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1/32 F-4E Chico the Gunfighter


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First of all, HUGE thanks to Chuck for supplying me with a Two Bobs Chico sheet. Chuck, I'll try my best to reciprocate in time.

I have started the recovery work on Chico. I have sanded the upper surfaces with 1200 wet/dry, there is now a nice and smooth, decal-fee area to work with. The underside was not affected by the frosting, so that remains untouched.

Here is what thing look like right now:

DSC_0650_zps68c30e77.jpg

Things may not look that bad in the pic above, but after all the work I have done so far, I'd rather completely redo the camo pattern than settle for something I won't be satisfied with when complete.

Thanks again for all the support.

:cheers:/>

Marcel

Edited by Marcel111
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Thx guys! Lots of progress already, got the tan and light green paint on, now just waiting for the dark green to arrive in the mail and then I should be back in the saddle very quickly. I'm very pleased I decided to just start the camo pattern from scratch rather than trying to save the blemished top surface.

Chuck, FYI I didn't make it to Air Payeren due to a bad case of bronchitis--but that then made me make some major progress with Chico and "5".

Cheers,

Marcel

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John Huggins was a KC-135A boom operator during the Vietnam War, and took many photos of aircraft he was refueling. Unfortunately someone stole most of his photos during a move some years ago, but he still has a few. Recently he posted some on a private aircraft photography group I belong to, and one photo happened to be Chico all bombed up and ready for action. He gave me permission to post it here. Note the airplane had fresh paint, few stencils, and no walkways even on the wings. There is just a little wear on top of the left vari-ramp and a little wear on the vent louvers to the left of the rear cockpit from people climbing up and getting in. I will put the rest of his photos that I have in the Research thread of this forum. I think some of you will find them interesting.

68-0339LC366TFW421TFSTaKhliJHuggins01a720800a_zps7aa6966e.jpg

Edited by Scott R Wilson
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Scott, huge thanks for sharing that pic! There is so much information to be gleaned, its almost a good thing I had the frosting incident, Chico will now be more accurate than had I finished already.

:thumbsup:/>

Marcel

The thanks goes to John Huggins. I gave him the link to your build thread, he's also a modeler so I hope he looks in on it.

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Hey Marcel, great job up until your mishap, but growing up around horses in the deep south and getting tossed from a few it wasnt how many times you got thrown, its how many time you GOT BACK IN the saddle. Cant wait to see this awesome piece of art as per your usual builds. Thanks for showing and keeping us posted on your progress, cant wait!!!!!!!

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Guys, thanks for the support! Jman, I am indeed getting back in the saddle with this buiild, and I think the end result will be better than if the misshap hadn't occured.

Shan, no big secret to the technique I use, it's described in an earlier post, basically just suspend a fairly rigid paper mask a small distance above the surface to be sprayed and go for it. It's the only method I have ever used but it does take a bunch of practice, esp. with colors that are very contrasted to each other.

The refuelling pic that Scott posetd is a real gem for this build. I generally tried to copy the camo pattern shown, with the exception of the port intake, where on Scott's pic the camo demarcation goes into the intake/fueselarge gap, which is more or less impossibel to do with the tan/dark green contrast. Generally, Chico seems to have had a very wavy pattern, so the pattern I nopw have on the jet is also very wavy... and therefore much nicer :-)

Also, the Scott pic shows the dark green to be truly green. This is not always the case, I find esp. early SEA camo'd jets to often have a very dark olive drab as the dark green color. Also, the pic shows the light green to be pretty light indeed--again, this is not always the case, as shown by the other refuelling pics posted by Scott in the research corner.

DSC_0648_zps6b23231d.jpg

I am guessing the pic that Scott posted is pretty early-Chico, since the trim around the cockpit is not yet fully completed. My Chico will be froma slightly later period and just a little more weathered, since it has the white cockpit trim completed around the rear canopy.

DSC_0647_zps96abe1d3.jpg

The paint discoloring effects tend to become far less pronounced after varnish-coating and washing, so things will not stand out as much later on.

:cheers:/>

Marcel

Edited by Marcel111
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I generally tried to copy the camo pattern shown, with the exception of the port intake, where on Scott's pic the camo demarcation goes into the intake/fueselarge gap, which is more or less impossibel to do with the tan/dark green contrast.

Marcel

I wish I had taken photos to show this detail, but on the real jet the paint demarcation between colors in the area between the intake ramp and fuselage ends up looking just like it would if you pointed an airbrush into the gap. The pattern gets really fuzzy and indistinct in there. The guy painting the airplane pointed his spray gun down there just the same as you would your airbrush and the effect was the same.

Scott W.

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I wish I had taken photos to show this detail, but on the real jet the paint demarcation between colors in the area between the intake ramp and fuselage ends up looking just like it would if you pointed an airbrush into the gap. The pattern gets really fuzzy and indistinct in there. The guy painting the airplane pointed his spray gun down there just the same as you would your airbrush and the effect was the same.

Scott W.

