Joe's 1/72 F-4C Phantom II

[flyjoe180]

My entry is this kit. Unsure which scheme I'll use yet, but most probably the box top one with the William tell and Bicentennial markings.


I'll post sprue shots etc later, just getting life back in order after returning from the US.

[flyjoe180]

Finally got round to dragging this Phantom out for the box contents. Generic looking Hasegawa 1/72 Phantom.

[Ian M]

Nice one. Hope that every think is ok with you and that earth quake. 

[flyjoe180]

Thanks Ian. Just about everyone in NZ felt it on Monday night, but all is well where I am. It was upgraded to a 7.8 magnitude yesterday. The place isn't known as the Shaky Isles for no reason

[flyjoe180]

I pulled the Phantom out of the stash for the GB, and I'm nearly ready to start. Got to try and get this one finished well before the deadline, work life just got a whole lot busier...

[Dave W]

Nice looking kit Joe.

[colin m]

Another 'one true scale' Phantom. We'll be finished in a week or two.

[flyjoe180]

Work commenced a few days ago on the Phantom.

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Starting, with of course, the cockpit and nose section. I assembled most of the components and sprayed them cockpit grey.
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The ejection seats come with a basic seat and two halves for the seat surround. A nice touch is Hasegawa provides pull handles for the top of the seat and has moulded nice seat handles on the side. I obtained colour and parts references from this site http://www.ejectionsite.com/f4seat.htm. Recommend it for all of your Phantom builds, there are differences between the various versions. I glued a section of styrene to the tops of the seat to provide a better look to the top, and also to cover the horrible seam the two halves leave.
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The seats were painted accordingly, and I added some crude straps furnished from metal foil and painted. Not precise or a true replica, but under the closed canopy they will at least offer something.
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The cockpit was glossed and decals applied. I quite like these decals, they were easy to apply.
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The next stage was to build up the tub and nose section and insert the seats.

[flyjoe180]

The nose halves join up nicely. You can insert the completed tub for the cockpit from underneath, provided you don't cement the seats in first. The bottom of the tub assembly acts as the nose wheel cavity and the forward section of the fuselage undersides.
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As a piece of advice for Hasegawa builders of the Phantom, the rear bulge area immediately behind the cockpit: I added it because I thought it would be easier to paint the section facing the cockpit once it was blended in. However, the joining of the rear section to the front causes a nasty but small step, no matter how much dry fitting and scraping you do, and it simply gets in the way.
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[flyjoe180]

That step was then dealt to with various grades of sand paper, some filler, and small files.I also re-etched the recessed panels lost in the process, and reapplied the recessed rivet detail using the top of a fine drill bit.
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Then the main wing sections were assembled (the wing tips come later), and that part mated to the fuselage. This requires careful attachment, as not all areas around the exhausts line up. I glued it in sections. A ball point pen acted as a nice way of pushing the offending exhaust holes outward for a nice fit.
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Wing tips attached and HUD glued in with PVA
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The bulge under the nose (no idea what it is) was fitted. Before doing this a rather chunky aerial has to be removed and smoothed over. The attachment itself required a fair amount of smoothing too, but it conformed nicely to the shape of the nose with little fuss.
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[flyjoe180]

The exhausts are nicely moulded, but bare inside, meaning you are left with a blank looking tube which leads to a nicely moulded engine outlet at the base. So I added some home made petals to the interior to at least add some interest to the interior of the afterburning exhausts.
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I did this recently on another build and the effect was good once painted and weathered. A shame though that the kit manfucaturer didn't take the time to mould the exhaust interiors. It seems, looking at other Hasegawa kits I have, that this is common.

Sorry for the long update!

[papa 695]

Nice work Joe

[Guest]

Mmmmm...

[colin m]

Nice update Joe. You and Hase' have a really nice cockpit there.

[Dave W]

Nice work Joe.