**** DONE: GB- 35 1/144 F-4 Phantom - Vietnam French/American War 1950-1975

[fubar57]

I'm having major Hobbycraft flash-backs. Good work Igor

 

[Rogi]

Thanks all trying to make these updates standard but its moving along bit by bit. I bit the bullet and did the intakes tonight, hoping that they'll turn out good in the morning. I used an old drill to scratch away some putty, thankfully I applied a lot of putty to the intakes previously so it gave me a good amount to sculpt

The real aircraft and the air vents, previous pic

Then I noticed that they weren't that even :S

so I expanded the intakes and then puttied to make sure both sides are even, tomorrow I'll update with the sanding and final paint (hopefully )

This Hobbycraft kit is testing me but so far its been a good ride on this rollercoaster. Thanks all for taking it with me and the support.

 

[Gnomey]

Nicely done so far!

 

[Wayne Little]

 

[Crimea_River]

So, Igor, give us a sense of your plans as you indicated that you are coming into exams soon. Do you plan to finish in the next few days? We've reached the agreed extension but can wait a bit more but not if it's weeks.

 

[Rogi]

So, Igor, give us a sense of your plans as you indicated that you are coming into exams soon. Do you plan to finish in the next few days? We've reached the agreed extension but can wait a bit more but not if it's weeks.

I've got exams up to the 16th, I can do a little in that time but I have to place my concentration on the studies, I'm doing something small each day but planning things out I've got this to finish:
1. Get the tail planes on (possibly putty) that should take 1-3 days depending
2. fixing the little tid bits (weapons, pylons etc.) this can be done in 1 day
3. {Painting the aircraft 1-3 days depending on how many coats go on)
4. Decals and future, future takes 3 days to dry but I'm planning something else where I won't need future, so worst case 3 days,

All in all after exams 16th I can go at it the whole day for the weekend, but if everyone could wait till Wednesday (the 20th) as the final deadline that should be enough even counting Future drying for 3 days. Is that an ok deadline for everyone?

 

[parsifal]

I don't know how you can do so well igor . at that scale the kit has to be unforgiving.

 

[Crimea_River]

Well, I think it really should be up to the other GB participants to be fair.

 

[parsifal]

I have no objections to extending the build

 

[Wayne Little]

if your making the effort amonst exams, then i'm happy to see it finished.

 

[Rogi]

Thanks all so much am determined to see this build through to the end had 3 exams the last couple days so had to take a bit of a breather and didn't feel up to it, after one of my exams today I decided that I felt great and got the tail done
long update:
1. Hard to get it symmetrical and photographed alright, but I think I captured it well I have to warn you guys, if you want to do the exact angle (23 degrees I believe) it can't be done with this kit without some modifications, the locator sections for the tails aren't in a good position to bend it all the way. The tails themselves were designed to sit level on the kit (and they sit immensely well level I almost kept it level ) I decided to bend it as much as I could without crazy modifications to the tail and I think it turned out well, symmetry was the goal for me and trying to match the look of the actual aircraft.

and the real aircraft, from photos it depends on the angle but it looks great to me

2. Next step was putty, I only applied a little bit around the central attachment sections as the actual aircraft has this same configuration as the kit which (the kit can sit flush with little to no putty needed, but I elected to mimic the gap on the actual aircraft) only the central attachment arm attached to the fuselage is visibly flush with the aircraft.
highlighted in orange here, you can see it doesn't sit flush and there is a visible gap on both sides of the attachment arm.

This applied to all models of the phantom as we can see an Israeli phantom here as well.

and the kit:

Finally I decided to putty the fuselage tanks, they had a big seam on pylon attachment area which was too visible for me to keep as is, I will clean this up in the morning.

Thanks all for checking this out and your comments are welcome and greatly appreciated

Igor

 

[Crimea_River]

Doing good. I think the anhedral is a bit more but you'll risk breaking the things if you go further. Good stuff.

 

[Wurger]

Looking good thought.

 

[Gnomey]

Lovely work so far!

 

[parsifal]

Keep plugging igor

 

[Wayne Little]

Doing good..!

 

[Rogi]

I'm almost there, here is the status report (I'll have a HUGE update tomorrow, thought it better to model than photo too too much).
I got sick on Friday after my final exam, it was rough through the weekend but its like the flu/headache/exhaustion kicked in after exams which is great , not so much for the model, I pushed through it and got to painting. What was done
1. Exhausts in, and sanded to conform to the actual aircraft.
2. Ejector Seats were "updated" to match those used in the F-4E
3. puttied some wing/fuselage sections that didn't conform/sit well and those seams are finally eliminated
4. Painted the bottom portion (Tamiya XF-80 with some slight lightening up with Flat White, multiple light coats.
5. Painted the top portion of the aircraft (a Yellow/tan mixture that I'll go into a bit of detail tomorrow.) multiple light coats as well.
7. Sanded down the pylons and readied the missiles by fixing their seams, but when I look at them now, I might just leave the Phantom with just Pylons and some drop tanks.
8. Almost forgot, painted the wheel wells white, I'm not sure if it should be white or match the bottom color (some sources conflict each other) but I like the white look best and it gives the phantom a bit of kick to all that XF-80

Left to do
1. Finish the seats and remaining details in the cockpit (instrument panels)
2. Paint the remaining 2 green colors up top
3. Fix the Wheels (yes, there are some "slight" issues with them
4. Paint the Canopy
5. Apply insignia and markings
6. Attach the wheels, pylons, drop tanks etc.

If I can do up to 5 tomorrow, I think I'll be able to complete everything on Wednesday, I'm hoping beyond anything to be able to finish this

 

[Crimea_River]

Good stuff Igor. We be awaitin' but don't rush it.

 

[Airframes]

Sounds good, but as Andy stated, don't rush - better to get it right, than spoil it by trying to go too quickly.

 

[Wayne Little]

Look forward to it...