Scalemates F-4 Phantom II Group build 2022

Robin (WhiteGlint)
With most other projects finished or printing it is time to start some new plastic model kits.
While looking for some acrylic textures for dioramas I stumbled upon these cute little egg planes which I just had to buy.

Not sure how I will display all three of them, but I wanted to include them to this GB.

It's also the frist ZM kit I will try and my second 1/48 modern fighter jet. Let's hope I don't screw up too many things in the process.

Konrad -
Here we go🤘🏼! Don't wanna miss this one or four😬!

Simon Nagorsnik
Hey, looks nice- waiting for cool stuff from you😃

Maciej Bellos
Joining the party!

Robin (WhiteGlint)
Welcome mates, nice to have you join this ride. 🙂
I think progress will be a bit slow on this one.
It is a bit more complex than the kits I usually build, so no aftermarket parts this time. I will be very happy to just achieve a nice result OOB. 😄
Still missing some colours, too. Most prominent FS36320 for the body.
Part details are beautiful and if I don't screw up too much it should still look great when I am done.

The eggplanes are already glued together but still require some more sanding. The little raised surface detail on the nose are already gone. Guess I try some rescribing where I still suck at.

Sergej I
Grabbing a front row seat on these 🙂
WhiteGlint, FS36320 is Gunze H307 or C307, depending on which poison you use.

In stock at several suppliers, but for EU this is my fav in terms of price and stock:
mn-modelar.com/mr-color-fs36320-seda-en/

Robin (WhiteGlint)
Welcome Sergej. 🙂
I took another look at my paint stash and found one bottle Hataka acrylics FS36320. It must have been part of some paint set I bought some time ago. Still thank you for your recommendation. 👍
I'd probably go for the H307 as I didn't work with enamel in an airbrush before.

Until now I painted the inner sides of the landing gear bays its doors and the landing gear itself white and sealed everything in gloss varnish.

The cockpit is also partially assembled but not without problems.
Decals and I have a very troubled relationship and I was not able to get the cockpit decals conform to the surface of the instruments. It looked really bad. 🙁

I had to remove them all and will try some brush painting.
Luckily it is 1/48th scale, so maybe it won't look too bad(?)
Worst case I just keep the canopy closed and present it inverted in flight. 😄

Pictures will follow when I made some more visible progress.

Neil
Me too! 🙂

Jos Jansen
Count me in mate...!

Daniel
you could also put in 2 really fat pilots in the worst case;)
in as well!

Robin (WhiteGlint)
Welcome Neil, Jos and Daniel.
Nice to have you onboard as well. 👍

Haha, yeah! That would be an idea, Daniel. 😄
Let's wait, maybe it won't be as bad as I fear.

Dean Harpster
Great idea, looking forward to seeing the direction you take your display!

Robin (WhiteGlint)
Welcome aboard Dean.

Okay, so here are some first WIP pictures. As I said I screwed up the decals so I will try to paint the cockpit with a brush.
The colour of the dashboards and consoles are not correct. I decided for some NATO black and will try to detail it with different colours in the instruments with some fine brush as well as highlights with drybrushing.

The grey I used for the cockpit is a bit too glossy, but most of it will be probably hidden under the canopy anyways. 👀
I will take a look at some pictures of the cockpit of the aircraft, to get at least some of the details right and paint them with a brush.

This kit has a lot of stencils. 🙂 What did I get myself into? 😄

Sergej I
Made me laugh with photo 11. 😄 😄

Robin (WhiteGlint)
A bit of progress.
It's enough to close the fuselage. Cockpit and engines installed. I had a bit of fun with the metal paints on the engines, though it's not really visible.

Some light weathering in the landing gear bays and dryfitting of the control surfaces of the wings.
Flaps will be lowered while the ailerons stay neutreal.

Not sure if it is a good idea, but I think I'll try the preshading with glossy black and white colours this time. Still thinking about it.
This way I hope to achieve a smoother surface to make following steps easier.
She won't be heavily weathered. I want to keep here fairly clean, not shiny like a sports car but clean.

Jos Jansen
Nice progress WhiteGlint, instead of using a gloss black for a smoother surface, why not using regular primer and afterwards some sanding with a 3000 grit scouring pad...the surface then becomes super smooth like a baby bum...👍!

Robin (WhiteGlint)
Thanks Jos.
Yes, maybe I should take the approach with flat colours and sanding. Worked the last times I did it pretty well.
But I'll go for gloss black for the metal surfaces. I really like how it looked on the engines.

