1/72 McDD F-4 C Phantom II, Hasegawa/Monogram kitbash - COMPLETED!

[giemme]

Hi everybody; after a couple of propeller builds, here I am back to a jet, and in 1/72!

A few words to introduce this project: almost one year ago, I started the build of a Hasegawa 1/72 F-4 J Phantom II, this one:

It was my first serious venture in 1/72 scale, and was a lot of fun. I learnt a lot from all the people who followed that WIP, and one in particular is Gene K; former USAF F4 pilot, he has been very helpful both in terms of technical info on the AC and in terms of modelling tips. Long story short, we became friends an I offered him, as a sort of way to thank him for the great help and as a tribute to his career, to build a model of one of the F4-s he has actually flown.

He suggested the subject of this build, and not only that: he has actually donated me the two kits I'll be using for this, plus a lot of extras. Basically, following Gene's guidance, I'm going to modify an F-4 J Hase kit to become an F-4C, with the addition of parts coming from the greatly detailed MONOGRAM kit and a few aftermarkets (and some scratch building, of course ).

This thread is going to be co-hosted together with Gene, and we'll go into more details in the next few posts. For now, what I have is:

a completely cleared workbench (that is something totally new for me )

the kits

Hasegawa parts to be added/modified:

Nose sensor

Stabs

Seamless intakes, Gene's patented method

Monogram parts:

Tanks, pilons, gunpod etc

Speed brakes and arrest hook

Cockpit (amazing detail for a 1/72 injected kit!!!)

Pilots!!

One half fuselage has already been "treated" by Gene prior to sending me the kits, as an example to follow. He has also noted indications on the kit plastic

Aftermarkets:

Specific decals

Stencils; these have been donated by another friend, Silvano (Phantom61 here on BM)

AC Profile

and most important thing:

Now Gene will go into more detail about the project and the aircraft.

Enjoy!

Ciao

Edited June 28, 2016 by giemme

[Cookenbacher]

This gonna be great Giemme and Gene, can't wait to follow along!

[PlaStix]

Great stuff! Looks like a very interesting project Giemme and Gene.

(.............and I did guess Phantom first!!)

Kind regards,

Stix

[Gene K]

... more detail about the project and the aircraft.

Thanks, Giorgio, for doing this!!

The aircraft, in the markings shown, is an F-4C that was stationed at Cam Rahn Bay, Vietnam in 1968. At that time, there were three squadrons in the 12TFW:

the 557TFS ("Sharkbaits" : red markings, XC tailcode);

the 558th TFS (Hammers: yellow markings, XT tailcode);

and the 559TFS (Billygoats: blue markings, XN tailcode).

There's a good history here, as well as here (plus a great photo gallery). Additionally, some excellent detail shots here.

In my next post, I'll address "SANDY BAY-BEE" more specifically.

Gene K

Edited December 2, 2015 by Gene K

[Spookytooth]

OK Giemme and Gene, you have got me hooked

It will give some ideas when I go to build my Vietnam Phantom (hopefully next year)

Simon.

[yankeemodeller]

You don't do anything low key. One of my favorite jets. The first model I did when I graduated from brush painting to a spray can was an f-4c/d from Hasegawa in 1/48 scale. I was so proud of it at age 15 that I put it on display in my high school library. I love this plane and look forward to the build. Can't wait to hear from Gene as well. Learned some good techniques from your last build so I'm putting on my scholar's cap and getting ready to absorb some more. God bless both of you, I will be following this.

[giemme]

This gonna be great Giemme and Gene, can't wait to follow along!

Glad to have you on board, Cooken!

Great stuff! Looks like a very interesting project Giemme and Gene.

(.............and I did guess Phantom first!!)

True, you guessed first! I'll have to figure a prize a for that - wait, you're already winning too much from Group Builds

OK Giemme and Gene, you have got me hooked

It will give some ideas when I go to build my Vietnam Phantom (hopefully next year)

Welcome on board to you too, Simon

You don't do anything low key. One of my favorite jets. The first model I did when I graduated from brush painting to a spray can was an f-4c/d from Hasegawa in 1/48 scale. I was so proud of it at age 15 that I put it on display in my high school library. I love this plane and look forward to the build. Can't wait to hear from Gene as well. Learned some good techniques from your last build so I'm putting on my scholar's cap and getting ready to absorb some more. God bless both of you, I will be following this.

Cheers John, thanks for joining! As for scholar's cap, I'm always wearing it (especially with Gene around )

Gene, thanks for the great pics and great links!

