falcon20driver Posted July 13, 2015 Author Share Posted July 13, 2015 Looking great Kurt. I was hoping it wouldn't be a putty eater, but yours looks great. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 Kurt, Nice job of blending in that intake. Looking forward to seeing how it looks once primed. Should be just about perfect from what I can see now. Joel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Shawn M Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 Had to get one as well, hobby lobby and 40% makes it a $35 kit. Thinking QF-4G or a whiffer paint scheme Quote Link to post Share on other sites
viking73 Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 (edited) Hi Guys, I went to Hobby Lobby today with my 40% off coupon and look what followed me home! . I've never build a 1/32 aircraft kit before so this should be fun. I've really enjoyed reading everyone's comments here. I too am thinking of doing a QF-4G since I have photos of both of the kit jets as drones and I seem to have a thing for drones lately. I have the Reid Air Book on the F-4 which will come in very handy I think. It's great in that is also shows all the drone mods in detail. Plus doing a drone means leaving out one of the not very detailed kit seats (in the rear) which will be a good thing! I think I'll do this kit OOB except for the drone mods that need to be built. I need to finish up a few things on the bench and then I'm going to dive into this one. Can't wait! -Derek Edited August 2, 2015 by viking73 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kurt H. Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 Not much to report, I do have the wingtips on, and I am massaging seams, and fixing panel lines. I also future dipped the canopy parts. I am going to fit the glass parts on the fuselage, and ensure they fit. I always screw up the glass on phantoms, and this time I am determined to make this one look good. I need to finish massaging the ordnance, and paint the ordnance as well as the under carriage. my absolute least favorite task. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 Kurt, Looking good. From the last picture it sure looks like you're running out of room on your cutting mat. :cheers:/> Joel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kurt H. Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 Kurt, Looking good. From the last picture it sure looks like you're running out of room on your cutting mat. :cheers:/>/> Joel Yeah, I have 4 or 5 projects going at once and just never put things away Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kurt H. Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 No real picture worthy progress, I am still cleaning up, and messing up panel lines. So when I mess up panel lines, I fill them in with thin CA , sand and rescribe. I had some trouble around the very prominent transition area between the fuselage/titanium exhaust area so it is slow going until it looks right. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mike_45 Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 I don't know if this is known already or not, but I was looking for cockpit photos and stumbled across the National Musuem of the USAF's website. They have a virtual cockpit tour of the G. Go here: http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/VirtualTour/Cockpit360.aspx And go down to the F-4G part and you get some good photos all in one place. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
carlizle84 Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 I don't know if this is known already or not, but I was looking for cockpit photos and stumbled across the National Musuem of the USAF's website. They have a virtual cockpit tour of the G. Go here: http://www.nationalm...Cockpit360.aspx And go down to the F-4G part and you get some good photos all in one place. Bookmarked. That's a great reference!!! Thanks. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mike_45 Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 Bookmarked. That's a great reference!!! Thanks. No prob at all. Anyone still working on their Weasel? I am in the process of putting the final paint on. It has been a long journey. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mrvark Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 I'll jump in here with a few comments. I recently completed the RoG F-4F, which is basically the same kit as the F-4G. However, there are some important differences: The G kit has the original ejection seats, which are extremely poor. The F kit has a new sprue with corrected ejection seats that are actually quite nice. For my G build, I got some aftermarket seats. The F kit (which is an ICE jet) provided decals for the instrument panels, which really speeds the cockpit completion process. The G cockpit lacks cockpit decals and this was a particular issue with the instrument panels, which have extremely poor definition. Both of my builds are gear up as there is no interior structure for the canopies, which are quite massive in real life. The F kit provides a full compliment of AIM-120s and AIM-9L/Ms which is great for the F. The G kit includes the same sprue, but the G carried neither, so you have some spares. They did provide a nice pair of AIM-7Ms, but forgot to include any decals for them! You can get them on Two Bobs "]sheet 32-028[/url]. Which don't appear to be available at the moment, but get reprinted periodically. The G kit includes very nice AGM-45 Shrike and AGM-78 Standard ARM, which were used early in the program. However, the decals provided are all for gray aircraft and by that time the AGM-88 HARM was the missile of choice. But, if you have a Trumpeter