The Armistice Challenge - 1/48 F-4J Phantom build

The Armistice Challenge - 1/48 F-4J Phantom build was created by Craig Sargent

Ian has issued a challenge to me for us to build the same kit(s) and enter them in the same category(s) at Armistice next year. In his words, paraphrased, “you and I need to get more competitive”

This is a formal record of the “thrown down gauntlet”.

To make this more interesting, I’m thinking we should have some guidelines and penalties, I mean “incentives”.

So, Ian, I think we should do the following:

• come up with about a half-dozen subject choices we can agree on
• put it to membership vote
• set some penalties for non-completion to make it interesting
• and then let any other members join, sort of a pseudo-GB

“How say you savage?”

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On The Bench (2021)
Hasegawa 1/48 F-4J Phantom
Tamiya 1/48 Martlet IV conversion
Hasegawa 1/48 TAV-8B Harrier conversion
Trumpeter 1/32 A-10A Thunderbolt
Tamiya 1/32 F-14B Tomcat conversion
Hasegawa 1/72 F-104S Starfighter
Hasegawa 1/72 UH-60A Yanshuf conversion

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Replied by Nosferatu on topic The Armistice Challenge

S**t just got real!

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"Of all the things I've lost I miss my mind the most"

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Replied by Craig Sargent on topic The Armistice Challenge

That was easy then. 1/48 F-4Js it is.

Checked the stash and I have one of each flavour - Hasegawa, Academy (Eduard) and Zoukei Moura, in a virgin state.

Markings are easy for me as all have different VMFA-451 schemes allocated and scheme to use depends on which kit.

Academy/Eduard scheme is what’s in the box.

Does this work in with your Phantom plans Ian?

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On The Bench (2021)
Hasegawa 1/48 F-4J Phantom
Tamiya 1/48 Martlet IV conversion
Hasegawa 1/48 TAV-8B Harrier conversion
Trumpeter 1/32 A-10A Thunderbolt
Tamiya 1/32 F-14B Tomcat conversion
Hasegawa 1/72 F-104S Starfighter
Hasegawa 1/72 UH-60A Yanshuf conversion

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Replied by IAN on topic The Armistice Challenge

Yep I'll match that: Not sure what's in the box, pretty sure there's some seats, 'correct' missiles and maybe some Aires pipes. I do know that the decals are in there...for this machine:

Need to finish one build before starting properly; the NASCAR racer that I brought to Cambridge. Once that's done I'll clear the bench and simply go-for-it. No reason why we can't use this thread to post our progress.

AFN



Ian.

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Replied by Craig Sargent on topic The Armistice Challenge

The Eduard boxing of the Academy kit has resin seats, exhausts and wheels, as well as coloured photo-etch for the cockpit, so I think I'm mostly set for aftermarket for this build. I may throw in some Master Models brass pitot tubes.

I'll need to work out stores load too and see what I need.

Still working on which Warlords scheme to build, but leaning towards the one in the kit still.

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On The Bench (2021)
Hasegawa 1/48 F-4J Phantom
Tamiya 1/48 Martlet IV conversion
Hasegawa 1/48 TAV-8B Harrier conversion
Trumpeter 1/32 A-10A Thunderbolt
Tamiya 1/32 F-14B Tomcat conversion
Hasegawa 1/72 F-104S Starfighter
Hasegawa 1/72 UH-60A Yanshuf conversion

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Replied by Craig Sargent on topic The Armistice Challenge

Here we go. Get the formalities out of the way and then I can work on this at leisure.

Eduard pic of the box top.

Plastic in the box, minus parts not being used which I have removed this morning, with phone for date. The box under the phone contains the Eduard Brassin seats, wheels and exhausts.

The unused parts in the box lid. Plenty of additions to the spares box.

The instructions, Brassin parts, Fine Molds brass pitots, Furball and Eduard photoetch.

