Another Eduard 1:48 Good Morning DaNang F-4B

[TheWeasel]

Gooooood Morning and welcome to my first ever post on this forum.

Seems like I'm not the only one who chose this one, but I've chosen another decal option anyway

Before we get started on the history of the plane and the build of this -rather massive- kit two words about me and why I decided to enter this GB with this Kit.

When I grew up we used to live somewhat close to an airbase. And when the wind was right, all the planes would fly over our backyard on their landing approach. While it was certainly the most annoying to the regular suburban middle class families (they even petitioned for them to be re-based), the F4 Phantom was always my favorite. It's thundering noise, swept back wings and beautifully ugly, form following function shape made it the most badass thing in the skies; making all schoolboys on the block want to be pilots.

So naturally, when I started making models again after a ten year break, a Phantom had to be in the lineup sooner or later. Reading reviews and watching the youtubes (like Pauls review of this kit here) I decided I'd spend the extra cash on the Eduard special edition. Especially since I've been more than happy with their Spitfire Mk IX.

Just in time before getting started on it I noticed the upcoming Vietnam GB and thought "Why not give this group build a try. There's even a chance to win new projects!". Unfortunately I did not have access to my computer last week (but vacation time to build), so I'll throw quite a bit of content at you. And since this is my first time doing anything like this, I want to apologize in advance for any beginner mistakes. So without further ado, here's some info about the aircraft in question:

The McDonnell two-place, twinjet, all-weather F-4 Phantom II, with top speeds more than twice that of sound, was one of the most versatile fighters ever built. It served in the first line of more Western air forces than any other jet. Just 31 months after its first flight, the F-4 was the U.S. Navy's fastest, highest-flying and longest-range fighter. It first flew May 27, 1958, and entered service in 1961.

It was named Phantom II on July 3, 1959, during a ceremony held at the McDonnell plant in St. Louis, Mo., to celebrate the company's 20th anniversary. It remained in production until the company's 40th anniversary. By then, the numeral "II" had been discontinued; it had become the only Phantom.

The F-4 established 16 speed, altitude and time-to-climb records. In 1959, its prototype set the world altitude record at 98,556 feet. In 1961, an F-4 set the world speed record at 1,604 mph on a 15-mile circuit. By the end of production in 1985, McDonnell had built 5,068 Phantom IIs and Mitsubishi, in Japan, had built 127.

Modifications incorporated improvements to weapons, avionics, radar and engines. The RF versions were equipped with cameras and surveillance gear for aerial reconnaissance. Armament ranged from cannons to missiles.

F-4s saw combat in both the Vietnam War and Operation Desert Storm and served with the air forces of 11 countries in addition to the United States. Both U.S. military flight demonstration teams, the Navy Blue Angels and the Air Force Thunderbirds, flew the Phantom II from 1969 to 1973.

The 5,000th Phantom was delivered on May 24, 1978, in ceremonies that also marked the 20th anniversary of the fighter's first flight, and McDonnell Douglas delivered the last St. Louis-built Phantom II in October 1979. By 1998, approximately 800 were still in service around the world. With the upgrades already performed and those under contract, the F-4 Phantom II will probably still be flying in 2015 -- nearly 60 years after its first flight.

Specifications
First flight: May 27, 1958 (prototype YF4H-1)
Wingspan: 38 feet 5 inches
Length: 58 feet 3 inches
Height: 16 feet 6 inches
Ceiling: 56,100 feet
Range: 1,750 miles
Weight: 55,597 pounds
Power plant: Two 17,900-pound-thrust General Electric J79-GE-17 jet engines
Speed: 1,485 mph (max.)
Accommodation: Two crew
Armament: 15,983 pounds of weapons, including 20 mm nose-mounted M-61 "Vulcan" cannon

Source: http://www.boeing.com/boeing/history/mdc/phantomII.page

It's significance in the Vietnam War cannot be understated either. It flew all kinds of missions for three service branches. From Interceptor missions that came closest to it's first intended purpose as a missile armed fleet-defense interceptor, to ground support (some say being better at it then the purpose built F105 "Thud") and "Wild Weasel" Anti-Air defense missions, the Phantom was getting the job done. And it looked darn competent while doing it if I may say so myself:











So, if you are as hooked as I am and you decide to go out and buy this not so cheap kit, what can you expect?

You will get a huge box like this:



containing a loooot of things



All in all you get:
- 8 bags containing 13 sprues of styrene. Sprues that contain surface areas of the plane are individually packaged so scratching is minimized
- 1 bag of clear plastic for canopies and other glass parts
- 1 bag of photoetched brass, containing two sprues. One with painted parts for cockpit instruments and ejector seat pieces. One unpainted for various delicate structural pieces like panels, fans, canopy struts etc.
- 1 bag containing pre-cut masks for the canopy and wheels, a sprue of fabric seatbelts and a small piece of clear film for heads up displays
- 1 box with three bags of resin parts for ejector seats, engine and wheels (unfortunately the wheels are completely round, which doesn't quite fit the fully loaded ground support plane I want to build)
- big magazine style, glossy paper color instructions
- 1 bag of decals and stencils for five different liveries. And these sheets are huuuuge. If you don't like decaling, you're gonna have a baad time with this one

