1/48 F4 Phantom - Black Bunny - Hasegawa High Grade kit

[cor]

Hi all

This is a nice looking kit as it has a lot of detail up parts included.

Nice PE fret with a lot of cockpit detail.
Metal cockpit detail parts
Metal landing gear and rubber tyres.
Cables for cockpit detail

I purchased some resin seats and aftermarket decal sheet.

So far Ive started scribing panel lines, and im not too good at this but thats what putty is for I guess.
Being all black they wont be easily seen, so thats good...

Id like it to look good, but its also kind of a test for the 1/32 Tomcat Black Bunny that is next in line to build.
I especially want to work out how to make the all black paint scheme look more 3D and not toy-like.


Heres some pics

[digger303]

Pretty sweet metal detail parts. I don't think I've seen any better , but then again I don't dabble in those things so what do I know.

[cor]

Pretty sweet metal detail parts. I don't think I've seen any better , but then again I don't dabble in those things so what do I know.

You're right though, they are very detailed metal parts. Its a nice little kit.


Ive been scribing the panel lines, filling them with putty, spraying, and now filling the deeper ones with Mr Surfacer primer. It's coming along very slowly. I want the effect to be very subtle.

[Twokidsnosleep]

The kit looks awesome
A favourite Phantom…must not click buy must not click

[cor]

Got the plane stuck together and painted black. Well black, with a touch of white, and a decent amount of clear blue for good measure.

Working on getting the panel lines to look more subdued. They catch the light off the gloss black and stand out too much. I'll add some matt black in them once the final clear is on over the decals. I added the rivets after looking at the box art of Tamiya's version of this kit, which Im glad I did as it needs more detail on the plastic to match all the photo etch goodies Hasegawa included in the kit for the cockpit.

[cor]

The kit looks awesome
A favourite Phantom…must not click buy must not click

It certainly is a nice looking plane and a great kit. The 1/32 tomcat next in line on my bench with the same scheme will also be something to behold.

[digger303]

Painting the cockpit control panels works well, good steady hand

[Stokesy44]

Wow, that paint job looks stunning. The scribing work is absolutely top notch

Cockpit looks sweet too. Can't wait to see the bang seats going in as well.

[Stokesy44]

It certainly is a nice looking plane and a great kit. The 1/32 tomcat next in line on my bench with the same scheme will also be something to behold.

A 1/32 Tomcat????

Holy Smokes, pop corn ordered!

Every now and then I get an itch for Tamiya's 1/32 F15E Strike Eagle but I ride it out until the fever subsides. I remember when the kit came out, there used to be a model shop 10 minutes walk from my office and I used to go and stare at it after work, trying to convince myself I could get it home on the train!

[cor]

Painting the cockpit control panels works well, good steady hand

Wow, that paint job looks stunning. The scribing work is absolutely top notch

Cockpit looks sweet too. Can't wait to see the bang seats going in as well.

Thanks guys. Looks worse in real life tho...

A 1/32 Tomcat????

Holy Smokes, pop corn ordered!

Every now and then I get an itch for Tamiya's 1/32 F15E Strike Eagle but I ride it out until the fever subsides. I remember when the kit came out, there used to be a model shop 10 minutes walk from my office and I used to go and stare at it after work, trying to convince myself I could get it home on the train!

a model shop 10 mins from the office - sounds dangerous.
I built the 1/32 F15C version. Its a big model. and it gives me a bit of experience to work on another big jet. This kit is the practice run...



So heres what Ive done. Blue accents for the highlight, red for the shadows. And bits of shading of various greys thrown in for good measure.
It may look like I know what Im doing, but rest assured, I do not.

[Twokidsnosleep]

This is gonna be good

[bfrd]

I love the VX-4 squadron aircraft! Great work!

[Kevthemodeller]

Oh yes just love an F4 I'm sitting very comfortably

[Stokesy44]

Looks awesome.

I love the US Military. At some point some General realised, hey we dont have to use camo on our aircraft anymore. Rader renders it useless. Now we can have some fun!!

Sadly you wouldn't get away with it now. The wokesters would have you cancelled if you put a Playboy sign on an F35

[cor]

Looks awesome.