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On The Bench (2021)
Hasegawa 1/48 F-4J Phantom
Tamiya 1/48 Martlet IV conversion
Hasegawa 1/48 TAV-8B Harrier conversion
Trumpeter 1/32 A-10A Thunderbolt
Tamiya 1/32 F-14B Tomcat conversion
Hasegawa 1/72 F-104S Starfighter
Hasegawa 1/72 UH-60A Yanshuf conversion

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Replied by Craig Sargent on topic The Armistice Challenge

Making a little progress on this build, in between some other things I’m trying to get finished. Eduard have quite a few errors in their cockpit, but in the interests of keeping this one moving, I’m ignoring as much as I can, so what is here so far is pretty much OOB.

I don’t like the grey base colour of the photo-etch - Eduard seem very random on their colours, even though the correct colour should be FS36231. Eduard even call for the correct colour to paint the cockpit but it is nowhere near to a match for their base colour which is far too light. So I’ll have to mix up some grey to try and match the photoetch

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On The Bench (2021)
Hasegawa 1/48 F-4J Phantom
Tamiya 1/48 Martlet IV conversion
Hasegawa 1/48 TAV-8B Harrier conversion
Trumpeter 1/32 A-10A Thunderbolt
Tamiya 1/32 F-14B Tomcat conversion
Hasegawa 1/72 F-104S Starfighter
Hasegawa 1/72 UH-60A Yanshuf conversion

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Replied by IAN on topic The Armistice Challenge

So two-and-a-half months after Mr. S, the Pom has (finally) dragged his F-4 to the bench:

Unlike Craig, I'm starting with the sub-assemblies - wings first and the first bit of 'detailing'. Cut the inner flaps from the main wing, profiled and filled them with plastic card and putty (not in the pics). The Hasegawa kit allow for you to build-up the entire wing assembly before mating it to the fuselage so I also sprayed the insides of the auxiliary doors aswell, I'll box-in the area with some plastic card with a few scratchbuilt details not that you'll see too much unless you pick-up the model - but I'll know that it's gonna be there !

More soon.


Ian.

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Replied by IAN on topic The Armistice Challenge - 1/48 F-4J Phantom build

So Wednesday is usually a day-off for me and I've managed to do little more to the Phantom:

The fuselage sides are the same as those that were issued with the 'Hi Tech' F-4S kit and have 'Slime Lights' pre molded - my F-4J didn't have these so they needed to be sanded off. Marked them first then masked around with electrical tape to avoid 'collateral damage' to the surrounding panels. It's all done now and looks fine.

Next I've got a similar job to do on the stabilisers, they're molded with the triangle shaped reinforcement plate which again, my F-4J doesn't have:

The F-4J at IWM Duxford

Restored F-4D in the US

More soon:

Ian.

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Replied by Craig Sargent on topic The Armistice Challenge - 1/48 F-4J Phantom build

Aires wheel wells and auxiliary engine panels now fitted. Need to get cockpit and engines painted so I can close up the fuselage.

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On The Bench (2021)
Hasegawa 1/48 F-4J Phantom
Tamiya 1/48 Martlet IV conversion
Hasegawa 1/48 TAV-8B Harrier conversion
Trumpeter 1/32 A-10A Thunderbolt
Tamiya 1/32 F-14B Tomcat conversion
Hasegawa 1/72 F-104S Starfighter
Hasegawa 1/72 UH-60A Yanshuf conversion

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Replied by Craig Sargent on topic The Armistice Challenge - 1/48 F-4J Phantom build

Hasegawa 1/48 F-4J Phantom upper wings before (upper right) and after (lower right), showing landing gear upper wing fairing corrected shape. Not even present on Academy wings (left) - some scratchbuilding needed.

