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1/48 RF-4C project parts gathering


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I am planning a build of an RF-4C in 1/48th for this year.  I want to challenge my self so I have started to gather AM for this project

 

so far I have

 

Hasegawa RF-4E kit (as far as I can tell the RF-4c has been released once and commands a premium price)

Eduard Colored PE 

Master turned metal pitot tube

Eduard mask set

Microscale decal sheet 48-143

 

The one other thing it looks like I need is short burner cans, the kit looks like it only has the long burner cans for an E model.  I see Eduard has short cans in the Brassin line, Aires only has long cans.  Any other AM exhausts I am missing?

 

I also have the Eduard "Evening Da Nang" kit, and since it has resin cans, I could either steal those, or use the Academy kit cans which actually look pretty good.  Has anyone tried this? 

 

Any other suggestions for this project are welcome, I am a Phantom Phan, but the more I learn about Phantoms, the more I realize there is to learn, there are just so many variations, so many little differences, becoming an expert is probably a lifelong journey.

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Kurt H. said:

or use the Academy kit cans which actually look pretty good.  Has anyone tried this? 
 

 I have done this, using the long exhausts from the Academy kit on the Hasegawa inner bits. You can see how me and my little assistant did it here:

 

 

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Does the RF-4E kit have slotted stabilators? If so, you'll need to replace them with unslotted ones. Hypersonic sells a very nice, reasonably-priced set of resin ones. Royale Resin also sells some nice ones, as well as wheels. 

 

XMMDMold, and Rhino (on eBay) sell intakes for the Hasegawa Phantoms. I wouldn't bother with Cutting Edge's. They command stupid prices and don't fit as well. DMold made the original CE intakes, but has updated them, so now they are about as drop-in as you can get.

 

Ben 

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I recommend FODs when you will not go the way with seamless intakes. There are resin FODs as well as PE from Eduard. I used both and it is ok.

So, about your canopy: will you have it open? Then you urgently need the stuff from hypersonic models: canopy detail from hypersonic

And yes, when you will not take a resin office, so at least take resin seats and Eduard colored PE. There are many nice seats out there, from Legend, Wolfpack, Verlinden, Eduard, hypersonic, TD, black box, Aires.....

But a resin office is nice, as a basic you can take the F-4C pit from True details (i read that hint somewhere, TD had a cockpit not too expensive).

AFAIK there is no Hasegawa RF on the market having the wings from the E/F/G/S model, so only hard wing out there.

You should add some plumbing to the gear: hydraulic and brake hoses etc., up to you if you prefer resin wheels (Eduard!).

If you want to open the cam bay: there is a resin full meal deal set from Aires for the RF! Aires RF-4 pimpups

When it comes to stencils, I see that the birds on the ms sheet are in SEA or SEA wraparound camo. For the SEA scheme I am not sure if the stencils on the ms sheet are enough/good enough. Usually Phantoms, especially early ones, are full of stencils and panel numberings. Maybe you look for a good AM stencil sheet for SEA camo Phantoms. For example, kitsworld has a stencil sheet. F-4 grey and camo stencils

Furbal has some nice decal stuff for the Phantom: the canopy seal, intake trunking (when you have no FOD), https://www.furballaero-design.com

 

 

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I'm almost to the point where I'm just going to build my RF-4E as is and put the RF-4C (Spanish) markings on it and call it a day. I do have a set of short burner cans, but I'll have to attempt the wing mods (I don't want to swap the ones from my Hasegawa F-4C/D, beacause then what would I do with that?). Unless someone wants to trade an RF-4C for an RF-4EJ?

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9 hours ago, tobiK said:

I recommend FODs when you will not go the way with seamless intakes. There are resin FODs as well as PE from Eduard. I used both and it is ok.

So, about your canopy: will you have it open? Then you urgently need the stuff from hypersonic models: canopy detail from hypersonic

And yes, when you will not take a resin office, so at least take resin seats and Eduard colored PE. There are many nice seats out there, from Legend, Wolfpack, Verlinden, Eduard, hypersonic, TD, black box, Aires.....

But a resin office is nice, as a basic you can take the F-4C pit from True details (i read that hint somewhere, TD had a cockpit not too expensive).

AFAIK there is no Hasegawa RF on the market having the wings from the E/F/G/S model, so only hard wing out there.

You should add some plumbing to the gear: hydraulic and brake hoses etc., up to you if you prefer resin wheels (Eduard!).

If you want to open the cam bay: there is a resin full meal deal set from Aires for the RF! Aires RF-4 pimpups

When it comes to stencils, I see that the birds on the ms sheet are in SEA or SEA wraparound camo. For the SEA scheme I am not sure if the stencils on the ms sheet are enough/good enough. Usually Phantoms, especially early ones, are full of stencils and panel numberings. Maybe you look for a good AM stencil sheet for SEA camo Phantoms. For example, kitsworld has a stencil sheet. F-4 grey and camo stencils

Furbal has some nice decal stuff for the Phantom: the canopy seal, intake trunking (when you have no FOD), https://www.furballaero-design.com

 

 

 

I do have the Kits-World stencil sheet, it is very comprehensive.  I have the colored PE and I figured that would be enough for the cockpit. I have a really hard time painting instrument panels.  The kit seats are pretty plain.  I do have a pair of verlinden mk7 seats, they came along with another phantom kit I got on ebay. They look nice, but I will need to do a little more research as to which seats the RF-4C had at a given time.

 

 

3 hours ago, DonSS3 said:

I'm almost to the point where I'm just going to build my RF-4E as is and put the RF-4C (Spanish) markings on it and call it a day. I do have a set of short burner cans, but I'll have to attempt the wing mods (I don't want to swap the ones from my Hasegawa F-4C/D, beacause then what would I do with that?). Unless someone wants to trade an RF-4C for an RF-4EJ?