At first I thought this build would take forever, but after I installed the cockpit progress became a lot faster.
Still a lot to do.

Robin (WhiteGlint)
A little bit of progress.
The aircraft's been put together and the aircraft will be prepared for painting.
I forgot to drill some holes for the centerline fuel tank, so I need to drill them from the outside now.

While there are a lot of missiles available on the sprues (from the other many variants of this kit) in the construction manual no missiles are attached. But I like it when there are some weapons or tanks attached to the aircrafts I build so there is some more construction and painting to do.

Had a bit of another mishap while building.
Initially I planned to display the elevator in neutral position, but as I was trying to attach the necessary part, it slipped into the darkness of the fuselage with no chance to recover. 😭
Luckily, there are some other parts for different positions available, so I decided to display them in "upward" position as If the control stick was pushed forward. I thought it was the most pleasing elevator position to look at.

Robin (WhiteGlint)
I think you are right. Thank you for pointing that out, Roland. 👍
Will fix it.

David H
Ok, secret phantom, how did I miss this one. Late to party as usual. Looking awesome WG…

James C
Coming along nicely 👍

Robin (WhiteGlint)
Thanks David and James. Welcome aboard. 🙂

Priming currently in progress, but no pictures yet.
I also can't forget the chicks, masking their canopies will be a bit of a pain.
It seems a bit of a recurring problem I have with some Hasegawa kits. Had the same issues with my Zeros. At least to me it is hard to find the window frames of the canopy and cut the masking tape accordingly. Even with a light source behind the canopy. 🙁
I will take a different approach.

Daniel
Could also mask the front canopy, take an edding of the ~appropriate size and draw an outline on the lower part, remove the mask, carefully trim the marked part and reattach🤙

Robin (WhiteGlint)
Sorry, totally forgot to answer you Roland and Daniel. Thank you very much for your tipps. 👍
I will definitely keep these two in mind and will give them a try with the next aircraft. Could come in handy with the next Zero.

So I used some vinyl masking tape to place it directly next to the frame. It is easier to bend around the curved surface. It worked better than masking the complete part to cut out the window frames.

I applied the FS36320 main colour and am now busy with some masking to paint on the metal surfaces.

Robin (WhiteGlint)
Metal surfaces and gloss coat done.

James C
Looking good 👍

Robin (WhiteGlint)
Thank you James.
Started decals today. Quite a lot of them together with all these stencils.
I feared the amount of stencils that need to be applied. And because I always rip some of them apart or pull them off and damage them it is not of the steps I like the most but having started now it can be quite relaxing, too.

Just gotta be patient and weather happy little accidents away. 🙂

Neil
Hi WhiteGlint 🙂 Looking really great! Yeah, I feel your pain, there were thousands of them on my Mig-25 build, I only applied half of them in the end - too much small point(less) typographical detail for my liking! Ha! Ha! - I know you'll do a perfect job though mate 👍

Robin (WhiteGlint)
Yeah, I know that feeling, Neil. I didn't apply them all on my MiG-21 either. 😉
But for this kit I plan to apply them all. I was looking very much forward to this GB and the JASDF Phantom. And it really does make the aircraft look more "complete", especially in this scale.

The stencils are a bit of an adventure and I may need to think of a different way to prepare the application. I always cut a few of them from the sheet and dip them in water but the numbers marking the stencils are seperating much faster from the sheet than the stencils themselves.
That makes it a bit hard sometimes to place them to the correct position.
Luckily, the text of the stencils is still readable on the guide so this helps.

I finished topside and ECM pod stencils yesterday.
Underside is still pretty empty. I'll see about the droptanks as the decals for them are washed out a bit, so maybe I'll just apply the most visible ones, if there are enough left in good condition.

Jv
I missed the start but taken a seat now
Looking great

James C
I always love the decaling process (as long as they are behaving) and enjoy seeing how they transform the paint work... even the smaller stencils, which individually don't look like much, but collectively add so much.

A small tip that may help is just to cut out 5 or 6 identical stencils at a time and work in one area until finished. Remove the identifying numbers as well as they are not needed if your concentrating on applying the same one over the entire airframe. Also, don't forget to mark the positioned stencils off on the instructions as you go so that you don't get lost.
Hope it helps 😉👍

Simon Nagorsnik
I've said it before: I hate so many decals!
My respect for everyone who goes through this agony to the end!
So keep your head up😁!

