CANicoll Posted April 1 Author Share Posted April 1 Tamiya Update; Received an email just a few minutes ago from Tamiya USA which said they have the J sprue from a cannibalized kit which they will post to me at no charge. Super support from Tamiya on an out-of-production kit! 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlrwestSiR Posted April 1 Share Posted April 1 That's great news from Tamiya USA on the stabs. There's a couple more parts on there that you need for the build so it's good they're sending you a complete sprue. As for the seams on the lower exhaust area, that's pretty much S.O.P. for the kit. It's should clean up reasonably well. Kopecky Scale Models does make a 3D printed replacement. I need to get to my F-4 references to check on the IP and see how big the differences are between the EJ and the E. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlrwestSiR Posted April 1 Share Posted April 1 Okay, after some gymnastics I managed to get to my reference books (They're all buried behind a bunch of model boxes down a narrow aisle in my basement). According to The Modern Phantom Guide, there aren't any significant differences between an E and EJ in the cockpit. EJ Kai is a different story. Here's some pics from his book of an E cockpit. Front: Rear: Here's some from a Japanese book on the EJ You're making me want to build an F-4 now... 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANicoll Posted April 2 Author Share Posted April 2 Carl, Excellent!!! Thank you so much for posting these pictures. The IP that Quinta is missing is the one on the bottom of page 90 in the first set and the bottom picture on page 69. But your pictures show that Quinta really did get the rest of the panels spot on. If you build an F-4, I know someone who has an extra set (or two) of Quinta Interior 3D decals! Chris 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 Chris Awesome progress and glad you have the office sorted out. Normally I go with the Quinta set made for the kit and don't expect them to be 100% accurate. For me it's the overall look and feel that's important and in my book, you have greatly passed that point. Just keep going at your own pace and everything will fall into place - seam lines just always creep into any build, even Tamiya as I had a few small ones on the Tomcat as well. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANicoll Posted April 4 Author Share Posted April 4 Minor construction update at this point. I've set up the new airbrush compressor and did a test spray of some primer coats and all seems good. The tank certainly smooths out the airflow compared to a non-tank temp set up I used briefly. These amazing resin seats just had me realize that those excellent Quinta seatbelts probably are not going to get used. I'll see if I can merge the two but I have a feeling that the excellent detail on these resin seats would be a shame to do away with. MRP White Primer. Assembled the wing tips and flaps, as well as the tail. Very straight forward and the fit is perfect. Used Tamiya Extra Thin starting at the base/thickest point then worked my way around. This will give you an idea of the fading I'm looking to do on the aircraft. Planning on doing white-basing for the fading, as well as doing some pre-shading of panel lines. This spot of paint is really to get behind the intakes (Thanks Mark!!) and the rest will be taken care of when I get to painting the fuselage camo. Test fitted the tail and still have a little bit of fine sanding to do to get it to sit flush, but it is pretty close right now. Closer than the picture indicates. The tail cap actually fits perfectly - it is dry fitted here. And, thanks to @Peterpools I'll be tackling the missile load outs here shortly. I think there are more pieces for the armament than there are for the entire rest of the aircraft. Ok, that is an exaggeration, but only a slight one! That's it for now! Thanks for looking. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocRob Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 Great work on the -E, Chris. I really like ,how you dig through that array of obstacles. Your cockpit looks great and thankfully the -E, -EJ, -EJ Kai questions were dealt with, at least in theory. I feel your pain in advance concerning the stenciling. When I built my Kai Phantom, it settled the fate for other modern jet builds for me . Cheers Rob 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark31 Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 nice progress. Mark 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlrwestSiR Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 Nice progress there Chris. Good idea to paint behind the intakes like Mark suggested. Also a good idea to do the back of the splitter plates too. Your build has reminded me of a couple more things to watch for. When you attach the outer wing panels, the kit angle is a bit off. It's too steep and they need to be slightly flatter. I'll try to find the exact angle for you later. Getting the correct angle leaves a small gap on top that is easily filled with a strip of styrene. Nautilus made a wooden jig for setting the correct angle but if you're just building the one kit, it may not be worth getting. On the forward fuselage, the insert on the right side above the intake, the panel lines need to be filled in after you install it. That's the location for the inflight refueling probe on Navy F-4s and isn't on USAF ones. Speaking of which, the USAF one is on the spine just behind the cockpit. The kit piece usually sits a bit low so you may need to put some strip styrene underneath it to get it level with the rest of the fuselage. Last one for now, the nose has a small vent on the top that's missing. It's an easy one to make from styrene. It's marked out on the nose so you'll know where it goes. Here's the one I did. 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martinnfb Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 Great work Chris, she's shaping out nicely. Cheers Martin 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 Chris Some mighty nice progress and with all the tips from the guys, you should be sailing though any of the 'pitfalls' that were present on the kit. Love the pre-painting and weathering - going to be a beauty. One thing about Phantoms - they easily have the record of the number of stencils carried! Rest up it's going to take a good long while to get them all on. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANicoll Posted April 4 Author Share Posted April 4 7 hours ago, DocRob said: Great work on the -E, Chris. I really like ,how you dig through that array of obstacles. Your cockpit looks great and thankfully the -E, -EJ, -EJ Kai questions were dealt with, at least in theory. I feel your pain in advance concerning the stenciling. When I built my Kai Phantom, it settled the fate for other modern jet builds for me . Cheers Rob Doc - I'm either in shock or awe at how many stencils are going on this thing. Especially the bottom!!! I kind of feel like I need to put it on a mirror or something to show off what will be probably days worth of decaling... Ugh! