Fujitsu 1/72 Phantom F4K

[RangerNeil]

Moving on from the debacle of the Sea Harrier this is the next project - Fujimi's 1/72 British Phantom F4K:


First glance it looks good, virtually zero flash and no visible ejector pin marks. Time will tell as to build fit and quality.

Instructions








There are options for 4 different aircraft and 2 nose oleo heights. I'm planning on using the box titled "Yellow Eages" scheme with the high oleo that was a trademark of Phantoms on RN carriers.

Decals


Sprues

[RangerNeil]

First stage of the build - the cockpit. Everything went together well, no fuss. Only issue was the decal. They are so thick they do not want to conform to surfaces so multiple coats of Microsol had to be applied till finally they - more or less - conformed!






This was then added to one fuselage half and the two halves joined. As usual a few clamps were required....


Final state at close of play was fuselage joined, both air intakes completed and the wing assembled. Next job will be to place the wings in position and determine whether weights are needed in the nose or not before the nosewheel bay is added!!

[cor]

Nice start on a classic plane.

[digger303]

[RangerNeil]

More progress...... The wings are on, a good fit generally but on the initial fit there were some large gaps at the roots.








However I found pulling the wing tips up fractionally closed the gaps enough for TET to penetrate and hold.

Whilst the wings were setting I moved on to the underwing stores. I should mention here I absolutely hate white acrylic paint as I never get a good finish either with hairy stick or airbrush. Only aerosols/rattle cans.
Pair of drop tanks and gun pod.


Underwing missile racks


And I made a start on the engine exhausts.


By now the wings were firmly set so it was time to mask off the for painting the underside - also white.....




A closer look reveals the only two areas that have needed filler so far - the joins between the intakes and the wing assembly.

[RangerNeil]

First cost of white went on today - and then the aerosol can ran dry!!


So I moved on to the engine exhausts - these just need a bit of "dirtying up" with pigments once fully dried.


New can of gloss white due for delivery on Friday. So as of today this one is on hold. Which means moving onto Phantom #2!


This is the RAF version - and on opening the box I was surprised to find I've got a hybrid!!
Instructions #2








Decals


Sprues






And now the Hybrid part - these were also in the box!!






The relevance of these is this part:


Because of these:


We also have these:

[digger303]

That ladder looks really fragile and the cockpit PE will really stand out.

[RangerNeil]

I cocked-up the paint order - got gloss clear coat instead of gloss white... So that won't be here till the 30th now.
Fortunately I have the Hataka set for modern RAF aircraft so I carried on with build #2 and got the gloss coat on today ready for decalling.


Looking at the underside something was wrong - suddenly realized I hadn't opened the holes for the under wing stores. So I made templates from the RN one and used those to drill the holes. Lucky escape there!!!


Tomorrow the decals go on - if they are anything like the cockpit ones which stuck to everything BUT where they were meant to I'm not looking forwards to that.....

[cor]

Looks like a labour of love, especially with those large gaps on the intakes and wings.
Coming together thought. Good job.

[digger303]

Good save.

[RangerNeil]

RAF version underside decals all on and matt varnished.

[digger303]

[RangerNeil]

All decals are on the RAF version now. And what a nightmare they were, I couldn't see half of them without having to resort to the Swiss Army knife magnifying glass.
Decals themselves aren't wonderful - slightly out of register, thick carrier film that doesn't like comforming and, as you can see, shows!!! They were stickier on the visible surface than on the side thats supposed to stick to the wings.
Still - its done now, matt clearcoat is on and drying as I type. Just leaves the undercarriage to do and the weapons pylons.

[digger303]

Decals as you say a bit below par and expectations, but the cockpit stands out well.

[Stokesy44]

Such a shame when you've made the effort and still feel disappointed.

Have you considered touching up the decal edges with paint? For example on the roundels? I had a similar problem with the aftermarket decals I bought for a Sherman in 1/35. The carrier film stuck out like a sore thumb so I painted round the actual insignia edges.

Might be worth a punt?

