KungFuDrew's Tamiya 1/48 F-4B Phantom II

[KungFuDrew]

I won't buy any new kits I said...

Not until I've at least finished 1 from the stash I said...


I'll start it once the postie delivers it...

[Twokidsnosleep]

At least it was a Phantom

[Tomcat64]

I'll start it once the postie delivers it...

Been there, done that! No more new kits, no more new kits.... yeah right

This is a stunning looking kit - count me in

[DBMiller]

You can't go wrong with a Phantom nor can you have too many of them (or kits).
That is in the rule book.

[Kevthemodeller]

You can't beat an F4

[Garion77]

Lucky you ! I want this kit ! I have the Academy one in my stash and Eduard's that is a rebox of the same kit... can't wait to see it build !

[KungFuDrew]

You can't beat an F4

You can't go wrong with a Phantom nor can you have too many of them (or kits).
That is in the rule book.

This is a stunning looking kit - count me in

At least it was a Phantom

Lucky you ! I want this kit ! I have the Academy one in my stash and Eduard's that is a rebox of the same kit... can't wait to see it build !

Cheers guys, these are pretty much the reasons (excuses) I used to justify buying this.

First up a bit of history from the book of wiki:
The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber originally developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy. Proving highly adaptable, it first entered service with the Navy in 1961 before it was adopted by the United States Marine Corps and the United States Air Force, and by the mid-1960s it had become a major part of their air arms. Phantom production ran from 1958 to 1981 with a total of 5,195 aircraft built, making it the most produced American supersonic military aircraft in history, and cementing its position as an iconic combat aircraft of the Cold War.

The Phantom is a large fighter with a top speed of over Mach 2.2. It can carry more than 18,000 pounds (8,400 kg) of weapons on nine external hardpoints, including air-to-air missiles, air-to-ground missiles, and various bombs. The F-4, like other interceptors of its time, was initially designed without an internal cannon. Later models incorporated an M61 Vulcan rotary cannon. Beginning in 1959, it set 15 world records for in-flight performance, including an absolute speed record and an absolute altitude record.

The F-4 was used extensively during the Vietnam War. It served as the principal air superiority fighter for the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps and became important in the ground-attack and aerial reconnaissance roles late in the war. During the Vietnam War, one U.S. Air Force pilot, two weapon systems officers (WSOs), one U.S. Navy pilot and one radar intercept officer (RIO) became aces by achieving five aerial kills against enemy fighter aircraft. The F-4 continued to form a major part of U.S. military air power throughout the 1970s and 1980s, being gradually replaced by more modern aircraft such as the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon in the U.S. Air Force, the F-14 Tomcat in the U.S. Navy, and the F/A-18 Hornet in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps.


The F-4 Phantom II remained in use by the U.S. in the reconnaissance and Wild Weasel (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses) roles in the 1991 Gulf War, finally leaving service in 1996. It was also the only aircraft used by both U.S. flight demonstration teams: the United States Air Force Thunderbirds (F-4E) and the United States Navy Blue Angels (F-4J). The F-4 was also operated by the armed forces of 11 other nations. Israeli Phantoms saw extensive combat in several Arab–Israeli conflicts, while Iran used its large fleet of Phantoms, acquired before the fall of the Shah, in the Iran–Iraq War. As of 2021, 63 years after its first flight, the F-4 remains in active service with the air forces of Iran, South Korea, Greece and Turkey. The aircraft has most recently been in service against the Islamic State group in the Middle East.

So the postie dropped it off yesterday, and I immediately started it once I got in from work.



Usual Tamiya fare with the box and plastic. The kit comes with markings for 3 birds, all with a nice large colour call-out sheet.


Plenty of decals too, however I won't be using these due to poor experiences with Tamiya decals in the past. I've ordered the Good Morning Da Nang set from Eduard to replace these.

So the first step is to prep the fuselage halves, everything here fit great, and the detail is wonderful.



Up next is the cockpit, and again no complaints. I don't see any need for any AM parts here.


Then it's the front gear bay and the burner cans. All of this is mostly just dry fitted together ready to be painted.


That's where I am now, I'll hopefully get some paint on them today, and maybe get it buttoned up if it all goes smoothly.

[aur0ra145]

Nice! I'm looking forward to seeing this build.

[DBMiller]

And this must be your diorama for the build!

phantom.jpg (168.86 KiB) Viewed 4464 times

[KungFuDrew]

And this must be your diorama for the build!

phantom.jpg

Nooooo... I hate ordinance. With a passion.

Progress has been good, this thing literally falls together. First thing was to get a layer of paint on the sub assemblies.


I'm quite happy with the cockpit considering I'm not the biggest fan of painting modern pits. After that the 2 halves could be joined.

Then it was onto the wings. The landing gear bays and auxiliary air intakes are just base coated, the access here is good enough to weather after I've painted the rest of the aircraft.


That could then be joined to the fuselage.

I've also made various sub assemblies such as the landing gear and burner cans. The intakes have been painted white on the inside, and I've masked them off and stuffed them with foam.


