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Hi All

I'm starting now on my planned GB build of a pair of 52nd TFW Phantoms in 1/72nd scale.

I'm using Hasegawa kits and Airdoc decals.

The planned schemes will be F-4E in Euro 1 and F-4G in wrap round SEA scheme, using Airdoc decals.

I've made a start on the F-4E asa shown below.

I got an SBS cockpit set to try out, so I'm using it on this build. Initial impressions are that the cockpit tub is a copy of the Hasegawa tub, with plenty of extra details. This means the fit is easy. First trial fit is very good, though the front instrument coaming looks very small, so I probably won't use it.

There is a brass sheet to go with it, which looks good. We'll see how it goes on later.

HK1.jpg

HK2.jpg

HK3.jpg

HK4.jpg

HK5.jpg

More later as I progress.

Ted

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Good start! Did you glue the forward fuselage halves to the rear ones first? I never tried that before.

Hi Pete

I did indeed stick the halves together. I have tried both ways, and they seem to work reasonably well either way, but doing things the same way all times can get boring.

Onwards and upwards.

I have been working on the cockpit tub, and it is now painted and ready for installation.

I forgot to mention, these models are 1/72nd scale.

I'm quite pleased with the look of this pit. It is a bit course, having recently done some 1/48th scale Aires Pits, with their superb detail. I'm not 100% happy with the seats supplied, so I'm going to use the Quickboost seat as a replacement.

Onto the pictures.

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HK14.jpg

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HK16.jpg

I hope you enjoy this.

Any comments or help is welcome.

Ted

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It's always best to joint the fuselage halves together 1st to make up a conventional assemble, as opposed to the fore aft arrangement in the instructions.

Did you have any problems fitting your cockpit tub to the fuselage???

It looks like you have your forward sidewall in upside down.

Curt

HK10.jpg

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The front cockpit telelight panel on the right side of the main panel shouldn't be bright red like you painted it. When the lights are off, they look black or dark gray, and when they illuminate there are only a few that are red, most just have amber or green words that light up. The red and amber lights only come on when there's a problem, red meaning something major is wrong, and then only the light that shows the problem illuminate with the rest staying off. If the pilot holds the "push to test" switch, it lights all of them as long as he holds it.

Here's a shot of it unpowered (at the top of the photo), pretty much the same as it would be with no problems:

F4C-RFconsole.jpg

And here it is with the pilot holding the push-to-test switch, photo by Kirk Ransom of an RF-4C he was flying back in the 1960s. This RF-4C had larger lights than the fighter versions I've seen and worked on:

CSCAN177.jpg

Edited by Scott R Wilson
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Hi All

First a brief update to show the corrections as pointed out by Curt and Scott (very many thanks for that, I do appreciate you guys taking the time)

As Curt pointed out, the starboard front sidewall was upside down. I managed to prise it off and re-attach it correctly.

HK20.jpg

Next was the correction to the warning panel on the front IP. I admit I was trying to make it stand out a bit better, but looking at the update I do prefer it. Thanks for the pictures Scott. I know it isn't 100% accurate still, as I highlighted the surrounding panel in grey, call it artists impression.

HK21.jpg

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The last shots show the trial fit of the complete tub. It is not perfect, but fits OK. I have made some slight adjustment to the coaming to get the front IP to fit. When complete, some filler will be needed.

HK24.jpg

HK25.jpg

HK26.jpg

Thanks for looking.

Ted

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Hi Ted

I really interested in your build up so forgive my questions

I always have the curiosity to know how different is the WSO office between a E and G model???

Also wondering the color and brand of paints destined to be use to cloath them !!!!

And at last but not at least how you plan to ARM them???? PS I always wonder if the AGM-65 Mavericks are Wild Weasel usual weapons ????

Best modelling

Armando

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I can answer some of this, if Ed won't mind.

I always have the curiosity to know how different is the WSO office between a E and G model???