Ciao

[Blogs On]

Will be following with great interest.

[Gene K]

Thanks Stix, Simon, and John.

About aircraft 64-0725 for modelers:

"SANDY BAY-BEE" was named after my then new bride Sandy, who I sometimes called Sandy Baby. I cleverly (or so I thought) modified that phrase by using "BAY" for Cam Rahn Bay, and "BEE" (self explanatory). My then back seater, Jerry Stalnaker, wanted to call it "WAR EAGLE", the greeting/fighting chant at Auburn University where he graduated. (as an aside: both my sons are Auburn graduates; and after losing touch with Jerry, located him several years ago living only thirty minutes from me - small world!).

When I arrived at the 557th, some of the airplanes had the squadron patch (Spook) painted on one or both intakes. A short time after I arrived, we were given permission to personalize our airplanes with names, so each crew cut stencils and painted their airplane (using specific Wing guidance as to letter size, position, angle, etc). Of course each name had to be approved ! So here's my hero shot of the result:

Note that at the time the picture was taken, the airplane didn't yet have the squadron patch on the intake ... shortly thereafter, as the newly designated "Squadron Artist", I was asked to paint the Spook on other 557th airplanes

.... so that we ended up with the patch on both intakes. However, the airplanes rotated to a maintenance facility in Japan where new paint was applied as part of a program to re-seal panels that the weather conditions at Cam Rahn had deteriorated (potting compound leaked).

All of that means is that if you're going to model a Cam Rahn airplane, the markings depend on specific time period (as usual).

So enough background ... over to The Master Modeler, Giorgio.

Gene K

Edited July 3, 2017 by Gene K

[giemme]

Great background story, Gene!

Blogs On, thanks for joining

Time to go to the bench ...

Ciao

[mirageiv]

[rob85]

Giemme..... Ummmm.... How do these fly? There doesn't appear to be a prop on them!

Only joking I am a fan of the phantom (it has character that later jets miss IMHO) so I will pop my head in if I may!!??

Rob

[Blogs On]

" ]Giemme..... Ummmm.... How do these fly? "

Apparently, it's called suck,blow,bang! At least that's what a tame sootie told me!!

Sorry Giemme, I,ll behave now..................maybe.

[Procopius]

Oh hot damn! As if the actual modelling wasn't enough, we get an actual Phantom pilot in the thread! Gene, I had no idea!

[jrlx]

As a F-4 fan, with several models in the stash and 3 stalled British Phantom builds in the KUTA GB, I'll be following with great interest! I have a Hasegawa 1/72 F-4C, which I intend to build in Vietnam camouflage, so this should be an excellent source of information.

By the way, the F-4J at the top of the thread is superb, congrats!

Cheers

Jaime

[GAF]

Great thread! Look forward to seeing what you two can do!

PS> Oh, and if you had named that aircraft "War Eagle", I would be building it alongside yours!

Instead, I'll probably be doing a RF-4C as flown by the Alabama Air National Guard.

http://www.tinfeathers.com/Museum/Airports/VFW_4850/VFW_4850.htm

PPS> Giemme, that desk is way too clean, even between builds!

Edited December 2, 2015 by GAF

[Giorgio N]

This sounds like an extremely interesting project, will watch for sure !

[Fritag]

Ok wow. This feels like it's gonna be the thread of the year (well next year really - I know you work fast Giorgio but I expect it'll take more than 1 month ) No pressure or anything

Looking forward to your inputs Gene......Super piccie of you by the jet - hope you've got some more.

[giemme]

Again, thanks everybody for joining!

Giemme..... Ummmm.... How do these fly? There doesn't appear to be a prop on them!

Only joking I am a fan of the phantom (it has character that later jets miss IMHO) so I will pop my head in if I may!!??

Of course you may! Anyway, this one has got propellers, only that they're well hidden into those huge air intakes ... sshhh

" ]Giemme..... Ummmm.... How do these fly? "

Apparently, it's called suck,blow,bang! At least that's what a tame sootie told me!!




Sorry Giemme, I,ll behave now..................maybe.

:D

Oh hot damn! As if the actual modelling wasn't enough, we get an actual Phantom pilot in the thread! Gene, I had no idea!

Cool, ain't it?

As a F-4 fan, with several models in the stash and 3 stalled British Phantom builds in the KUTA GB, I'll be following with great interest! I have a Hasegawa 1/72 F-4C, which I intend to build in Vietnam camouflage, so this should be an excellent source of information.

