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Your load out is very nice! It works as a mojo-motor, right?

LOL

G'day Tobik,

That is exactly what it was, something fun to keep me going through all the boring prep and clean up.

G'day people,

I have spent the past few days working on the things under wings.

A pair of AIM-9L/M's,

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Something to launch these with

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A source of distraction

DSCN3066_zpsgw0cycoh.jpg

A pair of GBU-12's

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This lot will need some more RBF streamers to be added, but I will do this once all the painting is complete and these have been fitted to the jet.

Now back to the hard yakka.

The front instrument coaming area has a lot of differences to the standard F-4E. My aftermarket front panel includes a new instrument coaming, but installation will mean removing the kit representation form the fuselage halves

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Of course I got a little excited and removed too much from the left side

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DSCN3089_zpskbqsbm5h.jpg

I must remember measure twice, cut once...................

cheers,

Pappy

Edited by Pappy121
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G'day people,

I have spent the past couple of days prepping and painting up the seats. I bought a set of resin seats. The kit seats are okay if you plan of adding the aircrew with the canopies down, but an open cockpit tends to be a focal point on any aircraft kit so this is one area where the extra detail can be appreciated.

Whilst the resin seats are a marked improvement over the kit seats with regards to the details provided, I noticed that there were some noticeable omissions, as the seat pan firing handle was absent, as were the two prominent straps that emerge from beneath the parapack housing and straddle the headbox on either side. The seat pan firing handle was sourced from a PE set I mentioned earlier, whilst the belts were made from lead foil.

DSCN3021_zpsouy8jdb1.jpg

Some additional piping was added to the main beam

DSCN3020_zps3tjv8yi8.jpg

I also added a some RBF streamers to the seat to represent the installed safety pins. It is a little hard to see, but the bowyangs were also added to provide a candid appearance.

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Dry fit to check how the would 'sit' in the tub

DSCN3086_zpsrye4pbjq.jpg

Noice!

cheers,

Pappy

Edited by Pappy121
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Great job on the seats :thumbsup:/>/>

G'day Scott, thanks very much, this is one of my favourite parts of any jet build. The cockpit is a natural focal point on any aircraft kit, and the seats are usually a focal point within the cockpit, so time spent here is always worthwhile.

Great work Pappy...go on...I cant wait to see it finished!!!

G'day Zark,

I am enjoying this so far.

G'day people,

Thanks to the generosity of a fellow modeller (Andrew P), I have a "High G" (F-15 style) centreline tank.

DSCN3090_zps7qfgkbn4.jpg

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As already pointed out, this is the correct tank carried by the HAF F-4E (AUP) jets

Here is a comparison shot between the two tanks types,

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Whilst I was waiting for the tank to arrive, I did a little more work to the wing sub-assembly. The new tank requires that the aft centreline locating hole is filled in. Additionally, the new tank uses a different type of pylon. Finally, the centre jug requires an aft pivot assembly fairing. Another modeller (Mark M.) donated the adapter and aft pivot fairing from his scrapped F-4G kit. These changes have been incorporated into my wing assembly

DSCN3096_zpsno4lbndg.jpg

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At rest, the F-4E's auxiliary inlet doors are open when the jet is on the ground without power. Hasegawa has faithfully reproduced this feature but there is no internal detail. Not much can be seen through the kit openings, but I did want to have some detail there without recreating every bolt and nut. Taking a page out of the late great celebrated Shepherd Paine, I have gone down the 'creative gizmology' path and have added some sidewalls,

DSCN3093_zps8vdetph7.jpg

I will add some more features once these have set. Still on the wing assembly, I bit the bullet and bought some aftermarket inner wing pylons. these resin items are amazing, but to get them to fit, the wing underside will need modification. Hasegawa mold on the pylon to wing fairings, and these fit the kit supplied pylons very snugly, however the gap is too narrow for the resin aftermarket pylons, so I needed to widen the gap carefully so as to avaoid any remedial repair work.

DSCN3097_zpsb0yg1szu.jpg

Here are some pics of the replacement resin pylon with a single LAU-7 installed, if you look carefully, you can see the twin rocket motor striker points!

