BlrwestSiR

All this talk of Phantoms got me to add to the stash. This solves the problem of what to do with my second F-4EJ Kai kit from ZM. Thankfully the kit has the standard nose and wingtips in it so I can build a EJ from it. One other thing, the Quinta sets have three sets of belts in each so if I'm careful, I have enough for all three ZM Phantoms in the stash.

Rob, what about trying a Gundam paint marker and applying the black outlines after the camo is done?

Looks good Peter. I took my kit out last night and debated starting it. Then decided I'd best try to finish what's already on my bench.

That definitely screams Batmobile in a steampunk style.

Definitely looks fairly seamless. Great job and thanks for showing the way. Carl

Looks great Rob.

Even doing a kit bash nose job like this your work is not only impeccable but fast. Carl

Stunning build. Way outside my skillset and comfort level but I'm always impressed by the folks who do build them. Carl

These are from a couple years ago.

They're not as old as the B-52s still in service. Close though.

Same here. Not to mention a Kai OOB.

I had the Tamiya 1/48 F-4EJ from the early '80s. Then I opened the box and found a Revell kit that they had re-boxed....

The last 1/48 Phantom I built was the Hasegawa F-4E with the 30 Years of Phabulous Phantoms on the side.

I can't recall where the article is where they first noticed the shape issue. You could try comparing the short nose fuselage to the long nose ones when they arrive? Supposedly it's quite apparent.

Our dryer crapped out last night. So Sunny took advantage of it and made himself comfortable.

Yes, it needs the correction set as well. For belts, Eduard, HGW and Quinta do sets too. The Quinta ones are part of their cockpit sets.

Almost forgot, there are no seat belts in any of the kits. So you have to find some AM ones.

I've been contemplating this very thing. Switching out my Tamiya 1/32 kits for the ZM 1/48 ones so welcome to the club. I haven't got any of the short nosed jets (C,D,J) but there's supposed to be a contour issue with the rear fuselage around the burner cans. Hypersonic Models makes a correction set for this which involves cutting out the relevant section and replacing it with resin parts. To ZM's credit, they fixed this on the long nosed kits (E, EJ, G). Other than that, I haven't heard of any other issues. With the G coming out next, ZM has to tool up slatted wings so I imagine a late model E will follow that release. If you can't wait, Hypersonic Models makes a conversion kit with the slatted outer wings, flap actuators for the inner wings and other bits. BNA Models carry Hypersonic. Carl

Can't wait to see you start on this. The kit looks really impressive but not being enough of a 109 fan (heresy I know) I'm still on the fence about getting one. I may break down and do so when my LHS gets them in. Otherwise shipping these days makes international purchases a tough one.

Peter, I've got the resin ones but haven't really taken a close look at them. They're an exact replacement for the kit parts. It too bad Master or someone else hasn't done a set for the kit. I looked at the 20mm cannon they do for the Hurricane but they're not close enough to work. Carl

The closet is resin ones from CMK.

Great progress Rob. Looks to be a very well engineered kit. Carl

That makes much more sense.

No kidding. I'm still trying to figure out where I'll put 2 Lancs, a B-17 and the Lib I recently finished. Sadly, no loft space for me.

Peter, glad you were able to fix it. I've done similar things in the past. I was clearing off my bench once and found the cockpit sidewall to my Revell Spitfire. I found that odd as I hadn't used an AM cockpit when I built it. I took a look at the finished model and sure enough, no cockpit sidewall! At least yours was fixable. Carl