ALF18 Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 Academy made this kit for this GB. After struggling to finish my big 1/48 B-29 for the big plane, small kit GB, I have decided to get my modelling sanity back by working on a size and class of aircraft that I like more (1/48 fighters). This kit will be perfect for it. Plan to get started very soon. Here is a teaser pic of the box. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jminer Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 Hi ALF, If this one goes together the same way as the F-4B version that I'm building, you may want to check out my update, specifically on the assembly of the main landing gear wells. The way the assembly is shown in the instructions is a bit awkward and you may have better success gluing the individual sidewall pieces directly to the lower wing versus trying to assemble them all separately away from the model, then trying to get them to fit to the lower wing. Just a suggestion based on my experience, certainly not trying to tell you what to do. Either way, I'm looking forward to seeing how this one builds up as I would like to add it to my collection as well! Justin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
EagleAviation Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 Nice project, good luck! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bravosierra001 Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 Cool. I plan on making an EF-4C out of this kit one day. Brandon Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted October 15, 2015 Author Share Posted October 15, 2015 Hi ALF, If this one goes together the same way as the F-4B version that I'm building, you may want to check out my update, specifically on the assembly of the main landing gear wells. The way the assembly is shown in the instructions is a bit awkward and you may have better success gluing the individual sidewall pieces directly to the lower wing versus trying to assemble them all separately away from the model, then trying to get them to fit to the lower wing. Just a suggestion based on my experience, certainly not trying to tell you what to do. :thumbsup:/> Either way, I'm looking forward to seeing how this one builds up as I would like to add it to my collection as well! :cheers:/> Justin Justin Suggestions like that are VERY welcome. Nothing worse than building a kit for the first time, and finding out the hard way that there was a better way to put it together. I never like to assemble things like the wheel wells away from the structure (wing) they will be glued into; I will certainly check out your thread to see what other techniques you have used. At first glance, this kit reminds me vaguely of the 1/32 Tamiya F-4 kits. The one-piece fuselage is great, and the other sub-assemblies look a bit like Tamiya as well. The instructions also remind me of the 1/32 Academy F/A-18 series of kits; those go together nicely, so I have high hopes for this one. Glad to be on board. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChippyWho Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 Mine arrived a few days ago, so I'll have a look at this if I may -the back end assembly around the exhausts looks pretty evil, but it may make sense when you actually come to do it. Also, for the 'Olds-mobile' the seats look incorrect to me, more like MB H7s -more here. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted October 17, 2015 Author Share Posted October 17, 2015 Mine arrived a few days ago, so I'll have a look at this if I may -the back end assembly around the exhausts looks pretty evil, but it may make sense when you actually come to do it. Also, for the 'Olds-mobile' the seats look incorrect to me, more like MB H7s -more here. Thanks for the info about the seats. You'll find that I am not a stickler for things like that; in fact I have already screwed up the main instrument panels! The instructions call for parts N1 and N2, from one of the black sprues. I grabbed the first sprue I found with instrument panels on it, but guess what - it turned out to be M1 and M2 that I used, plus the side panels from M. Oh well. Only a true expert could tell them apart. See the missing pieces from the M sprue? They are now installed in my cockpit. I love the detail in these parts. So far, it is a good-fitting and nicely detailed kit. In some ways, the cockpit plastic reminds me of resin update sets. For example, here is the sidewall from a rear cockpit. Wow! Nicely detailed for kit plastic. I left the black plastic alone, painted some Tamiya XF-19 grey where it should go (according to logic; I didn't sweat over reference pics), and did some dry-brushing and added red and yellow with some magic markers. Here's how the (wrong) cockpit panels and instrument panels look: Taking Justin's advice one step further, I assembled the nose gear well parts on the lower side of the cockpit floor, to ensure it was the right size and shape. The wheel well reminds me a LOT of an F-18 nose wheel well, with the little scissors to open/close the doors, and the general layout and shape. The F-4 and F-18 are obviously cousins. Assembling the parts as per the instructions would be fraught with error in my hands. Instead, I glued the parts onto the cockpit floor, as here: Thanks for stopping by, for more "what not to do" advice for this kit. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jminer Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 (edited) Hi ALF, Coming along nicely! One thing I wanted to point out, (and I'm not a Phantom expert by any means), but you won't want to install that part 12 (the rear sidewall in your photo) as that sidewall was only for the Navy/Marine Phantoms to cover the in flight refueling probe bay. As far as I know, Air Force Phantoms didn't have those sidewalls in the rear cockpit as their in flight refueling receptacle was on the spine. Otherwise, the cockpit area is coming along nicely! Can't wait to see more! Justin Edited October 19, 2015 by jminer Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted October 19, 2015 Author Share Posted October 19, 2015 Hi ALF, Coming along nicely! One thing I wanted to point out, (and I'm not a Phantom expert by any means), but you won't want to install that part 12 (the rear sidewall in your photo) as that sidewall was only for the Navy/Marine Phantoms to cover the in flight refueling probe bay. As far as I know, Air Force Phantoms didn't have those sidewalls in the rear cockpit as their in flight refueling receptacle was on the spine. Otherwise, the cockpit area is coming along nicely! Can't wait to see more! :cheers:/> Justin Thanks Justin Too bad; it's one of the nicest little detail parts in the kit. :D Your explanation makes sense. At least SOME of the details will be right in this build, thanks to guys like you. Update soon. Busy night tonight: Federal election, and Blue Jays game. Will be busy with TV channel surfing and iPad! ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChippyWho Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 One thing I wanted to point out, (and I'm not a Phantom expert by any means), but you won't want to install that part 12 (the rear sidewall in your photo) as that sidewall was only for the Navy/Marine Phantoms to cover the in flight refueling probe bay. As far as I know, Air Force Phantoms didn't have those sidewalls in the rear cockpit as their in flight refueling receptacle was on the spine. I think Academy put that part in to make you want to buy their Navy kit! It looks decent though, with the texture nicely done: Photo of real thing Wonder if I can graft it into my Hasegawa J... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted October 19, 2015 Author Share Posted October 19, 2015 (edited) Here is an update from yesterday's work. The engineering on this kit is nice. Some of the instructions are a bit hard to figure out, though. More on that later. Firstly, I followed Justin's advice on the wheel wells. The hard part was imagining the rotation of the parts in 3D between the instructions and the build-up on the lower wing part. After several mental gymnastic steps, I realized that the wheel wells go together exactly the way they are oriented in the instructions, if you glue them into the wing part like in the picture below. Definitely, adding the parts to the wing, it is much easier to get the right angles and distances. The cut-outs on the inside-wing plastic leave no ambiguity to placement of the first parts I added. The wheel wells built up like this: The main gear struts, as you can see, include nicely detailed hydraulic lines. I then glued the top inner wing halves in place with some clamps. Fit was excellent. I even remembered to pierce the little holes for the pylon attachment points before gluing the tops in place! This is what it looks like assembled so far. ALF Edited October 19, 2015 by ALF18 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted October 19, 2015 Author Share Posted October 19, 2015 Now, on to the intakes and exhausts. The exhaust parts are moulded in black; excellent! This allowed me to use a Sharpie to make some silver highlights on the parts, and saved me having to paint them. The intakes are moulded in white. No need to paint, for somebody like I who doesn't sweat the small seams that are visible in the built-up inlets. Together with the black engine compressor plastic, all I had to do here was add the silver Sharpie highlights to come up with this result: Here is what I meant by confusing instructions. See where it says "Attach 1 first"? I couldn't figure out what 1 referred to at first. Was it the little support for the exhausts (part Q9)? That, logically, was the first thing I did here, but I made sure it was not solidly set before attaching the exhausts, to ensure the angle was correct and they would seat against the rear part of the wing bottom properly. Turns out, it wasn't. What they meant was the whole assembly of the lower wing, including the intakes, because without that the cockpit/nose underside assembly has no place to attach to. When the intakes are in place, there is sufficient surface area to glue the front and rear lower halves together. Here is how the front/rear lower portions go together. Great fit, but impossible to get correct if you don't have the intakes in place first. The final step before attaching the fuselage top piece is the little grey part on the inside of the engines: More soon! ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RKic Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 I like your no superfluous BS approach to this build. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
phantom Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 Looks great thus far, especially that control panel. Keep the Navy sidewall for a Hasegawa kit. A little surgery and it will fit, Sort of kind of. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted October 20, 2015 Author Share Posted October 20, 2015 I like your no superfluous BS approach to this build. Looks great thus far, especially that control panel. Keep the Navy sidewall for a Hasegawa kit. A little surgery and it will fit, Sort of kind of. Great idea! ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted October 20, 2015 Author Share Posted October 20, 2015 The upper fuselage fits nicely. I was especially impressed in how the cockpit slots really well into the upper half; assembling it to the bottom fuselage and hoping it would line up properly is always a concern. Here is some dry-fitting, showing how it looks: The angle of the lower fuselage ended up a bit too nose-down, but it can easily be pinched into the right place. The important thing here is to line things up from the rear fuselage; it falls in nicely between the wing halves, and will fit well with the cockpit. As I post this, I have already glued the fuselage top/bottom together, and installed one intake. The fit is really nice. Will post pics when I have them. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
