Zoukei Mura F-4S Phantom - WIP

Michael Phillips
Here we go... Excited for this one! Going to do a Heater-Ferris scheme on this one... and NO RE-SCRIBING! (well, very little, hopefully). HAHAHAHA

Michael Hickey
Looks like your in for a real treat with this beauty, and doing a scheme rarely seen.👍

Maciej Bellos
Excited as well. The Zoukei Mura is a wonderful kit, while the Ferris scheme is one of my favorites.

Konrad -
This one will be a gem 👍! Have a ZM also in my stash. Looking forward to your build. Have a nice build 😉

Erik Leijdens
Nice Michael. Must be a great kit.

Florent Thouret
I take a back seat !!!!

Patrick Hagelstein
Front row seat on this one! 🙂

Martin Oostrom
Seat next to Patrick please

Wim van der Luijt
I would like to sit as far away from the other inmates as possible please...... 😉 (what is a Heater Ferris scheme btw?)

Holger Kranich
Wim, a harris scheme Looks a bit like the old german Luftwaffe Norm 76 camo.

[img1]

Patrick Hagelstein
Ignoring your remark Wim (😉), the Heater-Ferris schemes were a series of camouflage schemes applied to a series of aircraft like F-4s, F-14s and F-15s to dazzle the opponents by using lines and colors to disguise the direction the aircraft were flying at. Often a fake cockpit was painted on the bottom to make it very hard to see if the aircraft was flying towards you or away from you.

Michael Phillips
Welcome everyone!

My first WIP update, the cockpit is mostly done! The detail here is fantastic and the engineering is nicely done for great fit and positive part placement, no ambiguity. I like that, as some kits in can kinda be vague as to where parts go in the cockpit.

Patrick Hagelstein
Looking gooooooood!!!

Erik Leijdens
Really nice cockpit Michael!

Michael Hickey
Off to a great start mate.👍

Michael Phillips
Thanks Patrick, Erik, and Michael!

Starting to look like a Phantom now!!! I'm really enjoying this kit. Nice engineering, great fit, and fantastic details. It's nice to build a kit like this, especially after a particularly rough one previously.

Marko
That cockpit looks fantastic.

Spanjaard
strange, i was sure i joined this build before.... ok, now i am certainly in. next to Martin please.

Spanjaard
that cockpit is really good, no aftermarket needed 🙂

Bryn Crandell
An exiting one to watch. The Heater-Ferris scheme is something worth seeing.

Michael Phillips
Thanks Marko, Spanjaard, and Bryn... Welcome!

I have quietly been working on this over the last couple of weeks, and finally have it primed and preshaded! Next up I will begin painting the cool Ferris scheme. 🙂

Patrick Hagelstein
Wow! That went quick (again)! 🙂

Michael Phillips
Thanks Patrick!

Got the first color down, the Medium Gray. I just sprayed this freehand as the masking for the other colors will create the hard lines.

Tomorrow I will mask and paint the blue color.

Soeren R.
Spotted this build just yet....

Really good work so far Michael - as always 🙂

Can't wait to see her finished.

Augie
Wow!! cant wait to see this rhino in its skin

Maciej Bellos
Looking great so far!

ice
I like! 👍
Is there a place left to watch?

Michael Phillips
Thanks Sören, Augie, Maciej, and Ice, and welcome to the newly arrived!

So I got the 2nd and 3rd colors down tonight. Looks like I may have some adjustments to make to the paint angles. It is really hard to mask this correctly (despite how easy it looks LOL). Some minor touch ups to attend to as well.

Augie
Looks good tho, love the ferrris scheme on the rhino.

Holger Kranich
It comes to live! Great!

Florent Thouret
wooooooooo !!!!!

Murad ÖZER
In! 🙂

Holger Kranich
Michael, i hope there is a transparent maskingtape on your windscreen?

Spanjaard
Me too. I am surprised that there is no masking of cockpit interior

Michael Phillips
Thanks Augie, Holger, Florent, and Murad!

Holger and Spanjaard, yes, the windscreen is masked LOL. As far as the rest of the cockpit, I put the masked canopy pieces on when I spray close to the cockpit, then remove them after.