 

 

Which wing mods? My RF-4E has hard wings, and the RF-4C pics  I found show a hard wing. 

 

Is there a name for the study of the Phantom II ? One could almost write a dissertation and get a PhD in Phantomology. The more you dig into this, the more little details emerge to be aware of. 

 

Any way I went through my decal stash and found the Xtra-Decal sheet which features a grey over white RF-4C, like this one

 

602px-RF-4C_Phantom_16th_TRS_in_Vietnam_

 

neat looking huh?  Now I am not sure which markings to use.

 

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Yes, you are right, the grey-white RF looks good! It has also the early nose like the Luftwaffe RFs. (BTW. why not a Luftwaffe RF-4E? Our groupbuild is suitable for such a recce phantom.) ;-)

I used the verlinden Mk7 seat a few years ago and it fits nice into the Hase pit. That time I made a F-4J UK with Eduard PE zoom set and the placard set. But still the backside of the WSO IP lacks its cables. But it is easy to scratch with some round plastic and copper wire - beleive me, it is well visible later and worth the effort. 

Seams there is a wing confusion out there? Kurt, what is the hasegawa item no. of your kit? If you want I can dig in my Hase RF stash and compare all the kits (more or less 10 different RFs in the house: B/C/E). The japanese RF-4EJ is in fact a "EJ" that was "reccenised". But the "EJ" hard the hard wing, too!

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The kit I got for this project is PT30 - RF-4E "JASDF" Is there some other difference with the wing I did not know about?

 

I also have the RF-4B kit, but for that one I was planning on getting the Royale resin thin wing conversion and building an accurate "Sprit of America"  with a similar amount of AM as this project. 

 

 

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This is fun, helping someone else spend their money! :rofl:

 

If you're going with the early gray/white camouflage, you'll need some Martin-Maker Mk.5 seats, instead of the Mk.7s. Hypersonic sells some nice ones. I tried to use some Mk.5s from Quickboost that were meant for the F-8 for my F-4B, but they were too small. Cutting Edge made some Mk.5s, too, but Hypersonic's are still in production. The Verlinden seats are very good and would be appropriate for a post-1967-68 jet.

 

Icarus Decals had a stencil sheet with the approximately 1,575,375,475 stencils applied to the gray/white RF-4s. Well, it seemed like there were that many when I applied them to my F-4B! I don't know if it's still available. Here's a review from Hyperscale.

 

I'll second tobiK's recommendation for Hypersonic's canopy set. It provides very detailed resin for the heavy framework around the inside of the canopies, something you don't get by just applying 2-D photo etched parts to the insides. 

 

Ben (no affiliation with Hypersonic, I just like Jeffrey's products)

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OK, I compared the JASDF RF-4E PT30 with the USAF RF-4C  09557 and could see that there are a few differences, to many to tell here. But you can easily compare your instruction with the RF-4C USAF instruction so you will see. (IP, refuelling, one camera, antennas, navy underwing hooks, pylons....are different).

What you will NOT see is the sprue E for the wings: both kits have the "E" sprue, but the one from the JASDF kit is different in the wingtips. There are some "bumps" (I think that is part of RWR equipment, I am not sure!) that the standard RF-4C does not have. You will find that wing also in a F-4EJ KAI box.

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I gave the pt30 kit a more careful examination and found the fairings on the wings as well.

 

Maybe what I could do is to start with the RF-4B instead, then to build a thin wing RF-4B use this E and the royale resin B conversion kit, since the wing will be replaced any way.

 

I finally found previous threads of people trying to do the same thing. I wish I did a little more "pre-search" Any way, between hasegawa archeology, and Phantomology I could write a book about this project.

 

 

Thanks for all the suggestions so far.

Edited by Kurt H.
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Kurt, I 'm just finishing up doing what you are planning.  After looking at the options, I used the RF-4B as a starting point.  Overall, it was a pretty easy and painless conversion to get to an RF-4C for my Vietnam project.  Good luck with yours.

Cheers, Dave

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I ordered a Royale Resin F-4B conversion set, so I will have a rather roundabout path to getting a RF-4C and true RF-4B .   Maybe one day Hasegawa will re-issue the RF-4C.

Mr. Hasegawa if you are reading this, please consider it. :thumbsup:

 

 

 

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Steel Beach will be releasing a set of intakes with FOD plugs for the Hasegawa kits. The kit's intakes have a space on the backside of them that shouldn't be there. The SB intakes will take care of that space, as well as have the FOD plug already in place. I'm going to do my first test cast in a week or so.

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On 2017-01-06 at 6:25 PM, Kurt H. said:

I am planning a build of an RF-4C in 1/48th for this year.  I want to challenge my self so I have started to gather AM for this project

 

so far I have

 

Hasegawa RF-4E kit (as far as I can tell the RF-4c has been released once and commands a premium price)

 

 

Any other suggestions for this project are welcome, I am a Phantom Phan, but the more I learn about Phantoms, the more I realize there is to learn, there are just so many variations, so many little differences, becoming an expert is probably a lifelong journey.

 

 

 

Not to sound rude or judge-y... but $39.99US plus shipping is a premium price? Isn't that pretty cheap for something that you consider a grail kit?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by glorystomper
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6 hours ago, glorystomper said:

Not to sound rude or judge-y... but $39.99US plus shipping is a premium price? Isn't that pretty cheap for something that you consider a grail kit?

 

RF-4C is  not in production,  so the problem is finding one.  As near as I can figure it was last re-issued in 2005.  RF-4E or RF-4B is 39.99, but as we have explored in this thread there are several little differences.

 

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