[Kevthemodeller]

Decals can really make or break a build, you've saved this one

[RangerNeil]

Decals can really make or break a build, you've saved this one

Not sure about that - done my best with them but I'm not happy.

Such a shame when you've made the effort and still feel disappointed.

Have you considered touching up the decal edges with paint? For example on the roundels? I had a similar problem with the aftermarket decals I bought for a Sherman in 1/35. The carrier film stuck out like a sore thumb so I painted round the actual insignia edges.

Might be worth a punt?

Gave it a try - might be better. Trouble is the worst offenders are the myriad of tiny stencils which are almost - not quite impossible..... I think if I'd opted for one of the pale grey finishes the carrier film would not be so visible. Right now I'm sorely tempted to not bother with the stencils on the RN version....

Anyways - undercarriage, underwing stores and canopys are on the RAF version so I'm calling this one done.

[Stokesy44]

Nice. Good to see the RAF bird finished

[digger303]

[RangerNeil]

I gave the RN Phantom a coat of gloss clearcoat last night, when I checked this morning I noticed something odd. On both wings, in much the same place it looks like the paint has just soaked the varnish in!!


Before the gloss went on everything was a uniform matt Dark Grey colour. Although the affected areas look matt they feel as shiny as the adjacent areas.

The Dark Grey is Hataka blue line and the clearcoat is Humbrol Acrylic Gloss. My first thpugjt was "Its the Humbrol stuff being funny" - but them I remembered I'd had something similar on the Mig-21 engine case and that was an AK paint and an Army Painter Satin clear coat - so perhaps not Humbrol after all.

Anyone got any thoughts on what might be causing this please??

[Stokesy44]

How odd. I cant think of anything that would cause such a difference in 2 specific and similar areas.

I would have pointed the finger at the Humbrol product but as you say, its happened before with a different provider. Bizarre.

[RangerNeil]

How odd. I cant think of anything that would cause such a difference in 2 specific and similar areas.

I would have pointed the finger at the Humbrol product but as you say, its happened before with a different provider. Bizarre.

Its weird indeed!! Closer examination revealed patches on the fin as well. I think I'm going to have to lay another coat of extra dark sea grey and hope that cures it.
I'm wondering if it might be worth fitting a larger needle to the ar brush - say 0.5mm - see if that helps as I had flow issues with the 0.3.

[digger303]

That's weird

If it was the airbrush it doesn't explain the wing tips and if it was Humbrol ( which I hate and could easily blame ) then it should be all over or start good then run to being bad.
Did you do a second application at any point and perhaps mixed the thinners up by mistake ?
Really just grasping at straws I have no idea at all.

[RangerNeil]

That's weird

If it was the airbrush it doesn't explain the wing tips and if it was Humbrol ( which I hate and could easily blame ) then it should be all over or start good then run to being bad.
Did you do a second application at any point and perhaps mixed the thinners up by mistake ?
Really just grasping at straws I have no idea at all.

The beauty of the Hataka Blue line is they spray straight from the bottle - no thinners needed, unlike Tamiya to mention but one. So I am totally baffled by this - especially as it looked perfect before the gloss varnish went on...
Anyways - I gave the airbrush a comprehensive cleaning today, tested it - all OK - swapped the needle and nozzle over for the 0.5 one - and the bl@#dy trigger stopped working!! I've had it apart again - if I remove the trigger and press on the valve with a rod air flows. Put the trigger back in and press and all I get is a very slight hiss. So at that point in time I had 3 airbrushes in front of me - none working:
One that wouldn't turn the air off.
One that the air went on and off - but only spat dollops of paint out when the trigger was released.
0ne that wouldn't turn the air on.
After 3 hours of scrubbing and scrapping with airbrush cleaner and laquer thinners I finally had ONE working brush, one working if it was in the mood and one (the newest) that won't turn the air on......

Having got that mess out of the way I've given the Phantom another coat of Dark Sea Grey, let it dry and then another coat of gloss. Fingers crossed it drys OK!!

