Tamiya F-4J Phantom VMFA-451 "Warlords" WIP

[Guest DannyVM]

Hi Guy's,

 

time to start my next project. The Tamiya F-4J Phantom, in the colors of VMFA-451.

 

 

I will use the Marines boxing, but still i need to make some extra Mk.82 bomb's, which will be done in the next week's.

 

 

I have all ready a load of aftermarket stuff which consist of the BigEd set, the Flightpath resin nose cone, Q-M-T resin weighted wheels, Eduard Brassin ejection seat's and Master pito tubes.

 

 

I ordered the Zotz decals 'Colorful F-4J Phantoms part two' which will be delivered within a few day's.

 

 

 

And also some GT-resin stuff is on it's way, thank's to Mark31 

 

Besides the GT-resin stuff i will not use any other resin part's. PE will be mostly used together with scratch-build items.

 

Stay tuned. 

 

Greetz

 

Danny

[DocRob]

Hi Danny, you entered the Jet Age  and I'm tempted to follow this one, but what about the old school stuff. I mean your great and encouraging Fe.2B WIP?

Cheers Rob

[Guest DannyVM]

Quote

Hi Danny, you entered the Jet Age  and I'm tempted to follow this one, but what about the old school stuff. I mean your great and encouraging Fe.2B WIP?

Cheers Rob

Indeed Rob, and thank's for following my projects, much appreciated mate

 

The Fe.2b is a real gem of a kit, and yes, i'm also tempted to finish this kit, but due to other obligations it was necessary to put the kit aside. 

Next year i am invited to a militaria show over here in Belgium. It's the target to put one of the greatest collection of flight helmet's and clothing together on this show, back-boned with lot's of models. I will also participate with my helmets and models, but my goal is to build at least the Phantom and a Mirage VBA to back-up some collectors flight equipment. So that's why my other projects at the moment are on a hold.

 

Next to my modeling task, i'm also busy to negotiate with some people to obtain some more flight helmets. One goal is to obtain a APH serie's helmet for my display with the Phantom.

 

Greetz

 

Danny

[DocRob]

Hi Danny, thank you for your answer. What you have planned sounds like a very interesting project and I can understand the top prio on the jets and helmets for you. In fact I didn't want to push you into WIP-ing ahead into the Fe.2B, I just wanted to know, because your build is very inspiring. Actually I have no idea, when I start mine.

As being a little geographical isolated, I build only for my own fun and after my own not very strict schedule, which is also rattled by lots of other hobbies.

Have fun with the Phantom and tons of luck for a good APH-deal.

Rob

[GusMac]

That sounds like an unusual but very exciting project Danny. Would be great to see some pictures when the time comes.

Your picture with Shiva still makes me smile. Our two Jack Russells are like that, comatose, until someone opens something edible. I swear they can hear a packet of crisps opening from 5 km away! 

[Guest DannyVM]

Quote

Hi Danny, thank you for your answer. What you have planned sounds like a very interesting project and I can understand the top prio on the jets and helmets for you. In fact I didn't want to push you into WIP-ing ahead into the Fe.2B, I just wanted to know, because your build is very inspiring. Actually I have no idea, when I start mine.

As being a little geographical isolated, I build only for my own fun and after my own not very strict schedule, which is also rattled by lots of other hobbies.

Have fun with the Phantom and tons of luck for a good APH-deal.

Rob

For me, it's a very sharp time-frame in which these two builds need's to be finished, but that's something i lay upon myself. Nobody pushed me into this, it's my own decision. That's why i also chosed to bring the resin part's to minimum because i work faster with pe and at the end it can give a very nice result if used correctly.

 

The Fe.2b will be finished once these two boy's are done, after all, i'm bitten by the W.W.1 microbe, but sometimes choices need's to be made.

 

Quote

That sounds like an unusual but very exciting project Danny. Would be great to see some pictures when the time comes.

Your picture with Shiva still makes me smile. Our two Jack Russells are like that, comatose, until someone opens something edible. I swear they can hear a packet of crisps opening from 5 km away! 

Yes it is, not often i had plans in this direction, but i like to have a challenge once now and then. Pictures will be uploaded once i have them.

 

Same here, Shiva is the one that is always on the look out when she see a box, or something that makes noise. Gizmo follows her, it's like he is giving all the hard work to her, and afterwards profits from the case.

 

Greetz

 

Danny

[Guest DannyVM]

First step's are made, starting with the Mk.82 bomb's. Cleaning and glueing.

 

 

Question here, is it necessary to place all bomb's on the TER's and MER's or can it be done with the number provided in the kit??

 

Also TER's and MER's are assembled.

 

 

TER's are modified with some scratch extra's.

 

 

 

Greetz

 

Danny

[GusMac]

Nice start with the TERs

[Twobad]

Are you going to get aftermarket intake ducts or soldier on with the dreaded Tamiya's ones?

[coolboxx]

Great start Danny, will be watching 

[Guest DannyVM]

Quote

Are you going to get aftermarket intake ducts or soldier on with the dreaded Tamiya's ones?

GT resin intakes will be used.

 

 

Greetz

 

Danny

[Guest DannyVM]

Time for a little update on this bird. 

 

Not much has been done due to the problems i have with the GT-resin seamless intakes. It's not my habit to break down the manufacturer in public due to some errors that where made, and yes, in this case i made some. 

