Global Scale Modeller

I dug deep into the stash to pull this one out, the ESCI 1/72 F4 Phantom. It's been many years since I have built anything with wings, but I am looking forward to joining the fun here and giving this a go!!











The engraved panel lines look nice, very fine for this old dog of a kit! Looks like there will be some areas that will need some good old flash clean-up.








The decal sheet looks excellent for its age. Great color registration. I had them stored in a zip-lock plastic bag since I purchased the kit many years ago.


The plan is to test out this weathering set. Got it at a going out of business sale (Pretty sure I would not have paid full price for what is essentially 3 bottles of wash). I was happy to get it at a discount from the sticker price, but very sad to see another hobby shop close its doors



The Oregon ANG at PANG converted from the F-101B Voodoo to the F-4C Phantom II fighter aircraft in 1980, and continued air defense alert operations. The 142nd Fighter Interceptor Group flew the F-4C Phantom II until 1989 when it then converted to the F-15A fighter aircraft.

Nice! Phantoms look bad ass!

I've got that panel line wash set, great stuff! Good luck with the build

Cool.. I've always liked those Old Esci kist.. they were my go to kits back in the day..

Here we go, the first build update.

Following the instructions, the cockpit construction was started first. I left out the seats for easier painting, as the instructions suggest that the seat framework be painted a different color than the cockpit "office". I pulled out some Model Master enamels from the paint stash, and airbrushed the cockpit, seats and fuselage interior. I could have just used the spray can for the light gray...but you just can't beat the nice even thin layer from the airbrush! I sprayed some of the light gray from the spray can into a paint jar, and then used the airbrush to spray the paint.



The kit decals were applied for the control panels, they needed lots of Micro Sol to get the edges to "form" around the corners, but otherwise no issues. The seats are really plain...so after a little research on the seats, I added some belts made from paper, and placed with diluted white glue. The actual belts are much more complicated than what I added, but these will do for this F4




The wheel well covers are molded as one part...to model the landing gear down requires some cutting. The razor saw worked perfect for this job




The wheel well parts ready for main assembly:




The top side of the wings have some awful sink marks due to the wheel well ribbing underneath. I debated just leaving it as is, as I was not confident I could fill the sink marks without totally messing up the panel lines, and not having a scriber and never rescribing before also worried me After many days pondering this dilemma, I decided the sink marks NEEDED to be filled, and thought maybe I could "paint" some thinned putty in the sink areas only, leaving most of the panel lines free of putty.



I masked the perimeter:


Mixed some green putty and Testors liquid cement to make a "paint-able" putty:


And carefully "painted" the putty into the sink areas, while trying to avoid filling any panel lines:




After a few days for the putty to completely cure, I pulled out some sandpaper, micro mesh clothes, and a foam block and proceeded to wet sand the putty.


I think it just might be O.K..... After sanding, I used a steel stick pin and pin vise to clean up a few of the panel lines that had some putty in them.





While I had the putty out, the ejector pin marks were filled in the sidewinders also:




That's all for now, Model On everyone!!!

It's been a rainy weekend...which means more time spent at the model bench

Glued the wings and fuel tanks, and once dried, the seams were puttied with thinned green putty.






With the wings glued, it was time for a dry fit with the fuselage. The canopy parts were also dry fit. I would say I'm pleasantly surprised by how well these parts seem to fit at this stage







The canopy parts were a bit dull and had a few small scratch marks. They went for a swim in Future! They were fully submerged in the Future, the excess Future was then removed by touching the lowest corner of the canopy on a paper towel, then the parts were placed in a covered container with paper towel on the bottom to cure.




They look much better now




That's all for now, Model On!!!

F4 Phantom update time!

The cockpit assembly is complete, with only one near FUBAR. The cockpit was detail painted in Testors enamels, then came time to lay down a clear gloss to seal the decals and prepare for the wash of oils. Feeling rather lazy at the time, I grabbed a spray can of Krylon Crystal Clear Acrylic instead of loading up the airbrush and....proceeded to coat the cockpit assembly....way too heavily The extra heavy coat of the Krylon attacked the light gray paint, causing wrinkles in the painted surfaces. Luckily, it only effected the light gray, and after some careful sanding, I managed to salvage the effected areas. Well, good enough anyway. The cockpit then received an oil paint wash with a mix of burnt umber and black thinned with Turpenoid, and lastly a coat of Testors Dullcote.


