using a combination of Gorilla super glue, letting that dry thoroughly, sanding it down, then priming to check for any bad spots, then using putty to fill the depressions and sanding it all down again. Since it looked a little off having done that one side, I did it to the other side as well for more uniformity. That took quite a while to accomplish. Anyway, we're back on track now and I have finished the priming and pre-shading. Not a whole lot to see here, but the next step is paint, and I'm very excited to get this done before the end of the month. Here is the progress so far: I'll update again when I have more done paint-wise. I'm hoping to have the paint done by the end of the weekend and start decals next week. Unless something else breaks..... Justin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twhite80 Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 looking good! Next will be the camo. Really looking forward to seeing it done! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jminer Posted June 9, 2011 Author Share Posted June 9, 2011 Hello all, Just a quick update: I was able to get some of the camo paint down in the past two nights. I still have a little ways to go and a lot of touch-ups to do, but I do like how the camo is looking right now. Masking is done with 3M flexible adhesive (for putting posters up on the wall) as it is very similar to blue tack and paper. Enjoy! More updates as I get more done. Justin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twhite80 Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 Looking great! Are you still going with the Photo Finish scheme? The Yellow and Blue will look outstanding. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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