It's obvious that there are some issues regarding a proper fit onto the fuselage, in this case the alignment of both intakes so they are in a equal position to each other. I glued them nice into their place to get a smooth surface transition from the kit fuselage to the resin intakes. That's the way it should been done, and i did both side according the same working order. My mistake, yes, i glued them to fast, without a proper dry-fit to see if the alignment was equal. The mistake became very obvious from the moment i dry-fitted the splitter plates.

 

Transition of the resin intakes, the only thing i sanded was the ca glue residue.

 

 

 

I knew that the panel lines didn't line up with each-other, but that's no real problem. At this moment, no harm done, everything looked real good.

 

Until i dry-fitted the splitter plates.

 

Left one

 

 

Right one

 

 

Big error, and to be honest, even if i did a dry-fit and seen the problem, it would be not so easy to fix this.

 

Result is that the kit's fuselage is FUBAR and that a new one is on it's way.

 

Ok, back to real time now.

 

Like i said, the new fuselage is on it's way, so time to start the cockpit. This time, better said again, i will use Eduard colored pe and Eduard Brassin ejection seat's like i did with the Starfighter.

 

 

 

A nice add-on are these stencil pe sheet's for stenciling the seat cushion

 

 

Like i said, not much but it's a start. Stay tuned for more.

 

Greetz

 

Danny

[JeroenPeters]

Wow!!!  Not my cup of tea but still amazingly cool!! 

[Wingco57]

Well, I always have had a soft spot for the big ugly brutal beautiful Phantom.

Nice one Danny.

Cheers

Cees

[Guest DannyVM]

12 hours ago, JeroenPeters said:

Wow!!!  Not my cup of tea but still amazingly cool!! 

Thank's Jeroen. Indeed this is a whole other thing then the W.W.2 bird's. Thank's for hopping in mate.

 

Greetz

 

Danny

[Guest DannyVM]

1 hour ago, Wingco57 said:

Well, I always have had a soft spot for the big ugly brutal beautiful Phantom.

Nice one Danny.

Cheers

Cees

Thank's Cees,

 

the Phantom is a legend on it's own in different form's, to me these are the most beautiful examples.

 

Greetz

 

Danny

[GusMac]

Hi Danny, nice looking cockpit stuff.

Disappointed to hear about the GT stuff. I used their seamless intakes, burner cans and wheel set for the F-15 and they were drop fit - didn't involve external surfaces though.

It's hard to see the exact issue as the top of the intakes looks about the same distance from the cockpit sill on both sides but obviously the angle of the splitter plates must be different looking at the resulting positions.

Did you manage to source just fuselage sides or have you had to get a whole new kit?

Cheers, Gus

[coolboxx]

 Love all that pe.

[Guest DannyVM]

Quote

Hi Danny, nice looking cockpit stuff.

Disappointed to hear about the GT stuff. I used their seamless intakes, burner cans and wheel set for the F-15 and they were drop fit - didn't involve external surfaces though.

It's hard to see the exact issue as the top of the intakes looks about the same distance from the cockpit sill on both sides but obviously the angle of the splitter plates must be different looking at the resulting positions.

Did you manage to source just fuselage sides or have you had to get a whole new kit?

Cheers, Gus

The problem are the intakes, you don't see it on the photo's, but the intakes are in order to each other different in high.

 

A spare fuselage is on it's way at the moment Gus, so stay tuned, soon i will restart this.

 

Greetz

 

Danny

 

[GusMac]

Good you've managed to get just a fuselage. 

Disappointing that the different intake size wasn't picked up after casting.

[Wingco57]

Where do you get a spare fuselage from,  Danny?

Cheers

Cees

[Guest DannyVM]

On 26-9-2017 at 8:15 AM, Wingco57 said:

Where do you get a spare fuselage from,  Danny?

Cheers

Cees

From these guy's Cees

https://www.timetunnelmodels.com/live/catalog/unlisted.php?osCsid=023tr4qmev253c1dd0cijsekr3

These guy's give a very great service, and they are fast.

Greetz

Danny

[Guest DannyVM]

Time for some more progress on this bird. 

 

Starting with the rudder pedals. These could use some extra work,that said, not much will be seen after closure of the fuselage, but hey, i don't care 

 

Kit pedals

 

 

And the Eduard one. These are not yet like they supposed to be. I need to bend them a little, so soon i will re-do them.

 

 

 

Some more Eduard pe was used to give the cockpit some more extra detail.

 

 

For this model i will also use the Eduard Brassin ejection seat's. These are real jewels on their own with great detail. Ik like the way how they are builded up and for some reason i like them more then the Aires ones.

 

 

Instruction give a clear image how to add wiring and details.

 

 

 

 

 

That's all for now.

 

Greetz

 

Danny

[KiwiZac]

Great start Danny! I love your extra details on those ejector racks, those sorts of details really elevate a model to a replica!

I've never seen that paint scheme before...I'm digging it! The blue nose is very cool.

[Guest DannyVM]

On 12-10-2017 at 10:53 PM, KiwiZac said:

Great start Danny! I love your extra details on those ejector racks, those sorts of details really elevate a model to a replica!

I've never seen that paint scheme before...I'm digging it! The blue nose is very cool.

Thank's mate for the nice comment.

It was an easy choice, i like those colorful Navy or Marine birds.

 

Greetz

Danny