1/48 Hsgw F-4E

[Janissary]

Hi Chris, no problem at all. To the contrary, I very much welcome such input because the comments like yours and Scott's provide the best learning opportunities. I have to admit that my knowledge of many of the airframes I model are quite limited. For the engine faces, I actually used the engines from a Hasegawa 1/72 F-14. I just cut it in half and attached those to the intakes. So neither the scale nor the engine type is accurate. I now understand that the airbrakes should be the same color as the bottom. But the wheel wells? I assumed that would be white, is that not correct? Mine will be a Turkish Air force F-4 in Hill gray scheme. Any input would be appreciated. I could not understand which part should be tan (the flame holder) but I will do some research on it. Again thanks so much for your input.

[Janissary]

Hello, a few updates I thought I would share. Dipped the canopy in future, made a HUD glass from packaging plastic and attached the windshield.

I wanted to really have a seamless attachement so ended up filling and sanding the seam. I had to repolish the windshield (sandpaper + compound + future applied with a brush).

During the process, I rinsed the model under tap water and that caused some frosting on the blue part of the windshield that was painted from the bottom. I tried to fix that by running some future inside the HUD area. Less than optimal results:

Edited December 13, 2010 by Janissary

[Janissary]

I was able to lose the seamline as I hoped and had a nice surface on the outside of the windshield but the underside is a little weird. Decided to move on with masking... Using the one piece canopy, I traced the edges of the canopy pieces with a pencil under a bright light. Then, I cut the mask to shape with the help of some curved edges.

Then, painted the frames in black and followed a similar process for the bridge part of the canopy in the middle. All this to have a seamless junction. Hope it will be worthwhile.

[Janissary]

Finally, I cleaned the model with cotton dabbed in alcohol to remove fingerprints. Then, I started with thin coats of surfacer 1200. In the middle of it, I decided to give Tamiya xf-19 a try as a primer. I think it worked ok. When done, I cleaned the model with an old cotton towel to remove any impurities/dust on the surface.

Many of the sanding, panel line rescribing and riveting problems are visible in the closeups. In the future, I may do riveting after applying the primer. Also, despite being careful, there are tons of places where I went over a rivet path twice or more to get an appropriate depth. At some places the tool did not follow the previous rivets causing some irritating results. I will accept my defeat and will next continue with painting (don't have the energy to fix them )

Edited December 13, 2010 by Janissary

[kurnass77]

Jannissary,

I think that your work of rescribing and riveting is superb but also I understand your dissatisfaction with any mistakes that you and only you know that there are and on which your eye falls immediately, the same thing happens to me.

Again, I think you did an excellent job and I do not wait to see this beauty painted!

Gianni

[mareku]

That is a great modeling job congrats. waiting fore more

[Honza K.]

Not bad men! But many rivets you done over the "servis" panels....

And check the panel lines on underside between air intakes....

;)

[Janissary]

Thank you very much all. I agree that I have gone overboard with the rivets. The reference I have shows rivets all over the place and I went with it without really questioning it. I worked quite a bit on the infamous seam at the bottom but could not get a very good finish. That too bothers me.

I have masked the grey line with bluetack. I wanted a somewhat feathered transition but not that much.

Gunze paints are hard to find. So, I first applied Tamiya XF-24 to get the base color about right. Tamiya dries very flat which I don't like. To have some sheen, I added a little but Tamiya clear gloss to the airbrush. This makes Tamiya paint much better in my opinion (similar to Gunze in performance). Then, I applied only a few layers of Gunze 305 to get the final color.

[Janissary]

Since my last post, I have changed my plan. Now she will be a QF-4. That was for multiple reasons: my lack of Tuaf decals, a desire to have a little bit more color etc. Anyway, I tried to study some QF-4 pictures. They seem to have a number of little sensors/gadgets attached to the fin and the spine. I tried to replicate them as much as I could but I think it is less than satisfactory.

For the orange parts, I used MM International orange but I am not sure of its accuracy.

My next step will be to do some post shading and hopefully some heavy weathering. For the first time, I plan to try paint chipping, oil weathering, filters etc. and maybe even the hair spray technique. Youtube has lots of great videos for these. Hopefully I can get something decent.

[Neo]

Looks great

good job

[agelos2005]

great job mate!

[Honza K.]

I am sorry men, but the uncut rivets looks very bad!

After riveting is good to use 800 sendpaper to grind them....

[JMan]

WOW, great looking Phantom! Cant wait to see more!

[Paulo Jose Simas]

An Outstanding Cockpit ... a great job on Metal effects and with the rivets ...

Keep going the great job

[Janissary]

Hello, thanks all for your comments. I agree with Honza that the rivets look pretty bad (almost like bullet holes). This is a good learning experience for the future. I also don't like the way I attached the drooped flaps as it looks like they are solidly welded in place. Anyway, decided to plow through...