Spanjaard
ahhhhh, that makes sense 🙂

Tim Heimer
Looking good Michael!

Clifford Keesler
Awesome so far sir.

Michael Phillips
Thanks Timothy and Clifford!

Sprayed the final color tonight and adjusted the angle of the darker gray to the blue a little. Still slightly off, but it is close enough for me. Pretty happy with how the paint has turned out. Next up I will mask and paint the fuel tanks, slats, and gear doors. I decided to do these after the main painting so I can get a good idea of how to mask these as I was not originally sure how the angle lines would impact each piece until they were actually painted.

Konrad -
The colours look really impressive on the Rhino! Very very nice 👍
How is the kit so far? It looks like that the parts fit very good...

Murad ÖZER
masking for straight lines on compound curves = nightmare. looking the part so far Michael. 👍

Maciej Bellos
More than 20 years ago using lots of spare decals which were cut to shape I transformed an old Airfix F-4 to a Ferris F-4S:

mchost.gr/v/31149
mchost.gr/v/31150

Michael Hickey
Looking good, can't wait to see her with decals on.

Michael Phillips
Thanks Konrad, Murad, and Michael!

Konrad, the kit is very nice and the fit is really nice most places. Detail is fantastic. The instructions are among the best I have used, very thorough and lots of alternate views to make sure each part is assembled correctly. I am impressed.

That's very cool Murad! It must have been a real headache to put all those decals together. It is always cool to look back at old builds and reminisce!

Michael Phillips
Got the decals on tonight. Not many to apply, really, as this aircraft had very few stencils. And THAT is a good thing on a Phantom... early ones were stencil monsters!

Still got a lot to do.... and trying to decide if I will make this one a newly painted one, one with light to moderate wear, or one with extensive weathering and wear, as I have seen in some pics. I am leaning toward the middle option.

Holger Kranich
She´s getting a soul with those decals. And the less stencils, the better !😉

Michael Hickey
Decals look sweet, I'd go with a moderate amount of weathering because she's gonna get dirty, especially that underside.😢👍

Holger Kranich
Does anyone know if this aircraft was carrier based?

Glenn
Holger i don't think it operated form a carrier never saw any photos of it on a deck. It's looking great Michael

Michael Hickey
I'm sure they operated from NAS Miramar, in San Diego, now known as Marine Corps Air Station, Miramar.

Clifford Keesler
Very cool.

Rex
The West Coast Reserve squadrons would have operated on a carrier from time to time. They had to go out on Quals periodically in order to even be a Naval squadron. If they ever actually deployed on a Carrier, that is harder to determine.

I know the East Coast Reserve Wing deployed a lot of times, because there are photos of the Wing and the Squadrons on cruises for training.

The AF and ND coded Reserves weren't deployed in one place when assigned to shore bases, they were on several bases on any given day.

Holger Kranich
Thanks for info, guy´s! Very interesting!

Michael Phillips
Well, finally got a wash on her. Was out of town for work most of this week, so I have not been able to work on the model for a bit. Will do some further moderate weathering tomorrow, then maybe the flat coat. Still have some work to do on the little bits, but that is coming along as well. Getting closer to the finish line!

Konrad -
Thats awesome Michael 👍! Very very cool!!

Spanjaard
Coming along really well

Maciej Bellos
PhantaStic result. Very well done Michael!

Michael Phillips
Thanks Konrad, Spanjaard, and Maciej!

Well, I got some additional weathering and put down the flat coat. Once again I am not sure if I have weathered too much or not. I always seem to have this internal struggle when I do moderate to heavy weathering. I feel like it is such a fine line and I am never sure if I crossed that line or not when I finish. I will see how it appears to me over the next few days as I view the pics and the finished model on subsequent occasions. I will also listen to your feedback, mates!

Glenn
Looks just right! Nice!

Soeren R.
Im with Glenn and think that the weathering fits perfect!

Holger Kranich
Weathering is right on the point! Not too much, not too less. Simply convincing!