Some of the wrinkled paint effect can be seen on the back wall of the rear cockpit





Time to glue the fuselage. (I took my time here so as not to have another FUBAR moment). I started by gluing the tail section only, and once that was dry, worked my way around the fuselage by gluing small sections at a time, which allowed me to get the best possible fit at the seams.







With the fuselage glued, I used green putty thinned with Testors liquid cement to putty the seams. The putty was "painted" on using an old paint brush.








This being my first warbird in many years, I have purchased some new tools to help with this build.
This Flex-i-File is awesome...I don't know how I ever modeled without it. Get yourself one, you won't be disappointed.


I was watching Paul's tutorial videos, and this was highly recommended. I've tried it, and I think I did O.K. but I'll need much more practice before I'm comfortable using it. By the way Paul, thanks for the tutorials, they have come in real handy many times during this build.



A small rectangular access panel did not have the greatest fit. It needed some sanding work.


Tamiya surface primer was painted into the seams of the access panel, given about 5 minutes to dry, and then the excess surface primer was washed away using a cotton bud dampened with Testors enamel thinner.


And then after some work with Micro Mesh polishing clothes.



The fuselage and wings are glued, sanded and ready for the next stages The Flex-i-File worked wonderful here!











And finally, the air intakes had the interior painted gloss white, and a few sink marks filled.


Thanks for stopping by, Model On everyone

Excellent build thread!!
Great progress and some really nice craftsmanship going on, I like this!

This is really fun to watch. I wouldn't know that you're shaking off the rust

patrickroos wrote:Excellent build thread!!
Great progress and some really nice craftsmanship going on, I like this!

Danta2er wrote:This is really fun to watch. I wouldn't know that you're shaking off the rust

Thank you very much Gents I've built a fair amount of armor recently, just nothing with wings That said though, I am enjoying this build, and I'm very anxious to see how this Phantom turns out!

F4 Phantom update time!

The drop tanks are sanded and ready for paint:




The rear ducts were given a basecoat of Testors flat black, then a light airbrushed coat of Model Master Jet Exhaust.






The wheels were airbrushed Testors gloss white. Then, it was time to test out some Tamiya Retarder for the first time. In short, the retarder really works!! It's been well documented that brush painting with Tamiya acrylics can be a real challenge. Using the retarder really extended the drying time, I actually added too much retarder, and the paint took TOO long to dry. Hint: Only a few drops of the retarder are needed! The tires were a real PITA to paint being so small, but they look O.K. I guess, and I'm glad this task is done. (Its been confirmed, brush painting tires is NOT my favorite part of model building!!! )


The paint job on the tires looks better in the pic than the actual I think. I had a number of slips of the brush where I got the black paint in the white wheel area, and I cleaned these goofs up as best I could with some isopropyl alcohol.
A drop or two of buff was added to the flat black for the tire color.




Gluing the air intakes in place revealed some rather large gaps that needed filler. Out came the green putty again, (thinned with the Testors liquid cement).


Oh Boy, Not Pretty!






Thats better!!! The wing root also received a heavy coat of Tamiya surface primer over the sanded putty.




The small antenna broke right away.... no surprise here as I noticed this would be a very weak part upon first inspection. It was replaced with a small brass rod and a carefully drilled hole.




The major construction is complete, except for the canopy. I'm thinking I'll mask the canopy parts, then glue the canopy parts in place, then it will be time to paint this bird. Does that assembly order make sense??? This canopy task really scares me










I'm liking the looks of the sidewinders. The fins might get some detail painting added if I feel ambitious, I think I'll see how I do with the canopy first.






Thanks for stopping by, Model On everyone!

Just like in the monster truck judges you'll get the Wow mention!

congrats!

Love the missiles

Goose

Goose wrote:Just like in the monster truck judges you'll get the Wow mention!

congrats!

Love the missiles

Goose

Thank you Goose I'm looking forward to the painting stages next!

Beautiful work man, how did u do the missles?
I will have to pick this kit up.

Canopies aren't that hard, just use a new blade in ur knife and some good masking tape. I recommend the tamiya stuff and Frog Tape (a home painting tape that works great). Also, u could watch Paul's video tutorial on it. Just be careful and ur goo

Cheers m8, good luck.