By the way, the F-4J at the top of the thread is superb, congrats!

Thanks Jaime, that F-4J was a lot of fun! You have a pretty rare kit in your stash, I gave up looking for it a while back (searching on Internet, I had only found results in the States or Japan)

Great thread! Look forward to seeing what you two can do!

PS> Oh, and if you had named that aircraft "War Eagle", I would be building it alongside yours!

Instead, I'll probably be doing a RF-4C as flown by the Alabama Air National Guard.

http://www.tinfeathers.com/Museum/Airports/VFW_4850/VFW_4850.htm

PPS> Giemme, that desk is way too clean, even between builds!

Thanks for the link, nice one! As for the bench, frightening, ain't it? But don't worry, after last night it is back to an almost normal messy status

This sounds like an extremely interesting project, will watch for sure !

Thanks for joining, G!

Ok wow. This feels like it's gonna be the thread of the year (well next year really - I know you work fast Giorgio but I expect it'll take more than 1 month ) No pressure or anything

It's good you mentioned my blasting modelling speed, Steve because I forgot to say a very important thing in the introductory post: this is NOT going to be a quick build.

Welcome on board!

Later for the first progress report.

Ciao

[Biggles87]

I do like a good Rhino ( and I'm sure it will be ) so even though it's in the wrong scale, I'll be watching too.

Cheers

John

[giemme]

I do like a good Rhino ( and I'm sure it will be ) so even though it's in the wrong scale, I'll be watching too.

but don't tell anybody about the scale, sshhh

So here's the first progress report of this build, but before that, a few more introductory pictures.

The MONOGRAM kit has some very nice interior details molded in

I'll try to reproduce them on the HASEGAWA fuselage - no clue how, yet

Coming more to the point of this update, here are some pictures about Gene's prepped fuselage half, with the seamless intake. We'll go into more detail when I do my half, but for now:

One of the key steps in Gene's way to build this kit is to join front and back piece of the fuselage halves before buttoning up the whole thing - and the intake, as well; this also allows for the correct placement of the internal seamless intake.

Now, during the (adventurous) trip across the pond, the parcel Gene sent me had probably been beaten up, so I had to re-glue the lower part of the join between intake and back fuselage

I first tried with CA, as the parts wouldn't remain properly aligned without forcing them in position, but in the end I fixed it using Tamiya Green Cap. A bit of a mess up, as you can see above, so out came my ETS (that's another thing I learnt from Gene, BTW)

To get the parts level, I had to add some liquid CA plus bicarbonate (this tip comes from Steve's build thread )

Sanding, some PPP, more sanding ...

... some rescribing ...

I'll probably need to get back to his, but it's going to be when the fuselage halves are joined together, as now handling this is not very comfortable and also quite risky - don't want to snap off any of the parts

Edited December 3, 2015 by giemme

[DannyB]

This is going to be epic! Definitely hooked in.

[Smudge]

Very interesting project here guys. Like lot's of people on Britmodeller the Phantom is a Phav of mine (first Ph.... 'joke' to me!), so will follow with interest. I already like the look of those intakes with the fan blades at the end, very nice.

First silly question:

Why not just use the Monogram kit? Is it just about the surface detail perhaps?

I have Hasegawa/Fujimi/ESCI/Italeri F-4's but never picked up a Monogram one, don't see them often, to be fair. They are quite well rated, I believe.

Cheers, good luck.

[phantom61]

Phabolus building...

Go Giemme

[giemme]

This is going to be epic! Definitely hooked in.

Cheers Danny, thanks for joining!

Very interesting project here guys. Like lot's of people on Britmodeller the Phantom is a Phav of mine (first Ph.... 'joke' to me!), so will follow with interest. I already like the look of those intakes with the fan blades at the end, very nice.

First silly question:

Why not just use the Monogram kit? Is it just about the surface detail perhaps?

I have Hasegawa/Fujimi/ESCI/Italeri F-4's but never picked up a Monogram one, don't see them often, to be fair. They are quite well rated, I believe.

Cheers, good luck.

Yeah, Phantom is phun To answer your question: yes, the main issue for me it's the raised panel lines and riveting; also, IIRC from what Gene told me, the splitter plates are incorrect - while the Hasegawa kit is the one that best captures size and shape of the real AC; it has its weak points and missing bits, hence the idea of compensating them/complementing using Monogram parts. Gene can be much more specific about this subject, anyway, and I'll try to show the differences during the build.

Phabolus building...

Go Giemme

Thanks Silvano! Another Phantom expert on board

Ciao