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DSCN3129_zpszack8pbj.jpg

cheers,

Pappy

Edited by Pappy121
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It is great to watch beeing busy and bringing this beast forward! I know a F-4 requires time and elbow grease and you are on the right way for a stunning Phantom. Just wish you will not run out of time in the end to get it finished within the GB timeline. :pray:

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It is great to watch beeing busy and bringing this beast forward! I know a F-4 requires time and elbow grease and you are on the right way for a stunning Phantom. Just wish you will not run out of time in the end to get it finished within the GB timeline. :pray:/>

Fine work Pappy. Keep it up mate.

Thanks very much fellas. Tobik, if I run out of time, I will just keep plodding along.

G'day people,

I managed to get the intakes in today.

DSCN3127_zpsxl9brksg.jpg

These fit very well but I to ensure a good fit I needed lots of test fitting and minor adjustment as well as ensuring the mating surfaces were square and cleaned of excess resin material.

I also added some section of sprue attached with CA to bolster the joints as I did not want these to come apart with handling during sanding and clean up.

DSCN3126_zpszlxsachv.jpg

The resin intakes are designed to fit onto a resin bulkhead that contains the compressor face mouldings. I found that the aft ends of my resin intakes did not match up the the compressor faces very well, partially due to shape issues and partially because of alignment issues. My solution was simple, I simply sawed the compressor faces apart from the bulkhead and attached them individually to each intake.

It is hard to get a decent picture of the compressor faces but they look good, and decidedly better than the truncated blank intakes as depicted in the kit.

DSCN3125_zpscuycfqdj.jpg

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The external shapes match the kit fuselage contours very well

DSCN3123_zpskzas99p9.jpg

Finally, the centreline tank got some attention as well.

DSCN3122_zpstlgjoksd.jpg

I have added the fuel and air probes to the tank as well as the aft pivot fitting. Most of these details will be hard to see when the tank is installed but I know that they are there!

cheers,

Pappy

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What intakes did you use, I'm a great fan of DMold but these look different?

Is the Silver on the centre line tank for future chipping effect?

Getting there mate, but also like me time is against us.

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What intakes did you use, I'm a great fan of DMold but these look different?

Is the Silver on the centre line tank for future chipping effect?

Getting there mate, but also like me time is against us.

G'day Scott,

I can't remember what brand the intakes are (they are not Dmold), I bought them a while back when the $AUD was still worth something (and I am glad I did!)

Yes on the silver undercoat

Yes on the time thing - I still don't have HAF decals!

G'day people,

I have managed to get the fuselage together. The inner sides of the intake/compressor face joints needed a flat sanded into each and the interfered and would not allow the fuselage to close properly. Once this was done, the fit was fine

DSCN3131_zpsgzoy4c7k.jpg

I cut out the outer flight control surface from each wing using a razor saw. These characteristically droop once hydraulic power is removed from the jet

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I also checked the fit of the wing assembly with the assembled fuselage. The upper wing/fuselage join is nice and snug,

DSCN3132_zpsqrulmmbm.jpg

DSCN3133_zpsdnvev8d3.jpg

However there is a gap at the front of the wing/ forward fuselage

DSCN3134_zpsoltufipw.jpg

I think that this is because the back end of the resin intakes are slightly longer than the kit items. I have a little work ahead of me to fix this area up,

cheers,

Pappy

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Nice work, out of interest you may be right about the intakes pushing back the wing assembly as I've had the same problem on all the Hasegawa F-4's I've built using the DMold intakes (4 in total 2xE's 1xD and 1xRF). A bit of styrene in there will sort it out easily enough though.

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Nice work, out of interest you may be right about the intakes pushing back the wing assembly as I've had the same problem on all the Hasegawa F-4's I've built using the DMold intakes (4 in total 2xE's 1xD and 1xRF). A bit of styrene in there will sort it out easily enough though.

