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Trying to covert this:

IMG_0931.jpg

Into this:

63-7704.jpg

I did some 72nd scale F-4's before, though this time I'll use the well known (?) Verlinden update set to cheer things up. It has been laying around here for to long, so it has to be used (I do not expect to much of it)...

Decals are from Microscale, some resin wheels hrom Truedetail and a bit more. Since the radarhousing will be opened, the model will look as if been worked on. There for the seamless suckers will not be used, but PE engine covers from Eduard will be used.

Here's the first work in progress:

IMG_0942.jpg

Hope you like it so far.

Daniël

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My first update;

Actually as expected, the Verlinden PE is not the best... In the cockpit, nearly nothing fitted properly, and the left and right pannels were to wide and to short...

Since it's a 72nd scale model, and, the F-4's cockpit is quit deep, I try not to bother to much about it, since most will be invisible once the model is finished.

Here's the nearly finished pit:

IMG_0945.jpg

IMG_0946.jpg

And a final shot:

IMG_0959.jpg

Well, before I started building, I first broke some down;

IMG_0954.jpg

IMG_0957.jpg

To add detail, the ailerons will be lowered, and the rudder will be repositioned. The Verlinden set includes some resin which will be placed in the wing. First fittings are not really promissing....

Strange thing is that the Verlinden detail set includes PE for (F-4E) gun detail, and PE for side pannels to be opened. Evethough the PE is provided, there is no resin to go along with it, nor are the parts mentioned in the intructions. Maybe the set is a copy of a 48th scale (?) set ????

Maybe I'll use the PE parts in the future, in combination with some scratch building..

That's it so far,

Daniël

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The verlinden set provides you with a nice piece of resin to be fit into the wing. Hopefully it will be a nice detail once the model is finished.

Before I could place the resin, quit some sanding had to be done, not only on the resin but also on both inner halfs of the wing;

IMG_0964.jpg

Dry fit;

IMG_0967.jpg

IMG_0969.jpg

And glued:

IMG_0971.jpg

That's it for now,

Daniël

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  • 5 weeks later...

In an attempt to get this Phantom finished before the deadline, Ive been working on it all day.

Progress comes slowly...

Ive never tried it before, so on this model I painted all white surfaces black before brushing the white.

The white indeed got more depth then it normally would, but Im not really satisfied with the result att..

Guess I should experiment a bit more with this, maybe use (dark) grey next time instead;

IMG_0974.jpg

Since Im using aftermarket burnercan (which are longer), I had to remove some material from the fuselage. Lucky I found this out in time, and not afterward when the wings are glued to the fuselage!

IMG_0979.jpg

Here are the aftermarket cans in comparison to the original Hasegawa ones:

IMG_0984.jpg

The cans are not finished, they will see some more paint and will be polished afterwards.

Status so far:

IMG_0980.jpg

I hope you like it,

Daniël

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I took the photo that you posted of the real 63-7704 back on May 6, 1983, just before I went to Ramstein AB, Germany. I was in New Orleans to ship my car to Germany, and stopped by the NAS on May 5th and photographed all of the ANG F-4Cs, AFRES A-10s and Navy Reserve A-7s that were outside. I shot 7704 from the right side that day. I came back the next morning to reshoot 7704 from the left (the photo you posted) to get the MiG kill. Then I went over to the port, dropped off my car and took a taxi to the airport. Those were the good ol' days... I have a couple more photos I took from the other side of the airplane if they'll be useful to you.

Scott Wilson

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Nice build so far, And Scott, PLEASE post more photos. I hope to build this plane one of these years.

Here ya go. The first I shot at Red Flag, March 22, 1983. Note "Conass Militia" had been painted over:

63-7704March221983ScottWilson.jpg

Here's the one I shot May 5, 1983:

63-7704May51983ScottWilson.jpg

And here's perhaps a slightly better scan than the OP posted of the May 6th photo:

63-7704May61983ScottWilson.jpg

Scott Wilson

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Thank you very much Scott for sharing !!!

