billb Posted August 26, 2013 Share Posted August 26, 2013 I'm surprised there's not more builds of this kit. The fit is really nice, detail looks good (although I'm no Phantom expert) and the finish etc. is top class. Anyway, I started this a few months ago and it's progressed quite quickly by my standards. Photos are just my phone as I haven't had a chance to pull out the whole lights, camera, etc. setup. I'll do that at the end to show off the hundreds of colourful decals :)/> Kit & stuff: Kit, KA Model exhausts which have some lovely delicate detail, Master Models pitot, ram air inlet & AoA probe, Hypersonic corrected tail surfaces, A/C intakes and MB5 seats (yes I know I should be using the 7's but I really like these so I'm using them). Other than that i'll be using the kit decals (cartograph) and some plastic, wire etc. The last aftermarket item is seamless intakes from a Russian guy I hadn;t heard of before - XMM models. Really high quality moulding, includes nice outlets at the rear of the splitter plates, fits beautifully and Dinosavr was good to deal with. Biggest weakpoint of the kit is the lack of sidewall detail but it's pretty easy to add some busyness in there, and tbh it's difficult to see when everything is together. Added a bit of paint and moved the radar screen handle. Shiny bits are coloured cellophane over bare metal foil - works well. All the pics I had show lots of spaghetti behind the pilot. I may have gone slightly overboard but after painting, removing the blue masking tape and putting the seat on it will look nice and busy. You can also see some of the painted sidewall detail here. Main construction next. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
billb Posted August 26, 2013 Author Share Posted August 26, 2013 Once this was done I added the wheelwells, jetpipes (with their weird shade of green), and whatever else was needed and put all the main bits together. With the main wheelwells, install the main sides straight into the wing rather than following the actual instructions. Also if you shave off a small part of the corner of the main gear strut then it can be snapped in after everything is built and painted which is good for me because otherwise I'll break them off repeatedly. I've seen a couple of builds that had some issues with the joint between the base of the nose and the main part of the underside. With very thin shims on the angled faces (5 thou plastic card sanded down to about half that) and a lot of tabs on the inside to provide a positive joint, you can get a fit that needs no filler here at all. Jst take it carefully and you lose none of that lovely panel detail: Add a number of spreaders along the length of the fuselage and you can also get the fuselage top on with minimal putty. Here's the etched detail that goes with the Hypersonic tails. & here's the XMM intakes: And after a first coat of primer here's how it looks atm: All comments/ criticism welcome. ta. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nicholassagan Posted August 26, 2013 Share Posted August 26, 2013 Looking pretty good! And you know, I think people were/are waiting for any aftermarket correction sets as well as all of Eduards PE to come out before diving in. I know I am...I can't paint dials worth a crap... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
billb Posted November 12, 2013 Author Share Posted November 12, 2013 Just to show that this is progressing, here's some quick photos now i've got all the freaking decals on. I'll probably do a little more weathering and tidying up of the finish before final gloss and matte on the non-metallic areas. All in all a nice kit and the Phantom is a very impressive looking airframe. The orangey sort of hue is from the photo. I'll fix that when I do final photos & fiddling around with editing software Quote Link to post Share on other sites
metroman Posted November 12, 2013 Share Posted November 12, 2013 Love it! I just finished mine w/ VF-21 markings from Afterburners Omaha '11 sheet - the kit is very nice and as far as I'm concerned the new standard for F-4s, -especially- nice that we got a 'B' first from Academy. Can you give the contact info for the resin intakes company? Thank you Quote Link to post Share on other sites
billb Posted November 14, 2013 Author Share Posted November 14, 2013 Any photos metroman? & with the intakes - talk to dinosavr from here or this is his website http://xmold-modeling.com/products-page/ Looks like he's also doing corrected A/C intake scoops now too. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
phantom Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 Love it!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
NavyPhantoms Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 Amazing work. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
randypandy831 Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 looks good! I'm currently working on this kit as well and it fails together. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
billb Posted December 29, 2013 Author Share Posted December 29, 2013 (edited) Got there in the end. Reasonably happy with the final build. It's OK from a foot or 2 away. The kit itself is nice and the Hypersonic, XMM & KA aftermarket bits are nice. Just after the last WIP photo's I had a bit of a disaster. Everything was decalled, weathered etc: I put on a final flat coat with a Tamiya rattlecan. Over the Tamiya white undersurfaces, decals, painted walkways & control surfaces and any enamel touchups everything was all OK as per usual. However, over the left hand half of the Gunze painted uppersurfaces everything went to shoot. The right hand side I obviously went a lot gentler and got away with. Biggest problem was that the paint under decal film was untouched so looked very different to anything around it. I spent the next few weeks swearing, re-painting around decals, re-weathering and re-touching the whole top left hand side and some of the top right for the hell of it. Final result: Edited December 29, 2013 by billb Quote Link to post Share on other sites
billb Posted December 29, 2013 Author Share Posted December 29, 2013 Some more Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sharkey Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 That's fantastic! Makes me wanna get mine out! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Billabob Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 Looks sweet. :thumbsup:/> I'm just starting mine. How did you get the dial faces painted like that ? :huh:/> Quote Link to post Share on other sites
billb Posted December 29, 2013 Author Share Posted December 29, 2013 Thanks! Enjoy it Billabob, it's a good kit. Dial faces are from an old set of Mike Grant cockpit dial decals. Not sure if he still makes them but I'm sure someone does. I bought a few packs a number of years ago and they're very very handy! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Billabob Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 That explains it. I thought maybe you found an uber small brush and major magnifying glasses! Thanks Quote Link to post Share on other sites
IronRaven Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 great work man ! :) I really like yr f-4 :") Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PanPan91 Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 That's a beauty!!!! Great work and outstanding result! 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.