Michael Phillips
Thanks Glenn, Sören, and Holger! The more I look at it the more I am happy with it. A bit more heavily weathered than I was originally going to do, but some pics I have seen show quite a bit of wear as well.

Patrick Hagelstein
Yes, everything is balanced and drawn together. I like the way the blue turned up more hazy.

Ronny Verlaek
WOW , .. nice build ..

Tim Heimer
Mike you've wowed the crowed again! Looks great

Spanjaard
it looks Phantastic to me!

Michael Phillips
Thanks Patrick, Ronny, Timothy, and Spanjaard! I really appreciate the kind words, and I am pleased now with the weathering.

No pics yet, but last night I masked the heat shielding area of the exhausts and sprayed the gloss black primer. So up next will be the metalwork, which is always fun!

Clifford Keesler
It is looking awesome, as always Michael.

Donald Dickson II
I have the C sitting in my stash. I presume building it was a breeze? And looks great!

Donald Dickson II
Never mind. Just went back and read the previous posts. You answered that already! LOL

Michael Phillips
Thanks Clifford and Donald!

Yeah, this is truly a state of the art kit. You will really enjoy building it Donald.

I believe my next Phantom project scheduled (#46 F-4B VF-111), after this one, will be an Academy kit, which I have not yet built. I have built the Hasegawa and now ZM, so it will be cool to be able to compare the three.

So far I can make the following observations:

The Hasegawa is a very easy build, fit is quite good for an old kit, and the shape is dead on. Detail is average - however the intakes are kinda just a hole that just ends. LOL Also, they have produced pretty much every version of the Phantom ever made.

The ZM kit is more complex, and requires more thought and parts prep and pre-fitting. But the detail is vastly superior, however the shape might be considered slightly inferior due to a rear fuselage shape issue, although that issue is not so noticeable to me. But many real Phantom Phanatics find this to be a serious fault. (as an aside, I am hearing that the fuselage issue on the ZM Phantoms has been rectified for the upcoming long nose Phantom kits).

Maciej Bellos
They say that the academy kit is actually spot on shapewise. I also await the long nosed editions of Academy and ZM.

Michael Phillips
The metal areas are now primed and painted with the base airframe aluminum. Next up will be the heat stressing and weathering. This part is always fun!

Patrick Hagelstein
There is an aftermarket rear fuselage plug that is supposed to rectify the ZM shape issue. I ordered it through the 48ers but haven't checked it out yet.

Patrick Hagelstein
Hypersonic Models

Donald Dickson II
I was unaware of a "shape" issue. Is this something painfully obvious like the nose on the old 1/32 Revell kits, or something no one outside of fanatics and former crew chiefs would notice?

As for the Academy kit, I loved it. The intakes, as with every damn kit of every damn plane ever, gave me some fits and the wheel wells are funky in their design, but nothing horrible. I built it from the Eduard re boxing. F-4C Eduard Good Eevening Da Nang | Album by smokeriderdon (1:48)

I will be interested in seeing how it compares to the ZM as well. I only have the Hasegawa in 1/72.

Rex
It is pretty obvious to most people. ZM made the rear transition shape too far back, so going from back to front, it gets "too fat too soon." For a lot of people, it doesn't show up until they put the decals on for "NAVY" or MARINES" on back there between the back of the wings and the front of the stabilators,,,,,,and then they see that it doesn't match up with their other Phantom kits in that area.

It looks like it will be some work to use the Hypersonic piece to fix it,,,,,,,but, ZM says they will fix it starting with their long nosed Phantom kits. (designing a fix means that ZM know about it and agree with those of us that see it)

So, for those that refuse to acknowledge it,,,,they will have a "fat butt" F-4C sitting next to their "good shape" F-4E one day, on the same shelf in their display case.

Patrick Hagelstein
Something to be aware of then when you stand in front of that rack in the shop...

Patrick Hagelstein
Luckily Michael has those small NAVY titles already on there! 😉

Bart Goesaert
seems like a pretty nice kit... fantastic paintjob on this one...

