denders

Okay, I masked it up last evening and sprayed the Medium Gunship Gray today. Still lots to do yet.

After some seam touchups, the second gray is on.

Thanks, Kevin! One more step done. Waiting for some flag decals. I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to use them, but I want a flag flying. I showed the 4 1/2 yr. old grandson the previous photo and he said, "Cool". And then he said "Where's the helicopter?". I'm thinking on using a wire to have it flying. I've already drilled a hole in the bottom of the helicopter, just have to add it to the ship. But the additional rigging and the flag first.

Thanks, guys! And, yes Chris, I did paint behind the intake splitters before I attached them.

Thanks, guys! It's getting there. Either a flat or semi-flat clear coat. And some rigging which will include a U.S. Flag. Oh yeah, a helicopter too.

Sooooo, I decided to mix up the AK paint with thinner in a 2 oz bottle. That way I could use it like I use the MRP. Pour some into the airbrush and when I'm done, pour it back in the bottle. It's thinned with AK High Compatibility Thinner. 2 Parts thinner to 1 part paint. The pigment seems to drop out of suspension pretty quickly. If you look in the background of this photo, I haven't painted all of the underside of the aircraft yet. So, Light Ghost Gray on the underside of the Phantom. I should have left the stabilators off for painting.

Another step. I've looked through the instructions and decided that I would use the kit wing pylons and see how they look. There are a number of pieces to them. And I think the same for the landing gear too. I have several more 1/48 Phantoms, so all those parts will be usable. It's starting to look like a Phantom. If you're wondering why the last few photos have the nose hanging over the edge of the desk, it's because of the piece of the nose gear, I'm trying not to break it. I need to have a look at all the seams and then I'll start masking and painting. And, btw, I've used a little bit of the AK RC918, FS36270 Medium Gray paint. I've mixed it about 1/3 paint and 2/3 thinner. It seems to spray and cover well. It's a little hard to be sure that It's mixed well in the bottle, compared to the MRP paint. And I feel like I get some separation of the thinner/paint in the airbrush cup. That may be because of the very small quantities that I've mixed so far. 10 drops paint, 20 drops thinner. I've been using the AK High Compatibility Thinner. I mix it in a small disposable cup and pour it into the airbrush cup.

I'm still worried about sneezing and bending it. Working on decals, one side done. This particular ship is not one of the kit selections. Fortunately, I can 1094 out of what was provided, just 3 decal pieces each location, 10, 9, 4. The ship name isn't even close to getting letters from the provided decals, so, I purchased a separate decal sheet with letters. The good thing is that Pharris has two Rs side by side. They're aligned about as good as my hands will allow.

Thanks, Carl. Outer wings on, 12 degrees.

More steps. I've decided to not use the ResKit exhausts because of the pieces that duplicate the engine pieces in the Z-M kit that I've already installed. I'll save them for another F-4E build. Each intake is 5 pieces and everything fits very well. The piece in the yellow circle should be installed later. It protrudes and I've almost wacked it entirely off once. The area in the red circle, make sure there isn't a step when you install the upper fuselage to the lower fuselage/wings piece. The engine exhausts are assembled. I must decide whether I want them closed or open. But I've got time, they need to be painted first and I'm looking at waiting 'til the end to install them.

We had to make a trip to PA for a wedding. On the way up I81 through VA, we stopped in Staunton, VA and visited Frontline Models and Hobbies. Nice place, wish we had something like it in the Nashville area. Picked up a few things. The F/A-18 is for use with my grandsons. The catapult should make a nice display for the Arado when I build it.

Thanks, Peter! More progress. Need to fill ejector pin marks. They're in a position that won't be seen by a normal look. But, if you go looking for them, they can be found.

Some Progress.

Thanks, Guys! The stack and mast are assembled. There are a few scratch pieces in there. Now for paint. There's a brass piece in there under the mast that wasn't there when I painted the bottom gray and hand painted the top of the stack black. I'm going to have to paint some gray primer then gray paint for that piece, unless I decide to hand paint that piece. Hmmm, I am using Tamiya paint for this one. Then from the existing black on up is black. That needs to be primed first. I did paint all the brass before assembly with Mr. Metal Primer, but I want to paint with paint primer too. The big thing will be wrapping a Post-it-Note to protect the gray and make sure I paint perpendicular to the surface. There are rigging lines from that broad piece in front, down to the deck. I'm not sure just what I'm going to use for that. I have some really strait wire that I used for rigging 1/48 biplanes, decades ago, that I might paint black and cut to length. And after seeing a posting on FB regarding signal flags, I'm contemplating adding some signal flags too. Need to search for the 'code' for Pharris.

Thanks, Peter and Martin! Engines are together and painted. Most of the paint won't be visible, but.......... I also started assembling the intake trunks. I thought I'd see how it goes. I have the GT Resin parts too.

Well, two more steps involving the fuselage, and I haven't knocked anything off yet. There wasn't much to those steps though. There's a little bit of putty needed on the top of the nose at the seam and a bit more on the left side along the radome seam. Those little air intakes are a bit fiddly. I didn't put the pitot on the nose though.

More tiny stuff. The mast on the right will go on top of the stack. There's also more stuff to hang on the stack too.

Thanks guys! Next step. The projection on the right is molded into the part. The antenna in the center requires an 0.8mm hole to be drilled into the part and glued. The Antenna on the left is glued to the surface. I'm wondering how long 'til I knock it off.

Thanks, Peter! In assembling the cockpit area, it is necessary to make sure the parts are correctly located. This piece in the WSO pit, left side is just slightly out of place. Meaning I had to do a little sanding on the outside of this assembly and put a small notch in some of the detail on the fuselage sidewall to make sure the fuselage halves matched up correctly. It all looks fine though. Ready to glue the fuselage halves together. And glued together. The seats aren't installed yet, just sitting there. And make sure to watch out for the intake turbulence generators and whatever that small thingy is on the starboard side. Onward. Dave

I figured that I may as well get started on this part of the project too.

Okay, most of the cockpit is together.

Thanks, Chris! The interior is painted MRP-100 FS36231 U.S. and NATO interiors. It's the color called out in the instructions.

As a note for others looking at this thread, the Brett Green instructions correction list is for the Dragon C-7 kit. I have the Dragon D/E kit. You'll still need to do your homework. The first item on the list for step 1 has been corrected in the D/E instructions. The second and third items for Step 1 is still useful information.

Thanks Carl, I found it.