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This
is my latest effort, actually it has been an on again off again project that I
have finally finished.
This F-4S was inspired by a similar model built by Mr. Joe Amaral, which
appeared in the March 1987 issue of Scale
Modeler. The
article focused making an F-4S from the Hasegawa F-4E and F-4J, where the E
wings were grafted onto the J fuselage.
I however, got my hands on the Hasegawa Collectors Hi-Grade series F-4S
(Kit No. CH010 : 4500) when it was released in 1989.
(What year is this now? - I told you it was an on again off again
project.)
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tooling on this Hasegawa F-4 provides a “correct” cockpit, which is to
say, not an Air Force cockpit.
The cockpit was a good start but I felt I could do better.
I originally began to scratch build a cockpit, until the KMC F-4J
cockpit came along.
The KMC cockpit is well
detailed and certainly easier to do than a scratch cockpit.
However, the KMC cockpit took quite a bit of sanding shaping and
test fitting to make it fit properly.
Once I got all the parts to fit together a little paint was all it
took to make it ready for installation.
Once painted whole cockpit was sealed with Future and then a light
oil paint wash was applied to add depth.
I normally use a mix of burnt sienna and black , and mix that with
about 10 parts Japan dryer.
At this stage I made the opening for the refueling probe.
I simply cut the opening and boxed in the inside with plastic.
Because of the cockpit, I was careful not to build the probe well
too deep. |
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seats were painted but not yet installed, that would wait until the end of
the project.
The seat frames are black with appropriate greens and tans for the
seat cushions and belts, these were sealed and washed as well.
Face curtain handles were made from thin wire.
To paint them I began with yellow overall, then with a very fine
brush and black oil paint, I carefully painted the stripes.
I have found oil paint to be an excellent choice for painting those
really small details.
For the stripes on the face curtain a 10/0 brush will come to a
needle point due to the “stickiness” of the oil paint.
That fine tip combined with oil paint’s slow dry time means you
can paint very fine consistent lines without the point getting gooey.
The catch of the slow drying is that sometimes the stuff never
really dries and often smudges.
Once again Future to the rescue, by dipping the part, it can now be
handled as if it were painted with normal model paint.
I
used Seamless Suckers intake trunks (the old two or three piece intakes)
for my F-4S.
While the result does look good, the work to get it there was, I
think, not worth it.
If I were to do it again I would just make a set of intake covers.
However, I am going to try a set of newer intakes by Seamless
Suckers, the single piece version, on my next Phantom. |
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The
frustration of those intakes put this project on the shelf until this
year. I finally got the intakes
smoothed out to my satisfaction.
Initially I had a poor result when I tried to airbrush the paint so
I chose to brush paint.
I brushed on several coats of white until achieved a consistent
color and smooth surface.
The engine faces were carefully painted and then added.
At last I was ready to glue the fuselage halves together.
I then turned my attention to the wings.
Over the years while the unfinished model was collecting dust; I
collected the KMC flaps set, the Paragon leading edge slat set and the
Aires F-4 wheel well set. |
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The
wings received the most modification.
I wanted to a little action to break up the gray paint.
So I broke up the wing lines by dropping the flaps and leading edge
slats. The
KMC set looked awesome in the bag, getting it to fit and look right was another
story. On
the real F-4 the flaps are hinged from the bottom, so as they deploy they leave
a gap on the top.
A curved extension on top of the flap maintains the aerodynamic shape.
The KMC flap extensions are not nearly long enough so guess
what?...SURPRISE...a big gap.
Having just recently fixed the problem in 1/32 scale on another project,
I have discovered an easy solution.
I simply glued the flaps on at the hinge and filled the gap Miliput epoxy
putty. Before
the putty cured I sculpted the approximate shape.
With a little patience, I achieved a convincing shape that needed only a
light touch of sandpaper to finish.
I raised the spoilers on both sides.
I’m not sure if this is correct, but I think it looks good.
The Paragon slats went on per the instructions with no problems at
all.
The
Aires wheel wells went in next.
They do not fit!
I’m not sure what the manufacturer’s intent was with this set.
To get them to fit I had to sand the top of the resin parts and the upper
wing half almost paper thin.
The
kit wheel well has to be removed (Obvious right?), but not just removed, the
lower wing also needs to be thinned. With a Dremel tool I carved a trough for
the new wheel well to fit in.
It was quite a bit of work however, I realized that by thinning down the
opening to get the Aires part to fit I had created a very scale looking opening.