Donald Dickson II
Well @%$%*$^*(_)*. Now I see it. I put pics of mine up next to yours and poof, there it is. OK, that aggravates the *(%)%&** out of me. Its not like this is a 20 year old kit. This was supposed to be the end all be all of 1/48 Phantoms, and we all paid for that. Them fixing it in the long nose versions means squat IMO. Argh. Guess I will be selling it.

Spanjaard
if it is so bad for you, I offer 20 bucks, Donald 😄 😄 I have no problem with the "fat butt" 😄 😄 i would not mind getting my hands on a ZM for a good price😉

Martin Oostrom
21!

Spanjaard
poker!

Donald Dickson II
LMAO Ah, I like you and all Spanjaard, Martin, but NO. LOL About to put it up for 75.00 and see what happens. Honestly, I can get the Academy for less and it is near perfect. Its build foibles are not all that bad and I know of them now.

Rex
Donald,,,one thing to think about. Many pretty good modelers insist there is nothing wrong there, because they can't see it. (even after it is pointed out, such as here arcforums.com/forums..m-kits-released/&; ) Another thing to consider is that unlike me, you are not going to have 40 of them sitting on your shelves, which all need to match in overall shape pretty close.

One last thing,,,,,,,,there is going to be a way to build an extremely good Short nosed Phantom when the F-4E comes out,,,,,,just swap the fuselage parts, build an ultimate F-4C/D/J/S, and build a Phat Butt F-4E for some other service,,,,,, maybe as JASDF F-4EJ, where the paint or decals don't highlight it so much?

Or kit-bash a "good" short nose out of the two kits, then get Hypersonic's fix for the other parts to build an E? Even USAF camo might help cover up that area to the casual observer.

I don't know, how much are older tooled F-4 models in 1/48? Maybe one of those could donate parts to fix the Z-M?

Donald Dickson II
Rex, and here is my thing. All of what you said may indeed be the case. I wont have 40 of them, but I will have a dozen or so from 1/72 to 1/32. And I did indeed see it as soon as I brought a pic of my Academy model up and placed it next to this one.

So we get to this. I paid right 75.00 for it. If I pay that much for a kit, I absolutely should NOT have to go to those lengths to make it correct. This is not a model of a plane that flew in WWII and there are only 2 of left existing, and only one is complete. Its a flipping Phantom. The hacking I needed to do to get the 1/48 Bone right I understood. Kit made years ago, based on the aborted A version...thats understandable.

The Academy kit is about 40 bucks or so. It is a beautiful kit with no major issues. Why should I go to all those lengths to make something almost twice the cost look right?

Rex
Oh, I agree with you completely. I was just offering alternatives.

I don't get why a model producer doesn't buy one of each previous tooling in the scale they will work in, and compare their product to the previous ones. Just to make sure they didn't "boo-boo" on a 2018 kit, when someone got it right in 1971 or something. And if it is something that everyone got wrong before, they can crow forever about being the first company to "get that part right."

I mean, if some "amateur", such as the Accidental CAG, can buy each book, and each tooling in his scale, of a subject,,,,,,,,why didn't "big ole honkin' XYZ company" do that same thing? In terms of research costs, even OOP books and kits are a small investment, compared to all the other research that had to be done.

Donald Dickson II
Even setting aside the books and every other reference you could possibly want, can they not get access to an actual F-4? I mean it should NOT be that difficult. I cant imagine that a museum would have an issue with a model company coming in in off hours and doing a laser scan of it.

As we have totally hijacked Michaels build thread. LOL

Rex
yeah, we did,,,,,,,sorry Michael

On the subject of access,,,,,like many others around the country, I have a Phantom gate guard about 30-45 minutes from my house. It is an F-4C that was used at Edwards back in it's olden days. A couple of hours from me to the north is an RF-4C. There is an F-4N about 6 hours south of me.

And I live in land-locked Tennessee, for those people in California, they can crawl all over a dozen without driving any farther than they have to in order to get to work, anyway.