Here are your marking options:



BuNo. 153020, VF-161 „Chargers“, USS Midway, May 1972



BuNo. 153019, VF-111 „Sundowners“, USS Coral Sea, March 1972



BuNo. 152258, VMFA-323 „Death Rattlers“, Chu Lai Air Base, South Vietnam, 1967



BuNo. 151492, VF-84 „Jolly Rogers“, USS Independence, 1965



BuNo. 152238, VMFA-542 „Bengals“, Da Nang Air Base, South Vietnam, 1966




I personally decided to go with the "pretty kitty" here, so I'll build VMFA-542 COs aircraft, the "Tiger Lead". Can't wait to have it sitting on a very special place on the shelf above my desk...

But before that can happen there's a lot of work to do, so let's get to it!

[TheWeasel]

Eduard F-4B Build, Update 1

I'll try to follow the instructions page by page as I upload my progress, leaving my comments along the way




First step calls for some "minor" adjustments to the instrument display panel, so get out the saw and the sanders, and get dusty

make sure to measure your cuts



and your new blank panel should look nothing like before anymore:



After a quick paint in MrColor H317, it's ready to take all those pretty PE pieces:



And here it is, all decked out in PE:



The front seat instrument panel is made completely from PE. Be careful with part PE22, it absolutely love to dissapear and I've managed to lose both of mine :|



Next up, the cockpit tub. Here the instructions forget to mention that you do in fact have to glue in and sand down three of the original control panels, parts K5, K6 and L5



also remove the "brackets" at the bottom of the tub as the new brassin seats coming in at the very end won't fit with them in place.

The cockpit does come together really nice, with all the PE parts fitting into place. Just needs some weathering now before I can put it inside the fuselage:

[Hillbilly]

Looks great so far. And nice job on the play-by-play with the build photos

[MikeyKb]

Man, I want this kit.
Super sexy! Awesome work, and thanks for all the heads up! (for the future )

[Nige201980]

Of to a great start mate.

[MarkVerploeg]

Good to see another one of these
Good luck with the build

[Twokidsnosleep]

Hello, welcome and awesome build choice
I am a newbie here too, my first GB

[TheWeasel]

Good day ladies and gentlemen and welcome to:

Eduard F-4B Build, Update 2

Before we start, thanks for all the positive feedback. And a special shout-out to MarkVerploeg for his heads up about the holes you need to drill that are not marked in the instructions.

Alright, after you have finished the cockpit, the instructions suggest that you glue it to the lower front fuselage. I haven't done that yet since I think it's a little easier to store and handle without the fuselage piece.

Next step is the assembly of the main gear well walls plus the actual gear as this can only be inserted from the inside of the wing section. I thought that building was a bit tricky as the parts move about as the glue hardens - which is not a bad thing as you have to keep going back to dryfitting it to the wings to get the angles correctly. Just a little fidgety work, but once you put the gear in it, it stabilizes a little.

For the gear leg itself, I'm still not entirely sure as to where to place parts F44 and F45. The way the glue points are marked in the instructions doesn't really fit. I found a nice fit when putting the holes onto the small knobs on the side of the gear leg, yet then part F30 won't fit as I think it should
Picture research was inconclusive too as that side is always masked by the landing gear doors.... but hey, it's going to be masked by landing gear doors, so a deviation of about 2 mm to the side won't be veeery visible



Once those are built, it's time to mate them with the lower hull and put some wings on it! Here the instructions forget to mention two holes you should drill out if you plan to mount anything on the centerline hardpoints. Plus four holes in the front of this section into which knobs of parts K18 and K16 will eventually be inserted (saves you sanding them down and makes sure you align them as intended). Thanks again to Mark for pointing those out to me

All six holes are marked in this picture:



On we go to the next page to build the engines. And another first for me: Resin.
Quite easy to see where you need to cut them. Don't forget your mask though, because the dust from sanding and sawing is not good for you.

And this is where I messed things up a little...
Thought I'd go ahead and make them extra special by sanding down the rear of the exhaust pieces RP2



Looks great doesn't it? Unfortunately it won't make a difference because they fit flat onto the tubular piece RP1, not allowing this effect to be visible. But that alone wouldn't be a problem. Just a little extra work noone will ever notice.

The real problem is here.....:



yeah.... looks like one piece had a little more resin to sand through before it became transparent. Looks like I'll have to use something in between one exhaust and engine to bridge the difference between both. But I'll save that for the final assembly.

Speaking of which, our engines still need to be painted and put together. Paint is MrHobby buffables MC214 dark iron. Awesome stuff that gives your parts that metal look. Just paint it on, wait the 30 seconds it takes this stuff to dry (it really is quick) and polish it with a Q-tip -> shiiiny

When it comes to assembling the pieces though, I have to disagree with the instructions once again. Part PE 98 looks as if it is supposed to be put inside from the "fan side"... It doesn't fit that way though and has to come in from the exhaust side. Good thing I didn't glue those to the tube yet



In the background you can see PE105 glued onto RP3. This combination fits in through the rear. Only just but it works if the brass isn't bent.

