Diesel's Optimistic 1/32 F-4J Phantom II build

[DieselPower]

So, I've decided to enter this here GB as Tamiya kits are pretty baller.

I was going to build something manageable, like a 1/48 scale aircraft... Then I thought sod that and decided to bring out this monster.



That's right, the F-4 Phantom II! Go big or go home!

And now some sprue shots,










Now, I don't know how this will end up, but It'll be one hell of a kit when finished!

[Lysus]

Sweet! I don't think there can ever be enough Phantoms.

[Twokidsnosleep]

Watching this one
My build is of the "go home" variety.....little 1/72nd Phantom but we can be Phantom pals

[chief5437]

Sweet! I'm doing this kit for the phantom sig, so I'll be following along looking for hints and cheats!

Best of luck buddy, can't wait to see it

[DarksideHobbies]

Awesome choice!!

[ladip63]

Niiicceccce!! That is going to be huge. I'll be following this.

[DieselPower]

So I got cracking on the intakes today,



Went together without any fuss, I blended the two halves of each intake with putty and mr surfacer 500 and sanded the insides back with varying grits of sandpaper (320 to 1000 grit)

The engine intakes were also easy.



Then I primed the parts with badger primer, white for the intakes and black for the jet inlets.
I usually prime parts grey, but since the intakes on Navy Phantoms were white (or close to white) I decided to prime them white.



Then I glued the intakes in, took a bit of dry fitting to line the intakes up with the fuselage.

A little bit of progress, but a rather stress free start!

[Johnj]

Not long finished one of these, which reminds me i need to upload the finished pictures.
looking good though, nice tidy start i wish i had room for all five of them.

[Ads24]

What a kit! Come dangerously close to buying one on ebay several times! Look forward to seeing your progress.

[DieselPower]

Started the outer intakes,




Filled in the ejector marks with Mr Surfacer 500 and Humbrol filler



After those hand been sanded with varying grits of sandpaper, I primed the parts with grey Badger primer and sprayed thin layers of Tamiya XF-2.

I then gently sanded the paint smooth with 3000 grit sanding sponge.



Also fitted the fuel probe in the closed position, needed a bit of Mr Surfacer to fill in a gap.



And intakes fitted to the fuselage, they needed a bit of careful lining up to make sure the parts weren't wonky.

[DarksideHobbies]

Looking good so far! Love the Phantom. Right up there with the A-10.

[DieselPower]

Started the jet exhuasts and the tail.

The exhaust parts were primed black with Badger primer



Then I sprayed different Mr Hobby metallic colours to give a interesting metallic apperance to the engine/exhaust parts, even though it won't really be seen



Then I assembled the parts and secured them into the main fuselage.




Sorry if this post doesn't have much detail, really wasn't much to talk about.

[DieselPower]

A long overdue update, but this was a stage where I had to take my time.



I removed all the cockpit parts, cleaned them up and prepped them for priming and basecoating



I started by priming the parts with black badger primer and then basecoating with Mig Jiminez FS-26231, however as with most of my experiences with Mig/Ammo paints it decided to provide a orange peel effect despite how careful I was, So I decided to overspray it with Mr Hobby H306 which is a very close match to the correct US cockpit colour after WW2.

Then I picked out the switch panels with both Tamiya XF-1 and Mig Matt Black using a brush, alternating between the two to fill in the switch panels.
Now personally I wouldn't have used either if I could get away with it as Tamiya paints aren't really brush paints and Mig just seems to bleed into places it's not wanted. But I made it work.



I then drybrushed the black panels with the Mig FS-26231 to pick out the details, then used Citadel, Tamiya, Mig and Vallejo paints to pick out the buttons and switches. I had the greatest control with the Citadel paints so I'd stick with them for further detail work.

The co-pilots radar screen was painted first with Citadel Chainmail and then painted with Mig Crystal Green to give it a reflective look.



Completed paint work, now onto varnishing and washes.



I varnished the panels with Alclad aqua gloss and left it to dry for a few hours, then I used Tamiya black panel liner and Mig Blue Dirt panel liner to pick out the details. It was all sealed in with a few coats of Mig satin varnish.



I then followed the same process for the cockpit area on the fuselage as I did with the actual cockpit, painted using Tamiya XF-1 and Mr Hobby H306, details picked out with Citadel Skull White, Bad Moon Yellow and Blood Red. Then gloss varnished, washed with Tamiya black panel liner and Mig Blue Dirt panel liner and sealed with satin varnish.



Then I installed the pit by using the included screws.

