chuck540z3 Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 (edited) Well, Boys, I finally finished this monster after 14 months and probably 600+ hours of work. This is a representation of F-4E 68-0393 when it was stationed at Ramstein Germany for “Tactical Air Meet” in 1980, or “TAM80” as it was called. I chose this subject because I wanted SEA camo paint, leading edge slats and a shark mouth, so this post-Vietnam bird fit the bill on all counts. Yes, I know that the inboard slats are usually down in the parked position, but they weren’t all the time and I even have some pics to prove it! There are lots of other details you may not find “correct”, but believe me, I’ve done a lot of research and I think I got most things right. For those who want all the gory details of my long journey, I have a LONG WIP thread here, but I warn you, there are over 800 posts within it!…. Work In Progress Thread I won’t go over every detail of how I put this model together since it is well documented within the WIP thread, but I must send out a very special THANK YOU to Scott Wilson our resident F-4 Expert, who guiding me all along the way and tried to keep me on track and as accurate as possible. Even though he tried, I apparently still forgot to paint a small antenna on the front gear door black, which is still easy to do at this late stage but there’s no way I’m re-taking all these pics. I have a link to all of them in a special public Photobucket file here if you want to see them all, but I’ll post 30 of the better ones below. Sorry, I couldn’t thin the herd any more than that. 85 Pics I threw everything but the kitchen sink at this project and did a lot of scratch building, especially in the cockpit, front gun and drag chute areas. Aftermarket parts and accessories included: • DMold 32001 Seamless Intakes. • Eduard Photo-Etch Everything, including: 1. 32079 (X2) Ejection Seat. 2. 32511 (X2) Ejection Seat. 3. 32080 Exhaust. 4. 32503 Interior. 5. 32509 Placards. 6. 32531 Formation Light. 7. 32073 Exterior. • Burner nozzles from “Fox3tornado” on ebay (Joe Lortie), heavily modified with the Eduard etch kit above • AirDoc decals and stencils. Early USAF F-4’s in Germany • Hobbydecal dry transfer stencils • Hobbydecal pitot tube and AOA probe • Cutting Edge CEC32024 slatted wing conversion set • Nautilus Models belly strap • Plastic World Modeling NBR 3211, F-104 bomb dispensers (2), converted into SUU-21 bomb dispensers • Isradecal AVQ-23 Pave Spike pod • Avionix F-4E Cockpit, AV32019 • Quickboost F-4 seats, QB 32 069 • 1/32 Tamiya F-4EJ Phantom #60314 Kit. This is the same kit as the regular F-4E, but it has both regular plastic and clear plastic for the nose section. For all my re-scribing and rivet work, the regular plastic option is a must. And, last but not least…. • The Modern Phantom Guide by Jake Melampy, Reid Air Publications. The must-have F-4 Bible if you plan on building an F-4 accurately. Now the pics- and thank you for any feedback you want to provide. I know it isn’t perfect, but it’s the best I can do at my current skill level, which is hopefully improving every year! Edit: One note about the pics. I like to enhance my pics with a bit of extra contrast and sharpening, so the colors you see may be a bit too bright, depending on what monitor you may be using. What looked perfect to me at home now looks too intense on my work monitor, so you'll just have to trust me that the colors are fairly accurate to the real deal. Also, any real shine you see is due to the strong overhead lighting I used. The finish is all flat dullcoat, but it's also smooth, so any focused light will still reflect fairly strongly. Edited April 16, 2012 by chuck540z3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted April 4, 2012 Author Share Posted April 4, 2012 (edited) Edited April 15, 2012 by chuck540z3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted April 4, 2012 Author Share Posted April 4, 2012 (edited) Edited April 7, 2012 by chuck540z3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
blunce Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 (edited) I know it isn't perfect, but it's the best I can do at my current skill level, which is hopefully improving every year! Is that like the smoking hot cheerleader saying "I'm so ugly"....? Anyway, let me be the first to say HOLY S***! It's been a fun learning adventure watching you build this masterpiece Chuck. Can't wait to follow the next one. Edited April 4, 2012 by blunce Quote Link to post Share on other sites
coneheadff Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 Thanks for sharing all those great techniques and hints! That was another perfect build!!! Cheers, Alex Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bigasshammm Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 Yup I'll never build a Phantom. awesome. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JohnS Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 Just awesome! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Billabob Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 (edited) I've been following this build from the start and have to say... This is beautiful!! I'd love to see what you could do with a colorful late '70s early '80s Navy bird. Alan Edited April 4, 2012 by Billabob Quote Link to post Share on other sites
warthoglvr Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 Wow! Great finish. Lots of eye-candy there. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crazy Snap Captain Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 Been following this WIP for aaaaaaaages. And it was well worth it. An amazing piece of work man. Something for us mere modelling mortals to aspire to. Frigging brilliant in every way. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
maly149 Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 Frickin amazing Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jmel Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 Excellent work, Chuck. I really liked watching it come together. Jake Quote Link to post Share on other sites