Very different. The basic flight instruments were still there, but a lot of stuff was added, reducing forward visibillty practically to zero.

Here's a pic of an F-4E rear cockpit:Clickie

And this is the F-4G rear cockpit: Clickie

Also wondering the color and brand of paints destined to be use to cloath them !!!!

I don't know what Ted used, but all F-4 cockpits are painted FS36320 Dark Ghost Grey, with black panels.

And at last but not at least how you plan to ARM them???? PS I always wonder if the AGM-65 Mavericks are Wild Weasel usual weapons ????

AGM-65's could be and were carried by F-4G's, but anti-radiation missiles were more common.

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I don't know what Ted used, but all F-4 cockpits are painted FS36320 Dark Ghost Grey, with black panels.

AGM-65's could be and were carried by F-4G's, but anti-radiation missiles were more common.

Were they 36320 in their last days? During my association with F-4Cs and Es from 1980-86 they were all 36231 Dark Gull Gray, which has much less blue in it than the Ghost Gray.

Mavericks on Weasels were a pretty common load then as well, enough that if that's what a modeler preferred over AGM-45s or AGM-78s (which I rarely remember seeing), no one could say he was inaccurate.

Here's a couple of shots I took of 23 TFS Spang Weasels, they'd just arrived at Zaragoza and weren't yet loaded with any armament unfortunately:

69-7546May18198423TFS52TFWZaragozaABSpainScottRWilson.jpg

69-7268May181984ZaragozaScottWilson.jpg

And here's a couple of 81 TFS birds I shot the day before the above two photos as they were geting ready to leave Zaragoza and head back to Germany:

69-7587ZaragozaABSpainScottRWilson.jpg

69-0285May181984ZaragozaABScottWilson.jpg

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Hi All

Thanks for the replies.

My current plan is to load the F-4G with ARM's, I'd prefer HARMS, but not yet sure of the timeline, may put a Standard and a Shrike on if required. I was planning on Mavericks on the F-4E, as I felt that sort of loadout would be cool for a Hunter-Killer team. The F-4E may even get 6 Mk 82's on the centreline, though that may be wrong.

I tend to paint the cockpits FS36231, as I think it looks more accurate, but in 1/72nd scale, theres not much to see inside.

Regards

Ted

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The F-4 is my favourite jet aircraft of all.

I know nothing about the various Mk's etc, its just the shape and amount of ordnance they carried that

makes me so keen on this aircraft.

The information and knowledge that is coming out during this build is awesome, thanks guys.

You're doing a great job on this and I am looking forward to your next lot of pics Ted. :thumbsup:

Deacon

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Were they 36320 in their last days? During my association with F-4Cs and Es from 1980-86 they were all 36231 Dark Gull Gray, which has much less blue in it than the Ghost Gray.

Whoops, you're correct. I always mix up those FS numbers. 36231 it is. I should have known, I just painted my pit with it.

Here's a pic of an F-4G with two live AGM-65's. I'm not sure, but I think this shot was taken at Incirlik in Turkey around the time of the 1991 Gulf war. I have a couple more pics from this location, and all the planes (F-4G's and Bitburg F-15C's) carry live ordnance.

f4g1wl0.jpg

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Hi All

Thanks for the replies.

My current plan is to load the F-4G with ARM's, I'd prefer HARMS, but not yet sure of the timeline, may put a Standard and a Shrike on if required. I was planning on Mavericks on the F-4E, as I felt that sort of loadout would be cool for a Hunter-Killer team. The F-4E may even get 6 Mk 82's on the centreline, though that may be wrong.

I tend to paint the cockpits FS36231, as I think it looks more accurate, but in 1/72nd scale, theres not much to see inside.