Next up: air intakes. Rather easy. Prime them before painting in H316 gloss white though. Don't know if I'm doing it wrong (my first glossy mr hobby color), but I thought it was a bit "runny" and took forever to dry. For the actual paintjob I'll be using a thicker mix. Hopefully I'll have my new airbrush rig by then because my Revell Basic Set has it's difficulties with thicker paint.
The fan itsself is in MrHobby buffable MC213 stainless and can be glued in after the intake halfs are fused together. makes it a little easier to paint over the seamlines you'll get. I decided not to fill and sand in this tiny space (wouldn't be very easy) as they will not really be visible from outside one the rest of the intakes is added.



And before I leave you guys alone for today, another heads up about the instructions. They call for part G14, the divider between both engines, to be painted H8 Silver. Yet the paint scheme pages mark the whole engine exhaust area to be painted MC214 Dark Iron, like the exhausts themselfs. So I went ahead and painted and buffed that too.

Also, the unmarked part those intakes are supposed to glue onto is Q9



Like Mark I also decided against glueing in the lower front/cockpit section at this point. There is simply no support for this piece yet and since the cockpit doesn't slide into the upper fuselage super easy because of all the PE that can get in the way a little (more on that later when we get to mating cockpit and fuselage), a different approach seems easier.


Again thanks for the warm welcome and best wishes for your builds

[MarkVerploeg]

Nice progress mate
And it seems i am not the only one that won't agree with the instructions
Good thing that some experiance helps when you are building one of these kits
Keep up the good work

[TheWeasel]

Oh hi you're back. Glad you could make it, because I've got something for you:

Eduard F-4B Build, Update 3

After the last update I had just built and installed the engines and air intakes. Next up: the upper fuselage! In this academy kit the fuselage is not split in two lengthwise but into a lower part including lower wing halves and a long upper fuselage stretching from the end of the nosecone to the horizontal stabilizer. This way you don't have to worry about any nasty seamlines running down the back of your plane and all the filling, sanding and rescribing those can force you to do.

Mounting this big piece is very easy. It snaps over the engine tubes and in between the wings and then it fits. I used some masking tape to put upwards tension on the wingtips, bringing the inner wing edge towards the fuselage piece. A few drops of Tamiya extra thin into the gap before you do that and this already very good joint will be seamless.



Next step would be to mount the outside parts of the air intakes. Unfortunately, these come with a whooping nine ejector pin marks each:



I've only filled and sanded the forewardmost six, as the rear ones won't be visible (I hope...)

Since they're supposed to be white, we'll prime and paint them and while we wait assemble the tail of the Phantom.

Here I have noticed something, that I am going to recommend when building this kit. Do not mount the exhaust pieces to the engines when the instructions call for them. In this step, the engine-divider (the metal colored piece) does not slip into its intended position as easy as the rest.



In my case the upper end was too far towards the front of the plane and had to be pushed back while the glue hardened. With exhausts in place, I might have missed the misalignment or would have been unable to reach the divider piece and fix it.

And despite my best efforts I still ended up with a small gap after fitting the next part of the tail assembly. Yet much smaller than it would have been.



The rest of the tail came together really nicely though and the intakes were almost ready to be attached. They glue directly onto an arrow shaped part of the fuselage, part of which is included in the bottom half of the front. So we'll have to install that first before we go on. But as this also includes the cockpit, I had to weather it and glue some more PE to the struts surrounding the cockpit. A nice touch to see what the canopy "locks" into. I've never built many modern jets, but I don't remember seeing detail for the canopy rails.



And the cockpit. Now weathered with Tamiya weathing master (Sud, Mud and light sand to make it a little dusty) and drybrushed with mrhobby buffables aluminium (also for the bootheel-scratches under the pedals):



Remember when I said getting the cockpit into the fuselage is a little fidgety? The PE tends to get in the way a little. I had to bend the WSOs (rear seat) sidewall panel slightly further to the inside as it got caught on the inside bulk of the refueling probe. Also, the black triangles in front of the WSOs instrument panel have to be maneuvered around the fuselage strut between front and aft cockpit. Might be a good idea to only glue those to the cockpit after it is installed. Plus the PE for the canopy struts I praised a second ago.... The parts that are mounted on the inside of the fuselage should not be glued in at the rearmost possible position as suggested in the instructions. That way they'll get in the way of the rear walls of both cockpits.

But those problems were relatively small and easy. With a little patience and some careful back and forth movements the cockpit does slide into place and fits well. The bigger Problem is the lower half of the fuselage. Gaps appeared between this piece and the upper fuselage where I marked the following pictures in red. It needed a substantial amount of pushing the nose downwards and backwards (black arrows) as well as quite a bit of extra thin glue and patience to hold everything in place while it hardened to make those disappear.