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANicoll Posted April 4 Author Share Posted April 4 5 hours ago, BlrwestSiR said: Nice progress there Chris. Good idea to paint behind the intakes like Mark suggested. Also a good idea to do the back of the splitter plates too. Your build has reminded me of a couple more things to watch for. When you attach the outer wing panels, the kit angle is a bit off. It's too steep and they need to be slightly flatter. I'll try to find the exact angle for you later. Getting the correct angle leaves a small gap on top that is easily filled with a strip of styrene. Nautilus made a wooden jig for setting the correct angle but if you're just building the one kit, it may not be worth getting. On the forward fuselage, the insert on the right side above the intake, the panel lines need to be filled in after you install it. That's the location for the inflight refueling probe on Navy F-4s and isn't on USAF ones. Speaking of which, the USAF one is on the spine just behind the cockpit. The kit piece usually sits a bit low so you may need to put some strip styrene underneath it to get it level with the rest of the fuselage. Last one for now, the nose has a small vent on the top that's missing. It's an easy one to make from styrene. It's marked out on the nose so you'll know where it goes. Here's the one I did. Carl, I did remember you had corrected the outer wing angle in one of your builds - I have some sheet styrene ready for that and now this vent you suggested. PERFECT timing as I am working on the seams for the nose cone now. I appreciate your help!! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANicoll Posted April 4 Author Share Posted April 4 5 minutes ago, Peterpools said: Chris Some mighty nice progress and with all the tips from the guys, you should be sailing though any of the 'pitfalls' that were present on the kit. Love the pre-painting and weathering - going to be a beauty. One thing about Phantoms - they easily have the record of the number of stencils carried! Rest up it's going to take a good long while to get them all on. Thanks Peter, and as I said to DocRob, wow... Here is a conundrum - does a stencil on an aircraft fade like the paint the stencil is painted on? Doing a faded aircraft with picture-perfect stencils doesn't seem right. Or does some poor soul go round refreshing the stencils periodically (doubful?). 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 Chris Good question - I have no idea. I would assume a lot of the stencil data is worn off and faded as well. I'm guessing but some of the more important stencils might be redone but I've only heard of this when the aircraft is repainted, which is years apart. Maybe someone who knows can jump is with some firsthand knowledge. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlrwestSiR Posted April 6 Share Posted April 6 Chris, I would recommend these stencils for your build. https://www.reidairpublishing.com/speed-hunter-graphics-132-decals/big-scale-early-phantom-stencils But how much would they fade I don't know. Some F-4s have a lot more than others which points at them being re-painted or getting painted over. Another option which you could weather is Eduard make a PE stencil set for the F-4. It's doesn't cover everything but if you paint them on, you can definitely weather them. . 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANicoll Posted April 6 Author Share Posted April 6 Carl, Excellent suggestion - I ordered those exact stencils on the 26th (still have not shipped yet). I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the stencil fading. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlrwestSiR Posted April 6 Share Posted April 6 6 minutes ago, CANicoll said: I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the stencil fading You could try spraying a very light coat of the base colour paint over them. Thin the paint down a bit more than usual and then mist a coat over the stencil. Best to try it out on a mule first but that might work. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANicoll Posted April 6 Author Share Posted April 6 9 hours ago, BlrwestSiR said: You could try spraying a very light coat of the base colour paint over them. Thin the paint down a bit more than usual and then mist a coat over the stencil. Best to try it out on a mule first but that might work. Ohhh, I LIKE that idea... and I always have a paint mule handy for exactly this kind of thing. Carl, you are FULL of great ideas! (Maybe other stuff too, but I appreciate the great ideas!! ) 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANicoll Posted April 10 Author Share Posted April 10 Making Progress... Look what showed up! A HUGE thank you to Tamiya USA for their quick turnaround sending a Free Sprue N for this kit. No clue where the original one went, but certainly not their fault. Been working on the other bits, including the drop tanks and the sidewinders. A fair bit of seam and ejector pin work on the missiles took some time. I still have a bunch of seam work to do on the drop tanks and the nose. Not to mention making the vent that Carl pointed out. A bit more difficult since the halves are put together, but not impossible by any means. The number of parts involved is interesting - each missile is five pieces = 20. The rails have 8 pieces each = 16. Thirty-six on the armament, so far! Mustangs and Spitfires don't really have to deal with that!! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted April 10 Share Posted April 10 Chris There is Tamiya customer service and then everyone else - they are amazing and saved me a good number of times as I've lost parts and in every case they were replaced at no chanrge. Nice progress on the loadouts and even in 48th scale, the missiles, especially the Sparrows are a lot of parts - that goodness the fit is good. I'm sure being Tamiya, the number of decals for them is going to be close to mine. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANicoll Posted April 10 Author Share Posted April 10 Peter, I swear, there are more decals for the missiles than for an entire P-51D including stencils!! Also picked up a mask set which provides for painting the stripes on the missiles. That may be a bridge too far for me actually. We will see. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted April 10 Share Posted April 10 Chris Got ya. Been decaling the Tomcat and between the two sets: Tamiya and Furball, I have pages of stencil data decals. Absolutely am not going to even attempt to use more then half of them. The mask set sounds like a great time saver - looking forward to how it turns out. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANicoll Posted April 11 Author Share Posted April 11 I can't decide if the painting will be faster or slower than decaling.... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 Chris If it was my choice, I would decal as I haven't much history with paint masks and decaling seems to always go pretty fast and is easy to correct if needed. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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