Very true, rough like sandpaper in there. Also was neat to see colors from schemes gone by when we were taking apart the Vari-ramps for a TCTO.
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A Bad thing Gone Good! You also get to relocate the slime lights? Wasn't that an issue before?
Thx Erik! The slime lights were kinda sorty an issue before. According to Chuck's intel, the slime lights were placed in different locations, the location of the slime lights on my model and the reading of the decal instructions ultimately made me misplace the tail number decals. This time around, I will place the decals correctly and simply shape around the slime lights on my model. Yes, I should probably have moved the slime lights forward but at some point a guy has to just move on...

Interesting conversation on the paint demarkation on the fuselarge/intake space. I'm not changing my camo scheme now though... again, need to move on, else my motivation will nosedive.

:cheers:

Marcel

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Thx Erik! The slime lights were kinda sorty an issue before. According to Chuck's intel, the slime lights were placed in different locations, the location of the slime lights on my model and the reading of the decal instructions ultimately made me misplace the tail number decals. This time around, I will place the decals correctly and simply shape around the slime lights on my model. Yes, I should probably have moved the slime lights forward but at some point a guy has to just move on...

Interesting conversation on the paint demarkation on the fuselarge/intake space. I'm not changing my camo scheme now though... again, need to move on, else my motivation will nosedive.

271.gif

Marcel

That's it, Marcel,

Attack, attack, ATTACK!! chain-gun.gif

Pressing on, and moving forward; OORAH!! salute.gif

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Thx Erik! The slime lights were kinda sorty an issue before. According to Chuck's intel, the slime lights were placed in different locations, the location of the slime lights on my model and the reading of the decal instructions ultimately made me misplace the tail number decals.

Marcel

To document the above claim, check out the link below of F-4E's around 1980 at Ramstein AB in Germany. Scroll to the right and check out the position of the slime lights on the tail, using the pitot tube at the front of the vertical stabilizer as a reference. For example, on the "B" and "D" tails the pitot roughly lines up with the top of the light, while on the "A" and subsequent tails it's almost in the middle of the light. Of course I used the wrong tail position for my model ("D") because I thought they were all the same! :bandhead2:

Airfighters.com F-4E's

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Thx guys.

Of course I used the wrong tail position for my model ("D") because I thought they were all the same!
Oh well, I think it's one of those things you almost forget as soon as the model is done and on the display case.

Gloss is on:

DSC_0649_zps3217854e.jpg

I started applying Promodeller wash approx. 2 hours after spraying with Future. It seemd to affect the Future, so I wiped almost all of it off straight away. I will let the model stand for a few days to ensure everything is set before going for a 2nd try with the wash.

DSC_06512_zps7173f4fa.jpg

:cheers:

Marcel

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I started applying Promodeller wash approx. 2 hours after spraying with Future. It seemd to affect the Future, so I wiped almost all of it off straight away. I will let the model stand for a few days to ensure everything is set before going for a 2nd try with the wash

Marcel

Tip #1: Don't even think of decaling or applying a wash until Future has dried for at least 2 days. Sometimes you can get away with just a few hours, but not often.

Tip #2: I always use a bit of Windex on my cloth when I wipe off ProModeler wash. This wash can sometimes stick a bit, especially on rough surfaces, but the Windex cuts right through it. Of course you can't use too much Windex with a Future coat base, but sometimes it's very necessary or you'll have a mess.

Cheers Buddy. Model on!

Edited by chuck540z3
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Tip #1: Don't even think of decaling or applying a wash until Future has dried for at least 2 days. Sometimes you can get away with just a few hours, but not often.

Tip #2: I always use a bit of Windex on my cloth when I wipe off ProModeler wash. This wash can sometimes stick a bit, especially on rough surfaces, but the Windex cuts right through it. Of course you can't use too much Windex with a Future coat base, but sometimes it's very necessary or you'll have a mess.

Cheers Buddy. Model on!

Thx Chuck! I KNEW I should wait with the wash, but impatience got the better of me--I'm work-travelling the next few days and then my mom is visiting us, so there won't be all that much progress for a while.

BTW, is Windex mirror & glass cleaner? After 3 years of living in Switzerland, I am starting to forget the U.S. brands.

:cheers:

Marcel

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BTW, is Windex mirror & glass cleaner? After 3 years of living in Switzerland, I am starting to forget the U.S. brands.

Marcel

Yes, any ammonia-based glass cleaner will work, but make sure the rag is only slightly damp, not wet. If it's too wet, you'll wind up eating away at the Future, assuming that's what you're using as a gloss coat. I used to have trouble getting all the ProModeler wash off until I learned this trick, but now I slop the wash on with no fear of removal later.

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Thx Chuck, yeah, I often struggle to get all the wash off, so that should be a big help.

Thought I'd post this close-up: It shows the protruding tube behind the cockpit, which is where the beacon antenna (which I have turned from brass) will slide into. If you look at the Chico refuelling pic that Scott posted, you'll see that Chico did indeed have this. Scott, thx for the close-ups on this!

DSC_0652_zps0ca7015b.jpg

:cheers:

Marcel

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