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F-4J VX-4 Black Bunny - Zoukei-Mura 1/48


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I’ve long had a F-4 “Black Bunny” on my list, and finally worked myself up to tackle the gloss black finish.  This the is the 1/48 Zoukei-Mura F-4J.  Quinta Studios cockpit decals were added, and the exterior decals are from Furball. 

 

The Quinta cockpit set looks great, but I honestly use these more to speed up a build if I’m not in the mood to spend time on the cockpit.  So my use of them is variable. 

 

The Furball decals are decent, but not great.  Their adhesion is on the weak side.  I displaced a couple with a gentle washcloth wipe preparing for the final gloss coats.  The placement guide has some small errors.  For instance, the rear ejection seat warning triangle is show as aligned to the cockpit sill and I later realized in reference pictures that it’s aligned to the ground.  And it appears from reference pictures that the word “warning” and “caution” in the stencils should be red or yellow, not all white.

 

There’s not much to say for the build and painting technique.  The kit builds well.  It’s not quite Tamiya fall together fit, but close.  And there’s nothing special for shading or weathering with the overall black.  The final gloss is Tamiya X-22 with Mr. Color Leveling thinner. 

 

The pictures...

 

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The exhaust is painted with shades of Alclad II (most jet exhaust, burnt iron, and dark aluminum) with some metallic artists pencils used for highlighting.  After the final gloss, these areas were masked off and spray with Alclad Semi Matte.

 

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The landing gear wells were also spray with Alclad Semi Matte, as the true high gloss looked like too much in the wells.

 

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As always, I’d be happy to hear any comments and/or constructive criticism!  Thanks for looking!

Eric

Edited by ESzczesniak
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WOW!!!  A hugely impressive build and paint job!  Stunning is the best word to use!  All of the stencils on the wing tops caught me off guard when I first looked, and I wondered if they were footprints, at first!  LOL  Gloss finishes are always impossibly hard for me, and you did an amazing job with your F-4...and like you, I've fantasized about doing my AMK F-14D in a similar scheme, but I know I don't have the fortitude, so good for you for actually doing it!

 

One point, more a question than a criticism...were these all black aircraft, inn real life, maintained to perfection, in terms of paint/finish?  Since they appear to be one-offs, and they were painted with way more for demonstration than for effect (such as stealth, etc.), were these planes kept immaculate?  Were there chips or finish wear present to any appreciable effect on the F-4 or F-14 that were painted in this scheme?  Again, your build and paint are spectacular, but wondering if a few small imperfections would look more 'realistic', or not.  I don't know...it's  question.  Once more though, great job!!!!!

Edited by Curt B
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4 hours ago, Curt B said:

One point, more a question than a criticism...were these all black aircraft, inn real life, maintained two perfection, in terms of paint/finish?  Since they appear to be one-offs, and they were painted with way more for demonstration than for effect (such as stealth, etc.), were these planes kept immaculate?  Were there chips or finish wear present to any appreciable effect on the F-4 or F-14 that were painted in this scheme?  Again, your build and paint are spectacular, but wondering if a few small imperfections would look more 'realistic', or not.  I don't know...it's  question.  Once more though, great job!!!!!

 

It's a good point and question.  I learned a fair bit more about these birds building this one.  Apparently the F-14D spent most of it's life in a "flat black".  It wasn't dead flat, but not quite semi-gloss either.  Models, particularly diecast, seem to still make it gloss black.  This isn't quite accurate though.

 

The F-4 had 3ish major variations.  There were two F-4J's and later an F-4S.  The early F-4J had the blue ribbons (as on this model), while the later did away with this trim.  The early F-4J also had a "squished" playboy bunny, while the later got the normal "one".  At least for the early F-4J, there are pictures such as this Hasegawa box art below, where the aircraft is definitely high gloss.  It always looks a bit glossier on a small model than a full scale machine.  Based off of other pictures, it doesn't look like the gloss was maintained as well as a bird like the Blue Angels and is a bit toned down. 

 

For this build, I decided to go with a "factory fresh" gloss black, since at some point it had to be straight out of the paint shop and I liked to idea of a clean gloss black.  I have a hard time building aircraft in setup that they just never would have been seen in, but at least I could say at some point it was fresh gloss black.

 

The second F-4J appears to be a similar level of gloss black, although I've not found as many pictures.  By the time of the F-4S, it seems to have moved to a semi flat black like the F-14D.

 

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I used to go to the annual Pt. Mugu during most of the 1970's and I always loved seeing this plane fly! Although they never had it parked with all the static display aircraft where I could see it up close, I'm almost positive it didn't have the extensive stenciling that the Furball decal set provides. Most Phantoms that were repainted at the shop level were not restenciled. As far as I could see from the viewing area, it was always in pristine condition, being the CO's personal mount. Pt. Mugu had a great airshow back then in that an S-2 would drop some parachute flares over the ocean and then two Phantoms would come by, low over the field and then fire Sidewinders just after passing the crowd.

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