My suspicion for the reason of these fit issues lies in the one piece, sprue-less, fuselage. I'm no expert on molding or physics, but what I believe happens is: The fuselage is molded hot, with all material at the top. As it cools down, the material contracts. And because of the imbalance of plastic between top and bottom, this contraction leads to upwards warping of the fuselage ends.



The same problem came up again with the intake covers. This time I took the picture before my attempts to fix it.



Here I had to resort to CA glue and pressing like a maniac to reduce this gap to about half of what it is in the picture before giving up and filling it in.

Another small heads up with the intakes: the small stretch in front of the internal piece here is not covered by the outside piece, so it needs to be painted too (quite visible from the outside):



Back to the cockpit. Dryfitting the pilots instrument-panel-cover shows some gaps between PE and plastic



Didn't like those, so I put some putty on a toothpick and filled them in from the nose-side. The top gap is already painted black here, the side fillings are still visible in white



From then on it was smooth sailing for the rest of this episode though. Went outside to look for stone that fit the nosecone (even though the instructions don't call for noseweight, I don't trust them that much anymore and made sure the phantom won't sit on it's tail), glued that into place and worked my way to the rear again.

Dryfit the small pieces that go in between win and wing extension. They do fit upside down. If they are pointing slightly downwards, you got it wrong. The extensions, ailerons and stabilizers all fit very nicely. A welcome change after the issues in the cockpit area.


beautiful, isn't she

And now that it looks like a Phantom, I'm all motivated to keep going with starting the "kit within the kit" that is the ejector seats

[chief5437]

Great progress on this! Quite a few issues, but you've done great to resolve them. Kutgw

[Nige201980]

Great thread so far your doing a cracking job so far can't wait to see the next episode.

[UKguyInUSA]

She's looking sweet! One of my all time favorite jets...I guess since I saw one up close and personal when I was 10 yrs old go screaming by me at low level doing Mach 2....the ground reverberated and everyone had their ears covered, but it was awesome! Look forward to seeing you finish this one!

[TheWeasel]

Great progress on this! Quite a few issues, but you've done great to resolve them. Kutgw

Thanks! Hope I've made it through the worst now that the plane is mostly built

Great thread so far your doing a cracking job so far can't wait to see the next episode.

Thank you. There's more coming these days. The ejector seats are taking a while with all that tiny photoetch. Hard to keep up concentration and mojo I think.

[generalgrog]

Great job so far! You and Mark are giving me some great tips for me, as I have the same kit, and plan on doing VMFA 542 as well.

I will be watching closely for some more tips and tricks!

GG

[TheWeasel]

First, thanks again for all the encouragement and positive feedback to my post. Keeps me coming back to the Phantom in the low-mojo times


Alright ladies and gents. Long time no progress on the bird, time to get another update up. Since there wasn't a whole lot of visible progress, the photos will be fewer this time around.

Eduard F-4B Build, Update 4

When we last left off, we had mated the fuselage pieces and attached the control surfaces.

There is still a couple of small pieces to glue on here and there. So far I only attached what wouldn't get in the way of painting or runs a risk of breaking off while handling the model.



Four of the holes we drilled earlier are for the two "box shaped" pieces.

I then skipped over building the ordinance to proceed with the ejection seats. And these.take.a.while.
The amount of detailing that goes into them is the most I've seen in a box yet. It is what you usually get as aftermarket pieces after all. The first time I've built resin seats and I might have to say that it won't be the last. Despite the painstaking work you have to put in to the tiniest pieces of photoetch, they do look amazing.

But one thing after another. First up: some wiring. I don't know if I'm using the wrong CA glue, but they just didn't want to stay where I wanted them to. And bending them gave me a headache too sometimes. But in the end I got them close enough to where I wanted them to be satisfied:



Afterwards the seats got another coat of vallejo model air 057 black. Which is the color I have used (and will use) for all black parts of the plane. To me it looks a little less black than the MrHobby flat black, dries quicker, sprays straight out of the bottle and smells nicer too.

I then brush painted the seat cushions and headrests olive:



Hard to see in the picture, but I used two different MrHobby olive tones (H304 for the seat, H78 for the headrests) to recreate the different colors I saw in some reference pictures (e.g. on this site here)

After that it was a whole week of attaching tiny pieces of photoetch to the seats or to the fabric belts before putting those on the seat as well. Be careful with the belts and straps. The printed film comes of the paper rather easily. Especially when you try folding it back on itself to attach a buckle:

Errata 23/10/14: After a heads-up from strawnobi I checked for a tutorial on those fabric seatbelts. According to Eduard, you are supposed to remove the paper and use the printed on film only. Since that is rather thin though,I don't think I regret not removing it



But in the end you'll be rewarded by having two fabulously detailed ejection seats:



My fiance has a point when she's saying that noone will be able to see them this detailed once I put them in the cockpit. But I'll know that this detail is there and I'll be darn proud of it

And just for comparisons sake, I glued together one of the plastic seats that are still on the sprues to see just how much more detail the resin ones have on them:



Next up for me: masking things up for primer so we can get some more progress!