The quality of these pics is much better then what I had!

First time I saw the initial shot was in a booklet called Mig Kill Markings from the Vietnam War. Guess that's the pic that got me triggered!

My reference says the high vis roundel is only at the bottom, but maybe you can recall this Scott ?

I'm back to the built, I can only hope my model will come just a bit close to what's on your pics.

Tanks again for posting

Daniël

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Thank you very much Scott for sharing !!!

The quality of these pics is much better then what I had!

First time I saw the initial shot was in a booklet called Mig Kill Markings from the Vietnam War. Guess that's the pic that got me triggered!

My reference says the high vis roundel is only at the bottom, but maybe you can recall this Scott ?

I'm back to the built, I can only hope my model will come just a bit close to what's on your pics.

Tanks again for posting

Daniël

The two-tone gray Coonass Militia F-4Cs were repainted with water-based temporary gray paint for the Red Flag exercise in March 1983, and evidently the unit liked the scheme since they kept it for some time afterwards. So far as I can tell, only the F-4Cs in the unit that were still in the old SEA white-belly scheme got this treatment. When I photographed the unit in May 1983 there were a number of SEA wraparound jets on the ramp that didn't have the grey paint. The undersides of the repainted airplanes were left in 36622 light gray, with the original full color national insignia. If you look at my photos of 7704 from May you can see spots where the old green and tan camouflage was showing through. I didn't take any top view photos of any of the jets, but from what I can tell from my photos, 7704's wing tops were painted in the pattern very much like the later Hill Gray scheme, with the outer wings light gray and the inner wings dark. Every airplane in the two-tone gray had a different pattern, and I believe one or two had different shades of gray too.

Several other units also used the water based temporary paint in the early 1980s. I've got some very interesting photos of some F-4S Phantoms from VMFA-235 that I took at Nellis in which they painted each airplane in different colors, including one jet in two-tone pink. I also was able to photograph the tail of a C-141B at Norton AFB that had the gray of the Euro-1 scheme overpainted with desert tan, but unfortunately I was never able to get a photo of the whole airplane.

Here are a few more of the photos I shot of the 122nd's jets:

63-7463March221983NellisAFBScottRWi.jpg

63-7492NellisAFBMar221983ScottWilso.jpg

63-7506NellisAFBMar231983ScottWilso.jpg

63-7522NASNewOrleansMay51983ScottWi.jpg

63-7552NASNewOrleansMay51983ScottWi.jpg

63-7555NASNewOrleansMay51983ScottWi.jpg

Scott Wilson

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Here are some images of 63-7637. The first one I shot at Nellis on March 23, 1983, the second one was shot by Charles B Mayer on one of the the same days I was at New Orleans, May 4, 1983, but I don't know where Mr. Mayer took this one... The third I found on the web ages ago.

63-7637NellisMar231983ScottWilson.jpg

63-7637May41983CharlesBMayer.jpg

63-7637.jpg

Scott Wilson

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I don't want to bore you all with any more photos of these jets, but let me post this one. It was taken by John P. Santucci, and if you look at the part of the rear nose gear door that's in daylight and not shadow, you can see it is indeed FS 36622, not the grays of the topside of the jet.

Scott Wilson

63-7637VolkFieldMay1983JohnPSantucc.jpg

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Before I start with another update;

THANKS SCOTT !!!!

Those are some very usable (and nice) pics !

Several other units also used the water based temporary paint in the early 1980s. I've got some very interesting photos of some F-4S Phantoms from VMFA-235 that I took at Nellis in which they painted each airplane in different colors, including one jet in two-tone pink. I also was able to photograph the tail of a C-141B at Norton AFB that had the gray of the Euro-1 scheme overpainted with desert tan, but unfortunately I was never able to get a photo of the whole airplane.