Regards

Ted

I think any of the loads you like would be good. I am not sure when the AGM-88s showed up in USAFE; I left Ramstein in April 1986 and hadn't yet seen one. I found these very nice photos on a DoD site that were taken in 1984, they might give you some ideas:

DF-ST-85-11181a-1.jpg

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DF-ST-85-11180a-1.jpg

DF-ST-85-11925a-1.jpg

DF-ST-85-11926a.jpg

And there's a very nice series taken of a pair of 52nd F-4Es approaching and dropping on the Bardenas Real bomb range near Zaragoza. Note that the outboard pylons, MERs and TERs belonged to the 406 Tactical Training Wing at Zaragoza; the pylons and racks at Spangdahlem were likely not left 36622 gray like the 406th's equipment was:

DF-ST-87-13066a.jpg

DF-ST-87-13069a.jpg

DF-ST-87-13072a.jpg

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Hi All

Time for another update on progress so far.

Owing to a large number of pics, I've had to split it up, due to the forums picture number limit.

These first shots are all about getting to get the wings to fit. I have found in the past that sometimes the wing to fuselage joint is not good. To cure this, I cemented the two halves together, except for the bottom where the wing fits. I then did a dry fit of the assembled wing to check the fit. Finding a gap, I glued a thin section of card (after trial fits to get it right), then a final dry fit of parts. The following pictures show what I mean.

HK30.jpg

hk32.jpg

HK33.jpg

That worked out fine.

More in a minute.

Ted

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Hi All

First of all, thanks for all your replies, they are much appreciated.

A special mention goes to Scott. Your pictures are superb, and very useful indeed. Many thanks for them.

On to the project.

Having seen Scotts superb dealing with the aux doors under the fuselage on his F-4D, I thought I would have a go with this kit. I've never been satisfied with Hasegawa's version especially when Fujimi can do better with their Spey tooms.

I decided to have a hack and see how it goes. If it falls apart, I have some spare parts so all would not be lost.

The first shows the Hasegawa original.

HK31.jpg

The next 3 shots show the doors being removed, by drilling then cutting out, an old and tested method.

HK34.jpg

HK35.jpg

HK36.jpg

The next stage is to cut holes in the wing joint above the aux doors. The reason for this is obvious, as will be seen.

HK37.jpg

The next stage is boxing in the hole, which is where the hole previously mentioned comes into it's own. Once the boxing is done, hopefully it'll work ot nicely. If it's good, though, I won't be able to leave another Hasegawa Phantom as is.

HK38.jpg

Finally, the top part which will represent a part of the engine is next. Compared to Scott's brilliant effort, this will be a simple build, as I'm not much of a scratchbuilder. I simply got a bit of card, bent it using a paint brush, and added some ribs with stretched sprue. Hopefully it'll look better when painted.

HK39.jpg

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HK42.jpg

That's as far as I've got, next stage will be the other side, then make up some doors, and paint it up.

Thanks for looking, as usual comments and criticisms are welcome.

Ted

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The aux air doors are open whenever the landing gear are down on J79 powered versions, so if you're making your models with their gear down, opening the doors up is a good thing to do. British Spey powered aircraft evidently had the aux air doors controlled by the flap switch from photos I've seen.

The view through the door is pretty limited especially in the smaller scales so pretty much anything you do is an improvement over the stock kit. That being said, the bottom of the engine and center keel are what you can see through the doors, so a tube with evenly spaced ribs maybe isn't all that accurate. That's what Tamiya did on their big 1/32 models and I just thought it looked too inaccurate for what I want my F-4D to look like. For your model I'd suggest a dark bare metal tube with wired or thick stretched sprue glued on running more or less from front to back would look more plausible as the bottom of the engine. Since the view is so limited especially in the smaller scale, there's probably not much reason to go overboard. Even with my 1/32 model I'm not going to try and get every detail right. I just plan to make it look closer to the real thing than the stock kit. Here's a couple of shots of the real thing to give you an idea of what it should look like:

#1 (left) engine

1enginelookingfwd.jpg

#2 engine:

2engine.jpg

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Hi All

First, apologies for a lack of updates lately. I went to a couple of model shows in February, then I've had 4 weeks of sea trials, with no internet, no modelling and no booze, and no booze.

