Joe's SIG Airfix F-4 Phantom

[Dave W]

Coming along nicely Joe.At this rate you will be finished before Ive started!.Cant seeing anything wrong with the decals.

[Guest]

It's coming along splendidly Joe.

Jim

[flyjoe180]

Thanks chaps. The decals are supposed to be for VF-31 Tomcatters. These fuselage decals have VF-91 on them. Should be easy to fix though.

There has been a lot of filling and sanding. Many annoying things such as the Sparrow missiles which will be partially imbedded under the fuselage have ejector marks on the side of the fins that will show. The fuel tanks were attached by their ends, causing deformation to the nose caps. More sanding and a bit of filling and then hopefully I might get some primer on it later today. I have found that white plastic is not an easy colour to work with.

[flyjoe180]

Progress report.

I spent some time on the accessories. Bombs, Sparrows, exhausts, wheels and landing gear are all being finished off for final construction:

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I made a template for the side windows and cut clear plastic to fit. They are now fitted and along with the canopy parts, are all masked. The clear side windows were my biggest fear, but they appear to have worked well. It took four attempts to get them looking right and fitted flush. I know they are supposed to be curved but that was beyond my skill level for this scale. I'm glad I won't have to paint them on after wards though.

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Bomb racks and landing gear doors, apart from the main doors which are fitted to the main legs, are fitted:

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And this is where I am at as of today:

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Next step is a prime coat and then the main colours will go on. I can't wait to see the end of filling, sanding and that horrible white plastic. Hopefully this will be reasonably easy from here on.

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[Guest]

looking good Joe..., looking good

Danny

[papa 695]

Nice work Joe and a great fix on the windows

[Dave W]

Great fix on the windows Joe.When I worked on Phantoms in the RAF ,a periscope modification was brought out.We had to remove the left side window and fit an aluminium panel with a periscope attached .Cant remember what it was for.Just so the chap in the back could see forwards I suppose.Great progress with your build.Looking forward to seeing the paint go on.

[Ian M]

going along at a fair pace her Joe. What are you going to do for the next six months!!! LOL.

Great fix on the window.

Ian M

[flyjoe180]

Thanks guys. Interesting that you brought up the periscope on some British Phantoms Dave. I had read a little about them a while back. Basically I found they were fitted to give the guy in the back a means of estimating the distance of an intercepted aircraft as well as for positive type identification. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to use such a device when pulling G.

Ian, I have a bit of a way to go yet. I have more than enough to be getting on with from the stash. Or I could buy another Phantom.

[Guest]

Very nice Joe, very nice indeed.

Jim

[flyjoe180]

My Phantom is now primed and sanded to eliminate some little defects I hadn't noticed with the white plastic. Much nicer to look at now! Note to all model companies, never use white plastic please. In addition the Sparrow missiles, bombs and landing gear are all finished and ready for the final construction stage after the airframe and fuel tanks are painted. Now waiting for some more thinners and some fresh white paint to arrive before I can progress.

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[mossiepilot]

Looking good Joe.

Tony.

[papa 695]

Looks very good Joe

[flyjoe180]

Update, no photos today sorry. I have now put down a coat of US Navy white on the underside and fuel tanks. The underside is being masked today and the top gull grey coat will go down in the next few days. It's getting to the stage where I can't wait to see the back of this kit.

[colin m]

My Phantom is now primed and sanded to eliminate some little defects I hadn't noticed with the white plastic. Much nicer to look at now! Note to all model companies, never use white plastic please. In addition the Sparrow missiles, bombs and landing gear are all finished and ready for the final construction stage after the airframe and fuel tanks are painted. Now waiting for some more thinners and some fresh white paint to arrive before I can progress.[ATTACH=CONFIG]59657[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]59658[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]59659[/ATTACH]

Nice to see the build in primer, it brings it all together. I built a F104 (tiger scheme) which was moulded in yellow. Talk about bright !