I love the US Military. At some point some General realised, hey we dont have to use camo on our aircraft anymore. Rader renders it useless. Now we can have some fun!!

Sadly you wouldn't get away with it now. The wokesters would have you cancelled if you put a Playboy sign on an F35

The good ol days. Dont forget the centerfolds on the nose art of ww2 planes.

Oh yes just love an F4 I'm sitting very comfortably

Yes, this is my first, wont be my last

I love the VX-4 squadron aircraft! Great work!

Thanks. This scheme is a work of art.

This is gonna be good

you gotta get one





So I decided to drop it about a meter onto concrete, otherwise its just not modelling is it..
The nose split in half and has been a slow headache.








Other bits done are the landing gear parts - with lots of metal parts for the struts, and some decals for the doors.

They tyres are supposed to be rubber, but there was a large oil discharge when I got the old kit, and the tyres are rock hard.
I had to cut them to put them onto the hubs, then fill the gaps. still lots of work to do. I considered using the plastic hubs and tyres, but the metal hubs are much better, and even the tyres in this condition are better then the plastic ones













And its very slowly coming together









Im using decals from uprise-decal.
Its a film free technology - you put the decal on like normal, then peel the film off after a few hours to leave the decal with no carrier film. Im very impressed with the result.

[Stokesy44]

Superb work.

Man alive that's a lot of decals right there!

[digger303]

Superb work.

Man alive that's a lot of decals right there!

Might be more than one nights work

[DRUMS01]

Love the aircraft, sorry to hear about the concrete fiasco, but it appears you have a fix. I've had a similar issue with dry rot tires that required CA cement and putty (on an old model car kit). I think the look of all the stencils in white is really cool!

Keep up the great work....

[cor]

Superb work.

Man alive that's a lot of decals right there!

Superb work.

Man alive that's a lot of decals right there!

Might be more than one nights work

A lot yes. A few days work but it looking good. some of the decals were grouped in 5 or more stencils, so not really as bad as it looks, but still very time consuming and patience testing...
They will be toned down a bit with thin black because they jump out a bit too much being bright white

Love the aircraft, sorry to hear about the concrete fiasco, but it appears you have a fix. I've had a similar issue with dry rot tires that required CA cement and putty (on an old model car kit). I think the look of all the stencils in white is really cool!

Keep up the great work....

Yes its all fixed up now luckily. The tyres came up well, same as you with ca and putty.

Heres some more pics of all decals on.

[Stokesy44]

Looking good. I see your point about needing to tone the decals down a bit.

[digger303]

Does kinda look like it's been hit with shrapnel, but how are you going to do that without effecting the base paint and changing that nice black.

[cor]

Does kinda look like it's been hit with shrapnel, but how are you going to do that without effecting the base paint and changing that nice black.

I have the original mix of the black and blue base coat in a jar, so I'll use that, very thin, and do a very soft fine spray over the white bits I want to tone done - all the warning signs at least. I've already put a clear layer over the decals, so I should be able to polish the black off it it gets too heavy.

[cor]

Ive had a vew snags with this, but as its primarily a test for the 1/32 F14 with the same scheme, I'll just have to let it go and keep plodding on. It wont be perfect but it will still look good.

The issue has been with the decals I've been using from uprise decals. Some colors and writing need a white background - which is a separate totally white decal - applied first, to see the writing and make the color bright for the second decal over the top of the white one. Whist this is ok, and the applied 2 decals look great, when it comes to sanding back the clear coat, these decals are twice the height of the rest of the decals. Which means Ive sanded through some and removed part of the top decal.

This is mostly in the red triangle Jet Intake markings front of the engines. I has some replacements from the original stickers for the kit, but these were so crumbly that I only just managed to save the Jet Intake writing and transplanted this onto the remains of the sanded down area, then pained the rest red over the already damaged decal ... the result is below. Not sooo bad, but not perfect like it was when they first when on. Such is Life.

Im frankly amazed they look ok in the pics, as its been a real painful blemish on this nice looking jet. Im calling it a weathered look.

And I've put together 2 pages of notes on how to assemble and paint and decal the big bunny so I avoid these mistakes on that one.










