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Playing in the Sandbox Group Build Sept 1, 2024 - Jn 1, 2025

Done - F-4EJ Kai Phantom - The Last of it's Kind ZM 1/48


DocRob

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3 hours ago, Kaireckstadt said:

Great work Rob! This will be a stunner in the end! 

Thanks Kai, the Kai Phantom is truly an extreme colorful bird and I don't regret the detour into jet territory. Painting and decaling reminds me a lot of car modelling, with the desired glossy and sharp contrasting finish in mind.

Cheers Rob

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Rob, absolutely stunning, this is really going to be colourful bird in the display case. Reading your prep work, I really need to concentrate on this as this where I always let myself down. Must add that gloss coat before decals. Really envious of your modelling or surfing quote……..

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Thank you Phil, indeed, preparation is the key to glossy and metallic finishes as well. It has been a learning curve for me, beginning with some car and bike models, where I learnt a lot. Last year, I added polishing to my skills and tools and it did a wonderful  job on glossy surfaces and clear parts. 
No need to be jealous about the surf / modelling thing. We had sand storms for over a week, where the air is polluted dangerously with ten times more dirt and germs and whatever than the worst Berlin road in winter time. Besides, since a week, we try to have the garden looking like it looked before the storm and there still is no end in sight. The beach was the only place where there was no storm miraculously. It was surfing or staying home for more days without opening windows or doors.

Cheers Rob

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I definitely choose rigging a WWI aircraft, than stenciling a modern jet. In this case, at least, the decals are great and the supplied decaling plan is very helpful. Nonetheless, it's painful eye straining work :icon_eek:. I managed to apply the upper fuselage and left side stencils. Normally, I cut my decals without guiding numbers, but not in this case, where it really helps to have the numbers present.

Cheers Rob

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18 hours ago, harv said:

WOW stunning !!....harv :popcorn:

 

10 hours ago, Vandy1 VX-4 said:

Dam that is a sweet looking build 

 

7 hours ago, kahunaminor said:

Phreaking awesomeness!

Muchas gracias hombres, the Kai Phantom really sports a very stylish outfit. Until stenciling time, I thought about building a second one with yellow livery (which will be released soon by ZM), but after this one, I have to rest my eyes.

Yesterday, I noticed that while drying thoroughly, my painting idea for the external tanks was not good enough. The transparent blue, based on sparkling silver developed a slightly greenish tint. I sprayed two more layers of thinned transparent blue and now I am where I wanted to be. The match is good enough now. On pictures and even to the eye, it's hard to tell the difference, because of the glitter effect, which looks differently from every angle you look at it. The final gloss will be polished to match.

Cheers Rob
 

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Rob

Brilliant paint and decal work - simply stunning! Unfortunately I can not agree that I would prefer rigging a WWI biplane rather then applying all the stencils on a modern jet, especially the F4’s which seem to have more then most. Your progress is amazing and no question, your Phantom in simply looking stunning.

Keep ‘em comin

Peter

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21 hours ago, Martinnfb said:

Magnificent shine 

 

17 hours ago, GusMac said:

The colour match on the tanks looks spot on there Rob. I've seen the yellow one that's coming soon and it does look tempting but I'm not sure I could cope with so many decals.

 

17 hours ago, GazzaS said:

Really shaping up nicely, Rob.  Good work on those stencils and decals.

 

11 hours ago, Vandy1 VX-4 said:

Yes the Drop tanks look better now!    I didn’t think it could get nicer looking 

 

45 minutes ago, Bomber_County said:

The only way I coped on mine was to cross them out on the diagram as I did them. Looking amazing Rob.

 

3 minutes ago, Peterpools said:

Brilliant paint and decal work - simply stunning! Unfortunately I can not agree that I would prefer rigging a WWI biplane rather then applying all the stencils on a modern jet, especially the F4’s which seem to have more then most. Your progress is amazing and no question, your Phantom in simply looking stunning.

Muchas gracias amigos, I'm pleased that you like my work.
@GusMac, the yellow Kai is as beautiful as the blue one and the stenciling, err, it has to be done, at least the decals are great, as is the decaling plan.
@Bomber_County, I did the same, as it takes time to check and re-check stencil placement and you have to switch between decal sheets at times.

Cheers Rob
 

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4 hours ago, Kaireckstadt said:

Great decalwork Rob. This will be a stunning build with an eyecatching livery.

Thank you Kai, my head is spinning in the moment, after applying half the stencils on the upper wings. This is particular unpleasant, because on the black areas the decaling plan shows no panel lines and it's hard to find the correct places and to have them looking congruent on both sides. I developed a step by step system, to work through the different decal sheets in a proper order, color coding the stencils on the plan. I wont do a jet again soon, but I have said that before... :D.

Cheers Rob

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Today I finished the wing stencils and hit all decals with three coats os Micro Sol, which has not completely dried on the pic. Next will be stenciling the underside and the tail section.

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I then continued with the drop tanks, which need to be masked under the decals for the black tail parts. This proved to be tricky and I cut the decals very close to their later shape to check, if the curved demarcation is completely covered by the decal.

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Next, the external tanks got their tails sprayed with Tamiya's gloss black lacquer paint.

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Cheers Rob

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3 hours ago, harv said:

Outstanding work!.....harv :popcorn:

 

37 minutes ago, Bomber_County said:

Simply stunning Rob, this one is going to certainly shine in the case…….

Thanks a lot, after stenciling the bottom part tomorrow, I hope the rest of this vivid bird build will be a breeze :D.

Cheers Rob

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7 hours ago, BlrwestSiR said:

Great progress on the decal work on your Kai Rob.  

It seems the Japanese loved their stencils on their jets. I'm going to have to do something similar on my F-104J build. 

Thanks Carl, the weird thing is, there are English written stencils and Japanese written ones, somehow I think, they used both sets. Most of the bottom side stencils are grouped, but given the very narrow carrier film connections make t difficult to apply them without folding them over. I cut the bigger groups of stencils in two or three parts for easier application.

Cheers Rob 

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