But before we can do that, we need to get and clean up the canopy pieces. They do have a seamline running all the way through the middle. Since it's rather tiny though, it doesn't pose a problem:



Since this is one of eduards fully equipped kits, you also get the eduard mask. Precut to fit the canopy pieces. Some love them some hate them. I have not had any problems with them yet whatsoever. And since I'm a little clumsy when it comes to sticky tape things (I am absolutely helpless with cling-wrap), they are a godsent to me

I usually run my knife along the edges of these "stickers" to make sure they come off easy without tearing off one of the important corners



I then align one of the corners where it needs to be and use a toothpick to press down along the edges to make sure it sticks securely without folds and gaps



In the end, you'll have a nicely masked canopy piece



One thing the instructions forget to tell you though, is that when you attach the nice photoetch along the canopy lines of the fuselage, you mess up the canopy pieces fit a little and it won't close seamless anymore:



I still used this setup to position the middle canopy piece and glue it in the right place, masked off all glass pieces and then thought about a safe way to mask the cockpit for painting.

Here is what I came up with:



I first put some tamiya tape along the edges of the cockpit opening to cover the tub from the top. Then I put a few strips on the inside of the front and middle canopy sections to create a layer that will catch any color that makes it through the gaps between the canopy pieces. The pilots canopy then got some extra strips at the bottom to prevent anything from getting in from below.

Next up: Air intakes



Rather easy to mask off as they are big and accessible. I just cut of the excess tape with a new, sharp blade and put a few pieces into the small "trench" inside the scoop to cover the inside.

Now she's almost ready for primer. But since I'll be using a white primer on the F4, I decided to spray over the masked canopy in black first, to make sure you'll see black when you look at the canopy struts from the inside after painting.



And that's where she's at today. I hope I'll get to prime and fix blemishes this week. Wish me luck!

[Thunderchief1966]

Looking great so far, brave build for your first GB, I went for the 1/72 easy option !! I really fancy this kit, could be on Santa's wish list I think, but a cracking job up to now especially the seats and PE, nice one, cheers Ian

[FlyingCoffin]

Great looking build so far!

[TheWeasel]

Looking great so far, brave build for your first GB, I went for the 1/72 easy option !! I really fancy this kit, could be on Santa's wish list I think, but a cracking job up to now especially the seats and PE, nice one, cheers Ian

Thanks Ian! I took a rather big plunge into strange waters with this one. It is also my first 1/48th Jet, my first kit with resin parts and only the fourth kit after starting this hobby again this year. But I just had to have the kit when I saw the reviews. Now I'm trying to do the excellent kit justice by attempting to keep mistakes to a minimum and reading up a lot about how to hone my modeling skills and techniques. This forum and all you guys' build threads are a huuuuuge source of knowledge and inspiration. And without the encouraging posts I might take a few more shortcuts and not try to reach everybody's magnificent level of detail here.

[Tiger131]

holly DaNang i want this kit and seeing you go to town on it i want it even more

[grover]

Great idea about the masking tape. I really need to practice canopy masking. Masking sets too hard to find locally.

[MarkVerploeg]

Great idea about the masking tape. I really need to practice canopy masking. Masking sets too hard to find locally.

Yep those are hard to find
It is best to order them online if you really want to use them
But all they do is save you some time
And with a roll of tape and a sharp blade you can do it rather fast
If there isn't too much to mask

[strawnobi]

Great Job!!! I'm building the Bicentennial phantoms version of the same kit (circa 1976). So, I'm not on the group build . I did find a tutorial from Eduard on the fabric belts though. I don't have a link. Sorry. But it seems you are supposed to remove the backing paper from the belts. I didn't do this either. It seems to me though that the belts are way too thin without the paper. So, I left it attached as well. Anyway, It took about 10 hours to do the ejection seats with all the photo etch. I will be posting my build soon. Great seam work as well. It looks like its coming together nicely for you. Keep up the great work.

[TheWeasel]

Great Job!!! I'm building the Bicentennial phantoms version of the same kit (circa 1976). So, I'm not on the group build . I did find a tutorial from Eduard on the fabric belts though. I don't have a link. Sorry. But it seems you are supposed to remove the backing paper from the belts. I didn't do this either. It seems to me though that the belts are way too thin without the paper. So, I left it attached as well. Anyway, It took about 10 hours to do the ejection seats with all the photo etch. I will be posting my build soon. Great seam work as well. It looks like its coming together nicely for you. Keep up the great work.

Thanks! I looked around a bit and it indeed seems like you're supposed to remove the paper. But I think I'll also leave things as they are now. About the seamwork though... now that I've primed it I've found two or three spots where it still needs some extra work.
Good luck on your bicentennial! Cant wait to see another Phantom take to the imaginary styrene-skies

[JayCub]

Great build log and had me smiling as I remember some of my own errors and including resin which im now happy with, I like the pretty kity version, just because I used the tiger head as an avatar for years...cant wait untill the next instalment
Tom

[UKguyInUSA]

Looking really good so far mate, KUTGW!

[generalgrog]

I'm really learning a lot from watching you and Mark build this kit. I'm building mine right along side yours..and shamefully benefitting from your experience!

I didn't enter the GB because I don't think I would finish in time.

