Chiefs tamiya 1/32 F-4j Tiger Sqn

[chief5437]

Hi guys

After finishing my fg1, I've decided to do this.



I was planning on getting some seamless intakes for this, but I quite liked the look of the FOD guards I made for the fg1. So I'll save myself some pennies and do the same for this kit.

Got some extras too! Resin exhausts and wheels, and decals for 74 (tiger) Sqn, the RAF Sqn that flew the f-4j. I've got a PE set for this somewhere too, hopefully in one of my drawers somewhere, lol!



After the Falklands war, some British phantoms were sent from UK bases to the Falklands for air defence. This left a gap in the uk defences, so 15 ex US Navy f-4j's were bought to fill the gap until Tornado was ready.

Looking forward to this, not sure where I'll put it when it's done though, lol!

[NorthernModeller]

its a beautiful aircraft, best of luck with the build

[chief5437]

Thought I'd better do an update on this before I forget!

Got the cockpit done, well, most of it. There's more to add but not till later.



I added wiring to the back of the ip and back of the cockpit.



You can see here why I wanted the seamless intakes! I'm going to settle for FOD guards instead.



I decided to paint the metal parts first, then mask them off for painting the rest. Ak xtreme metals were used here.




I also tested out the paint I'm mixing for the main colour. Without opening a can of worms! The f-4j's Britain bought, were painted in the US, using the closest match they had to British colours. There's conflicting stories, one says they were primed in yellow, then sprayed grey, which left a strange duck egg blue effect. Others say they were just sprayed in a strange colour initially. Either way, there's nothing concrete as shown by these pics.




There's lots more pics of different tones out there, and some, but not all, were eventually painted in proper RAF colours later.

Here's my rendition



Just hope I remember the ratio later!

The angle of the outer wings looks way too steep to me? So I dropped them a bit, which left a gap on the upper surface. This was filled with Vallejo filler.



Started work on the u/c legs.



And few bits primed as well.





That's it for now, really enjoying it so far! Thanks for looking guys

[chief5437]

Hi guys
Happy new year to you all
I actually got this finished just before new year, but I went down to London for New Years fireworks. Back home now so best get this thread finished.

Got the main colours down, I forgot what I used for the blue originally, so made another mix who knew that you could mix tamiya and Vallejo paints



I found this pic of a 74 sqn f-4j, looks like one of the ones that were eventually repainted in RAF colours. However, I did like the radome on it. I assume it's a new one, or it's been stripped for repainting?



So I did this..



After a gloss coat, I got the decals on, more gloss, then some Ultimate dark dirt wash. Light dirt for the tail.



There would be more pics, but my photobucket app won't access all my camera roll, (again!)

So after a Matt coat, I just added some slight oil weathering along the panels above the wing root, and the panels just forward of the cans. Most of the pics I've seen seem to be pretty well kept, so that's all I did for weathering.

I used the centre line drop tank, I read that if possible, pilots preferred this to the gun pod as it was more stable to fly.
I chopped up a couple of the sidewinders, to make an AIM-9 acquisition round and a RAIDS? acm pod.
Once all that was on, it was done.

Just been out to take some pics for the reveal section.



It's a bit dark, but I'll stick the rest over there.

Thanks for looking fellas

PS - just remembered, I didn't put any seat belts in! My plan was to use the pilots that come with the kit. However, I couldn't get them in once I'd glued the seats in?! I considered chopping them up, but decided to save them for another build. Hey ho.