RAAF F-4E Phantom II

Started by Michael Turner · 94 · 6 months ago · 1/48, f-4, Phantom, RAAF, Zoukei-Mura
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    Michael Turner said 11 months, 1 week ago:

    This is my new project for a club theme build: F-4 Phantom.

    I have a deadline of the first Sunday in May.

    It is the Zoukei-Mura F-4E Early Phantom II.

    I'll be building it as one of the F-4Es leased by the RAAF between 1970 and 1972 as we waited for the delayed F-111C.

    They retained USAF camouflage and serials with the only change being the addition of RAAF roundels and individual aircraft numbers.

    I purchased Mini Craft Collection (MCC) M.B. 7 ejector seats, mainly because the kit doesn't provide seat belts.

    I also purchased Novascale decals and an Eduard SUU-20 training bomb dispenser.

    The latter is because the Phantoms were only used for training and, apart from a few bomb drop tests, were never armed.

    No air-to-air missiles were supplied, for example.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 11 months, 1 week ago:

    Another awesome entry, my friend @michaelt!
    Wish my small local modeling club held such themes 😕

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    John vd Biggelaar said 11 months, 1 week ago:

    A beautiful entry, Michael @michaelt
    Never knew the RAAF has used the F4.
    Those ejector seats did come in a very luxury box I must say.

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    Michael Turner said 10 months, 2 weeks ago:

    The front and rear cockpits, plus the nose gear well, are made from about 31 parts, not including the seats and canopy levers.

    The detail is very good as can be seen here:

    Decals are provided for the instrument panels and side consoles, but I was wary of applying them over the raised side console datail.

    So, I hand painted these base upon the otherwise nicely printed decals.

    The radar scope in the rear cockpit is a little off square, so I’ll fix that.

    I used the decals for the front and rear cockpit instrument panels, though, because I can’t match that detail by hand painting.

    There are just a couple of canopy levers to be added to the rear cocpit sil (and the same to the fuselage halves for the front cockpit) and this can be added to the fuselage.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 10 months, 2 weeks ago:

    Excellent job on the interior, my friend @michaelt! The kit looks very detailed.

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    Michael Turner said 10 months, 2 weeks ago:

    A friend is building the F-4B (I think) version of this kit and used the kit decals. He said that it took a bit of softner to get them to conform, but they look good. So I guess I was being too cautious.

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    John vd Biggelaar said 10 months, 2 weeks ago:

    Beautiful work on the interior, Michael @michaelt

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    George R Blair Jr said 10 months, 2 weeks ago:

    Things seem to be moving very quickly, Michael @michaelt. Your detail painting in the cockpit looks very good. It looks like the instrument decal went on fine. Looking forward to the rest of the build.

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    Michael Turner said 9 months, 2 weeks ago:

    There has been some progress since my last post.

    The engines and intake ducts have been painted and assembled onto the lower surfaces.

    I didn’t bother trying to eliminate the intake seam - too much work for minimal gain on this one. I just assembled them and sprayed white primer down the holes.

    The engines will only be glimpsed through a pair of cracked open vents underneath, so they got a quick silver coat and the fuseslage internals “cockpit green” which is otherwise green zinc chromate.

    The cockpit has been trapped between fuselage halves. (Note to self, I need to add the two left hand levers to the sill and paint those on both sides).

    The fit of the radome is ok but could use a little filler.

    The full fuselage here.

    The RAAF F-4s didn’t have the rear facing antena (Radar Warning Receiver?) on the fin tip so I used the one not indicated in the instructions. This needs a little filler as well.

    The fuselage spine is a separate piece and is a little short at both ends when you line the panels up.

    It also seems to be a little narrow, so what I did was pulled the lower fuselage apart while the glue dried to close the gaps. Plastic/glue squished out and, when dry, clean up was a quick scrape and sand. And a little filler each end.

    After some research, I decided that the intakes were painted 36” back internally (timeline for this seems to be towards the end of the Vietnam war, which fits RAAF service).

    Certainly, the few photos of open intakes on RAAF jets are inconclusive apart from looking dark - so no hint of white intakes.

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    Michael Turner said 9 months, 2 weeks ago:

    And filling some injector pin marks on the back of the intake ramps.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 9 months, 2 weeks ago:

    Excellent job on your Phantom, my friend @michaelt!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 9 months, 2 weeks ago:

    Some good progress made, Michael @michaelt

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    George R Blair Jr said 9 months, 2 weeks ago:

    I think every F-4 model I have ever built, regardless of manufacturer, has ejector marks in that exact location on the splitter plates, Michael @michaelt. Having a separate spine is a good idea to limit sanding, but it would be nice if it fit better so you don't have to fill and sand. Looking good despite the fill and sand areas.

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    Michael Turner said 9 months, 1 week ago:

    Nearly ready for painting.

    The stabilizers are not glued yet. They slot neatly into the rear fuselage so they will go on after painting is done.

    The kit includes three options for the tail 1) level, 2) leading edge down and 3) leading edge up. This is accomplished using optional fuselage inserts for the control mechanism. I chose leading edge up as most photos seem to have them level when on the ground, but a few show them LE up.

    Likewise, photos nearly always show the wing control surfaces level and I have only seen one (RAAF) aircraft with the under wing speed brakes down.

    There are a few with the center aileron down but as I can only see one side, I don’t know if both could be dropped like a flap (I suspect not).

    Interestingly, the F-4 ailerons did no go up past 1 deg. Instead there is a spoiler just ahead of this middle aileron that you can sometimes see deployed on the ground - presumably the opposite aileron is down. This spoiler is moulded as part of the upper wing.

    So, all wing controls are neutral/stowed.

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    Michael Turner said 9 months, 1 week ago:

    You can see where the white putty has been applied, too.