GG

[TheWeasel]

Great build log and had me smiling as I remember some of my own errors and including resin which im now happy with, I like the pretty kity version, just because I used the tiger head as an avatar for years...cant wait untill the next instalment
Tom

Thanks! But as Bob Ross used to say "We don't make mistakes, just happy little accidents" If you're interested in the VMFA 542 Bengals, I've stumbled upon some of their cruise books during my research. All b/w but still a very nice source for background info and pics.

Looking really good so far mate, KUTGW!

Thank you!

I'm really learning a lot from watching you and Mark build this kit. I'm building mine right along side yours..and shamefully benefitting from your experience!

I didn't enter the GB because I don't think I would finish in time.

GG

Glad I can help! If you come across anything you want a second opinion on, fell free to pm me. Too bad you didn't enter. The more the merrier... Which livery are you gonna go for?

[generalgrog]

I'm really learning a lot from watching you and Mark build this kit. I'm building mine right along side yours..and shamefully benefitting from your experience!

I didn't enter the GB because I don't think I would finish in time.

GG

Glad I can help! If you come across anything you want a second opinion on, fell free to pm me. Too bad you didn't enter. The more the merrier... Which livery are you gonna go for?

I'm doing the VMFA-542..I've done a hellcat and a tigercat in VMFA-542 as well.

GG

[TheWeasel]

Alright ladies and gentlemen, time for another update!

Eduard F-4B Build, Update 5

It's painting time! As primer I've used Tamiya white primer out of the rattle can. I personally don't like that stuff and probably wont buy it again. To me it feels like it gets absolutely everywhere except for where I want it. But I already had the can and no other white primer at hand and the result wasn't all that bad.

After priming I went over all the seamlines I applied putty to again, decided to re-sand here and there, re-applied the primer to those areas and did my preshading:



I tried to take it easy on the opacity of the black here, especially on the underside, as it's going to be white and I don't want extreme panellines to shine through. The glossy white (MrHobby H316) was a little finicky again. Had to reduce the amount of thinner substantially from my usual 50:50 ish mix to get a consistent spray without spidering. About 5 coats of white later, I had reached the desired effect. The preshading still shines through quite a bit (more than the picture would make you believe), but since I'm aiming for a heavily weathered look, this suits me just fine.



Next up, I kinda messed up a little bit. Being too motivated and eager to keep painting, I completely threw common sense out of the window and decided to spray the "Dark Iron" (MrHobby buffables Mc214) instead of the grey that covers most of the fuselage. So I did my masking job:



and then sprayed it on:



only to realize the next day, that it might have been smarter to first spray the grey to create a nicer border between colors. So before I removed the masking tape I put on for the buffable paint job, I used it to apply a new layer of masking to cover what I had just sprayed. Afterwards, the old masking tape was removed and actually showed a couple of spots where the rather thin buffable paint bled through the tamiya tape. Won't have to bother fixing that as it will be covered by the main color anyway.



To further prepare for the grey coats of the upper side, I masked off the borderline between underside white and upperside grey. On this version of the F4, this line is "wavy". Another first try for me for this: MXpression intelligent Panzer Putty. So far I have to say cool stuff! You can shape it easily, it sticks rather well and it seems to "set" after a while. While setting, it's not changing the outline you've given it, but it does seem to sink a little, closing any gaps that might have existed after pressing it on still. Just hope it won't stain the color underneath, then I'll be all happy.



That's where I'm at as of today. Grey is coming up next, making this thing kinda look like it should already

And as a little bonus pic since I had so much fun with the putty - and because Movember is just around the corner.....:

[Twokidsnosleep]

Great progress and awesome scratch built moustache manufacture

[Thunderchief1966]

It's looking great so far,excellent work. I have to agree on the Mr Hobby H316, I had similar problems with it and also Aircraft Grey H74 which are used a lot, it seems to be their gloss colours, I found they took ages to dry and had a slightly tacky finish when cured which didn't like being handled. I still think they're great paints but I'm tending to favour Vallejo more cause I like their matt finish and rapid drying, cheers Ian

[TheWeasel]

Thanks for the encouraging posts. Makes me want to finish this thing in time for the GB despite the loads of work that are still to come.

Chief: Yeah, the struggle with the mrhobby gloss is tough. I'm thinning it down with homeopathic doses of thinner by now. I also got a vallejo gloss white, but it's not the right tone imho. Too white wheres the H316 is more off-white.

Anyway. Another weekend passed and I've gotten in some modeling time, so here is another update for you:

Eduard F-4B Build, Update 6

First, a little more on the panzer-putty I used to mask off the white belly from the grey top. It does in fact soften after a while. This means, that when you put a big glob on the underside of a model, it will actually start dripping after about a day or so. This caused me to panic a little, it did however not move where it was touching the fuselage, so the masking stayed intact.

So, on we go with three and a half coats of MrHobby H325 GRAY FS26440 to cover the upper fuselage and wings of my phantom.