Looking good so far mate.im a huge rhino fan so will be keeping an eye on this.the kit seem to go together quite well.keep it coming

mperegrinefalcon wrote:Beautiful work man, how did u do the missles?
I will have to pick this kit up.

Canopies aren't that hard, just use a new blade in ur knife and some good masking tape. I recommend the tamiya stuff and Frog Tape (a home painting tape that works great). Also, u could watch Paul's video tutorial on it. Just be careful and ur goo

Cheers m8, good luck.

All the colors on the Sidewinders were airbrushed with Model Master enamels. The gloss white was first. I thinned the white fairly heavily with Testors airbrush thinner to reduce the risk of orange peel and sprayed multiple coats, probably around 5 for the white to get good coverage. I used Tamiya masking tape to mask the missiles for the stripes. I used a few reference photos for placing the masking tape. Again the yellow, red, and black paints were heavily thinned, probably around 50/50, and sprayed 2 or 3 very thin coats of paint. (It doesn't take much paint to get good color coverage painting over the white). I went very thin with the paint to help minimize paint separation lines at the masking tape edges. Once one color was painted, that was protected with more tape along with any other needed areas, and the next color applied.

I placed 3 initial pieces of tape for the stripes. These 3 pieces of tape stayed in place until all the colors were done. I just had to mask the other open sections depending on what color was to be painted.


Thank you, and thanks for the tips and encouragement too,

Spook wrote:Looking good so far mate.im a huge rhino fan so will be keeping an eye on this.the kit seem to go together quite well.keep it coming

Thanks Spook, hopefully she'll turn out nice, I'll do my best to make the Phantom fans proud!

OliveDrab wrote:

mperegrinefalcon wrote:Beautiful work man, how did u do the missles?
I will have to pick this kit up.

Canopies aren't that hard, just use a new blade in ur knife and some good masking tape. I recommend the tamiya stuff and Frog Tape (a home painting tape that works great). Also, u could watch Paul's video tutorial on it. Just be careful and ur goo

Cheers m8, good luck.

All the colors on the Sidewinders were airbrushed with Model Master enamels. The gloss white was first. I thinned the white fairly heavily with Testors airbrush thinner to reduce the risk of orange peel and sprayed multiple coats, probably around 5 for the white to get good coverage. I used Tamiya masking tape to mask the missiles for the stripes. I used a few reference photos for placing the masking tape. Again the yellow, red, and black paints were heavily thinned, probably around 50/50, and sprayed 2 or 3 very thin coats of paint. (It doesn't take much paint to get good color coverage painting over the white). I went very thin with the paint to help minimize paint separation lines at the masking tape edges. Once one color was painted, that was protected with more tape along with any other needed areas, and the next color applied.

I placed 3 initial pieces of tape for the stripes. These 3 pieces of tape stayed in place until all the colors were done. I just had to mask the other open sections depending on what color was to be painted.


Thank you, and thanks for the tips and encouragement too,

Ok, thanks. Could you explaint "orange peel" I'm not sure I know what that is. Thanks for telling me how to do the missles, for some reason I always have trouble with them.
Thanks for your time mate, cheers

mperegrinefalcon wrote:
Ok, thanks. Could you explaint "orange peel" I'm not sure I know what that is. Thanks for telling me how to do the missles, for some reason I always have trouble with them.
Thanks for your time mate, cheers

"Orange peel" is when the paint dries with a rough surface texture similar to that of an orange peel. Not something us modelers are very fond of . It can occur if the paint dries too fast (not enough time for the paint to level out evenly). Other factors that can contribute to the "orange peel" effect are the paint being sprayed is too thick, or sprayed too heavily. Ambient temperature will also have an effect. If you are having an issue with "orange peel", a good way to reduce this effect is to slow the drying time of the paint (add more thinner or even some retarder), and spray in multiple thin coats. Give each coat a minute or two to level out before adding the next coat, and gradually build up your color.