As I've said this thing is falling together, this is where it stands just now.


All that needs done now is the tail fin, finish the cockpit and the hated ordinance. Fortunately there's only 4 sidewinders and 4 sparrows to build and paint.

[Tomcat64]

Wow - that's coming together really well, and it sounds like the kit is living up to expectations as well.

[Kevthemodeller]

Off to a good start, you have to really go some to beat Tamiya quality.

[Garion77]

beautiful job with the cockpit ! and being the original stuff...no aftermarket wow. Stunning paint job

[KungFuDrew]

Wow - that's coming together really well, and it sounds like the kit is living up to expectations as well.

Off to a good start, you have to really go some to beat Tamiya quality.

beautiful job with the cockpit ! and being the original stuff...no aftermarket wow. Stunning paint job

Thanks guys, the kit really is great. I had to use a tiny bit of filler around the intakes, but apart from that it's been really smooth sailing (until we get to the end of painting, but that'll have to wait to the end of the post).

First was to finish off the pit. Not much to add here, just the pilot HUD, the Rio front control panel and the cockpit surround.


Then the canopy could go on. The masks are supplied with the kit, which you have to cut out by yourself.


The drop tanks etc. are all ready for paint as well.


The bird was primed with Mr Surfacer 1500 black, then I sprayed the underside white. To be on the safe side I then masked off all of the white to ensure I didn't accidentally get some overspray on it.




Then the Light Gull Grey could go on. All of the paint I've used are Mr Color lacquers, they're my new favourites.


Last to paint was the metallics at the exhaust. These were done with AK Extreme metals. I've painted some in slightly different shades, from research photos I've seen all different colours of metal on these.


So that's painting done right? Nothing else can really go wrong right? Wrong. I glossed the aircraft ready for decals, then started misting over some Mr Levelling Thinner to even out the gloss coat and give me a perfect finish ready for decals. Then disaster struck. I got a little too violent with the airbrush movements, and spilled levelling thinner over the model.





So after putting down the model, walking away, and having a good swear, I looked at the kit and realised the damage wasn't too bad. The thinner doesn't attack the plastic like some stronger ones do, so all that's damaged is paint (and ego). I'll need to sand back the affected areas and repaint them, but that shouldn't be too bad. My plan was to gloss the model, and then take a short break from it to ensure I didn't burn out given how quickly the build has went. I'll take that break now, and fix my fudge up once I get back to it in a few weeks. See you soon!

[Carles]

Wow !!
That´s an impressive job !!
Looks a really good kit. The detailed cockpit and rest of the parts are simply amazing!
Let´s see the rest of the progress .

Cheers
Carles.

[digger303]

Enough to wanna make you cry. So perfect then that....
Still a man with your skills will get that sorted.

[Tomcat64]

Ach I feel for you mate - we've all probably been there at one time or other.

Hopefully you can sort that out fairly easily & the rest of the paintjob looks great

[Garion77]

Really nice exhaust ! you should have taken a closer picture of it. What colors did you use ?

And for your problem to repair, can you explain what did ....not sure I understood. YOu've sprayed the gloss coat then Mr Leveling thinner over it ? What is the advantage of doing it ? And can you did it with any gloss coat ? Do you also thin the gloss you're spraying when doing that ?

That's a lot of questions !!

[KungFuDrew]

Wow !!
That´s an impressive job !!
Looks a really good kit. The detailed cockpit and rest of the parts are simply amazing!
Let´s see the rest of the progress .

Cheers
Carles.

Enough to wanna make you cry. So perfect then that....
Still a man with your skills will get that sorted.

Ach I feel for you mate - we've all probably been there at one time or other.

Hopefully you can sort that out fairly easily & the rest of the paintjob looks great

Thanks guys, I'll get back to it once the mojo is rebuilt, I'm building something tracked and muddy now for a change of scenery.

Really nice exhaust ! you should have taken a closer picture of it. What colors did you use ?

And for your problem to repair, can you explain what did ....not sure I understood. YOu've sprayed the gloss coat then Mr Leveling thinner over it ? What is the advantage of doing it ? And can you did it with any gloss coat ? Do you also thin the gloss you're spraying when doing that ?

That's a lot of questions !!

No problem! The colours were AK Interactive Extreme Metal Steel, Titanium and Gunmetal.

For the gloss coat these are my steps:
1. Spray the gloss coat, I use Mr Color GX-100, thinned with Mr Levelling thinner. Generally I'll do 2 light coats and wait until the model's touch dry.
2. I'll then mist over Mr Levelling thinner. I'm not looking to soak the kit here, as that could damage the paintwork (as you can see ). Doing this "re-activates" the paint, allowing it to even out, producing a much more even gloss coat.

As far as I'm aware this works with all lacquer paints, and should work with Mr Hobby Aqueous and Tamiya paints, as these are alcohol based. I don't think it would work with water based acrylics like Aqua Gloss. Also it NEEDS to be Levelling thinner, everything else will just make a mess. I'm far from and expert on this, it's only the second or third time I've tried this but it seems to have worked so far.