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On The Bench (2021)
Hasegawa 1/48 F-4J Phantom
Tamiya 1/48 Martlet IV conversion
Hasegawa 1/48 TAV-8B Harrier conversion
Trumpeter 1/32 A-10A Thunderbolt
Tamiya 1/32 F-14B Tomcat conversion
Hasegawa 1/72 F-104S Starfighter
Hasegawa 1/72 UH-60A Yanshuf conversion

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Replied by Craig Sargent on topic The Armistice Challenge - 1/48 F-4J Phantom build

Eduard/Academy provide no throttle for the cockpit. Fortunately Aires provide a spare in their cockpit set. Now I have to try and match a grey to the coloured photoetch. Yay.

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On The Bench (2021)
Hasegawa 1/48 F-4J Phantom
Tamiya 1/48 Martlet IV conversion
Hasegawa 1/48 TAV-8B Harrier conversion
Trumpeter 1/32 A-10A Thunderbolt
Tamiya 1/32 F-14B Tomcat conversion
Hasegawa 1/72 F-104S Starfighter
Hasegawa 1/72 UH-60A Yanshuf conversion

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Replied by Craig Sargent on topic The Armistice Challenge - 1/48 F-4J Phantom build

Hey Ian,
If you want to sort out those upper wing bulges on your kit as well, I'm not sure what Hasegawa were working off, but here is what those upper wing bulges should look like (this is for an F-4S, but the F-4J was the same)

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On The Bench (2021)
Hasegawa 1/48 F-4J Phantom
Tamiya 1/48 Martlet IV conversion
Hasegawa 1/48 TAV-8B Harrier conversion
Trumpeter 1/32 A-10A Thunderbolt
Tamiya 1/32 F-14B Tomcat conversion
Hasegawa 1/72 F-104S Starfighter
Hasegawa 1/72 UH-60A Yanshuf conversion

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Replied by Craig Sargent on topic The Armistice Challenge - 1/48 F-4J Phantom build

I was going to button the cockpit up, but found this set from a Hasegawa F-4 in my spares, so I’ll see if I can adapt those and then add some wiring as well.

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On The Bench (2021)
Hasegawa 1/48 F-4J Phantom
Tamiya 1/48 Martlet IV conversion
Hasegawa 1/48 TAV-8B Harrier conversion
Trumpeter 1/32 A-10A Thunderbolt
Tamiya 1/32 F-14B Tomcat conversion
Hasegawa 1/72 F-104S Starfighter
Hasegawa 1/72 UH-60A Yanshuf conversion

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Replied by IAN on topic The Armistice Challenge - 1/48 F-4J Phantom build

Ok here's the results of some pre and post 'day job' tinkering:

Basic painting and dry brushing on both (Aires resin) seats:

Wiring added to the nose gear bay with 5amp fuse-wire and florists wire:

Rear bulkhead the same:

And carved-off the molded-on details on the rear IP and built my own with chopped-up 1:72 missiles and plastic card. Drilled the 'missiles' and added wiring again with fuse wire and florists wire also used nylon thread for the finer cables:

The eagle-eyed here will notice that I've invested in a brand-new A2 cutting mat, which somehow makes me work 'better' than usual... or I could be simply talking out of my a*se as usual :idonno . Hopefully more tomorrow as Wednesday is my day-off.

Thanks for taking the time to look and / or comment. Best from a very VERY windy Taranaki.



Ian.

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Replied by IAN on topic The Armistice Challenge - 1/48 F-4J Phantom build

Some work done over the last couple of evenings:

Eduard kit-specific etch set works fine even if their version of cockpit grey is far too light - I repainted where I could. The wiring that I added the old-fashioned way is still visible, so I'm quite pleased that the work will be just about seen at the end.

I test-fitted as I went, so knew there would be a problem or two when I joined the fuselage halves together - what I needed to do was minimize those problems and try to confine the gaps to an area where I could tackle them without a shed-load of filling and re-scribing.

So the gap in the combing will be filled (with plastic card) as will the deep indent for the gunsight which is too far forward anyway. The rest of the fuselage mated perfectly with nothing more than the usual clean up and sanding needed.

Beginning to look like a Phantom, now.

Stay tuned and have a great weekend folks.

Ian.

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