After two even coats covering everything, I started being more selective with my spray on the third one to leave some areas a little lighter than others by not covering them as thoroughly. The last "half coat" was after leaving everything to dry for a whole day to spot any areas that still needed touching up

When that was all dry, I removed the masking around the nose to be able to get going on the black nosecone and front cockpit sides.



As you can see, the masking tape separates from the putty easily.

And it left a nice demarcation line too:



I think I'll keep using it for future projects.

Then I remasked the front again to spray on some vallejo 71.057 black. And here the instructions are a bit confusing again.



The side view shows the anti-glare strip of black to only run the length of the pilots cockpit (the blue line), yet the top view shows this strip to run further aft to the WSOs cockpit (green line).

I still couldn't find a picture of the actual #1 aircraft, the "Tiger Lead", but the other Phantoms of VMFA-542 all seemed to have the short anti glare strip. So I decided to also only spray the short version:



After that was done, I could finally move on to my favorite part about painting: taking the masks off to see the model come to live a little



Since I had the elevators completely wrapped in masking tape, the small areas that are supposed to be painted in stainless steel are still bare. Having read about drybrushing on mrhobby buffables and having had good experience with brush painting them, I decided to quickly paint these areas with a brush.... and hated the result.

I am absolutely bad at brush painting and it ended up looking all spotty and uneven. No buffing could make it shine nicely either.



So I decided to mask up the area and break out the airbrush again. This time with a much more satisfactory result:



As you can see though, the color did bleed through a tiny bit, maybe because I just masked everything rather quickly. But here my brush painting skills are adequate and a few drops of white made the bleedthrough disappear.

And that's where I'm at right now. Still need to give it a nice gloss coat before I can start climbing the mountain of decals and stencils that come with this kit. Landing gear and ordinance also have to be built. Long ways to go still... but I'm confident. Seeing her painted up motivates to finish

[MarkVerploeg]

Nice work Weasel
I am at the painting stage too but it is still all masked up and the metal is not painted yet
Soo eager too see how it came out of painting
Keep up the good work on your Phantom

[TheWeasel]

Nice work Weasel
I am at the painting stage too but it is still all masked up and the metal is not painted yet
Soo eager too see how it came out of painting
Keep up the good work on your Phantom

Thanks Mark!

I couldn't wait any longer to see the result of the paintjob. Hope I can get to the early decal/stencil phase by the end of the weekend. And then there's still all the ordinance and gear things to do, where you're still quite a ways ahead of me iirc

[JayCub]

Happy accidents is my new saying, not sure if Sharon will see it that way, I can now look her in the face and say the carpet looks better this color.
back to the more entertaining stuff the masking looks like it has worked a real treat and the updates are awesome
Tom

[rwsmith14]

Looking Good !!

[TheWeasel]

Almost a whole month without any news - Sorry for slacking, but the build had reached a point where it was rather tedious to continue at a faster pace. And then there's also this "life" thing getting in the way

Nonetheless, here's a big ol' update for you ladies and gentlemen:

Eduard F-4B Build, Update 7

Last time we left off after finishing the paint job. Next step: applying three coats of glossy clear (I used tamiya X-22), leaving ample time (1-2 days) to set and dry in between to make sure the paintwork stays protected and we get a nice smooth surface for decals to adhere to.



After that we can begin our expedition up the decal mountain. This kit comes with two big sheets of decals - one for the decals of the different variants you can build, the second one for access door markings, warning and instructional markings, service and precaution markings.... all in all the instructions call for a whopping 538!!! decals (that's the number my quick count of the instructions came up with, might have missed one or two). But they're all printed by cartograf, so they're not going to be an issue. You can even read the tiniest of writing on them. Good thing I had my eyes corrected to enjoy them hehe



The tools..new sharp blade on the knife, ruler and scissors for cutting out decals, toothpick to move decals into place (the most important tool for the small stencil decals), q-tip to wipe away excess moisture, decal softener to make them show underlying surface detail and an exclusive brush for the decal softener (don't want it contaminated by paints).

First the fun part:



The main decals go down quick and easy since they are relatively big and few in numbers. But then the work begins with the stecils. They work great though, so once you get into a rhythm and have a technique that works for you, you can do quite a few in a relatively short time. The biggest problem is keeping concentration and motivation up through the hundreds of stencils. I had to go buy another kit to get my mojo back (see my Air America Bell 205 thread).

One thing I did notice however was, that the instructions aren't fitting the plane again :| The panel lines and hatches etc. drawn in the instructions do not correspond to what you find in the plastic. For the unit marking decals they do though...
My suspicion is, that eduard re-used some stenciling instructions from another kind of Phantom (maybe a J?).
So I left out some access door markings where the mentioned door just wasn't where the instructions would put them plus some tiny ones that I just didn't have the mojo to place/ was sure were going to be virtually invisible anyway.

The result of roughly three weeks on- and off decaling work:





Boy was I glad to be done

Then i saw that the stripes on top of the horizontal stabilizer don't quite wrap around the front of it:



but nothing a little paint and a brush won't fix:



I used MrHobby H4 yellow, which is not quite the right tone, but the only yellow I have. The instructions for the Jolly Rogers version advise you to paint the yellow stripe in H329, I guess that would be the best fit. But in such a small spot, it is very hard to notice the difference in hue. Another happy little accident

Now that the decals are down, I gave her another coat of Tamiya X22 clear to seal everything in and get ready for weathering.

