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Meng 1/48 F-4G WIP


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I am starting on my next Phantom kit.  It is the relatively new Meng F-4G.  It will be an Out-of-the-Box build.  Here are some sprue and decals shots.  I will be using the new Speed Hunter Graphics F-4G sheet for an SEA Wrap scheme from the 52nd TFW at Spangdahlem AB, Germany.  I am also using a Flying Leatherneck belly strap that Meng did not provide for the kit.

 

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Kit decals are on the left, Speed Hunter decals on the right.  I am going to do the SP 69-250 it is the 10th plane down from the top.  It is shown as it was in 1987.  I will need to do some research for an accurate weapon load for that time frame.  

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Nice and fine engraved panel lines and one-piece upper fuselage.  Test fitting these and a few other parts shows very tight fit with no gaps and the joints are situated on natural panel lines.  I have already placed the Flying Leatherneck belly strap on the lower fuselage.  Flying Leathernecks states it is for the Hasegawa kit but it fits this kit with no problems.

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Sprues A, B and C (2 C sprues).  Wings are designed so that the slats can be displayed extended or retracted and separate control surfaces on the wings and vert stabilizer.  Meng supplies decals for the cockpit consoles and instrument panels.

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Sprues E, F, G and J.  All parts are finely scribed, no flash.  Includes only the F-15 style centerline fuel tank.  ALQ-119 and ALQ-131 provided.  Full depth intake trunking.  

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I test fit the aft lower fuselage behind the engine openings and the nose gondola for the electronics and they are snap fits, no gaps.  The raised detailing on the lower engine area and the arresting hook is not like any I have seen on a kit before.  There are separate sprues for each weapon.  2x AGM-88 HARMs, 2x AGM-78 Standard ARM, 6x AGM-65 (?! no triple launcher), 4x AIM-7, no AGM-45 Shrike.  Masks are provide for the canopy and the wheels and photo etch plate for the tailplanes.  Meng provides the capability for the tailplanes to move.  The canopies have faint mold separation line that will need be dealt with but they are crystal clear.  Not shown are 6 sets of clear lenses for the AGM-65s.

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I am looking forward to getting started on this one.  I also have the Z-M F-4G waiting in the wings.  Thanks for watching I will post periodic updates as I progress.  

 

 

 

 

Edited by Geoff M
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Correction on the AGM-65.  Started preliminary painting and found on sprue C the triple launcher for the AGM-65.  Sooo, you could mount all 6 Mavericks if you wanted to, but I think it has been posted here on ARC that they were mounted in a slant 2 configuration.  

 

 

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Geoff, I'm really looking forward to your build! I see you're a big fan of the SEA Wraparound scheme as well. It's one of the coolest Phantom camos IMO.

 

It'll be interesting to see how the Meng kit builds up. It's a simpler breakdown than the ZM kit for sure, and I do like the more varied weapon load they give you here in the Meng kit. I might give their F-4E a try.

 

I'm kind of on the fence about the rear exhaust area and the raised waves. Do you find it subtle enough, or will it need a sanding to be more in scale?

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10 hours ago, Miramar Road said:

Geoff, I'm really looking forward to your build! I see you're a big fan of the SEA Wraparound scheme as well. It's one of the coolest Phantom camos IMO.

 

It'll be interesting to see how the Meng kit builds up. It's a simpler breakdown than the ZM kit for sure, and I do like the more varied weapon load they give you here in the Meng kit. I might give their F-4E a try.

 

I'm kind of on the fence about the rear exhaust area and the raised waves. Do you find it subtle enough, or will it need a sanding to be more in scale?

I am going to have to look at pictures and compare the parts to the pictures.  I always thought that the Z-M and Hasegawa kits looked right but I need to look again.  Then I will decide what needs to be done.

 

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Looking at pics in the Jake Melampy's Modern Phantom Guide there are what appear to be ripples in the skin of the area around the engines and I assume they serve the same purpose as the ripples or corrugation of the SR-71 skin in allowing the metal to expand as it gets heated up.  However, the ripples in the plastic seem to be more exaggerated than what would be apparent in 1/48 scale.  So, I may be reducing the effect somehow.  The trick is to do it without losing surrounding detail.  That being said the rest of the detail on this piece matches the pictures better than other kits. 

 

Here is a small update on the kit.  Started with some basic painting.  I try to paint as many things as I can while they are on the sprues that are going to be the same colors.  So a lot of black items for the cockpit and same with white for the landing gear and intakes.  They will require a little touch up later when they get removed from the sprues.  

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Applying the cockpit decals.  Look a mess right now.

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I applied some Mr Mark Softer and hit them with the hair dryer.