airmechaja Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 Alf, I'm really glad you're building this kit. My next build after this group build will be the same kit. I'll keep watching so I can pick up pointers. Dean Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted October 20, 2015 Author Share Posted October 20, 2015 Alf, I'm really glad you're building this kit. My next build after this group build will be the same kit. I'll keep watching so I can pick up pointers. :thumbsup:/> Dean Happy to provide an example of what to do and what NOT to do... Have a look at Justin's thread as well. He is doing a more meticulous job, and seems to know the subject better than I do. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jminer Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 Nice work on the fuselage and intakes, and thank you for the kind words, ALF. I'll separate the two figures so they do get too close. The kit really does fit together quite well, doesn't it? Looks like you're a couple of steps ahead of me at this point, so if you run into any pitfalls, be sure and let me know! Can't wait to see more pics of your progress, it's coming together quite well! Justin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted October 30, 2015 Author Share Posted October 30, 2015 Life has prevented me from posting, but not from modelling. Here is more progress. I am really loving the fit on this kit, and how easy it is to put together. Almost no putty or sanding required! A tip for the top/bottom join: align the rear portion first, and you'll find that the intake area and cockpit line up beautifully. Rear portion glued. Front part not yet glued. I use Tamiya extra-thin (usually, unless there is a large gap to fill). I go progressively, taping/clamping as required. Look at that beautiful join fuselage to wing! The intake area looks like this before the cowlings are installed. Fuzzy pic, but you can see how well the front part goes together here. The cockpit lines up nicely as well. Again, an amazingly good fit for the intake exterior. Even the little lighter-coloured bottom part fits nicely, with a tiny gap. In retrospect, I probably should have glued the fuselage panel in place before the intake here. I still managed to put it in place using tweezers. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AX 365 Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 ALF, That's a really interesting parts breakdown for that kit. I'm glad it's not giving you too many troubles. The way the intakes, exhausts, burner cans, ttc are moulded and that they are all separate pieces, look like they could give you major headaches if they didn't line up properly but it doesn't seem to be an issues. Phew! I like your trick with the red and yellow Sharpies for the instrument panel. It gives it an air of realism. Nice progress. I look forward to more updates. Later, Alligator! Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted November 6, 2015 Author Share Posted November 6, 2015 ALF, That's a really interesting parts breakdown for that kit. I'm glad it's not giving you too many troubles. The way the intakes, exhausts, burner cans, ttc are moulded and that they are all separate pieces, look like they could give you major headaches if they didn't line up properly but it doesn't seem to be an issues. Phew! I like your trick with the red and yellow Sharpies for the instrument panel. It gives it an air of realism. Nice progress. I look forward to more updates. Later, Alligator! Mike You've got that right, Mike - the parts breakdown was definitely unique. Engineering is excellent, though. Been swamped lately. I owe you some news; I'm not upset that your Sens beat my Habs. In lieu of more chat, here is a short update. I sprayed Tamiya white primer on the bottom, and light grey primer on the top. I am painting everything with Modelmaster Acryl, which has an excellent selectin with the FS numbers. Here is the underside: The wheel wells are mostly white with the primer; I will only need touchups later on them. I love the painting and decaling instructions in this kit. Full colour! Many times, with greyscale instructions, I can get confused (old age!) and make mistakes. Here, it is pretty much impossible to screw up the colours. Taped up the bottom part prior to starting the top camo. First up, the brown. Just like a map for navigation, I always orient the instructions in the same sense as the jet, to make sure I get it right. My good friend Mike showed me how to do this, and even sent me my first roll (apparently his work in law enforcement has shown him "pusher" techniques). This first aid tape is beautifully flexible, has just the right amount of adherence, and allows for great camo outlines. For those who haven't seen this technique yet, I cut each length of tape into about 6 or 7 small strips longitudinally. This allows it to bend really nicely for the complex curves on this F-4. You can just see the cuts on the piece of tape that is glued to my cutting board here. From bitter experience, I work slowly, and ensure that I fill in the brown bits with masking tape, so I don't get confused as to which part is brown and which part isn't. Next up: Medium green. I will then mask in preparation for the dark green. I am loving the colours already. The Vietnam camouflage is one of my all-time favourites. Thanks for stopping by! More this weekend. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jminer Posted November 6, 2015 Share Posted November 6, 2015 Nice progress, ALF! Good, clean assembly and the camo is looking really nice. Have you had any issues with the landing gear being part of the assembly so far? Looking forward to seeing the rest of the paint and decals go on! Justin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tosouthern66 Posted November 6, 2015 Share Posted November 6, 2015 Alf It looks great so far. I have the F-4B kit haven't decided on when I am going to build it. Want to get the J as well. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted November 7, 2015 Author Share Posted November 7, 2015 Nice progress, ALF! Good, clean assembly and the camo is looking really nice. Have you had any issues with the landing gear being part of the assembly so far? Looking forward to seeing the rest of the paint and decals go on! :cheers:/> Justin No problems so far with the gear, Justin. They are fairly sturdy, and I also echo your sentiments about the two antennae on the forward part of the vertical stabilizer; I have cringed a couple times as I brushed them with my hands, but they have so far resisted my efforts to break them off! More pics soon. ALF 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.