AX 365 Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 Progress on your recovery is coming along very well Marcel. Nice work and I'm glad that the yoga / self introspection / emotion calming exercises prevailed and you didn't toss Chico into the dust bin. ;) Good show! Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chek Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 Your camo paint tones look fabulous Marcel, and I can't wait to see it when it's matted down. My last SEA scheme attempt using the original Humbrol "authentics" ended up far too Dark Earthish for the tan, with little-to-no discrimination between the greens so I've never tried it again. But yours looks great which is encouraging because I need to be able to successfully complete it again with the light grey, the black, and also the SEA overall undersides. At some point in the history of my Phantom line up. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Major Walt Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 Looking awesome! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Check Six Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 Marcel Phantom pron, I tell ya! Looking phabulous! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted October 1, 2014 Author Share Posted October 1, 2014 Progress on your recovery is coming along very well Marcel. Nice work and I'm glad that the yoga / self introspection / emotion calming exercises prevailed and you didn't toss Chico into the dust bin. Good show! Mike Thx Mike! Really the best thing to do if that kinda thing happens is to put the model out of sight for a while. Had I tried to fix things straight away, I would have messed it up entirely since my frustration level was so high. Your camo paint tones look fabulous Marcel, and I can't wait to see it when it's matted down.My last SEA scheme attempt using the original Humbrol "authentics" ended up far too Dark Earthish for the tan, with little-to-no discrimination between the greens so I've never tried it again. But yours looks great which is encouraging because I need to be able to successfully complete it again with the light grey, the black, and also the SEA overall undersides. At some point in the history of my Phantom line up. Thx! I can post waht exact paints I ended up with when I get back from this trip, the tan was very substatially lihtened from what is usually recommended. On the greens, it's very useful to have pics of the actual aircraft being built to work off of, since the greens seemed to vary wildly. The dark green is often times close to olive drab, but the pic that Scott posted shows that this is not the case for Chico. The light green is sometimes hard to discern from the dark green, but in the case of Chico it really is light green--note the different pics Scott posted and how the light green is different between specific aircraft. Walt, Check Six, thx for the encouragement! Marcel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted October 1, 2014 Author Share Posted October 1, 2014 (edited) She's washed and decalled! I used a dark gray Promodeller mix for the wash (Promodeller black with Promodeller light). Note the partial white windscreen framing in the pic below... as per the pic posted by Scott of the real deal. Also note that I weathered the area on top of the port intake a little to reveal primer. This is as per some of the previous pics Scott posted. I know that the refuelling pic Scott posted does not show this level of wear, but that refuelling pic is imo an early Chico pic (e.g. incomplete red canopy trim), so who's to say things didn't weather a little with time. Close-up of the port wing. Note subtle weathering here and there, many different shades of tan, light green and dark green... Starboard: Here again visible the hole that the beacon antenna will slide into. Also note subtle weathering effect just behind rear cockpit: Close-up of tail, now with correctly-positioned decals. I still need to apply wash over those. Notice how using Future as decal setting solution enables the decals to do some pretty wild things, like the "8" creeping over the perimeter of the slime light. :cheers:/>/> Marcel Edited October 1, 2014 by Marcel111 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aigore Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 Mmmmmmm.... looking deliscious! :wub: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted October 5, 2014 Author Share Posted October 5, 2014 Mmmmmmm.... looking deliscious! :wub: Thanks Janne! The flat coat is on. I initially experienced some frosting again, this time using MM enamels. Very strange, I have never before experienced ANY frosting, and now with this Phantom it keeps happening. Anyhow, in this last instance it clearly happened because of the paint drying before it hits the surface and not a fundamental laquer issue. The solution was to rub the affected areas with kitchen paper, brush off the consequent debris and spray with universal thinners (thx Janne for this tip!). I then recoated, this time mixing a bit of satin with the flat and thinning with white spirits instead of universal thinners. I think white spirits is somewhat