Hasegawa f4j- phantom Ii 1/48

[Ron2]

Apparently I forgot to post this. Started it a few weeks ago. Finished up cockpit this morning. Kind of weird- no decals for cockpit so I did my best to paint. I wish my hands were more steady. I'll finish gluing the fuselage tonight hopefully. Trying to get a little done before work this morning so naturally the glue was taking forever. So far I like the kit. Sprues could be better. Things don't seem to snap into place but if you think about it and dry fit it's not difficult to figure out. Had a frustrating time trying to figure out which AK laq match with the given GSI paint scheme. Was at the "local" hobby shop which is 45 mins away so I ended up just picking some greys. To go with. I don't know why AK doesn't make that process easier. Of course then it's also dealing with poor supply.

 

[Ron2]

Apparently I forgot to post this. Started it a few weeks ago. Finished up cockpit this morning. Kind of weird- no decals for cockpit so I did my best to paint. I wish my hands were more steady. I'll finish gluing the fuselage tonight hopefully. Trying to get a little done before work this morning so naturally the glue was taking forever. So far I like the kit. Sprues could be better. Things don't seem to snap into place but if you think about it and dry fit it's not difficult to figure out. Had a frustrating time trying to figure out which AK laq match with the given GSI paint scheme. Was at the "local" hobby shop which is 45 mins away so I ended up just picking some greys. To go with. I don't know why AK doesn't make that process easier. Of course then it's also dealing with poor supply.

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A little more progress.

 

[Wig41]

Quite surprisingly I have not built a 1/48 Hasegawa Phantom ever ! I have half a dozen in the stash. Crazy! You're making nice progress.

 

[Ron2]

Quite surprisingly I have not built a 1/48 Hasegawa Phantom ever ! I have half a dozen in the stash. Crazy! You're making nice progress.

It's a nice kit! I did have to sand and putty but I'm pretty sure that was my fault as it was mostly on the starboard side.

 

[Ron2]

A little more progress.

Did some preshading and panel lines. Meh. Metal finish to tail. Trying an acrylic pen for panel lines. We'll see.

 

[Ron2]

Did some preshading and panel lines. Meh. Metal finish to tail. Trying an acrylic pen for panel lines. We'll see.

Painted topside and canopy. I jacked up rear stabilizers- broke both of them off and in process of fixing them messed up my metal finish. So I'll be redoing that, hopefully tomorrow and then applying decals. I've been applying decals prior to clear coat last few builds with no issues and it saves me some time.

 

[user 22148]

Very cool - you can't beat a Phantom!

 

[Ron2]

Painted topside and canopy. I jacked up rear stabilizers- broke both of them off and in process of fixing them messed up my metal finish. So I'll be redoing that, hopefully tomorrow and then applying decals. I've been applying decals prior to clear coat last few builds with no issues and it saves me some time.

I don't know what it is with this plane. Dropped it this morning and broke off one of the rear stabilizers a second time. I had puttied and sanded the joints last night -this time it just got glued on. Painted my gloss black coat in prep for metal finish tonight. Put front wheel on. Realized I didn't predrill the holes for the rear landing gear- I seem to keep missing that step with these kits. I don't understand why they want us to drill the holes vs having them done- anyone know the logic other than $? Anyway, I'd really like to get this wrapped up and hope my impatience doesn't do it injustice for the finished product. I guess I'll inspect that stabilizer to see if I need to putty it, no sense doing all this work to have a gap glaring at me. Taking the pic I realized I must have had my eyes closed when I glued this stabilizer so I broke it off a third time and will reglue and probably putty. What's one more day?

 

[Wig41]

Isn't modeling fun ?!

 

[Ron2]

I don't know what it is with this plane. Dropped it this morning and broke off one of the rear stabilizers a second time. I had puttied and sanded the joints last night -this time it just got glued on. Painted my gloss black coat in prep for metal finish tonight. Put front wheel on. Realized I didn't predrill the holes for the rear landing gear- I seem to keep missing that step with these kits. I don't understand why they want us to drill the holes vs having them done- anyone know the logic other than $? Anyway, I'd really like to get this wrapped up and hope my impatience doesn't do it injustice for the finished product. I guess I'll inspect that stabilizer to see if I need to putty it, no sense doing all this work to have a gap glaring at me. Taking the pic I realized I must have had my eyes closed when I glued this stabilizer so I broke it off a third time and will reglue and probably putty. What's one more day?

Broke the wing off- this is why I like CA, of course that begs the question would the wing have popped off in the first place if I hadn't used CA? Sanded, and reapplied putty. I'll sand and hit it with gloss black tonight or maybe straight to metal finish depending how well my masking was.

 

[Ron2]

Isn't modeling fun ?!

Yes- and relaxing!

 

[user 22148]

LOL! Sometimes they just go like that!

Looking forward to seeing the end result.

 

[Ron2]

LOL! Sometimes they just go like that!

Looking forward to seeing the end result.

I'm looking forward to finishing this kit!