[digger303]

That's weird

If it was the airbrush it doesn't explain the wing tips and if it was Humbrol ( which I hate and could easily blame ) then it should be all over or start good then run to being bad.
Did you do a second application at any point and perhaps mixed the thinners up by mistake ?
Really just grasping at straws I have no idea at all.

The beauty of the Hataka Blue line is they spray straight from the bottle - no thinners needed, unlike Tamiya to mention but one. So I am totally baffled by this - especially as it looked perfect before the gloss varnish went on...
Anyways - I gave the airbrush a comprehensive cleaning today, tested it - all OK - swapped the needle and nozzle over for the 0.5 one - and the bl@#dy trigger stopped working!! I've had it apart again - if I remove the trigger and press on the valve with a rod air flows. Put the trigger back in and press and all I get is a very slight hiss. So at that point in time I had 3 airbrushes in front of me - none working:
One that wouldn't turn the air off.
One that the air went on and off - but only spat dollops of paint out when the trigger was released.
0ne that wouldn't turn the air on.
After 3 hours of scrubbing and scrapping with airbrush cleaner and laquer thinners I finally had ONE working brush, one working if it was in the mood and one (the newest) that won't turn the air on.....

Having got that mess out of the way I've given the Phantom another coat of Dark Sea Grey, let it dry and then another coat of gloss. Fingers crossed it drys OK!!

For the paint to get back into the area of the valve I would suspect new seals might be needed.
I had a H&S brush that caused problems similiar to that fairly regularly even after installing the upgraded seal set. I ended up moving it on.

[RangerNeil]

That's weird

If it was the airbrush it doesn't explain the wing tips and if it was Humbrol ( which I hate and could easily blame ) then it should be all over or start good then run to being bad.
Did you do a second application at any point and perhaps mixed the thinners up by mistake ?
Really just grasping at straws I have no idea at all.

The beauty of the Hataka Blue line is they spray straight from the bottle - no thinners needed, unlike Tamiya to mention but one. So I am totally baffled by this - especially as it looked perfect before the gloss varnish went on...
Anyways - I gave the airbrush a comprehensive cleaning today, tested it - all OK - swapped the needle and nozzle over for the 0.5 one - and the bl@#dy trigger stopped working!! I've had it apart again - if I remove the trigger and press on the valve with a rod air flows. Put the trigger back in and press and all I get is a very slight hiss. So at that point in time I had 3 airbrushes in front of me - none working:
One that wouldn't turn the air off.
One that the air went on and off - but only spat dollops of paint out when the trigger was released.
0ne that wouldn't turn the air on.
After 3 hours of scrubbing and scrapping with airbrush cleaner and laquer thinners I finally had ONE working brush, one working if it was in the mood and one (the newest) that won't turn the air on.....

Having got that mess out of the way I've given the Phantom another coat of Dark Sea Grey, let it dry and then another coat of gloss. Fingers crossed it drys OK!!

For the paint to get back into the area of the valve I would suspect new seals might be needed.
I had a H&S brush that caused problems similiar to that fairly regularly even after installing the upgraded seal set. I ended up moving it on.

Could be the seals on the older ones they are at least 6 years old now, maybe more.
Got the new brush stripped down - can't see anything untoward with the trigger. Thought about trying one from one of the other brushes - but the brass rod on them is a slightly larger diameter. Typical!!


Anyways - todays works cured the problem.

[digger303]

[RangerNeil]

Changed focus to get the R.N. Phantom finished. Decals are going on:






As with the RAF version the decals silvered as they dried - the stripe along the fuselage spine worst of all, so I tried Stokesys suggestion of over painting the silvered areas:




And the underside:




Next step is to apply a satin clear coat and then add the tail planes, under wing store and main wheels.
Both kits were a delight to build but the decals were a let down. Out of register, wouldn't stick and horribly thick. I'll happily build anothe Fujimi kit but next time I will go for aftermarket decals.

[RangerNeil]

OK - calling this one done now. Everything is on and went on nicely. Touching in the silvered areas where possible certainly seems to have paid off.

[digger303]

The top and under side look suitably busy in different ways to give a terrific result.

[Kevthemodeller]

Very nice