Despite the extra work, I was quite satisfied with the result.
I will be using these parts again.
At
this point only a few modifications were made before painting.
A rudder was part of the KMC set so I added it, offset a few degrees.
The intake at the base of the tail was replaced with sheet plastic to
make it look more to scale thickness.
The arrowhead shaped plates on top of the stabilators were removed.
Also the inboard weapons pylons were added.
The little rhomboid shapes molded into the bottom of the wing are
supposed to be part of the weapons pylon.
The best way to make the pylon look right is to attach the pylon now so
that any gaps can be filled prior to painting.
Keep this in mind if you are going to build a phantom without these
pylons, you should grind off the parts on the bottom of the wing.
Since I wasn’t going to mount missile rails the notches on the bottom
of the pylons were filled and small sway braces added.
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for the paint.
The natural metal areas around the exhaust area were masked off for
later painting.
The canopy and windscreen were polished and then dipped in Future.
My technique for clear parts is to attach the before I paint.
The windscreen and the center section were attached and seams
filled with super glue.
After filling the seams the parts were polished using 600 sandpaper
to start ending with 12000 grit Micro Mesh polishing cloth.
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| Finally, I flowed future over the glass. All the clear parts were
masked with Scotch Magic tape, except the center panel of the windscreen
which was masked with Cutting Edge Black Magic mask.
Next I temporarily fixed the canopies in the closed position with Fun Tak sealing the cockpits.
With the clear parts installed and masked, I started the painting.
The wheels wells were painted white and then masked off with wet
tissue, as were the engine intake openings.
I used Testors Model Master enamels throughout. |
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surfaces and stabilizers were Lt Ghost Gray FS36320.
The top camouflage pattern, on the spine and upper wings, was
Medium gray FS 35237 with a bit of white added.
My references said these were the right colors and they looked good
until I got to the decals.
I had planned to use the Super Scale sheet 48-188, but as I put on
the first decal I put on, it almost disappeared into the paint.
Either the paint or the was too dark or the decals too light. |
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reference photos!
OK no problem, I happen to have an ALPS printer so a made some new
decals in black, yes BLACK.
Once the black decals were applied, and one white one (VMFA-333) on
the spine.
I mixed up some Testors gloss cote with a few drops of the
background color say 8:1 (maybe more maybe less.)
This mix was heavily thinned, at least 1:1, and misted over the
decals until the right shade was gray was reached.
Note that the BUNO and the radio call numbers are a bit lighter
than the rest of the dark gray markings.
This is what my references showed so that was purposely done. |
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The
natural metal area was painted with SnJ Spray Metal, Aluminum and bronze
mixed with gloss black paint to create different shades.
I then used oil paint to create the leaks and streaks.
Aires burner cans were added, the were painted flat black.
I
then used Future mixed with Tamiya flat base as a flat top coat.
To get that combination of faded and dirty paint I used mixes of
chalk pastels.
I used a mix of black and brown for the dirt, and white and blue
for the fading gray.
In addition, I used pencil to highlight a few panel lines here and
there. I
am not a big fan of making all my panel lines uniform.
My references were invaluable at this point.
The dirt that appears on the real thing I try to put on the model.
I avoid making all my panel lines uniform, they aren’t on the
real thing and they shouldn’t be on models. |
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The
finishing touches.
The TACAN, Radar beacon and IFF antennae on the nose and spine were
added. A
baggage pod was added for a bit of color, the shamrocks are from a 1/72 decal
sheet for a High-Vis VMFA-333 bird (Super Scale 72-338).
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used the photo-etched canopy parts included with the KMC kit.
However, I did add small balsa wedges to the canopy sills.
The balsa was rough cut, glued to the canopy sill and then gently
sanded to shape.
The inside of the canopy was masked off to prevent it from being
scratched during the sanding process.
Now, the photo etched parts were much easier to add and look much
better. A
pocket checklist was made from plastic sheet and placed, on the cockpit
coaming.
Wire was also added to the back of aft instrument panel.
Finally the seats, the canopies and the refueling probe were added
to complete the model.
The refueling probe was built from plastic tubing and some 0.005
inch sheet plastic. |
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Well
there you have it 15 years in the making!
Well, it's not like I spent fifteen years on it - I would guess maybe 100
-150 hours max of actual building time.
It is not my greatest success, but I am pleased with the result, I hope
you enjoyed it and thank you for your interest.
Please feel free to email me with comments or suggestions.
Erin
“Timmy!” Kewin
References
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