I've finally managed to get off the ship and do some modelling.

I've been cracking on (appropriate for Easter :whistle: ) with the F-4E half of the team. First, I repeated my effort with the aux intake. I've decided not to go to any lengths detailing it as in 1/72nd scale it will hardly be noticed. Following this, I glued a few bits together, as can be seen below. I decided to add ARN-101 and TISEO, though maybe not too accurately. I think the extra lumps will look cool though, so thats good enough for me.

IMG_0142.jpg

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While doing the flaps I lost a bit of the wing (a common occurence with me) so I put in a bit of plastic card, carved to shape, and it will look better than a gap in the end once painted.

IMG_0145.jpg

I also made a start on the dangly bits, AGM-65 launchers and fuel tanks. I still have to decide what ECM pod I want to use. At the moment I would prefer the ALQ-101, but only because it's bigger.This will sit in the forward port sparrow bay on both aircraft.

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Once this is ready for painting I will put it to one side, and start on the F-4G. I can then paint both at the same time, still planning one in Euro 1 with the other in wrap round SEA.

Thanks for looking, and your previous comments.

Ted

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Hi All

Another quick update.

First of all, to add to the updated auxillary intakes, some doors are needed, so how to construct them?

First problem, in 1/72nd scale they need to be thin, so below is the perfect answer.

First, take a suitable can.

Open it and dispose of the contents (a very important stage, as otherwise you may get a bit wet.

IMG_0152.jpg

Once yoy have your receptacle, decapitate it at both ends.Cut off all the bit's that aren't door and flatten the rest. Be careful, as the ends are sharp, so don't let Dad's do this.

I then added some plastic card in the centre which get's rounded off.

All that's then needed is some paint, and jobs a good un.

IMG_0153.jpg

IMG_0154.jpg

I have started on the second in the pair, the F-4G.

The following shows todays progress.

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I found the book I originally saw the inspiration photo in, with the F-4E as I depicted, with both TISEO and ARN-101. Also, both aircraft had the ALQ-131 ECM pods, so I'll stick with them.

One more holiday left, so I'll see what progress I make tomorrow.

Thanks for looking.

Ted

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Hi All

Made more progress today, but I have not made any photos of progress. Basically, I completed the cockpits, added seats, and put the canopies on. With other finishing touches on the F-4G, they are about ready for paint. I'll probably not get a chance to do much during the week, so It'll be next weekend. I need to get these finished this month, as it would be nice to have a couple of new Phantoms for the Scottish Nationals.

Thanks for looking.

Ted

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Hi All

I've made a bit more progress during the week.

Today I got to squirt paint at the models :cheers:

The first two pics shows the FS34102 going on

IMG_0162.jpg

IMG_0163.jpg

This was followed by FS34079.

These are the common colours of the two schemes. All OK so far.

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Next was some FS30279 for the F-4G, and FS36081 for the F-4E.

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I'm pleased with this bit so far. Next up is a pause to allow to dry, then I'll do the radomes, and cover with Kleer prior to decalling. A few more details to add after that.

Thanks for looking, comments are welcome.

Ted

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Hi All

I've finally completed these 2 Phantoms, just in time for the Scottish Nationals next weekend.

Here are some shots of the completed builds. Regrettably, I thought time was a bit tight to complete the build process, basically, the aux doors aren't too visible in this scale, but are an improvement, and the doors are very thin.

The markings are mix and match, as I don't have the correct markings. The sharkmouth on the -E is hand painted, hence the poor quality, as is the 52nd TFW badges.

The nose pitot's are the excellent Hobbydecal long nose set, including a nice aoa probe.

I would have liked a third AIM-7, but I only had 4. If I get more I may add the last 2 later

I'm happy with this pair, and the armaments help a bit as well.

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Thanks for looking.

Ted

Edited by Rhino53
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