Scott Wilson

Two-tone pink F-4S really sounds lovely !! With Phantom pics you can always spam my mailbox, no problem at all !!

At the moment I'm still trying to get this F-4C phinished in time, though with only free 2 days left, I'm not to shure if it's going to happen....

The stabilo's have been painted with a mixture of Humbrol Metal Cote's; the stabilo on the right has allready been polished.

Once that is done, I'll use some Alclad II paints to add more detail, and flatblack or smoke to make them dirty:

IMG_0996.jpg

The burnercans are nearing completion:

IMG_0989.jpg

Now for the rest of the model, as said; I just hope I'll get it ready in time:

IMG_0994.jpg

IMG_0995.jpg

Thanks for reading !

Daniël

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Hate to admit I didn't make the deadline...

I had to work for the past days, making it impossible to finish the model in time (it would have been a close finish anyway..).

At the moment I'm waiting for paints, and it will be next weekend before I can actually start painting the F-4.

I know....shame on me :cheers:

Status at the time:

The Verlinden set provides you with a large one-piece PE to add deatil the the cockpit-frame. As I thought, it wasn't a perfect fit...so I had to sand the whole piece...

IMG_1000.jpg

IMG_1002.jpg

Using superglue, not only for the PE, but also for the windshield wasn't a whise thing to do... The vapours from the glue made the windshield less transparant.... :woot.gif:

The aft-section has been painted with both Humbol Metal Colors and Alclad II paints. I'm quit happy with the result, but some more shades will be added:

IMG_1007.jpg

Untill next week (yeah, I still intend to finish this one..), the model will remain like this:

IMG_1004.jpg

Thanks for reading,

Daniël

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  • 1 month later...

Is was glad to see I'm not the only one still building here...

A short update this time while work contignues, I'm hoping to have this one finished next week :worship:

IMG_1009.jpg

On the pic above the poor fitting of the PE can be seen, both the ring on the fasalage, and on the radardome are oversized and needed quit some sanding...

With that finished, I could contignue and do a bit of pre-shading:

IMG_1011.jpg

Once the preshade dried, I could contignue painting the aircraft. At first I did the bottom of the F-4, and later the uppersurfaces. I'm used to scale down my paints, specially working in 72nd scale. But doiung so, I ran into a small problem... The first paint to go on the uppersurface was FS16495, which is the lighter of the 2 greys.. When spraying the 2nd color (FS16375), I found that the color was way to light and I had to do the paintjob a 2nd time with the paint not being scaled-down...

IMG_1014.jpg

Guess I will be doing some post-shading, since more paint then expected went over the pre-shade ...

Thanks for reading

Daniël

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Very cool pics!

Two of my board members flew 704 while she was with the 122nd. I was talking to them both about her at the last board meeting. They both loved that bird! The fact that she was a MiG killer was even better!

Jon

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Before I start with another update;

THANKS SCOTT !!!!

Those are some very usable (and nice) pics !

Two-tone pink F-4S really sounds lovely !! With Phantom pics you can always spam my mailbox, no problem at all !!

Thanks for reading !

Daniël

Here's the pink F-4S from VMFA-232. I've never seen a top-view or left side view of this airplane, otherwise I'd try to model it myself. When I took this photo my escort from Nellis AFB Public Affairs wasn't going to let me photograph it at all because the radome was open, but I talked him into letting me shoot it from the right rear so the radar wasn't visible.

Scott Wilson

153860VMFA-232NellisNov82ScottWilso.jpg

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:)

OMG...do u have any other shots of that Scott? (I know you said you haven't seen the other side...but any other pics of this side would be nice!! :beer4:)

=Awan

I have one photo taken from the right front quarter with the radome closed, taken by another photographer but I don't have permission to post it, sorry. There was a Koku-Fan special on the F-4 published in the mid-80s that has another shot also taken from the same side, I don't know if you'll be able to find a copy of that book.

Scott Wilson

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