loftycomfort Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 Fantastic work, Chuck! I know you ran into some problems during the build, but the end product looks like the result of flawless execution. I especially love the NMF exhaust area and the cockpit So what's next on your build list? Terry Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Neo Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 This is just plain crazy.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 Chuck, love your work! I'm really appreciating the close-ups... shows the meticulous weathering you ndid and some of the finer details. Marcel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted April 4, 2012 Author Share Posted April 4, 2012 (edited) Thanks guys for all your kind words. This build was a lot of fun, but it also consumed me, so I'm sort of glad to get this huge monkey off my back for awhile. So what's next on your build list? Terry I'm going to take a 2 month break from modeling and then start an OOB 1/32 Tamiya P-51 Mustang in NMF. I need to work on some stuff around the house and then I'm gone for 3 weeks in May, so I likely won't be back into glue fumes until June. I really want a Mustang and I thought it would be fun to keep it strictly OOB (except for decals) to see what I can accomplish. This should take me through to the fall, at which time I'll start my next big project, which is the 1/32 Trumpeter A-10A Hog. I've got the kit, Cutting Edge cockpit, Cutting edge airframe corrections and the BIG ED Eduard kit to "Kick it up a notch" as well. I sure hope Jake's new Hog book is ready by then! Are you listening Jake!? Chuck, love your work! I'm really appreciating the close-ups... shows the meticulous weathering you ndid and some of the finer details. Marcel Thanks Buddy. I like to take close-ups because that's what really shows how good a job you really did at gluing, painting and assembly. Anything looks good at 18 inches away. It also shows a lot of flaws, but thankfully I can still fix most of them before it's too late! Edited April 4, 2012 by chuck540z3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted April 4, 2012 Author Share Posted April 4, 2012 (edited) I've been following this build from the start and have to say... I'd love to see what you could do with a colorful late '70s early '80s Navy bird. Alan Well, they're old and I my skill set was a little shaky a few years ago, but I still like them. Both 1/32 Tamiya kits.... Edited April 4, 2012 by chuck540z3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Eastern Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 Hi Chuck, What a lovely photo-session! Your new 'baby' is a real stunner! I think now you have all what it takes to be an absolute contest winner! Shame on the judges if they will have screwed a pooch on your Phantom! Cheers and happy "contesting"! Alexander Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JesniF-16 Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 (edited) " I know it isn’t perfect, but it’s the best I can do at my current skill level" What have you been smoking? This is the most perfectly unbelievably gorgeous model I ever saw All I can say is congratulations all the work you did must be so rewarding :thumbsup: Edited April 5, 2012 by JesniF-16 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted April 5, 2012 Author Share Posted April 5, 2012 Hi Chuck, What a lovely photo-session! Your new 'baby' is a real stunner! I think now you have all what it takes to be an absolute contest winner! Shame on the judges if they will have screwed a pooch on your Phantom! Cheers and happy "contesting"! Alexander " I know it isn’t perfect, but it’s the best I can do at my current skill level" What have you been smoking? This is the most perfectly unbelievably gorgeous model I ever saw All I can say is congratulations all the work you did must be so rewarding :thumbsup: Thanks Guys. These two quotes are actually tied together, because they are somewhat related. From my limited experience, model contests reward less risk because the whole marking system is based upon deductions rather than additional marks for extra work, painting, etc. Yes, extra work will get rewarded if the deductions are the same for two models, but the more stuff you throw at a build like this, the more chances you'll have a glue mark, silvered decal or panel line flaw. Using an extreme example, this F-4 has about 200 stencils, so if one modeler has gone to all the work to place them all on but a few of the tiny decals silvered, while an almost identical model left them off completely, the model with no stencils will win every time. Is that fair?- I don't think so, but those are the rules. Now that I know this, my next project is a 1/32 Tamiya P-51 straight OOB. I have no excuses if I screw something up and I might even enter it in the heavily modified class just to see how the judges deal with it! Although I was very careful to remove flaws along the way as I posted close-up shots of each stage, I still find some flaws that could be deductions when I took these final pics. I almost crapped myself last night when I took a straight on shot and found that one of the main gear wheels was a bit crooked- a HUGE modeling contest deduction as I painfully found out at my last model contest. Luckily, it turns out that the rubber tire had come off the rim a bit, so I breathed a huge sigh of relief as I snapped it back on. Fixing and bending metal landing gear after it has already been cemented in- also as I found last time- is a HUGE PITA that can take a week or more to fix. So, like any model, this one is far from perfect, but I have a lot of fun trying to make each new model a bit better. I can plainly see it in my past builds that I once thought were almost perfect, but now today I think they look like crap. One thing I doubt I will replicate though, is the level of detail to make sure this model is as accurate as possible. Thanks to Scott Wilson posting and emailing me almost every day with tips, I had no choice! :lol: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Major Walt Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 Beautiful job! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Zactoman Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 - No time to say more. Thanks for sharing your build with us! Really looking forward to more in the future... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mareku Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 Chuck, you are an artist modeler. Just Great Beautyfull model Congratulations Quote Link to post Share on other sites
zaxos345 Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 Chuck, i am totally speechless, i wish i had half of your skills!!!!! John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RAIN Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 She is simply amazing...and you sir are an artist. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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