Agreed, I will plug the gap with some plastic card. I have sanded back the lower intake sections on the wing assembly and this has also helped to reduce the gap as well, so I think my theory is correct. Before the wing assembly can be mated to the assembled fuselage however, I need to finish up the details in the aux engine inlet area. Not much will be seen, but I didn't just want a void so some details were mocked up using the usual culprits

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I have also painted up the LITENING pod,

DSCN3148_zpsd8ogqwrx.jpg

A very nice touch is the PE back plate that includes the mesh air conditioning exhaust areas, often an overlooked feature on kit pods, although some manufacturers do supply a representative decal.

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The resin pod does not include any lenses for the sensor windows, so I added some acetate windows.

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Meanwhile, back on the fuselage, the front instrument coaming has been attached

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I will blend this back in before adding any more detail

cheers,

Pappy

Edited by Pappy121
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Thanks very much fellas,

G'day people,

I spent a little more time on the fuselage today. First up, the ram air intake at the base of the fin got a little love. The detail provided is adequate, but my PE set includes some parts to make this area look a little more delicate. It requires the removal of some of the kit area which will be replaced by PE

DSCN3155_zps9squtlcm.jpg

Next up, the kit aft cockpit fairing is supplied as a separate item. This area should have a smooth transition between the upper fuselage and the fairing. The kit part looks like a separate part added to the fuselage, which is exactly what it is.I have added some putty around the base and will sand it back to attempt to show a more 'blended' transition

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Moving further forward, I tackled the gap around the front instrument coaming

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Whilst that lot was curing, I went back to the wing assembly and painted up the details inside the auxiliary engine air inlets

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These details are not accurate, merely representative and will be pretty difficult to see. A mate of mine calls this sort of detailing 'modelling for god'. I will need to make up a couple of 'roof' sections to represent the bottom of the engines. These will representative as well, as I am aiming for busy rather than accurate ,

cheers,

Pappy

Edited by Pappy121
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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks Mike, as my mate would say, "modelling for god"

G'day people,

Work moving forward. The join between the forward and aft lower fuselage is a weak point on the Hasegawa kits. The misalignment issue is most evident in the seam which travels through the forward missile wells. Since my ordnance load will be mostly air to ground, I cannot disguise the issue by chucking a couple of missiles in there, although I will be fitting a LITENING pod to the forward left well, so hopefully this will mitigate the issue a little.

DSCN3206_zpstrxaifib.jpg

In between puttying, sanding, scribing (repeat!) of this seam, I decided to reward myself with some painting and weathering of the wing jugs. The HAF F-4E wing tanks have been seen in a variety of colours from the SEA scheme, re-sprayed in a single green shade to the current low viz greys. the tanks also show lots of evidence or wear and tear. I tried a couple of different approaches

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DSCN3203_zpsgsms6pkx.jpg

cheers,

Pappy

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Pappy, mind if I ask about your painting and weathering techniques?

What paints/clear and flat coats/washes are you using, and how do you go about applying them? They look very smooth and the effects are subtle and realistic, especially in the cockpit photos. They look much more natural than I've been able to achieve.

Thanks, and fantastic work! Can't wait to see the results!

Edited by plasticWerks_JL
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Those tanks look the business :thumbsup:/> , how did you do the scratch effect on the Green one?

G'day Scott,

I just used a sanding stick applied at random angles

Pappy, mind if I ask about your painting and weathering techniques?

What paints/clear and flat coats/washes are you using, and how do you go about applying them? They look very smooth and the effects are subtle and realistic, especially in the cockpit photos. They look much more natural than I've been able to achieve.

Thanks, and fantastic work! Can't wait to see the results!

G'day,

I am not in the tutorial business.

Personally, I really don't think the paint brand matters one bit (heresy I know!), which brand you use boils down to personal preference and what 'system' i.e acrylic vs enamel vs lacquer you are most comfortable using. I am not doing anything special, I am just doing the basics well. There are a myriad of workshops and tutorials online, both here and many others. The key thing I think is to master the basics, then move onto more advanced techniques. Without a sound mastery of these, it is pointless trying more advanced techniques. Practice on an old kit. If you buy an aftermarket resin replacement cockpit, practice your painting method on the redundant kit item for example.

cheers,

Pappy

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi Pappy,

any updates on your Phantom project? Please let us know how it is growing. I am still curious about it even the GB has ended already.

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  • 1 year later...

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