Hasegawa 1/48 F-4 Phantom

[Ialarmu]

She's unfortunately got a bad case of "raised panel" lines but I got a good deal on it. I will be trying to scribe some lines and maybe "trick" the camera with some paint tchniques I've seen done to try to hide this fact.

I'll be using the kit decals, there are 4 options but, haven't really decided which ones yet. It will be the '76 bicentennial regardless in Airforce camo scheme. I will be using as many A/M goodies as I can get my hands on and will stick with my Tamiya acrylic paints.

This will be another learning experience and will be getting at it immediately.





Box, goodies & Sprues:

 

[Ialarmu]

First update, I decided to tackle the raised panel line issue first. I have to admit I was quite nervous about this prospect and have already had a few "just walk away" moments. However I can see myself getting a little better at it and have realised that anyone who chooses to do this is going to have to live with the fact that:

1) You WILL have some crooked lines.

2) You WILL have to repair some mistakes .

3) You WILL lose your patience and wonder why a reputable model company could be so disengenuous as to not indicate on the packaging that panel lines were raised on this kit .......


So heres the tools I used:






Enter the culprit:








I found that I like to use a sharp pencil to go along the panel line just to make it pop at me a bit better.







VERY light pressure here!






I like to only go over the line twice, I did a few panels that looked way too deep, these are difficult to repair.






On this line I bumped one of my fingers on the first pass and made a mistake.






after some very careful scraping with my Xacto blade it's now pretty much gone.







Here are some of my results, again not the greatest but hey, I'm here to learn

 

[Ialarmu]

Taking a break from scribing and had some fun with my Verlinden MB seats.

I used Tamiya and Citidel paints finished off with a black oil wash and Testors dull cote.



















I'm not much of a brush painter but I think they look ok, I really like these ones from Verlinden it was fun.

 

[Ialarmu]

This is your basic Hasegawa OOB pit:






Primed:






Painted and a little detail added:







I swiped some gauge decals from another kit to help me out:



















A drop of future on the gauges and thats it, this paintwork gave me a really bad headache but had to finish it. I think it looks ok for a somewhat bogus representation maybe next time I'll spring for some more resin.

 

[Ialarmu]

Had a go at the True details intakes,









Following the instructions I removed the required plastic however, I had to remove more than indicated to get the intake to snuggle in.




I tried to sand the back of the intake as flat as possible but was not able to get a truly nice fit despite all the dry fitting I did.

I have gaps.......








So I decided to bust out my Tamiya epoxy putty,you just knead it together and it's completely hard in about 6 hrs. I also like this product because it can be scribed like resin and does not chip like filler does.










Here is the starboard side completed, we will have to see what it looks like with some paint on it.

 

[Ialarmu]

Here's just a follow up on that intake repair.









The Tamiya epoxy putty sands really smooth, very nice product to work with.

 

[Ialarmu]

Here is some of my scribing efforts, bear in mind I'm a noob at this.....

Some of my lines look a bit trenchy and deep, I'm sure more experience will help with that, you just have to be careful not to give your line an overworked look. set it, and forget it!




Fuselage tops, lots of crooked lines to fix:





A bit of a start on the bottom:

 

[Ialarmu]

I finally finished most of the scribing on this bird. Some very minor filling on the lower wing joins and I was able to give it a light coat of sky grey for inspection.










After passing inspection I decided to tear at the long awaited paint work.















Kind of a relief to get that part done,I don't really like painting camo.


The Kit came with the bicentennial decals for the wing tips but, decided against them as they are easily painted, also the blue stripe was almost black which I didn't care for.





Wing tips done and another coat of future:














Metal work around the burners started:


I used citidel Bolt Gun Metal for the outer flashing and a hybrid mix of BGM, gloss black and a few drops of copper for the exhaust areas.

 

[Ialarmu]

I started the decals, got the wash on so quite a leap forward in regards to the main fuselage.





Decals complete with another coat of Future, I put the future on very glossy as the decals have me a bit concerned, a bit thick.












I made a mistake, I put the red stripe decal on the main body which IS normal for Airforce camo versions just not this one according to the referances. Just another lesson in paying attention to your directions.


Testors dull coat applied:














Quite happy with that, ;D

 

[Hazor]

Looking good Dave!

 

[Quaralane]

Excellent work on that so far. Your work shows

 

[ScarredKustoms]

Really great work going into this kit. Love the paint detail in the seats. The whole thing!

 

[Eastrock]

That looks great... I also got raise panel lines, I'm also trying to hide it with paint, btw can I use fine pentel tip for the panel lines, instead of pencil?

 

[Ialarmu]

That looks great... I also got raise panel lines, I'm also trying to hide it with paint, btw can I use fine pentel tip for the panel lines, instead of pencil?

Whatever leaves a mark would work...and as long as it comes off before paint. The pencil idea was just a suggestion, I eventualy was comfortable enough that I just went with my straight edge. Let me know how it works out.

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

I have the Hassy F-4G partially built. Used the True Detail intakes as well, they were a little of a bear to install, but they look good. Also got the TD wheels, pylon detail set, which in itself isn't all that special other than the resin chaff/flare dispensers which are much nicer than the kit ones.

I don't know if the G is based on the kit you are doing or not, likely is, but I don't recall the raised panel lines....might have to have a look at it again!!

Yours looks great though!! Ton of work rescribing all of those!!

 

[Eastrock]

That looks great... I also got raise panel lines, I'm also trying to hide it with paint, btw can I use fine pentel tip for the panel lines, instead of pencil?

Whatever leaves a mark would work...and as long as it comes off before paint. The pencil idea was just a suggestion, I eventualy was comfortable enough that I just went with my straight edge. Let me know how it works out.

Thanks, I let you know as soon I finish a few scraping and masking My Airfix alpha jet, I still got a lot of gaps to fill in...

 

[Grendels]

Great work here. I use a really thick tape as an aid in scribing panel lines. It sticks to the model so I don't have to hold down a straight edge. Just a suggestion!

Thank you for posting this, it is really a great build.

 

[Ialarmu]

I have the Hassy F-4G partially built. Used the True Detail intakes as well, they were a little of a bear to install, but they look good. Also got the TD wheels, pylon detail set, which in itself isn't all that special other than the resin chaff/flare dispensers which are much nicer than the kit ones.

I don't know if the G is based on the kit you are doing or not, likely is, but I don't recall the raised panel lines....might have to have a look at it again!!

Yours looks great though!! Ton of work rescribing all of those!!

The TD intakes and pylon set weren't too bad for the price however the rails were bent from the casting for some reason and I couldn't use them, the pylons were a little askew as well but not very noticeable, the downside of course is I have to go with empty missile racks for now but, it was an airshow plane anyways...the main reason I got them and the intakes was they had recessed panel lines They look good AND saved me some headache ;D

 

[Eastrock]

You can also use a Dymo tape. its hard and low tac...

 

[TPCasillas]

Very Nice detaling and paint job on the F4...
you detailing of seats and cockpit are excellent....