SapperSix Posted November 4, 2018 Share Posted November 4, 2018 And so it begins. This will be my first real attempt, top to bottom, to recreate a RF-4C to the best of my ability. Lots of research and after market items bought to make it right. The line up of after aftermarket effort is the longest I have compiled ever: AMS Resin RF-4 Photo-flash Dispensers GT Resin RF-4C Resin Cockpit Set GT Resin ALQ-101V(1) ECM Pod GT Resin ALQ-71 ECM Pod (for F-4 Phantom II) Scale Aircraft Conversions - Phantom II Landing Gear Full House Paint masks for McDonnell RF-4B/RF-4C Exhaust nozzles for EARLY McDonnell RF-4C Phantom. Late weighted Wheels for McDonnell RF-4C F.O.D. Version II. With DECALS McDonnell RF-4C Auxiliary Air Intake and the Door for McDonnell RF-4C -Decals - McDonnell F-4C Phantom II in Viet Nam war Part 1 F-4C 64-0829 20/05/1967 8th Tactical Fighter Wing; 2. RF-4C 69-0349 Udorn. Thailand 1973. 14 TRS -Custom Decals donated to me. Thank you very much Tony!! -Various Instrument and placard decals from AirScale -Decals - Speed Hunter Graphics Big Scale Early Phantom Stencils for the RF-4C -Detail and Scale VOL. 43, RF-4C Phantom II I suspect this build will take many months as my real life is sure to interject. Plus, I want very much to take all that I have learned and put it into this aircraft. If it all works out I will not want to give it up upon completion. If you have any information or input I would be glad to hear it. The amount of experience on this site is vast and daunting. Updated 11/3/2018 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SapperSix Posted November 4, 2018 Author Share Posted November 4, 2018 A lot of work over the last couple days. Modifying the base kit for the resin additions, test fitting, more research, building fuel tanks, mixing paints and primers and general build order planning. Looking at wheel well wiring (Say that fast three times) and other wiring details to make sure I have a plan, has been time consuming. This is the first kit that I am planning to cut up as much as I am. While its nothing when compared to many of the incredible kit makers here, its giving me a lot of confidence. I predict a whole lot more kit destruction/building as its adding a whole new dimension of fun to me. I have learned much by looking at the many incredible builds and builders on this site. I will be forever thankful for those that have taken the time to answer my questions and endure my persistence. Focus on the cockpit modifications has gone fairly well up to this point. I am really excited about the detail and accuracy of the work space. Regardless of what you see in the picture, I have no intention of including the Sherman Tank tracks or the M4 Mortar Carrier frame in the current Phantom build. Although, that's not to say I haven't done some test fitting. Looks like a piece is missing from the kit. I will have to look at making the piece. Another first. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grunhertz Posted November 4, 2018 Share Posted November 4, 2018 Wow some project nice one 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomber_County Posted November 4, 2018 Share Posted November 4, 2018 Welcome aboard Sapper, this going to be epic build, hitting the follow button now......... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted November 4, 2018 Share Posted November 4, 2018 Welcome aboard and agreed, the Gang here on LSM are outstanding builder and I have learned much from. Looking forward to following your Recon Phantom - surely is going to be a great project. Keep ‘em comin Peter 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill_S Posted November 4, 2018 Share Posted November 4, 2018 Ambitious, and I will be following with interest! You may be disappointed with the SAC gear, though... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SapperSix Posted November 4, 2018 Author Share Posted November 4, 2018 4 hours ago, Bill_S said: Ambitious, and I will be following with interest! You may be disappointed with the SAC gear, though... Bill, I was warned about them last night from another builder. I opened the package and saw I had a problem. Your input helped to solidify my decision to buy the AeroCraft Brass Struts. Thank you very much for the heads up. Happy Modeling! -Frank 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SapperSix Posted November 4, 2018 Author Share Posted November 4, 2018 7 hours ago, Peterpools said: Welcome aboard and agreed, the Gang here on LSM are outstanding builder and I have learned much from. Looking forward to following your Recon Phantom - surely is going to be a great project. Keep ‘em comin Peter Peter, Thanks for following. Please feel free to throw in any comments and corrections you see fit. I have learned a ton from other builders input. See you at the workbench! -Frank 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SapperSix Posted November 4, 2018 Author Share Posted November 4, 2018 11 hours ago, Bomber_County said: Welcome aboard Sapper, this going to be epic build, hitting the follow button now......... Awesome, Glad to have you aboard. Please be sure to throw in any comments and corrections you see fit. I have much to learn. -Frank 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harv Posted November 4, 2018 Share Posted November 4, 2018 Well Frank, first welcome !. I was going