Hope this helps some and let me know if you have any other questions.
Good luck with the Shooting Star also

ok, cool thanks. I actually have that problem with my 1/32 trumpeter BF109-E-7 im finishing up. (I'm newer to the scale modeling world, only been doing it for about a year) and have only built about 5 models, but that was my third time using an airbrush on a model (first on a Revell 1/72 corsair, and the second on a shockingly bad 1/48 f18 from revell again. they both turned out ok) . I love it. got myself a Harder and Steenbeck evolution, but a cheepo, no-brand $50 compressor that crapped out on me mid spray session. Wont turn on verry often, and when it does, it gets up to the pressure I spray at (around 15-20 PSI) and wont turn on again. have about 100Hrs use time. This is the worst because im 15 years old, cant get a job, and therefore have very little money. i got the HS evo for my B-day. I'm selling all my legos to be able to get a new one. my own fault i guess, i paid for what i got.

sorry, got a tad bit carried away there,
thanks for your time

mperegrinefalcon wrote:ok, cool thanks. I actually have that problem with my 1/32 trumpeter BF109-E-7 im finishing up. (I'm newer to the scale modeling world, only been doing it for about a year) and have only built about 5 models, but that was my third time using an airbrush on a model (first on a Revell 1/72 corsair, and the second on a shockingly bad 1/48 f18 from revell again. they both turned out ok) . I love it. got myself a Harder and Steenbeck evolution, but a cheepo, no-brand $50 compressor that crapped out on me mid spray session. Wont turn on verry often, and when it does, it gets up to the pressure I spray at (around 15-20 PSI) and wont turn on again. have about 100Hrs use time. This is the worst because im 15 years old, cant get a job, and therefore have very little money. i got the HS evo for my B-day. I'm selling all my legos to be able to get a new one. my own fault i guess, i paid for what i got.

sorry, got a tad bit carried away there,
thanks for your time

Your way ahead of the game, that's an awesome airbrush for anyone, and your only 15. (I was using spray cans and brushes until I purchased my first airbrush in my late twenties.) Anyway, it will take some time to "collect" your array of tools for model building. Just have fun in the meantime with what you have and can afford. By the way, I forgot to mention earlier that holding the airbrush too far away from the model while painting can also cause "orange peel". (The paint starts to dry before it hits the surface of the model.)

ok, thanks. what is an apropiate distance from the model? to hold the airbrush that is.

mperegrinefalcon wrote:ok, thanks. what is an apropiate distance from the model? to hold the airbrush that is.

This will all depend on several factors, your type of paint (dry time), air pressure, and needle size of your airbrush to name a few. For me, its approximately 1/2" to a max of 1" for general basecoats using a Paasche H. For fine work and detail, you'll need to move in closer.

wow, ok ya that explains why im getting orange peel. im spraying 4-5 inches from the model with a 0.2 mm needle derp.
thanks for the help mate

mperegrinefalcon wrote:wow, ok ya that explains why im getting orange peel. im spraying 4-5 inches from the model with a 0.2 mm needle derp.
thanks for the help mate

I took a closer look and for broad areas, I'm probably more like 2" from the model. Then for tight spots I'd move in closer, being careful to always keep the airbrush moving and painting in short bursts, so I don't apply too much paint. Multiple thin coats are usually better than one heavy coat. You'll have to experiment some with your paints and airbrush to find what works best for you.

Time for some paint!

The first step was to paint the wheel wells and landing gear. The first coat was flat white for a "primer", and given a day to dry. Then a few light coats of gloss white was airbrushed over the flat white. All paints used were some Testors enamels that I've had sitting around for ages!





With the wheel wells painted, it was time to mask for the first of the base colors. The nose, wing tips and tail will be Gull Gray. The cockpit was masked using Tamiya masking tape, and some foam was cut and fit inside the air intakes along with some more Tamiya masking tape.






It was difficult to seal the tape over the cockpit, and many pieces started to lift, so I applied some liquid mask over the trouble spots.


More tape, more foam, and more liquid mask for the front wheel well.






The Model Master Gull Gray was then airbrushed on the nose, wing tips and tail. I used more of my old stock of paint here, and there were a few areas with some small specs of 'dirt' in the paint. I'm not sure if it was a dirty airbrush or just the paint being old (I suspect the paint). Anyway, the 'dirt' will just have to pass for paint chips, or maybe bird droppings???




The 'dirt' specs are very small and are not visible in these pics, which is why I decided to leave them rather than repaint.




Next up, masking the canopy parts. I don't remember where I heard about using Bare Metal Foil for masking, but I had tried it once before with good results, so why not try it again.