I did some post shading with the base colors lightened and darkened with white and black respectively. I also did some minimal shading with dark brown added to the mix. This step takes a lot of time for me.

[Janissary]

Next I tried some decals straight from the box. The hsgw decals are pretty thick so even though I applied several coats of microsol and mr. mark softer, they are still not the way I would want them to be. Perhaps some future may help blend them in. I have not applied a wash yet.

My guess is that at the end she will look too crisp and clean even though the real thing usually looks pretty beat up. I desperately need to learn some advanced weathering techniques like those the armor modelers use (chipping, oils, filters, hair spray). I tried a few on an old model and was not pleased with the results . Anyway, I am all ears if you have suggestions in this direction. These are the looks I would ideally want to achieve:

http://www.ausairpower.net/QF-4E-021202-O-9999G-002-1S.jpg

http://www.strategypage.com/gallery/images/QF-4-drone.jpg

http://i.planepictures.net/96/80/1281546177.jpg

[Scott R Wilson]

You do know 68 models didn't have TISEO? Ah well, it's only a model. Here's a shot I took of your airplane (the real one though) back when it was one of the F-4Es I worked on in the 526 TFS, 86 TFW at Ramstein AB, West Germany, in case it interests you. I took this photo on September 18, 1985 at Ramstein.

And here's another photo I took of 534, this one was at Zaragoza AB, Spain on July 19, 1983. Here you can see the lack of the TISEO pod on the wing leading edge:

Edited December 28, 2010 by Scott R Wilson

[jmel]

My guess is that at the end she will look too crisp and clean even though the real thing usually looks pretty beat up. I desperately need to learn some advanced weathering techniques like those the armor modelers use (chipping, oils, filters, hair spray). I tried a few on an old model and was not pleased with the results :(. Anyway, I am all ears if you have suggestions in this direction. These are the looks I would ideally want to achieve:

You're right that these jets look pretty beat up, but they don't get dirty. The paint looks so bad because they've sat in the desert for 20 years, and the paint is very faded. Also, pay very close attention to the areas around the cockpit and radome. This area was protected under spraylat while in storage, so it is very clean and looks just like it did prior to retirement. Another prominent feature of the QF-4s is the AMARC servicing stencil added each time it is pulled from storage and serviced. Over a 20 year period at AMARC, these stencils can add up quickly. They are usually found on the left engine inlet area.

You got a few of the QF-4 antennas, but there are a plethora of additional antennas on the nose and fuselage, in the LF Sparrow well, and wingtips. There are also the red and white SAFE/ARMED lights on the fuselage. Lastly, the hump on the spine on your model is the early style found on the first couple batches of QF-4s. Most of the QF-4Es and nearly all of the QRF-4Cs do not have this hump.

Here are some QF photos that may help show antenna and paint details.

[Janissary]

Dear Scott and Jake. Thanks so much for these pictures. I had not seen these before. I simply used the kit decals and used the tiseo thinking that it would add interest. Did not know it didn't appear in 68 models (good info for the future). Incidentally, I don't even know if 68-534 has been converted to a drone. Regardless, I honestly feel so privileged to be talking to those who have been extremely close to these machines.

Jake, I plan to add two sparrows to the forward bottom fuselage to cover up the seamline there. Would this be inaccurate based on the position of the antenna in the LF sparrow well you mentioned? I have found the following that shows that QF-4s also fired missiles (I thought they only were used as targets). Anyway, if the sparrow is too much out of place for this plane, I won't use it. Otherwise, I plan to. Any thoughts?

http://steeljawscribe.com/2008/01/24/drone-bites-back

[jmel]

Jake, I plan to add two sparrows to the forward bottom fuselage to cover up the seamline there. Would this be inaccurate based on the position of the antenna in the LF sparrow well you mentioned? I have found the following that shows that QF-4s also fired missiles (I thought they only were used as targets). Anyway, if the sparrow is too much out of place for this plane, I won't use it. Otherwise, I plan to. Any thoughts?

http://steeljawscribe.com/2008/01/24/drone-bites-back

No, don't put the Sparrows on the QFs. In fact, the LF Sparrow well is no longer a recessed well due to the structure added to it during the conversion from F-4 to QF-4. The QF-4s are used for a ton of duties aside from target practice. There is an article on the QF-4 in the January issue of Air International that explains the mission. It should be on the newsstands in the next couple of weeks.

Jake

Edited December 29, 2010 by jmel

[mareku]

Your modeling job is fantastic

[Aigore]

Thar may be the coolest Phantom I ever saw!!! :D

What a weathering bonanza!!!!!

[Neo]

Man this thing is so worn the Flinstoned it !!! LOL

Your build look awsome too

[HomagerMan]

Amazing build. I really love the paint job, especially around the burner cans.

Outstanding!

James

[G_Marcat_Italy]

Very interesting job: You know the way to do a model that emerge from the mass!