Heck, go to March ARB to have dinner or check into the base hotel,,,,,,,and you danged near trip over one because it is so close to the sidewalk up to the hotel desk. (not the first time a Phantom was "in my way, dangit" )

Michael Phillips
Donald and Rex, no worries at all! In fact, I always encourage informed discussion in my albums because I am always learning and eager to learn more. I love the Phantom, but I am by no means any kind of expert. The only aircraft I am even close to being an expert in is the Tomcat, and even with that I don't know everything... far from it! So by all means, carry on the discussion!

Michael Phillips
Anyway, in regards to my progress, did heat stressing and weathering work on the heat shield area tonight. Pretty pleased with the outcome. Just kinda experimented with some things and just let it rip! I tried to be less sooty with this one than I was on my previous Phantom as I heard feedback that the later smokeless engined Phantoms did not do that as much.

Erik Leijdens
Your work on the exhaust area turned out very good Michael. The overall build too, as always 👍

Rex
This needs to be said, even though I am sure that Michael already knows it. Our discussion of Phantom shapes and parts is only about the unbuilt plastic,,,,,not about Michael's build of the kit.

His model looks as great as we all have come to expect from Michael. We are merely talking about what this or that plastic company gives us all to start with,,,,and our hopes for what they would give us, maybe in the future, with other models.

These discussions bring out the fact that we all wish we could be "OOB" builders, with great shapes and details right out of the boxes that we pay good money for,,,,not plastic choppers, kit-bashers, and corrected resin parts adders.

Someone getting Phantoms wrong somewhere in the kits is just as frustrating for Michael and others, as I am frustrated with 1/72 Skyhawk models,,,,,,the only one so far that got it right, was in the raised panel line era, and by a company that sold their molds to another company. Heck, one company got the nose shape right in 1958, and then didn't use that shape in their newest re-tooling of the aircraft. (lol, they "had it, then lost it." )

Luckily, a lot of modelers can build some pretty good looking models, even if the shapes or details that they had to work with at the beginning weren't correct.

Oh, and thank goodness for kit-bashing,,,,,,without that skill, I wouldn't build a single model, I think.

Patrick Hagelstein
Well said Rex and again kudos to what Michael could achieve with this chunk of plastic. 😉

Andreas Koziol
amazing airbrush skillz! 👍

Patrick Hagelstein
Michael, in picture 64 there is some silvering to be seen under the F-4S/BuNo and VF-302 decals...

Urban Gardini
@ Patrick! That's for us mortals so we can see that he's human as well...

Patrick Hagelstein
😄 😄 😄

Michael Phillips
Haha you guys crack me up! Yes, for some reason I had some silvering on that side only with several decals at the aft of the fuselage, the NAVY one included. I will be poking holes in them and applying Solvaset to alleviate that issue. I will do that tonight, I keep forgetting, meant to do that right after I noticed LOL

Spanjaard
Fantastic work in the exhaust metallic area

Clifford Keesler
Looking great Michael.

Donald Dickson II
So totally what Rex said! I really hope no one read that as a criticism of Michaels work. Patrick seems to have that covered.😉 LMAO

Michael, I was told by a former F-4 and F-16 Wild Weasel driver that the newer engines were indeed not as bad, still would dirty her up a decent amount. So I think you got that about right according to him. He did say that there was more heated blue closer to the exhausts. I had none on mine.

As always, looks great!

Clifford Keesler
I see the "Phat" butt now. Never noticed that before. I had been wanting a ZM Phantom, But like Donald guess I will stick to the Acadmey ones. Though I have a ton of Monogram ones in the stash. LOL. I think ZM makes the only S on the market, and I sure would like to build one from my Squadron at MCAS Beaufort S.C.

Rex
Clifford,,,,,Semper Fi,,,,,,,,,I didn't know.

I think Darren over on Steel Beach makes an F-4S conversion/enhancement kit. It doesn't come up much, because he is a 1/48 Navair guy, and I am 1/72 Jarhead Aviation.

But, I am pretty sure it was him that had the conversion set.

here he is steel-beach.com/index.html

and he mostly vends through Sprue Brothers store.spruebrothers.com/category_s/2272.htm

Clifford Keesler
Thanks Rex, Semper Fi.