The foil is very thin, and tears easily, but after a few practice pieces, the foil was actually pretty easy to apply. I started in the center of the canopy, and gently burnished the foil in place using a Q-tip at first. Once the canopy was completely covered with the foil, then my finger nail (or a toothpick) worked well to really seat the foil around the canopy frame outlines. Then the foil was cut along the canopy frame outlines using a new X-acto blade.



The canopy was glued using Testors clear parts cement, then it was more masking, and even more masking. I think I've been masking for the last week
More Tamiya masking tape, and I'm trying 'white-tac' for the first time. The masking is finally done, now where's that paint!












That's all for now, time for some sleep!

Looking great mate.

Great masking job!

I have heard about the bare metal foil, but never seen it been used... seems very nifty indeed!

Nige201980 wrote:Looking great mate.

TommyKillander wrote:Great masking job!

I have heard about the bare metal foil, but never seen it been used... seems very nifty indeed!

Thank you guys, Model On!

The basecoat is now on!


Model Master Gunship Gray enamel was airbrushed next.












The masking was removed with great anticipation to reveal the completed basecoat. I could have done a better job keeping the airbrush at a consistent angle to the white-tac when painting the separation lines . In some areas of the separation lines, there is a bit of 'fuzziness' from some over-spray, but overall this will do for this F4.











I'm going to let the paint cure for a few days, then I'm planning on applying a filter or two. I want to vary the tones a bit, and give the panels a subtle faded look.
Thanks for viewing!

Looking good.not seen foil used as a mask before.how does it compare to tape?

Spook wrote:Looking good.not seen foil used as a mask before.how does it compare to tape?

Thanks Spook. The foil is very thin, much thinner than Tamiya masking tape. After a few practice pieces, it was actually fairly easy to apply to the canopy parts. With the foil being so thin, it has a few advantages. 1. It is very easy to see the canopy framework under the foil. 2. A new X-acto blade can be run along the canopy framework outlines to cut the foil. It does not take much pressure on the blade to cut the foil. I'll have to wait a bit to find out how well it worked (or not), as I have filters, gloss coat, decals, gloss over decals, panel wash and final dullcoat to do before the foil is removed.

Very nice work!!!


-Nolan

Great work mate

HistoryRider wrote:Very nice work!!!


-Nolan

Nige201980 wrote:Great work mate

Thank you gents, very much appreciated

This update starts with a confession...Building airplanes is MUCH more difficult than I had originally thought!!! My first impression upon opening the box for this F4 and seeing 'just a few sprues' as compared to some of the armor kits out there, my thought was, this should be a relatively easy build and finished fairly quickly. Boy was I WRONG! I have gained much respect and appreciation for the airplane guys during this build so far!!!

Anyway, I am enjoying this build and really liking the looks of the F4, even-though I keep messing up here and there with the build.

I applied a subtle oil filter to give some panel color variation. The filter was made by mixing some black, blue, and white oil paints thinned with turpenoid.



I did say subtle right? The filter is not very noticeable, especially in the pics, but I like the effect at this stage.
(Srcew up No. 1 at this stage. During the filter application, I somehow forgot which areas had the filter previously applied, and managed to get my grubby fingers in it, which of course left finger prints that went through the base coat and down to bare plastic These were on the bottom of the fuselage, the only fix was to sand the finger prints out, and re-spray some paint.)







After fixing the finger print mess, a coat of Model Master clear gloss acryl was airbrushed in preparation for the decals.



Next, the decals were applied. The decals went on well for the most part using Micro Set and Sol. It took many applications of Micro Sol, but the decals finally nestled into panel lines very nicely.
(Screw up No. 2 - after the national insignia on the right side fuselage was placed and set with Micro Sol, I noticed it wasn't exactly on straight. So I attempted to re-position the decal, and nearly destroyed the decal because it was so soft from the multiple applications of Micro Sol. After I began breathing again , I managed to salvage the decal. It has a few small pieces missing and has a slight curve to some edges, Oh well. I had a similar issue with the yellow tail stripe decal on the right side too. Just plain dumb user error on my part in both cases )







With the decals complete, another coat of Model Master clear gloss acryl was applied to seal the decals.
(Then came screw up No. 3 - a chalky white haze appeared in some areas, mainly along the wing roots. I think I sprayed too heavy a coat Most of the past few days have been attempting to fix the "haze" issue. A new coat of clear over the haze did not work. So, some of the haze was scraped off with a hobby knife and some also sanded with Micro Mesh clothe. Some came off with a cotton bud whetted with Windex. The stuff is very stubborn!)