[Spook]

Looking good pal,great cockpit detail.

[DieselPower]

Made a start on the wings. And this is where the Tamiya rep for near-flawless fit and finish kind of ends.



Got both wing components, fitted the wheelwells in and primed them white to save painting them later. Fairly straightforward.



Fitted the lower wing to the fuselage and then fitted the upper wings, this is where I needed to do some fiddling to get it right as the fit wasn't perfect.





The wheelwells had a considerable gap as the wing was flexing up, I tried securing this with Tamiya extra thin and clamping it but it just wouldn't stay put.

So I had to resort to using thin superglue, now while this did fix the wheelwell walls to the roof of the wing it's not a clean fix as some of the super glue built up between the wheelwalls and the roof. I might be able to camoflage it as dirt and grease buildup but I'll have to see how bad it is when I reprime it.



The top of the wings had gaps between the top wings themselves and the fuselage.

I tried different fillers but none of them worked as I needed them to, and being in a corner made cleanup very difficult.





So I cleared out the old fillers and went in with some Vallejo putty and it appears to give a very good fill (The nozzle helped massively)

I did try some black Milliput to fill the bigger gaps but it was quite tough and ended up breaking the superglue bonds in one of the wheelwells. (May need to use the white superfine Milliput next time)

[Les0012]

Looking awesome, am sure you will adapt and overcome the fit problems.

Watching this build expectantly

Les

[DieselPower]

Now we start fixing on the outer wings, tail and nosecone.

I start by affixing the nosecone and scoops on the front,



They took a bit of lining up to make sure they looked right. There's also a minor step between the nose and the body but it's not very proud so I'll just leave it unless it sticks out when the primer goes on.



Then there's this panel that you have to glue on, but it sits recessed in the slot and looks a bit naff.
Normally I'd stick some very thin plasticard in there but I wasn't sure if that would count as scratch building (A no-no in this build) so I didn't take this route. The only other alternatives that stuck to the rules of the GB would to use either putty (not ideal because the putties I have take an age to dry) or superglue.. needless to say superglue was a safe bet.

So I used thin superglue to build a step on either side of the slot and then inserted the panel and...



Now it's not perfect but it's passable.

Then I built up the tail, outer wings and flaps,



Went together like a charm, just needed to run a blade down the edges to get them level.

When fitting the tail, there's a significant gap between the tail and the fuselage. A bit of Vallejo putty and some cotton buds plugged that up nicely.



The outer wings need a bit of careful fitting to get them to line up, but it looks pretty decent when done right.

Also built up the landing gear, only thing that needed doing was a bit of sanding to mate the metal and plastic parts together but I'll probably need to do more work when the primer goes on.



And this is what it looks like now.

[DieselPower]

A brief update, I took a bit of a break from this build to try and make some progress on two other aviation builds I've got going (Airfix Spitfire MK.Vb and Skunkworks F-16XL)

But I've come back to this to build the drop tanks and ordnance (inc. pylons), I've also started prepping the various sub assemblies (arrestor hook, landing bay doors, etc)

Not much hassle, just had to sand and rescribe the drop tanks and the sparrow missles which itself wasn't a massive chore.

[DieselPower]

Decided to get the final interior details finished before buttoning this model up and getting it primed.



Got the seats and pilots built, the pilots needed to be built within the cockpit effectively to make sure the hands lined up.




Pilots were primed grey while the other parts were primed black.

Now at this point I'd planned to document my entire painting process with pictures, but I got so engrossed in it I completed forgot.
So all I have are some photos of dubious quality of the final product



The pilots completed, painted with Tamiya, Mr Hobby and Mig paints, sealed with Alclad aqua gloss, washed over with Tamiya black wash then finished off with Matt Varnish.




The other components were painted with Tamiya, Mr Hobby and Mig paints, sealed with Alclad aqua gloss, washed over with Tamiya black wash (where needed) then finished off with Matt Varnish.




The pilots and seats fitted into the pit with the other cockpit components fitted.

The canopy frames are there just for effect.

[Twokidsnosleep]

She is coming along nicely

[DieselPower]

Got the clear canopy parts masked and attached to the cockpit frames, bit of a challenge as the clear parts needed some 'convincing' to sit straight and flush on the frames.



And all the parts primed and gently sanded back with a Tamiya 3000 grit sanding sponge.

The majority was primed black, but parts that were going to be mainly white were primed grey (the white primer wasn't working and looked quite bad)



Now I don't have long to get this beast painted, varnished, decaled and varnished again (just under two weeks at time of writing) but with some pushing it can be done.