A taste of what's to come

[Stokesy44]

It still looks very good and the comparison to the big F14 is hilarious.

Can I ask a question? Why do you sand back the clear coat? Its not something I have seen before.

[cor]

It still looks very good and the comparison to the big F14 is hilarious.

Can I ask a question? Why do you sand back the clear coat? Its not something I have seen before.

It was becasue I like to get the top coat smooth, and where the decals are there is always a bit of an indentation around the decal - excessively so with the double layer decal on this plane. So I sand back, then spray another coat, and continue doing this until it looks smooth around the decals like they are painted on. And another reason is the final coat of the clear is just way too shiny, so after sanding I polish with tamiya red compound to give it a lesser shine.

I thought that was normal proceedure...

[Stokesy44]

It still looks very good and the comparison to the big F14 is hilarious.

Can I ask a question? Why do you sand back the clear coat? Its not something I have seen before.

It was becasue I like to get the top coat smooth, and where the decals are there is always a bit of an indentation around the decal - excessively so with the double layer decal on this plane. So I sand back, then spray another coat, and continue doing this until it looks smooth around the decals like they are painted on. And another reason is the final coat of the clear is just way too shiny, so after sanding I polish with tamiya red compound to give it a lesser shine.

I thought that was normal procedure...

Thanks Cor.

I have no idea about the normality of the process. I am not well read when it comes to researching clear coating modern jets. I asked the question out of curiosity, thanks for the detailed response.

[cor]

It still looks very good and the comparison to the big F14 is hilarious.

Can I ask a question? Why do you sand back the clear coat? Its not something I have seen before.

It was becasue I like to get the top coat smooth, and where the decals are there is always a bit of an indentation around the decal - excessively so with the double layer decal on this plane. So I sand back, then spray another coat, and continue doing this until it looks smooth around the decals like they are painted on. And another reason is the final coat of the clear is just way too shiny, so after sanding I polish with tamiya red compound to give it a lesser shine.

I thought that was normal procedure...

Thanks Cor.

I have no idea about the normality of the process. I am not well read when it comes to researching clear coating modern jets. I asked the question out of curiosity, thanks for the detailed response.

No prob man. You just had me wondering if I was doing something wrong, especially as i wrecked some decals. I usually do this process over any surface on any model but perhaps theres a better way to get things smooth. I dont know. Glad I could answer your question tho.

[cor]

This is after a polish with Tamiya red polishing creme. Shiny but not too glossy.
I've since this pic also filled the panel lines with a matt black wash to hide the white creme dried in the lines.
Am working on the pe for the cockpit now.

[digger303]

Marvellous work.

[cor]

Marvellous work.

thanks digger, its getting there, quite a lot of work on the black paint


cockpit detail started

[digger303]

[Twokidsnosleep]

I agree

[Stokesy44]

So do I

I can't wait to see those lovely bang seats come to life. They look stunning just in their unpainted state already.

[cor]

So do I

I can't wait to see those lovely bang seats come to life. They look stunning just in their unpainted state already.

almost complete

[DRUMS01]

Certainly looking the part for what we can see.

Nice cockpit work!

[cor]

Certainly looking the part for what we can see.

Nice cockpit work!

Thanks. Hasegawa went to town with the detail up parts for this special kit.

Wheels and fuel tanks on.

[Stokesy44]

Beautiful work, seats look great and she looks superb with the undercarriage and tanks going on.

[digger303]

Very nice, great work and very detailed neat paint.

[cor]

So do I

I can't wait to see those lovely bang seats come to life. They look stunning just in their unpainted state already.

I agree

Certainly looking the part for what we can see.

Nice cockpit work!

I love these Hasegawa high grade kits.

Check out the effort they put into the canopies

[cor]

Pretty much done. Needs a bit of a small detail n touch up.
This was a deceptively hard kit to build, above my skill level, but I've learnt a lot about patience and construction order - doing important detail too far into completion where I've damaged what's already done

[digger303]

Terrific work.

[cor]

Terrific work.

Thanks Digger

Thanks to everyone who dropped by and gave me encouragement. This was a hard build but came up pretty nice.

Heres a few pics of the finished build - all pics are located here

[Stokesy44]

Great job. Really well doe.