Robin (WhiteGlint)
Thanks mates. 👍

I will keep my head up, or down in this case for focused application. 😄
Stencils are almost done. Today I finished the wings and I think that I can apply the stencils for the underside of the fuselage this weekend. Then only pylons and tanks are missing.

Thank you for your advice, James. That helped quite a bit. 👍
It can be indeed relaxing, but me always ripping decals apart is a bit of a problem. 😭

The Hinomarus required some Mark Fit but after some applications they began to settle very nicely. There are no decals for the missiles themselves, but I'll only add four AIM-9.

Let's see how it'll look after I am done and applied a few gloss coats. The decals may require some sanding, to get them even with the surface.

Work on the egg planes is kinda paused but not aborted. They'll need some more paint before I can start on their decals. Thank God there are not so many for them. 😄

Spanjaard
looking really good

Robin (WhiteGlint)
Thank you Spanjaard.
Okay, I am almost done. Decals applied and after some more clear coats I marinated her in my custom mixed oil wash.
My aim was to get the details pop and to have her look slightly used but still kept nice and clean.

Cleaning up the mess I made didn't work very well and I had trouble getting all the unnecessary wash off the fighter.
She isn't as clean as I wanted her to be. 🙁
Maybe my clear coating was not thorough enough but it is not as bad as I thought.

Giving the front window a blue tint did not work as expected and it became a bit clouded. Maybe I can fix it somehow.

Murad ÖZER
i think a couple of stencils may be missing there as well! 😛

looking great, finish line is almost there.

Robin (WhiteGlint)
Thanks mates. Your praise is very much appreciated. 🙂

How can you tell, Murad?! 😄
Yes, there truly are missing some stencils. Mostly due me tearing them apart by accident.

I will try some more removing with the brush and if that does not work I'll go for the diluted paint. Not sure if I should seal it first?
For the wash I used oils paints and white spirit to thin it down. Could this cause some nasty reactions when applying acrylics on top of them?
Well, the sprit should be evaporated completely. It's been some days.

Murad ÖZER
if you are absolutely certain the wash can't be removed with more thinner then your only bet is to go in with the base color, very thin of course, and touch up very carefully.
unless it's still wet, white spirit won't cause any issues with scale modeling paints, don't worry.

Spanjaard
Be careful with white spirit, once I used to much on a model, while using oil paint to do some washes and, it started to go into small spaces etc, attacked the plastic and the model started to fall into pieces in front of my eyes. I can tell you it was not a pretty sight.....

Daniel
Have you tried working the surface with an eraser? Works wonders for me with wash residue, I "borrowed" a really soft one from my wifes art supply which is perfect. Also it leaves the panel lines still dark.
In some extremely stubborn cases I also used a 3000 sanding sponge very carefully grinding into the contaminated clear coat. But veeeery careful of course and resprayed clear afterwards.
You see I shy away from too much thinners and more thinners on top as I had some horrible mishaps especially with decals involved, I prefer the mechanical method as its more predictable for me.

But what I really wanted to say in the first place is that your jets looking great 🙂 👍

Robin (WhiteGlint)
That sounds like horror, Spanjaard...
Pouring hours and hard work into a model only to see it desintigrate before your eyes... 🙁
I'll try to be careful. I used some odorless thinner before but I wanted to use a bit of less toxic stuff for my hobby. I am working very close to the living room and white spirit has less warning signs on the bottle.

Cleanup with more white spirit didn't work yesterday night. I'll go for the eraser method this weekend and the highly thinned main colour will be my last resort. Thank you Daniel, also for the praise. 👍

I can resume work on the egg planes soon and may start work on the base this weekend. I got some concrete texture left.

Spanjaard
truly horror indeed. I managed to recover the model from a close to total loss... but it was never the same again.
now i use Flory models for washes. water with clay. it will not attack any plastic 🙂

James C
It's looking very good mate, and I like the grimy look to it. 👍
I've been wanting to build an F-4 for years now... perhaps this will be the year?

Probably too late now, but for removing oil or enamel based panel line washes, I now use soft toilet or face tissues lightly moistened with either odorless or white spirits and just wipe in the general direction of air flow etc. I find it's less aggressive than using ordinary paper towels and minimizes the risk of burning through the clear coat and into the paint (like I did on my MiG-21 build) but you still have to be careful and not overdo it with the spirits.

Surface prep is key, as you will never remove washes that have been applied to a rough surface, no matter how much you flood it with spirits etc. Also, I rarely leave the wash to sit more than 2 or 3 hours max which tends to help with the removal as well.

Lastly, wear disposable rubber gloves while handling to avoid leaving fingerprints behind.