to suggest G Factor legs but he still doesn't have the nose gear yet.Where did you get the brass gear from, may i ask. The GT Resin stuff is very well done. And Gary is a great guy to deal with. I have a stalled F-4D gun ship I started a couple years ago. I need to finish one day. What kit is this ? If its revell, I may be able to send you the missing piece for nose gear well.Can't wait for more from you.........Harv 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SapperSix Posted November 4, 2018 Author Share Posted November 4, 2018 2 hours ago, harv said: Well Frank, first welcome !. I was going to suggest G Factor legs but he still doesn't have the nose gear yet.Where did you get the brass gear from, may i ask. The GT Resin stuff is very well done. And Gary is a great guy to deal with. I have a stalled F-4D gun ship I started a couple years ago. I need to finish one day. What kit is this ? If its revell, I may be able to send you the missing piece for nose gear well.Can't wait for more from you.........Harv Harv, The Brass Gear can be found at Aerocraft Models I also ordered the undercarriage wheel doors. This kit is the Revell 1/32 RF-4C Phantom Fighter Kit #4662. I did contact Revell but it was the weekend so I assume if I hear from them it will be some time later this week. While I very much appreciate your offer, I can only accept as a last resort. I don't want to take away from your build. I have to say that its been really nice to have people such as yourself offer to help. I have also been able to help a few others. Its a great characteristic of our community. Lets see how this plays out. I can work on other items in the mean time. Thank you very much for your offer! I have seen much of your (posted) work and have been an admirer of it. See you at the work bench! -Frank 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harv Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 Your welcome frank ! And thanks for the kind remarks......Harv 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SapperSix Posted November 17, 2018 Author Share Posted November 17, 2018 I have been doing a lot of work on the Camera's. I found some other build threads and online photo's to reference. The more I learned the more I realized I needed all kinds of stock plastic rod and such. Order for said items placed but I am going with the current plan as I wont be exposing the camera bay. The most detailed camera will be the forward camera as it will be most visible based of some test fittings. Should I find otherwise I will adjust. I used an eclectic set of items to make the camera rings as I had no other options at this point. The camera rings are combination of a cut up 1/35th 75mm German cannon, old plastic piper for the inner ring and a small bead for the inner lens and electrical hook ups. I will be running rudimentary electrical lines from the cameras up in to the camera bay. I am using copper wire as seen in the picture below. I am still experimenting with lenses. What you see now are a mix of actual plastic lenses from other kits and Micro Kristal Clear. Micro is looking to be the early winner and all camera lenses will probably be switched over. The film reel supports are cut up photoetched brass from other kits. I will have to go back and hit some seams. Cockpit parts ready to be primered. The 600 gallon tank is waiting to be sanded. Everything else is filled sanded and ready for primer. Ailerons cut out of the main wing to be slightly lowered as the Phantom will be parked. Flap and wing ends filled and sanded with finishing touches on the way. Auxiliary air intakes cut out, with some minor adjustments. And getting ready to scribe the Photo-flash dispenser lines and doors. I have caught the modification bug. I have bought riveters, plastic stock cutters, plastic stock, etc. I am beginning to believe I can make many of the things I want in a model. If it all works out I will see about adding the radar to this kit and will proceed as such. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted November 18, 2018 Share Posted November 18, 2018 Amazing work.. Keep 'em comin Peter 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SapperSix Posted November 19, 2018 Author Share Posted November 19, 2018 Soooooooooo much prep work. I have never had the opportunity nor the wherewithal to apply this kind of attention to a model. I am really excited about the potential of this model. Since I have come to this site I have leaped in all aspects of modeling due to all the excellent builders here.. More fuselage adjustments to make room for resin aftermarket items. Resin exhaust prepped, test fitted and researched. I have a ton of Alclad and for the exhaust sections of this aircraft. I have been doing a ton research on the exhaust itself and the application of Alclad. I will do some test shots on my test airbrush plane. I will really have to focus on the hues, hell everything actually..... The ALQ-71 Short (after I put in the missing antenna's) and ALQ-101are ready for primer. I haven't heard back from the pilot of this aircraft to determine which nose he used on the short. So I will prep both. All the extra resin that hasn't already been prepped is now ready. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaS Posted November 19, 2018 Share Posted November 19, 2018 Frank, Some great work, already! I am impressed. I was a short-Time member of VMFP-3 which flew Rf4's... All I can really remember that you might find interesting is white painted LG with some chipping (bare metal, no rust in the chipped areas), and soot on the inner vanes of the burner cans. Of course... I was a lot younger then, and the anti-radar gray of the 80's had replaced the cooler schemes of the 70's. Gaz 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grunhertz Posted November 19, 2018 Share Posted November 19, 2018 Looking good!!!! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators JeroenPeters Posted November 19, 2018 Administrators Share Posted November 19, 2018 Great start of an epic kit!! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 Frank Outstanding work. Just take your time and so happy your are sharing the journey Keep ‘em comin Peter 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SapperSix Posted November 26, 2018 Author Share Posted November 26, 2018 Well it was an adventure this weekend to say the least. I certainly hope anyone that was celebrating Thanksgiving had a grand time. All the parts that had been prepped are now primed with Mr Surfacer 1200. I live in Alaska and don't really have an indoor spray booth. That's not going to happen in the current residence as we are getting ready to install flooring and get the house on the market in preparation for a move early next year. I had to spray in my heated garage while providing adequate ventilation. It was a balance and as I was able to use the indoor heaters, fans and a lucky first time mix ratio to get a great primer coating on all the resin and some fuel tanks. You may notice that an exhaust jet to my J79 is missing in this picture......there was a mystery menace about the house.... A couple days past after the garage priming episode and I noticed when I checked on how things had dried that I was missing an exhaust jet. I knew it was in my possession after I had ran it in some warm water to get the dust from cutting and any oil off. I placed it on a drying board with many other parts. Turns out a day after I though it lost my daughter comes down stairs saying the dog had been chewing on something she didn't recognize. Here it is prior to any repair work. Luckly it will be buried deep in the plane and will not be a burden on the eye... I fixed the tail intake at the base of the vertical stabilizer as I had noticed in other builds this was corrected. I was able to confirm in subsequent research that it needed altering. So the original rendition was removed and I put in a extra piece of photo-etched. Unfortunately, this alteration was a little short and will have to be replaced. I started working on the rear cockpit and had to make some changes overall. This is part of the GT Resin cockpit with the instrumentation on either end removed and replaced with the Eduard instrumentation. Everything in between is "stock" and is still under construction. This is also part of the GT Resin Cockpit, rear upper instrumentation panel. There is no Eduard at all. The instrumentation is Airscale decals, placards custom made. The problem came when I realized that while I had many of the right instrumentation decals, they were not the right size. I tried making some on my computer but had many issues. Given some time, I will be able to work it out. I spent much time trying to make things fit, or trim down micro decals. I won a few and lost a few. My research and parts lined up to allowed me to do the instrumentation in the right order and placement for a RF-4C in this case. That will end here, as things will have to be adjusted as I move forward. It will be close, but not exact. Here are all the instrument panels that I worked on over the last two days. Placed to give an overall look at where it is all headed. By in large, I am pleased but also know I have lots of work to do. Lesson learned....I will have to dig deeper as I didn't perform enough research, purchase books and so on to get the full picture of the possibilities. That is, if my goal is exact replication....I have a vast learning curve in tools, techniques, capabilities and information sources. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaS Posted November 26, 2018 Share Posted November 26, 2018 IP looks good, mate! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grunhertz Posted November 26, 2018 Share Posted November 26, 2018 A great start 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted November 27, 2018 Share Posted November 27, 2018 Frank Terrific progress and nice going on overcoming so many obstacles at this stage of the build. Glad you were able to recover the engine front compressor part and even more important, your dog didn’t swallow it and avoided injury. The IP’s - sure are looking good. Keep ‘em comin Peter 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GusMac Posted November 27, 2018 Share Posted November 27, 2018 Ah the curse of the mutt! I lost an AIM-7 to one of our Jack Russells on my F-15C build but DennisE in NZ rescued me with a spare. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smitty44 Posted November 28, 2018 Share Posted November 28, 2018 Nice work! Man would I love to see more Recce Phantom stuff. I would kill for and RF-4B! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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