Jump to content

F-4B 1/48 Academy & extra bits


Recommended Posts

I'm surprised there's not more builds of this kit. The fit is really nice, detail looks good (although I'm no Phantom expert) and the finish etc. is top class. Anyway, I started this a few months ago and it's progressed quite quickly by my standards. Photos are just my phone as I haven't had a chance to pull out the whole lights, camera, etc. setup. I'll do that at the end to show off the hundreds of colourful decals :)/>

Kit & stuff:

1_zps8e6638e5.jpg

Kit, KA Model exhausts which have some lovely delicate detail, Master Models pitot, ram air inlet & AoA probe, Hypersonic corrected tail surfaces, A/C intakes and MB5 seats (yes I know I should be using the 7's but I really like these so I'm using them). Other than that i'll be using the kit decals (cartograph) and some plastic, wire etc.

The last aftermarket item is seamless intakes from a Russian guy I hadn;t heard of before - XMM models. Really high quality moulding, includes nice outlets at the rear of the splitter plates, fits beautifully and Dinosavr was good to deal with.

Biggest weakpoint of the kit is the lack of sidewall detail but it's pretty easy to add some busyness in there, and tbh it's difficult to see when everything is together.

2_zps88a7d5a2.jpg

3_zps003b5650.jpg

4_zpsd32101b9.jpg

Added a bit of paint and moved the radar screen handle. Shiny bits are coloured cellophane over bare metal foil - works well.

5_zps28034e44.jpg

6_zps41907395.jpg

All the pics I had show lots of spaghetti behind the pilot. I may have gone slightly overboard but after painting, removing the blue masking tape and putting the seat on it will look nice and busy. You can also see some of the painted sidewall detail here.

7_zps6f9ea20b.jpg

Main construction next.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Once this was done I added the wheelwells, jetpipes (with their weird shade of green), and whatever else was needed and put all the main bits together. With the main wheelwells, install the main sides straight into the wing rather than following the actual instructions. Also if you shave off a small part of the corner of the main gear strut then it can be snapped in after everything is built and painted which is good for me because otherwise I'll break them off repeatedly.

I've seen a couple of builds that had some issues with the joint between the base of the nose and the main part of the underside. With very thin shims on the angled faces (5 thou plastic card sanded down to about half that) and a lot of tabs on the inside to provide a positive joint, you can get a fit that needs no filler here at all. Jst take it carefully and you lose none of that lovely panel detail:

9_zps54994963.jpg

Add a number of spreaders along the length of the fuselage and you can also get the fuselage top on with minimal putty.

Here's the etched detail that goes with the Hypersonic tails.

10_zps960aa120.jpg

& here's the XMM intakes:

8_zps6aebe219.jpg

And after a first coat of primer here's how it looks atm:

11_zps782f963a.jpg

All comments/ criticism welcome. ta.

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 2 months later...

Just to show that this is progressing, here's some quick photos now i've got all the freaking decals on.

I'll probably do a little more weathering and tidying up of the finish before final gloss and matte on the non-metallic areas. All in all a nice kit and the Phantom is a very impressive looking airframe.

mod2_zps4b2b9e82.jpg

mod4_zps6828496a.jpg

The orangey sort of hue is from the photo. I'll fix that when I do final photos

mod6_zps9f2df52a.jpg

& fiddling around with editing software

mod8_zps1ccf15f6.jpg

Link to post
Share on other sites

Love it!

I just finished mine w/ VF-21 markings from Afterburners Omaha '11 sheet - the kit is very nice and as far as I'm concerned the new standard for F-4s, -especially- nice that we got a 'B' first from Academy.

Can you give the contact info for the resin intakes company? Thank you

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 1 month later...

Got there in the end. Reasonably happy with the final build. It's OK from a foot or 2 away. The kit itself is nice and the Hypersonic, XMM & KA aftermarket bits are nice.

Just after the last WIP photo's I had a bit of a disaster. Everything was decalled, weathered etc:

DSC_0649_zps58039e24.jpg

I put on a final flat coat with a Tamiya rattlecan. Over the Tamiya white undersurfaces, decals, painted walkways & control surfaces and any enamel touchups everything was all OK as per usual. However, over the left hand half of the Gunze painted uppersurfaces everything went to shoot. The right hand side I obviously went a lot gentler and got away with. Biggest problem was that the paint under decal film was untouched so looked very different to anything around it.

2013-12-07193225_zps6bbefe7c.jpg

2013-12-07193217_zps7413d295.jpg

I spent the next few weeks swearing, re-painting around decals, re-weathering and re-touching the whole top left hand side and some of the top right for the hell of it.

Final result:

DSC_0057_zps3908a958.jpg

DSC_0053_zpsf2ef5942.jpg

DSC_0051_zpsb8784335.jpg

DSC_0040_zps37446c52.jpg

Edited by billb
Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks!

Enjoy it Billabob, it's a good kit.

Dial faces are from an old set of Mike Grant cockpit dial decals. Not sure if he still makes them but I'm sure someone does. I bought a few packs a number of years ago and they're very very handy!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...