F-105G, the Revell Shrike and StARM are infinitely better than the Trumpeter ones. AMS is about to release HARMs and LAU-118s if you want to have a more accurate weapon load out and CMK has a set on the market. The G kit also has an ALQ-119 ECM pod. If you're building a gray airplane, you'll want to get an ALQ-184 pod (again, from AMS). Sierra Hotel does an update set for the G that includes nose and tail antennas that are correctly sized and a corrected aft cockpit instrument panel. They also do nice http://sierrahotelmodels.webs.com/32400 and exhaust update sets for the Revell kit. To finish up the aftermarket things you might want to consider, Master does a nice set of pitot tubes. Now, a WARNING here, even with the metal tubes, put them on LAST, after you've painted and declared the whole model. It is a very long model and you'd br surprised how often you'll walk the pitot tube in the process of building and painting it (don't ask me how I know--but I will admit that I had to eventually buy a second set). What I did in the end was inner the nose pitot tube without gluing it in. The single worst flaw of both kits is the extremely poor strength of the tailplane attachment to the fuselage. After suffering with it on the F-4F, here is what I did with the F-4G, will allow them to be attached without gluing: First glue a small piece of thin plasticard inside the fuselage just above the opening for the tailplane: Next, add a 'hook' to the end of the tab for the tailplane--I found that I needed to add three 0.020" did. rods along its length for strength. Once the model is assembled, you'll be able to insert the tailplane and it will be held snugly in place without gluing. If it was a resin piece, I'd say you could make them removable. As is, I don't know that this will be strong enough to stand that kind of stress. One thing that most folks don't realize is that the seatbacks in the F-4 were fixed, when the crew adjusted seat height, only the seat pan moved up and down. The seats in the Revell kit sit WAY too low. Here is what I did to make them sit at about the right height. This pic was taken before I cut 1/8" from the the front and rear wall of the back seat to correct for the Sierra Hotel back seat instrument panel (instructions for this provided with update kit). I made a decal for those damned face curtain handles! It wraps around the outside of the handle and then use LOTS of Solvaset to get them to bend to my will. BTW, I bought a set of pilot figures from Master Details--they're a bit on the huge side (unusable): Finally, for the cockpit, they gave you a combining glass, but no optics to project on it. Here's how I corrected that (and I'm not a great interior scratch builder, so don't make fun of me!) I'll finish up with a couple of suggestions for the wings. First, add a stiffener to keep the wing from flexing up and down: The aft Sparrow wells are WAY too long and the slots for the missile wings are so far aft that they would prevent the flaps from being lowered. Also, the attachment for the centerline fuel tank is too far aft. BTW, the AIM-7Ms provided are both for the same side--the conduit that runs along the belly of the missile should always face outboard. An easy fix since the conduits are separate pieces. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mike_45 Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 Mrvark, Some good info there. Thank you for sharing, I wasn't aware of how the seat height was changed on the seats. I just finished painting mine, about two hours of airbrushing, I am doing a Euro 1 bird. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kurt H. Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 Anyone still working on their Weasel? I am in the process of putting the final paint on. It has been a long journey. Yes, but I had to put it aside to finish my A400M for the group build I am leading. It is all ready for primer. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mrvark Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 Just noticed that the camouflage scheme in the instructions is wrong. Here is what is should look like. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JMan Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Great start to a legendary bird. I recently went to Hobby Lobby and saw this kit there and ALMOST bought it, but......bills come 1st!!!!!! I may buy it in the very near future! Cant wait to see more progress on this build! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mrvark Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 (edited) In researching this project, I discovered that all the F-4Gs were modified with the external 'belly strap' (as were most, if not all of the other F-4s fitted with leading edge slats (LES). During my first attempt at making the belly strap using a blow up of Darren Roberts' strap, I noticed that there were very uneven gaps between the inboard pylons and the straps, so I did a little additional research. On the real jets, the outboard pylons were 265" apart and the inboards 163" apart. Scaled to 1:32 scale, this works out to be 210.3mm and 129.4mm, respectively. While I'm happy to report that the outboard pylons are correctly spaced on the 1:32 scale kit, the inboards were spaced too widely, at 132.8mm. So, I drilled new locating holes 1.7mm farther inboard to correctly space the pylons. I chose the latter (forgive the 0.1mm discrepancy!): Based on comments about the belly strap following this post, I made my own template (see a couple of posts down) and eliminated much of this post to avoid confusion. BTW, if I was REALLY trying to correct THIS bottom wing error (in addition to all the others), I'd also move the large trapezoidal panel that impinges on the inboard (fixed 'up') leading edge flap section farther outboard so it was centered in the inboard pylon: Edited January 11, 2016 by mrvark Quote Link to post Share on other sites