And while that cures, we can go on to paint some external things:


"Bombsicles" anyone?


the masks for the wheels that came with the kit - I did get some bleedthrough though, so still some brushwork required to make everything look perfect


More white things to go underneath


Now we're ready for what is my favorite part of modeling. Maybe because I've never done it before I started again this year: weathering. Another first for me: I'll try a sludge wash this time. Got myself a big kit of washes, mixed up a dark dirty one with some white to lighten it and did what always looks like completely ruining your work:



But after letting it dry and wiping it off, it looks rather nice. The picture doesn't show it very well unfortunately, but here's the result:



For the underside I had another thing planned that I read about in "the weathering magazine - vietnam issue" (not really worth the money you pay for it imho. Too many adds and useless pictures of silicone bikini heroines with guns...):
Recreating streaks from hydraulic leaks that Phantoms supposedly suffered from chronically.

First step: Apply some streaks of grime with a finer brush:



Second step: After some drying time use a moist bristle brush (either moist with water or turpentine, depending on what kind of grime you applied) to gently streak in the direction of airflow and blend things together



I absolutely love the effect! I went on to put it on a few more spots around the plane.

And that is where I am at today. The weathering process isn't done yet, but I wanted to keep you up to date before I move on further and closer to the final reveal.

[MarkVerploeg]

That looks very nice
You are ahead of me now
I still have to repaint the white parts for the wings after some overspray
Must have been nice to see this bird come to life with the decals and weathering started

[1001kjk]

looking good

[MikeyKb]

gorgeous!

[UKguyInUSA]

She's looking sweeeeeet!

[Nige201980]

She's looking beautiful mate

[TheWeasel]

That looks very nice
You are ahead of me now
I still have to repaint the white parts for the wings after some overspray
Must have been nice to see this bird come to life with the decals and weathering started

Thanks buddy.
yeah, it sure was nice to see it take shape. Just always a bit of a shock to see it covered in the wash like it was just lifted from a swamp..
Can't wait to see yours


1001, mikey, ukguy and nige:

Thank you guys! I promise another update next week when I'm back at my computer

[rwsmith14]

Looks great.. I like your preshading..

[TheWeasel]

Thanks for the feedback!

Being so close to finishing I am all motivated to keep modelling whenever I find a minute. So here goes:

Eduard F-4B Build, Update 8

Last time we stopped at weathering the fuselage. Next step: Applying a coat of vallejo matt varnish and gluing in all the hatches and wheels after it dried.



And here is the weathered upper side with the two small black fins added that I saved for when weathering was complete:



Still looks very empty though.. Time to work on all that ordnance!



This is the pods with mk83 bombs and aim-9 sidewinders painted as advised in the instructions. Except for the small brackets at the rear fins of the aim9s. Painted those in MC 213 stainless like the nose. But I didn't quite like it that much, so I went and did some research as to how the weaponry of phantoms of the time looked.

What I came up with was, that during the vietnam war, the most commonly used aim9 for Navy and USMC was the Aim9B. For the Aim7 Sparrow, the most common one seems to be the E variant. After looking for some pictures, I decided to use these two as reference:



The Aim7s here are very bland, so I decided to paint mine in glossy white with a grey nosecone (H316 white and H317 grey).



Here the Aim9s have both a yellow and brown stripe and the mk83s have a yellow stripe running around the nose



The stripes I had to mask off and brush painted in between masking (you can still see the masking on the sparrows.. being held up at the rear because they are a bit nose heavy).
For the yellow ribbon around the bombs I just couldn't get tape to give me a straight line around the round bomb. So i decided to free paint them with the smallest brush I've got in my arsenal (a 10/0). It's not perfect, but I think it will do.



Here is the finished loadout. The inner wing pods are a little tricky. I glued the outside bomb brackets a little crooked with the rear being a little higher than the front. So if I put the bombs flush on the brackets, the rear of the bomb gets in the way of Aim9s. My remedy was: I put a lump of PVA glue on the rear bracket and a drop of CA on the front one. That way I could align the bomb correctly, with it staying in place after a few seconds because of the CA glue while the PVA hardened.

Just put a little wash on the pods and fuel tanks but left the weapons rather clean, since they're not making many flight hours

Then put everything on the fuselage:



They do align nicely because of the holes you have to drill quite early on - except for the middle pod that does not have any holes to go into. I hope I got it right



Not a lot of ground clearance left there!

I have since progressed a tiny bit with unmasking the canopy and such, but I'll save that for one last update before the final reveal.

Thanks for checking in!

Weasel

[MikeyKb]

lovely work, sir!

[MarkVerploeg]

Nice work weasel
Now i want to work on mine and get it finished

[UKguyInUSA]

That's a ton of ordnance...makes it look so damn sexy, in a mean and aggressive sort of way

[planemaker]

Looking great! Superb paintwork.