less volatile, so less tendency of the paint to dry before it hits the surface. I'm pretty pleased with the overall result. If you look closely at some of these pics, you'll notice I have a bunch of clean-up work to do. Wash and general residue from ridding the model of the bad paint from the flat-coat misshap crept through the mask here and there. I have been able to remove much but not all of that with Windex-dipped Q-tips (Chuck, thx for that tip!). Notice how I didn't do a clean job masking the windscreen seal, so that will require some tricky rework. On the below pic you can also see a bunch of debris underneath the left Hand side of the windscreen. Fortunately, I have since been able to remove that with a wooden splinter crafted from a matchstick. Marcel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
A-10 LOADER Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 She looks AMAZING !!!! Steve Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dsahling Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 Nice looking phantom youve got going there Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Scott R Wilson Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 (edited) 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! :cheers:/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/> Marcel Sorry I'm so late on this, I've been working a lot of hours and haven't had time until now. For the SST-181X beacon antenna, the 1967 through 1969 model F-4Es and Gs I've seen and worked on had a tear-drop shaped base plate riveted or screwed on Door 19 that the round socket you put on your model mounted to. 71-74 models seemed to have just a round baseplate as seen in Jake Melampy's book, not the tear-drop shaped one. Here's the only (sort-of) good photo I have showing the tear-drop shaped plate on 68-0517, if you don't mind seeing my ugly mug sitting there next to it: And here's a shot I took of the antenna on a 1974 model at a fairly recent airshow: And a portion of a photo I found online of the 1967 model F-4E displayed in Munich with the antenna removed and mounting hole plugged, showing the tear-drop shaped plate as well: And a cropped view of the original John Huggins photo scan I got of Chico shows the tear-drop shaped plate is there: Edited October 5, 2014 by Scott R Wilson Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted October 7, 2014 Author Share Posted October 7, 2014 (edited) Thx Steve, thx dsahling! Scott, thx for those pics… they will come in handy with my next Chico build ;-) to far down the road to sand, repaint and re-varnish now. Although progress is pretty steady now, I am getting REALLY tired of this build. Cheers, Marcel Edited October 8, 2014 by Marcel111 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kike Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 Keep up Marcel! you're doing an awesome job!! really looking forward to see it finished!! really inspirational!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted October 14, 2014 Author Share Posted October 14, 2014 Thanks Kike! I have received some additional pointers from Scott and Guy, big thanks guys! First off, here is how Chico looks overall right now: Scott reminded me that there are some small natural metal panels on hard-wing F-4's usually missed by modellers... I would have missed these too had Scott not pointed these out. Also, the Chico refueling pic Scott posted shows the intake leading edges to be natural metal. I am not quite sure if this is from abrasion or painting... Guy sent me another very rare Chico pic which clearly shows Chico to have a white trim line below the red trim on the vertical stabilizer. Chico did evolve somewhat so it could just be possible that Chico didn't sport this line early in her Chico career, certainly no prior reference indicated this line. But since I now have a clear pic showing the white line, I added it: Next up: Fixing the messy work I did around the windscreen. Marcel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JMan Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 Shes looking incredible!! Keep up the great and tedious work Marcelle! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted October 18, 2014 Author Share Posted October 18, 2014 Thx Jman! Here's a quick look at how I weathered the port intake (still quite a few touches needed on the cockpit): Slime lights are on and engines are IN! The SH exhaust fit perfectly into the SH cradles, no glue required whatsoever and the fit is pretty much perfect. I was expecting trouble but this all went very smoothly indeed. :cheers:/> Marcel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Janissary Posted October 18, 2014 Share Posted October 18, 2014 I am learning so much from your and Chuck's builds. Please keep'em coming. It looks so nice! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 Also, the Chico refueling pic Scott posted shows the intake leading edges to be natural metal. I am not quite sure if this is from abrasion or painting... Marcel Abrasion and wear. If you check some of Scott's pics in your thread above, it can clearly be seen as chipped paint. I like the BM look anyway! Funny you're still having frosting issues, but you've obviously solved them this this time. I just flat coated my Hog using what I always use and it came out frost and blemish free. Next time try Testors flat coat lacquer thinned with about 40% Tamiya lacquer thinner. Works for me! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted October 22, 2014 Author Share Posted October 22, 2014 Abrasion and wear. If you check some of Scott's pics in your thread above, it can clearly be seen as chipped paint. I like the BM look anyway! Chuck, that's what I figured. Only thing that made me put on a nice BM lip to the intake is that on the Chico pic, the BM looks very regular, apart from the upper section. Oh well, I like it too <_< Marcel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JMan Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 damn those burner cans look so real especially the exhaust tube almost made the mistake of thinking that was a metal tube, cant wait to c more! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Skinny_Mike Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 Great looking f-4! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted November 1, 2014 Author Share Posted November 1, 2014 Thx Jman, thx Mike! Here's a look at how things stand right now. As you can see, I have dirtied her belly a little, using Tamiya pastel "oil stain" as I usually do. Also, I always use a steel rule aligned to the direction of airflow as a guide to ensure I get straight lines. The undercarriage is also mostly on and it's great to work with a Tamiya kit when it comes to this, mostly things fit very well. Slight exception is the wheels themselves, it seems if I tighten them onto the legs with the little screws, they touch the legs, which if I keep them loose they tend to fold ever to slightly inwards. I will probably tinker with this a little more tomorrow until I get a good result. I have noticed that the centerline tank usually starts dirtying very abruptly, in line with where the underside starts getting dirty. A quick question to the Phantom specialists out there: On pages 166 and 168 of Jake's F-4 book there are pics showing the VOR/localizer blade antenna and the (darkly colored) radar altimeter antenna--were both of these present in 1972? Marcel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Scott R Wilson Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 (edited) Thx Jman, thx Mike! Here's a look at how things stand right now. As you can see, I have dirtied her belly a little, using Tamiya pastel "oil stain" as I usually do. Also, I always use a steel rule aligned to the direction of airflow as a guide to ensure I get straight lines. The undercarriage is also mostly on and it's great to work with a Tamiya kit when it comes to this, mostly things fit very well. Slight exception is the wheels themselves, it seems if I tighten them onto the legs with the little screws, they touch the legs, which if I keep them loose they tend to fold ever to slightly inwards. I will probably tinker with this a little more tomorrow until I get a good result. I have noticed that the centerline tank usually starts dirtying very abruptly, in line with where the underside starts getting dirty. A quick question to the Phantom specialists out there: On pages 166 and 168 of Jake's F-4 book there are pics showing the VOR/localizer blade antenna and the (darkly colored) radar altimeter antenna--were both of these present in 1972? :cheers:/>/>/>/>/> Marcel Radar altimeter antennas I believe yes (one on each side, one was transmit, the other receive), sometimes painted over though they weren't supposed to be; VOR/LOC antenna no, for sure it was added after the Vietnam days. Looks like you painted the inboard wheel hubs white; those were never painted but left bare metal and were always rusty and usually dirty. I'm not sure the masked-off abruptness of the dirt on the centerline looks quite right, got any photos to show the real deal looking like that? Best shots I have collected from the web are these, note the dark smear from the starter exhaust on the top photo: Edited November 1, 2014 by Scott R Wilson Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted November 2, 2014 Author Share Posted November 2, 2014 Scott, thx for the antenna info. On the centerline tank weathering, I was using this pic for inspiration... it's an F-15 style tank but I'd expect the weathering pattern to be the same, namely the oil streaks start in line with where they start on the belly of the aircraft. I guess there may be effects other than oil dripping from the aircraft while stationary at play though. I think I will go back and soften the effect just a little, maybe adding a few streak starting further ahead. Marcel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted November 9, 2014 Author Share Posted November 9, 2014 Tank, weapons and jammers are on! Notice that I redid the leading edges of the intakes, these are now weathered natural metal. Some close-ups: So, things really are very close to the finish line. Marcel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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