 

[BarleyBop]

... ah, but "the journey," they say... if you like being stuck on the freeway!

 

[MJY65]

It doesn't prevent dropping, but I try to avoid putting stabilators on until the plane is almost done. I've built several F-4s and always added them right at the end. The whole thing moves relative to the fuselage, so no putty is needed. It makes painting all the various shades and tones of metallic much easier.

 

[Ron2]

It doesn't prevent dropping, but I try to avoid putting stabilators on until the plane is almost done. I've built several F-4s and always added them right at the end. The whole thing moves relative to the fuselage, so no putty is needed. It makes painting all the various shades and tones of metallic much easier.

Thanks, this is my second "modern" plane and it makes sense to hold off on fixing the stabilizers to the plane u til the end. The gap was just ugly even after sanding and I didn't make it flush with putty- just decreased the gap so to speak but it probably is no longer accurate from what you're saying. Lesson learned.

 

[Edbert]

this is my second "modern" plane

I know why you put it in quotes, but I said much the same when I built a Phantom last year. If it is not WWII/Korea era it is modern right?

 

[Ron2]

I know why you put it in quotes, but I said much the same when I built a Phantom last year. If it is not WWII/Korea era it is modern right?

Exactly!

 

[BarleyBop]

modern right

Never mind, I often make the mistake of calling something from the 90s 'new', only to have my youngest daughter retort: "that is so... LAST CENTURY!! (Eyeroll)"

 

[Wig41]

Never mind, I often make the mistake of calling something from the 90s 'new', only to have my youngest daughter retort: "that is so... LAST CENTURY!! (Eyeroll)"

 

[Ron2]

Broke the wing off- this is why I like CA, of course that begs the question would the wing have popped off in the first place if I hadn't used CA? Sanded, and reapplied putty. I'll sand and hit it with gloss black tonight or maybe straight to metal finish depending how well my masking was.

Put some decals on today and learned a lesson or two about large decals. Heavy sigh. Part of me wants to tear them off and order a new set. I have a lot to go.

 

[Jakko]

I know why you put it in quotes, but I said much the same when I built a Phantom last year. If it is not WWII/Korea era it is modern right?

It is. In military vehicle/aircraft/etc. terms, anything post-Second World War is modern — the Korean war is "modern", the F-86 Sabre is a "modern" fighter jet, the Centurion is a "modern" tank, and so on. The terminology needs updating, really, but I doubt that's going to happen.

It's a bit like art: people say "modern art" to mean the art of today, but in art history terms, "modern art" is the style of art from around the middle half of the 20th century. Today's art is contemporary art, but that's an equally problematic name because if art evolves again, you either need to stop calling it that, or to invent a new term for previously contemporary art.

Or another analogy: plenty of streets around the world have names like New Street (in the local language, of course). Which is fine, until newer streets are built. You eventually end up with ridiculousness like this in Amsterdam:

I'm sure you can work out that the name of this street translates as "New New Street" — and not a hundred metres, but quite a few corners, away is the Oude Nieuwstraat …

 

[Jakko]

Never mind, I often make the mistake of calling something from the 90s 'new'

On forums, every so often I see people call a kit "old" when they mean one from some 20–25 years ago … To me, a 1970s/'80s kits are "old", those I can remember being released are not

 

[Ron2]

Put some decals on today and learned a lesson or two about large decals. Heavy sigh. Part of me wants to tear them off and order a new set. I have a lot to go.

Did a touch more today. I'm kind of petering out with the decals. Holy cow there are a ton.

 

[user 22148]

Looks great Ron!

 

[MJY65]

That is a pretty busy decal pattern already, so I'd consider minimizing the stencils. There are a lot of them on most Phantom kits. While they may represent reality, they seldom look realistic. That's just a lot of film edges to blend in with your final flat or gloss coat.

 

[Ron2]

That is a pretty busy decal pattern already, so I'd consider minimizing the stencils. There are a lot of them on most Phantom kits. While they may represent reality, they seldom look realistic. That's just a lot of film edges to blend in with your final flat or gloss coat.

That's what I was thinking. I'm already starting to mistake "no step" decals for a paint blemish.

 

[Ron2]

Did a touch more today. I'm kind of petering out with the decals. Holy cow there are a ton.

I'm calling this done, mistakes and all. Moving forward I will cut really large decals into workable pieces as these got away from me. I had some damage to two spots that I fixed- definitely not show worthy. It's a fun build. I think the modern planes are more simple in ways but different and hopefully my next will be better.

 

[BarleyBop]

Not knowing there were issues, it looks pretty good to me. I like it.

 

[VegasAWACER13]

That is a pretty busy decal pattern already, so I'd consider minimizing the stencils. There are a lot of them on most Phantom kits. While they may represent reality, they seldom look realistic. That's just a lot of film edges to blend in with your final flat or gloss coat.

I just started an F-4. Only planning on putting a handful of the stencils on. Too much work lol.

I'm calling this done, mistakes and all.

Looks good!