What seemed to work O.K. to hide the haze was a panel line wash of Deep Gray (Ammo by mig), followed by a coat of Testors dullcote. The trailing edge of the wing root received this treatment in the pic below.


As I said earlier, even with my multiple screw ups I really am digging the looks of this bird! Thanks for stopping by, and happy modelling!

More masking, this time for the natural metal finish on the tail section. The plan was to use a few different shades of Model Master Metalizer paints for the varied panel look so often seen on natural metal finishes. Another first for me here, so we'll see what happens.

I ended up using 4 different masking materials depending what details needed masking. Where I needed to mask a curved surface, I used 3M fine line masking tape. To mask the paint lines on the stabilizers, I used Bare Metal Foil. All other areas were masked with Tamiya masking tape and paper.





The first color sprayed was Model Master Stainless Steel on the upper tail sections. A quick test revealed that any tape applied over the Stainless Steel Metalizer lifted some of the paint, great now what? I guess I'll give the wet newspaper mask a try. I was skeptical at first if it would work, but after applying a few pieces it actually showed some promise of success.


The wet newspaper mask is applied, next up was some Model Master Magnesium Metalizer.



The Metalizer complete, turned out good





Bring on the panel line washes! I've been anxious to try these out, so here goes. (I practiced on a scrap model first. )



A small pointed brush was used to apply the washes. The Deep Grey was applied to all dark gray surfaces, and in random spots on the light gray and natural metal surfaces. The Medium Grey was applied over all the light gray surfaces, and the Blue/Black was applied in some random spots over the natural metal.


Looks awful here :



The washes blended very easily with a large flat brush whetted with Turpenoid. Very little Turpenoid should be used, too much Turpenoid will completely remove the wash. I think I may have whetted the brush about 4 times for the whole model.
Overall, the washes were simply to use and I'm pretty happy with the results. As a bonus, the white haze issue from the last clear coat disappeared under the wash








Thats all for now, Model On

Looks Great !! ...never had of the "Wet Newspaper Mask".. Panel lines look excellent

Clean and crisp, fantastic 1/72 build!

Looking good

rwsmith14 wrote:Looks Great !! ...never had of the "Wet Newspaper Mask".. Panel lines look excellent

patrickroos wrote:Clean and crisp, fantastic 1/72 build!

Nige201980 wrote:Looking good

Thank you Gents, much appreciated.

A little more detail painting on the Sidewinders, this time the tail fins to match the reference I used. Model Master Magnesium Metalizer was used for the painting.






With all the painting complete, the last parts could finally be assembled The landing gear, drop tanks, missiles, rear stabilizers, and rear exhaust parts were glued with superglue. Its not my favorite to glue parts after painting as its too easy to mess up and end up with glue globs over the painted surfaces. (I left these parts loose so masking and painting would be easier). I did end up with a some glue globs on a few parts , and had to do a little touch up, mostly with some dullcote over the glue to hide some of it.

After all parts were assembled, the white landing gear bays/wheels/tires were given a panel line wash with Deep Brown (AMMO by mig).








And lastly, the Bare Metal Foil canopy mask was removed very nervously.....It would really ruin the day if there were problems here!!!
The results are in! The foil gives you great paint separation lines with no paint bleed through, however it was difficult to remove. It would tear easily, and had to be removed in many small pieces. It also left some adhesive residue on the canopy, which most cleaned up well with some Windex. Overall the foil gives great results ...but its not perfect due to the removal and adhesive residue issues.


SHE's DONE
This has been my most difficult build this year, building airplanes is no easy task! Kudos to all the airplane builders out there
I tried some new techniques and paints (wet paper mask, AMMO by mig panel line washes, panel line engraver to name a few) and made many mistakes along the way...but...This was FUN!!!, well most of the time anyway

Here's a few shots of the completed F4 Phantom:

(you'll have to view the reveal pics to see the topside )






Click here for the final review pics:
http://www.intscalemodeller.com/viewtop ... 90&t=13907

OD.. looks great !!