Robin (WhiteGlint)
I did some sanding after primer but no real sanding after applying the main colour this time. :-/
Using the Hataka colour I had some trouble with it drying and clogging the airbrush. So that might be the reason for the uneven surface here and there.
But I don't remember feeling rough surfaces

Yep, face tissues are great for removing excess wash. They are pretty smooth and there is almost no risk of sanding the paint which sometimes can happen with paper or kitchen towels.

James, you should definitely go for a F-4 this year. 😉
While I don't have that much of a deep connection to the aircraft, building it I really began to like its shape and the metal surfaces around the engine. And this kit was a lot of fun so far. Most of the time I was fighting myself and not the model 😄

James C
Hehe, the Phantom is proof that even a house-brick can be made to fly, if you give it an excessive amount of thrust 😄

It's definitely high up on my to-do list, but I have a bad habit of getting easily side tracked. 😳

Oooh look shiney!.....

Robin (WhiteGlint)
Haha, yeah James. It is not hard to get sidetracked with scale modeling. 😄
There's always a new idea or something you planned some time ago that you want to finally start...

In that case I am easily distracted, too. And already started some new projects in the meantime. Looks like the shelves will fill quickly this year...
I always want to finish one thing first before starting a new project but it these kits somehow keep falling from the stash into my hands.
Well, it is a hobby so I guess it's no problem. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The chicks got their colours and clear coats applied. I will upload new photos once I am done. Not much left to do on the aircraft themselves.

Daniel Klink
All thumbs up Mate!! Wow!!

Robin (WhiteGlint)
Thank you very much, Daniel.
Started work on the base, no concrete slabs this time. 🙂

Robin (WhiteGlint)
Alright, it's done. 🙂
Eggplanes and "Mama" Phantom are finished.
It's been quite a ride with this project. Lots of fun, especially the ZM kit.
I think the only shortcomings are from myself.
I broke some stuff, as usual, but didn't manage to fix it. Mostly antennas and sensors like the pitot tube on the nose, ripping some decals, the usual. 😄

For display I decided to place her on runway 03R of Hyakuri Air Base which is part of Ibaraki Airport in the city of Omitama, Ibaraki Prefecture, as 302nd Tactical Fighter Squadron was based there (for some time) when they were still flying Phantoms.
Currently they are based at Misawa Air Base in Aomori and operating F-35.

Had to fight the decals of the egg planes and some of them didn't set very well but I think they still came out nice.

Sun is shining, so I took them on the balcony for some photos but light source is always somewhat behind the model. 🙁
Enjoyed this project very much. 1:48 scale jets are a lot of fun.
I hope you like it too. Thank you all your encouragement and interest.

Cheers!

Robert Podkoński
That's quite an achievement. I am deeply impressed with your perseverance and the final effect! Chapeau bas!

David H
Great looking spook, just need my fg1 to turn out half as nice. Well done.. love the egg planes..!

Daniel
Looks like some work-hours invested, beautiful spooks! 👍
(btw you maybe forgot to de-mask the tiny A-Frame windows 😉 )

Murad ÖZER
WhiteGlint they are all looking lovely especially under the sunlight! 😎

as for the decals on Eggs, yep that's common on all hasegawa egg planes unfortunately. i still like them a lot and seeing them always puts a smile on my face.

really great job despite the issues you ran into and well presented. 👍

Simon Nagorsnik
Really like the pic of the two "baby phantoms" in the sun- niiiice😁
You did a good job on the bigger one too👌

Robin (WhiteGlint)
Thank you very much mates. 🙂
Your kind words are much appreciated.

Daniel, you are right. I forgot to remove these masks. 😳
I will fix it and take some more photos today. Weather will be nice.

Looking forward to your FG1, David. I'm sure you'll fix the problem you had with the tail decal. It promises to be a very nice Phantom.

Shooting the photos of the eggs was fun. 😄
The most troublesome decal was the scarf around the cockpit. I did not manage to fix it very nicely and as I was using a setting solution, in the hope to nicely conform it to the fuselage, it became even more brittle.

Dean Harpster
Lovely work! I think you may have inspired me to get one of those ZM Phantoms even though I usually stick to 1/72. The egg planes are a great touch!

Robin (WhiteGlint)
Thank you very much, Dean.
Egg planes are a lot of fun to do every now and then.
I uploaded additional pictures I took some months ago but forgot. Now the complete canopy is unmasked, thanks Daniel. 😉

Motatim Stanislaw
So cute

Dash Rendar
Well done, mate!