[KungFuDrew]

So after a short break, I'm back on the horse. The cock-up has been repaired, and no evidence of my ham fistedness remains:


Also, I've managed to lose one of the wheels. Fortunately this gives me the perfect excuse to upgrade to some resin wheels from Eduard:



The detail on these is 10x better than the kit option, so happy days.

I've started the process of decalling, this will likely take a while as there are lots of stencils, and decals are pure mojo killers for me. As it stands I've got 1 wing done, and plenty more to go.

Just a small update today, but things are back on track!

[digger303]

It's awesome already the decals will put it over the top.

[Tomcat64]

Nice save on the paintwork

[BigWall]

Yes! nice save. It's looking good

[PrivatePublic]

Wow, shaping up nicely and the paint job looks great. I do wish kit-supplied masks, or at least mask templates, were more of a norm

[KungFuDrew]

Thanks folks, I'm quite happy with how the repair went. Unfortunately, more damage has been done...

So I spend a few days away from the bench, and I did some work on a Centurion just to have a break from decals. Then one day I sit at the bench and this is what I find:


Bugger. Bugger and b*llocks.

No-one owned up to it so I'll just have to get on with the repair. I glued the bits back on, then carefully filled and sanded the join.



Fortunately I had only applied the tiger's head decal on the tail, so I wasn't having to mask over decals. I thoroughly masked the section off, and used a bit of paper to protect the decal from the tape. I then painted it and this is how it looks now.


The picture doesn't show it, but there's a visible crack through the black strip. I'm just going to have to live with this, as I can't sand in this area as it's too tight, and I'll just end up destroying the detail in this area.

With another repair done, I've cracked on with the decals. I'm 95% there with just under a month to go, so I should get them finished within the next couple of days, then on to weathering. I won't be doing anything crazy with it, just a few streaks and oil stains, so it shouldn't be long and I'll be done!

[digger303]

Would have been a bit of a shock to find it like that. Looks like it landed right on it's tail. I dropped mine a couple of weeks ago right on the wing tip and bent it at right angles. I was lucky and able to bend it back. Today I was a bit unthinking with the soldering iron
The build looks great though got the great smooth lines of a commercial jet showing through already.

[aur0ra145]

Really nice job on the repair!

[Tomcat64]

That's another superb save, but what the hell happened?!?!

[KungFuDrew]

Onwards! The finish line is in sight!

That's another superb save, but what the hell happened?!?!

As Digger said, it looks like it was knocked of the bench and landed straight on it's tail. Fortunately It didn't bend too badly, it just snapped. This was probably the best of a bad situation as it was a relatively easy repair.

Decals are done! These are the reason I tend to stay away from jets. I like building them, painting them, and weathering them, but I haaaate decals. There's currently a F-14 and a MiG-31 on the shelf of doom waiting on decals. So I'm chuffed I've finished these. Hopefully downhill running from now on .



The aircraft was glossed, and then given a dark dirt wash, and then a satin varnish. I've found Ultimate Dark Dirt to be magic juice for planes, as it really makes the panel lines pop, and gives it a bit of weathering at the same time.

Next I could start adding bits again. The landing gear and hardpoints have been glued on, the tanks are just dry fitted.


Then she could get her boots on!


The wheels were a pig to get on and aligned. I was planning to use some epoxy to fix them, to give me some working time. However, my epoxy has went walkabout. I've had to use superglue, which made getting them to sit flat and straight a sod.

So on the to do list:
1. Some oil streaking. Nothing too heavy, just a little to give it some visual interest.
2. Finish the weapons. The sparrows and the droptanks are at the same stage as the plane, the sidewinders have got the decals on them and are no further.

And that's it. Not much to go. With any luck, I'll get this finished over the long weekend.

[Garion77]

WOW this is stunning. The paint job is perfect. Can't wait to do one myself. I have 2 in my stash but not tamiya's yet.

[aur0ra145]

That looks fantastic!

[Stokesy44]

Beautiful work and a great save on the tail damage

[KungFuDrew]

Thanks guys! This'll be the last update cause the model is DONE!

I used some oils to do some very light streaking. The camera doesn't pick it up well, but it's a lot more noticeable IRL. I could then add the drop tanks which got the same treatment as the jet.



The missiles could then be added. This underside photo shows off the streaking a bit better.


Some shiny bits got painted with a Molotow marker, then the masks could come off of the canopy, and she was done!




So that's that, first jet completed in ~2yrs. She put up a fight, but I'm mostly happy with it. I need to work on my painting, I did some mottling while painting, but it was too subtle. It looked great when painted, but under the varnish, decals and washes it looks mostly flat apart from a few places. There's always room to improve! I'll take the lessons learnt here and apply them to the next GB. I'll be building something big, blue and from Tamiya. See you soon!

[Twokidsnosleep]

Bud that is just a downright fantastic Rhino

[digger303]

Lovely craft

[BigWall]

Very awesome!