batura Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 The belly strap was not made of 3 parts. It was a solid "one-piece" part that goes between the pylons and the wing as seen in this photo of F-4E 67-0260. In addition to S and G, these straps were fitted on many F-4E in their late service. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mrvark Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 (edited) The belly strap was not made of 3 parts. It was a solid "one-piece" part that goes between the pylons and the wing as seen in this photo of F-4E 67-0260. In addition to S and G, these straps were fitted on many F-4E in their late service. That's a really useful photo--do you have any that show the placement across the center of the fuselage? I was trying to stay clear of the access panels, but your photo shows the strap running right in front of the MLG door, which will bring the strap aft of where I have it. Ironically, they have an F-4E suspended from the museum in Hampton VA, which (assuming it has the strap) would be an excellent place to photograph exactly where it's located. I've been there, seen it, but didn't photograph it. Edited January 10, 2016 by mrvark Quote Link to post Share on other sites
batura Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 You can get more photos at http://www.primeportal.net/hangar/f-4_home.htm These photos may also be helpful: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jmel Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 The belly strap was fitted to all F-4Es (and the G, obviously) that were retrofitted with slats. Jets that left the factory with the slats didn't require the belly strap. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mrvark Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 (edited) Okay, I went back to work and came up with a new template that I think is closer to correct. I elected to cut parts of the strap away to make room for the pylons. It was that or file away from the pylons for the strap--call it artistic license: The biggest difference in this template is that the lower curve has a reduced diameter to allow it to miss the access panels and the overall angle was increased slightly to run along the access door just in front of the MLG well. This is a bit of a WAG, but as good as I could do with the dearth of good strap photos. I think it's pretty close and makes more sense from an engineering and maintenance perspective. Edited January 11, 2016 by mrvark Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mrvark Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 This thread has been pretty quiet of late and many of us on the East Coast have spent much of the weekend shoveling snow! Anyway, here are a few pics of my progress: The basic camouflage is on it and I've added the anti-skid walkways. The first thing I tried was using the walkway decals from the Tamiya F-4J, but the USAF walkways are narrower, so I ended up masking them off. Note that they're undergoing inspection... The belly strap turned out okay, and I've installed the 600-gal High Performance Centerline (HPC) tank. This one is a test shot from Sierra Hotel and Modified it structurally to accept a stand base (lots of metal rods & tubes anchored with epoxy). Revell forgot to include the ALR-46 wingtip antennas. These are on the clear sprue of RoG's F-4F kit, but omitted from this kit. They're easy enough to make with 1/8" plastic rod. One thing I forgot to do was block off the wing & fin slots in the forward Sparrow missile wells. This is easy to do before installing part 203 by just gluing some plasticard strips across the slots from the inside. Another thing that would be welcome is some ALE-40 dispensers to fit on their adapters on the aft end of the inboard pylons. Other things missing from the kit are the rearview mirror that seems to have been fitted to most F-4Gs and the eight REALLY TINY APR-38 antennas, which are part of the Sierra Hotel update kit. Fortunately, they give you nine so you can feed the carpet monster... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JMan Posted January 26, 2016 Share Posted January 26, 2016 Very nice looking. Keep the updates coming. I am in Wisconsin and while it is snowing here 2-4" its nice to see we arent the only ones getting snow. Happy Shoveling! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mrvark Posted February 18, 2016 Share Posted February 18, 2016 Getting closer to the end zone on this thing. Got towards the end and realized that not only has Revell not included the ALE-40 magazines, the adapters are not quite right--close, and easily modified, but not quite right. First, the basics: the chaff chutes are 1" square and mounted parallel to the bottom of the wing on the inboard side of the inboard pylons. (Therefor, the Revell adapter that angles the magazine 30 degrees down is incorrect). The flare chutes are 2-1/16" by 1", making the magazine 5" wide (The Revell adapter is about 4" wide). So, that out of the way, here are some pictures of the real thing as mounted on the right wing of an F-4G: The chaff dispenser: The flare dispenser: The dispensers from behind (note the LAU-118 HARM launcher): Now, here is my feeble modification of the kit parts: Added some homemade decals to depict the chutes: Here is the decal artwork (it's 1" square): and installed on the model: Waiting on a few more decals to finish things up. 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.