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Brushed on some matte varnish.  Looking better.  

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This is where I am right now.  Cockpit is in the fuselage.

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Instructions would have you now work on the tail section.  I need to paint that and prepare it for the metal coat.

 

thanks for looking

 

 

IMG_1114.jpg

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1 hour ago, Geoff M said:

Looking at pics in the Jake Melampy's Modern Phantom Guide there are what appear to be ripples in the skin of the area around the engines and I assume they serve the same purpose as the ripples or corrugation of the SR-71 skin in allowing the metal to expand as it gets heated up.  However, the ripples in the plastic seem to be more exaggerated than what would be apparent in 1/48 scale.  So, I may be reducing the effect somehow.  The trick is to do it without losing surrounding detail.  That being said the rest of the detail on this piece matches the pictures better than other kits. 

 

The skin panels there are actually relatively smooth.  Apparently, there are ribs welded on the back side of these panels.  What looks like corrugation is just discoloration caused by uneven heating of the metal.  These are a couple photos I took of a Phantom on display. You can zoom in a lot. 

 

The Meng kit technically is completely wrong in their approach to sufaces in this area, but the exaggerated detail does make it somewhat trivial to paint. The normal technique people tend to use is lots of thin strips of tape to mask stripes, but with Meng you could dry brush the raised areas or use some washes.

 

OJNu6JL.jpg

FIHoRyC.jpg

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Looks pretty nice in the detail. Awesome how precise kit manufacturer can be with their decals to fit their own parts.

Hold on... now that I've written this it feels obvious.

Nice progress though. O'm pulling up a chair.

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Update:  I reduced the ripples in the keel area with some sanding and restored the rivet detail.  I didn't want to remove it completely.  I added some rivets to the ribs near the rear of the part also.

 

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I primed this part, the tailhook, the stabilizers and the rearmost part of the upper fuselage with Alclad black primer in preparation for a metal coat.  I used Alclad duraluminum for the upper area (which upside down in the picture) and I darkened it with Alclad steel for the bottom part.  It will get weathered later on.

 

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The instructions call for this to be assembled and attached to the upper fuselage.  I am going to hold off and paint the stabilizers and attach after the fuselage is painted to cut down on the amount of masking that needs to be done.

Nose gear well installed

IMG_1125.thumb.jpg.9affee11d1d0d217b59e6c97b9b441d3.jpg

 and the engines through the aux air intakes

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Thanks for looking.

 

 

 

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I keep getting this message every time I try to update.

 

Internal Server Error

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

Please contact the server administrator at webmaster@arcforums.com to inform them of the time this error occurred, and the actions you performed just before this error.

More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

Additionally, a 500 Internal Server Error error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

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1 hour ago, Geoff M said:

I keep getting this message every time I try to update.

 

"We have detected a virus on your computer. Please reply to this email with your bank account number and your password and we will remove the virus and repair your software."

 

/s

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On 2/9/2023 at 10:41 AM, habu2 said:

 

"We have detected a virus on your computer. Please reply to this email with your bank account number and your password and we will remove the virus and repair your software."

 

/s

Not helpfull

 

If a Moderator might have a clue about this problem I would appreciate any help.  I have tried loading from a different computer, different browsers, different image hosting sites and I always get the same "internal server error".  

 

I can post text posts, just can't do pictures.  I am about to give up.

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15 minutes ago, Geoff M said:

Not helpfull

 

If a Moderator might have a clue about this problem I would appreciate any help.  I have tried loading from a different computer, different browsers, different image hosting sites and I always get the same "internal server error".  

 

I can post text posts, just can't do pictures.  I am about to give up.

 

 

 

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5 hours ago, Crash Test Dummy said:

  I'm wondering if you exceeded some sort of quota uploading content to ARC.

 

 

 

I thought about that too.  i am sure there are people on the forum that post more than me.

 

 

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5 hours ago, habu2 said:

 

 

Habu.  Thanks for this.  This post explains the exact same thing that is happening when I try to post.  I even experienced the forum shutting down when I would attempt to save a post.  Just good old computer wierdness.  I guess I will just build on and forget about the WIP.

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22 hours ago, Geoff M said:

Not helpfull

 

If a Moderator might have a clue about this problem I would appreciate any help.  I have tried loading from a different computer, different browsers, different image hosting sites and I always get the same "internal server error".  

 

I can post text posts, just can't do pictures.  I am about to give up.

Try posting just a picture without any text, see if that works ?

Don't know if this is related to things going on here recently but, for the last three days all my ARC update emails keep going to my SPAM folder ?? never encountered that before.

Hopefully things work out for you Geoff, I enjoy seeing your updates.

Steve

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