Donald Dickson II
Jarhead aviation...those two words should not be together.😉

Rex
ROFL,,,,,you funny. (if you remember Ham-Chunk, imagine his voice)

It's okay, I was Enlisted,,,and Aviation Ground Support. Someone else's kids were the pilots, not mom and dad's numba one son.

So, the world was safe from me.

Clifford Keesler
I suppose you were a fly baby, huh Donald. USAF, LOL. Remember I was a Rotor head fore I was a Jarhead. LOL. We were all the same no matter what branch of service.

Clifford Keesler
@Rex, I found the Steel Beach F-4S conversion, Getting 2 of them. Thanks.

Donald Dickson II
Cliff, I was indeed. Loadmaster on C-141s. I kicked Grunts and Jarheads out of my aircraft. 😉

And yes, I agree, all for one brother. Its just fun taking jabs. 😉 This is gonna be my next tat...

[img1]

Rex
Hey, that is cool, Don. SSgt Anne (USA-R) and Cpl Rex (USMC), as parents of a Navy Chief, and God father of another Army Sgt,,,,,like that tat. (my lil brother was Air Farce,,,,so we have all but the Coasties at our Holiday dinners)

And I agree, one flag.

(but it is fun to bust on the guys with those Lil Bitty Short Boot Camps, lol)

Clifford Keesler
Amen brother. I like the Tat also. My oldest son is a Ret Army SFC. My next to youngest son was in the Army (Field Artirlley) My youngest son was USAF. and My Daughter was in the Army (Air Traffic controller) and my wife is retired Navy, although I met her while we were both in the Army. And yes Donald I have been kicked out of the rear of a C-141 a few times. LOL.

Clifford Keesler
Michael sorry for high jacking your build thread.

Clifford Keesler
I think your exhaust looks fantastic.

Michael Phillips
Thanks for the kind words Spanjaard, Clifford, Donald, and Rex!

Haha, I don't mind you guys Hijacking my thread, it's all good. We're all friends here 🙂

Anyway, I am REALLY getting close to finishing. Good chance I will do so tomorrow, as I have nothing to do other than watch football and work on the model. I am very pleased with the finish on this one.

Donald Dickson II
Wait, this is a build thread??? What insanity is this???😉

Seriously, this is one kick ass Phantom sir! I really like that pattern and you have done wonders with it. I am not a big fan of pre shading the panel lines. It makes the plane look like a checkerboard to me. However, doing it the way you did makes it not so bold. Just right in my personal opinion. 🙂

Konrad -
Awesome Sir 👍!
Now I have to start also my ZM Spook 😉!

Rollout comes closer and closer... 🙂

Demigod
This looks so delicious! The black basing really brings out subtle variety in the color. I agree with Donald that simple panel line preshading would have resulted in yet another checkerboard. Can't wait to see it phinished!

ice
Phantastic!Be sure to take some daylight-pictures in the sun to show it's beauty, when you`re done! 👍

Michael Phillips
Thanks Donald, Konrad, Demigod, and ice!

I agree about pre-shading, that is why I try to be as random as possible. When I do my pre-shade marble coat, I work as fast as I can so that I can maintain that. I carry that randomness over when I do the weathering as well, but sometimes the human desire for symmetry tries to take over, so I have to consciously try to be random. 🙂

Spanjaard
She looks fantastic 🙂

Michael Phillips
Thanks Spanjaard!

I didn't quite finish over the weekend, still have to paint the seats, install them, and attach the canopies. But that's it! Soooooo close!

Clifford Keesler
She looks stunning,well done.

Michael Phillips
Thanks Clifford!

Thanks to everyone who followed along, this one is now DONE: Zoukei Mura F-4S Phantom - Completed! | Album by Fighting 84 (1:48)

Patrick Hagelstein
Awesome!

Patrick Hagelstein
Michael, is it me or is the landing gear canted inwards?

Michael Phillips
I actually hadn't noticed, but I see it does look a like it might be., especially the right one. I will check my alignment when I get home. I might have put her on her feet a little too soon after gluing them in.

Patrick Hagelstein
OK. It just would be off to see such a great paint job with a crooked landing gear underneath.