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Hasegawa F4-EJ "SEA CAMOUFLAGE"


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Hasegawa has issued the F-4EJ in a rather attractive blue camouflage special boxing. I am hopelessly addicted to acquiring 1/48th F-4s, especially Hasegawa limited issues.

Any way, on the box, and on pictures I have found of this aircraft, it is blue, with so many white stencils, it looks like it is covered in snow. The kit arrived yesterday, and when I looked at the decal sheet all the stencils were black.

Are all the pictures an illusion? black stencils showing white ? Did hasegawa just make a mistake? And is anyone aware of japanese stencils in white in the aftermarket? if you look carefully, all the decals are in japanese.

Edited by Kurt H.
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It appears Hasegawa made an error indeed. Like you said, the stencils should be white, not black. Platz Decals from Japan does stencils sheets for Japanese subjects, but not one for the F-4EJ in 1/48. They do have one in 1/72, but that's for the standard grey scheme. Maybe in the future. Maybe you can use some from an F-2B sheet? No idea how similar the stencils are on those, but at least they have the same camo colors. Just a thought.

Platz F-2B stencils

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are those stencils black over light gray? hobbydecal dry transferts does it that way...

i already do a black panther 1/48 hasegawa F-4ej in the past, and it has the white stencils (in the previous boxing...) weird that they hadn't use the same decal sheet...

but when looking at reference photos, it seems that stencils are not always white... often , black over light gray... IIRC only 8 aircraft where painted that way (sea blue) maybe they only mask stencils on certain (instead of painting new ones)

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The sea camouflage F-4EJKai's were painted a base grey just like the other F-4EJs in the fleet at the time. The stencils were then masked off and the sea camouflage painted over. The stencils themselves are black, or yellow, or whatever color they appear on any other F-4EJKai.

They may appear white on the distant photo appearing on the box top, but I can assure you that they are not.

The way Hasegawa has attempted to replicate this is by printing blocks of grey first, and then the applicable black or yellow stencil on top of that grey box. The only other way to do it would be as in real life and cut out lots of individual masks, but I think that would drive me crazy.

Cheers,

-Hoops

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The sea camouflage F-4EJKai's were painted a base grey just like the other F-4EJs in the fleet at the time. The stencils were then masked off and the sea camouflage painted over. The stencils themselves are black, or yellow, or whatever color they appear on any other F-4EJKai.

They may appear white on the distant photo appearing on the box top, but I can assure you that they are not.

The way Hasegawa has attempted to replicate this is by printing blocks of grey first, and then the applicable black or yellow stencil on top of that grey box. The only other way to do it would be as in real life and cut out lots of individual masks, but I think that would drive me crazy.

Cheers,

-Hoops

I think your confusing this with a different paint scheme, they are most certainly white, and their built up display also has the white stencils.

But note sometimes these display subjects are built using A/M decals as these displays are usually pre-production.

I'd at least give Hasegawa a try to see if they have corrected the decal sheet, you might be pissing in the wind but at least ask.

Curt

10289585b.jpg10289585p.jpg

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Icarus do lovely stencils in white and black.

Very good quality indeed.

Aggressor Eagles had masked stencils 8Sqn F-4's have plain white stencils. Some in Japanese the majority in English.

Edited by dehowie
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I think your confusing this with a different paint scheme, they are most certainly white, and their built up display also has the white stencils.

But note sometimes these display subjects are built using A/M decals as these displays are usually pre-production.

I'd at least give Hasegawa a try to see if they have corrected the decal sheet, you might be pissing in the wind but at least ask.

Curt

I actually did a walkaround of one of the Blue Camoflagued F-4EJ Kai Phantoms from 8SQ in Misawa in the fall of 2006. I even uploaded them and shared a link here on ARC at the time. Unfortunately when my laptop harddrive crashed a few last year, I lost the files and would love to get them back.

-If anybody still has them, let me know!-

I can speak from first hand experience, and the walkaround that I shot that there are no white stencils on the Sea Camouflaged F-4EJ Kais from 8Sq. They are grey backed black and yellow stencils just like every other F-4EJ Kai flying with the JASDF.

- See Here, not my photo! -

Cheers,

Hoops

Edited by Hoops
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I have taken a closer look to my 8th Sq. F-4ej (that is hanging from the ceiling of my hobby room)

it have BLACK STENCILS over light gray. ..(or yellow over light gray...) but no white stencils at all!

here's some airliner.net photos that shows stencils from rather close...

My link

My link

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wow

This is why I asked the question, sure enough, someone here saw the actual plane.

The photo on the box was indeed deceiving. I looked at the decals before I posted and I could have sworn they were just black stencils.

So, after seeing these posts, and the pictures on airliners.net I decided I needed a closer look. Sure enough, with a bright enough light, and a magnifying glass and still requiring a very close look, I could barely make out the gray background.

I was able to take a picture, I do not have a macro lens so the pic is a little blurry but you can see the gray

hasedecal-vi.jpg

Thanks again for your help everyone.

Edited by Kurt H.
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I've got this kit too. Great to hear about the stencils. Is their a colour match for this scheme in acrylic?

Mr. Hobby does a set

the set have 3 colors, but 2 of them are the specific blue required:

FS35109 (Shallow Ocean Blue) and FS35045 (Deep Ocean Blue)

Edited by mingwin
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Some nice pics in your collection Hoops looks like you have spent a bit of time at Sakura No Yama park..

Nice!

Gotta love shooting in Japan!

After rereading my post, I realized that I gave the wrong impression. I did do a walkaround of one of the F-4EJs in the Maritime scheme, but I didn't have any of the pictures at the time. I just did a image search to try to find a close up of the stencils. The Flickr photostream is really good, but unfortunately not mine...

Yours, dehowie, are very good. Congratulations!

Hoops

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Thanks, but those aren't acrylic. Haven't had the courage to try using lacquer yet, which i think that one is, fearing it would dry up in the airbrush.

The bules by Mr. Hobby are GREAT.

I recently used them on my F-2s and quite happy with the results. Though the trick is to use Mr. Leveling Thinner with them....otherwise, you're in a world of hurt.

Not that lacquer thinner won't work, but the paints are a LOT less forgiving without the Leveling thinner.

My F-2s:

R2YqmLn.jpg

2jQ3aGb.jpg

And take of the blue F-4 (I had to mix colors for this myself)

vk6k18l.jpg

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