Mike J. Idacavage Posted March 16, 2013 Share Posted March 16, 2013 Hi Phellow Phantom Phans! I thought it about time for me to start work on my entry for this great GB. I will be starting of slow (what else is new?? :lol:/>/> ) as I have two other projects on my bench with shorter deadlines. However, I am really jazzed on this GB and want to work it in while I am finishing out my other two projects. I plan on building a FSAT QF-4N based at NAS Mugu in 1996. I saw this Phantom getting serviced in a hanger during a visit to the base in July 1996 so that made the decison on the subject pretty easy. Here's what I am starting out with: Here's a little closer look at the scheme I am planning on building. Fortunately, I am REALLY lucky as the markings for this drone are on an Aero Master 1/72 sheet: Finally, here's how this Phantom looked on that summer day. This was way back in the pre-digital, silver film day and I was trying to make my limited Kodak film last. I only took one photo of this QF-4N in the hanger and reserved most of my film for the Phantoms on the flight line: On to the build! Have fun modeling Mike :cheers:/>/> Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Procopius Posted March 16, 2013 Share Posted March 16, 2013 That looks amazing. I love the roadrunner noseart. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sven Harjacek Posted March 16, 2013 Share Posted March 16, 2013 Looks like a nice Airplane,I'm looking forward to seeing this built! Kind regards,Sven. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bashace Posted March 16, 2013 Share Posted March 16, 2013 Interesting jet, looking forward to your build updates! V/r Ron Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike J. Idacavage Posted March 31, 2013 Author Share Posted March 31, 2013 I have managed to start the work on this build, and it is exactly at the usual place - the front office. I was inspired to add a bit extra from the great build by Gianni in his thread. I will not go with the fantastic amount of detail that he is adding as I do want to finish this on time! :)/> I decided to do something a bit different with this QF-4N than what I have seen on most builds for this aircraft. This particular QF-4 was flown without a rear ejection seat. During the conversion from the F-4N to the QF-4N, the various avionics that were added required that the (not needed) backseat be removed. Rather than simply just not adding the rear ejection seat, I thought I would add a small amount of detail to make this area look a tad busy and reflect what it actually looked like when I saw the real aircraft. here's a small amount of details added to the rear cockpit before painting: I plan on adding the Eduard prepainted PE along with some more wiring after I paint this sucker. Have fun modeling! Mike :cheers:/>/> Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Litvyak Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Nice! This subject was my first Phantom build a couple of years back! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kurnass77 Posted April 3, 2013 Share Posted April 3, 2013 This is an interesting build! Remember to change some details on both the IPs and removing the aft left console and add in this place the drone control equipment as shown in the DACO book. I follow your QF- with interest! Cheers, Gianni. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bashace Posted April 3, 2013 Share Posted April 3, 2013 You guys doing this level of detail in 1/72 must have bionic eyeballs. V/r Ron Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike J. Idacavage Posted April 14, 2013 Author Share Posted April 14, 2013 It has been slow going working on the cockpit so I thought I would post an update to show that I have not forgotten my build. I have found (the hard way) that I will get a major mismatch if I follow the Hasegawa directions for their 1/72 Phantom kits and complete the cockpit/front fuselage and then try and mate it to the completed rear fuselage. I have had much better luck glueing each side of the front & rear fuselage together and then glue the two halves while capturing the cockpit. Here's a photo showing what I did with one side glued together and the other side about to be combined. I am getting the cockpit just about finished so I should have some photos of it in the near future. Have fun modeling! Mike :cheers:/>/> Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Procopius Posted April 15, 2013 Share Posted April 15, 2013 Yeah, I've had similar problems with the Hasegawa 'Tooms. Really looking forward to seeing more of this build! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Litvyak Posted April 15, 2013 Share Posted April 15, 2013 Yeah, putting the fuselage and nose halves together a half at a time has become a standard thing for me too since my first build. And as Procopius said, looking forward to seeing more! :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bashace Posted April 15, 2013 Share Posted April 15, 2013 I'll have to remember that fuselage tip in case I ever build one of these 1/72 Phantoms. V/r Ron Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike J. Idacavage Posted April 20, 2013 Author Share Posted April 20, 2013 I am happy to report some progress on the cockpit for my Phantom FSAT. It is essentially done with just a little bit of weathering and paint touch up before it gets trapped within the fuselage. I also left out the fabric rear side panel in the photos so that the modified rear cockpit can be seen a bit better. I did not go for a super accurate drone conversion but just tried to capture the main visual items that are seen in a typical QF-4N. As most of the QF-4Ns were flown without the rear ejection seat and the drone modifications (including a lot of wires and cables!), I thought that this would work. Now I can start to make this box of parts looking like a Phantom! Have fun modeling! Mike :cheers:/>/> Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jimz66 Posted April 20, 2013 Share Posted April 20, 2013 Looking good Mike. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bashace Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 That's a great looking pit! V/r Ron Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike J. Idacavage Posted May 14, 2013 Author Share Posted May 14, 2013 Howdy! I don't have a lot to report but I have started back on this build after work got in the way for the past 2 or 3 weeks. I finished the pit and am now starting to bring things together. Here is how I work the Hasegawa kits. I add the cockpit to the small piece that encloses the front gear bay. I then join this to the main underwing part as seen here: This allows me to make sure these parts line up. The next step is to add the upper wing parts followed by the two fuselage halves. Here's a shot with the fuselage halves and cockpit subassembly ready to be mated. In this shot I had not added the upper wing parts. The next step is to get this looking like a real Phantom. I'll post some more shots with the fuselage together this weekend if possible. Have fun modeling! Mike :cheers:/>/> Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Procopius Posted May 14, 2013 Share Posted May 14, 2013 Oh neat, I've not seen this method of assembly for them before. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike J. Idacavage Posted May 18, 2013 Author Share Posted May 18, 2013 And quickly moving to the next step, here is the assembled Phantom basic fuselage. Most joints are pretty much lined up with the exception of the lower front fuselage step on the lower left hand side as seen in the first photo. That's what I get for not taking my time and getting this part carefully aligned when gluing it together. It is actually not so bad and will clean up with some careful sanding. Have fun modeling! Mike :cheers:/>/> Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RKic Posted May 20, 2013 Share Posted May 20, 2013 That step doesn't look so bad. You should be able to just sand most of it back. Maybe 2-3 short lengths of panel to repair afterwards. Keep it up. I'm enjoying your build Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike J. Idacavage Posted May 27, 2013 Author Share Posted May 27, 2013 While I am slowly working on cleaning up the seams on my build so far, I took a little side detour and worked on detailing the tail of my Phantom. One of the things I tend to notice is the clear red light midway up the tail on the Phantoms I have seen. I like to replicate this by first carving/filing out the location of the light: I then carve out a chunk of clear red plastic from an old cheap toothbrush and epoxy it in place: I then file and sand down the plastic to conform to the tail surface like so: During the sanding, I managed as usual to mangle the two air sensor tubes on the tail and will replace these with metal tubing after I repair the holes. After I finish the painting and with a little Future on this light, it should look good. Have fun modeling! Mike :cheers:/>/> Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike J. Idacavage Posted June 1, 2013 Author Share Posted June 1, 2013 I did some more work on the tail this past week and replaced the rather fragile plastic pitot tubes with some small metal tubing. I think this improves the look. Back to filling in seams and sanding............ Have fun modeling! Mike :cheers:/> Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike J. Idacavage Posted July 6, 2013 Author Share Posted July 6, 2013 Howdy Phellow Phantom Phans! It has been quite some time since I last posted on my build, so I thought I would try and get this project moving forward again. A busy work/travel schedule coupled with one of the more boring parts of modeling (repeated filling in seams, sanding, priming, rescribing, etc.) on the Phantom just slowed things down. Over the past month or so I managed to get the main fuselage of my QF-4N looking OK. I am now ready to add the various bits that would have gotten in the way of the major seam repair work. Here's how my Phantom looks now: As a break in the main fuselage work, I fixed up some FOD covers so that I don't have to hassle with the intakes. These are Eduard PE sets along with an old Verlinon rub on lettering. These should add a spot of color to the aircraft! Besides, when I saw this Phantom at NAS Mugu it was wearing FOD covers: Hopefully, I can pick up a little speed from this point forward! Have fun modeling Mike :cheers:/>/> Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Litvyak Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 Looking great! Still watching this with interest. :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bashace Posted July 9, 2013 Share Posted July 9, 2013 Looking great, can't wait to see some Orange on that airframe. V/r Ron Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike J. Idacavage Posted July 23, 2013 Author Share Posted July 23, 2013 Hi Ron, I can't wait to see some orange on this bird myself! I am happy to report that I have completed the main build on this Phantom and am now ready to apply the color coats. I have added all the bits that need to be painted along with the main airframe and shot it with a final coat of Mr. Surfacer. Here is how it looks at this stage: After I shot these photos, I lightly polished the Mr. Surfacer to get a smooth finish. I then added some antennas and parts of antennas on the upper spine for the QF version. As some of the antennas are a different color than the airframe, I just drilled the position holes and will paint the itty bitty antennas separately. Have fun modeling! Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.