AREA 88 : "Break the Big Leg" (F-4E Phantom II)
Коментари
18 September 2018, 05:04
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Now for part two of the 1/144 Area 88 project "Break the Big Leg"...
18 September 2018, 05:08
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I love watching this bloke! Just when you think he has to zig, he zags! Oriental wizardry!
18 September 2018, 09:45
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You guys are starting to mess with my head a bit... I feel the pressure mounting now...
19 September 2018, 08:45
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Re-starting the B-1 side of this build really gave me no excuse not to build this one out at the same time. I did my best to channel Spanjaard's F-4Es for the cockpit, but it'll be under a thick canopy (which we should all agree does NOT have a centre line seam) and filled with two pilot figures, so I didn't spend too much time on it.
12 October 2018, 23:52
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So, you are gonna be doing some sanding and polishing on the seam line...Huh? What??? Im not supposed to notice that?...Oh well...ahem...Looking good sir! 😄
13 October 2018, 15:15
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It seems some people seem to see a seam. Some seam squirrels seem on a seam hunt. Seems like nothing to seam here!
13 October 2018, 16:40
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since i can not see the seam line, it is in the outside, in the inside, or both?
13 October 2018, 19:42
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It would appear that you have been wound up Greg. It looks like two fillets off one fish to me.
13 October 2018, 21:51
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I'm pretty sure if there was a seam, it would be on the outside of the canopy and such a pain to sand and polish without destroying absolutely all the detail, that no one in their right mind would try.
Luckily, here is no such seam... and that's the way it's going to stay. In the meantime, I amused myself by painting 1/144 pilots... which turned out alright. Luckily,they fit in the cockpit as long as you get rid of unnecessary things like arms... and most of their legs. 😉
15 October 2018, 15:30
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If you ever become a surgeon or a doctor, please don't move here.
15 October 2018, 17:08
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LMAO just what you want to hear at the hospital "bah, you don't need that bit.. let's cut it off, shall we?"
I'm always a bit surprised by the variation in size of 1/144 pilots and cockpits... no two ever seem to agree, and "meh, small enough" is about as accurate as it gets. So we have to make do.
16 October 2018, 01:01
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So, added a few LEDs... nothing fancy, just the same thing I've done for most of my other Area 88 builds. When I glued all the wheel well covers on I noticed that there's a small gap on the forward one (pic#9 basically on the underside directly below the cockpit). Is that supposed to be there? I'm thinking not, but I've never built a Phantom, so I'm not sure.
16 October 2018, 15:02
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i agree with Martin, the gap is not supposed to be there.... but we can choose not to see it 🙂 i probably would have not if you would have not mentioned it...
16 October 2018, 20:10
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i wonder why Martin's picture appears just as a tiny stroke... well i had the same problem yesterday
16 October 2018, 20:10
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indeed. but many people will not even know that there is a link there, unfortunately 😉
16 October 2018, 20:42
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Greg, jet looks fantastic mate. I am going to have to try electrifying a model.
16 October 2018, 21:00
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It's strange. If you align the wheel well cover, it creates that gap, but I figured it would be easier to fill than a mis-aligned cover, so I'm glad I went the way I did with it. The Phantom's downward sloping tail also gave me a bit of trouble to align. It's a neat plane though, and I can see why so many people like it.
17 October 2018, 03:24
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Back at this one as well. I have to admit, I'm a little intimidated by al the F-4 fans around here. However, I don't want this one to fall too far behind the "partner" B-1 I'm building for this project or it might get lost in the shuffle. Not much of an update though... I added putty to the gaps and seams and then sanded it off. Now what?
6 December 2018, 23:33
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OK. First I have never done a 144 Phantom. Nor done a kit by these folks. So it may be different. But I have yet to build a Phantom where the fit of the intakes wasnt fiddly. The 1/48 Academy was the least fiddly. Unfortunately the old 1/48 Monogram kit was and is a total pain. Getting them to line up with the body in a manner that requires little filling and sanding is difficult. Then again, it could just be me being inept. LOL
7 December 2018, 00:29
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Do you paint the inside of the intakes first? If there's that much fiddling, there might not be any point...
7 December 2018, 01:47
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On every one I have done they are two parts the fiddling around takes place on the outside, so I do the interiors first. Far easier to do them when they are not attached to the plane. And that one looks to be the same deal.
7 December 2018, 02:05
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Thanks guys. They needed a bit of putty to close the gaps, but I was pretty happy with the result.
Calvin - I've made my own decals plenty of times, but probably not for this build.
Lode - Thanks. With the small size the builds become a lot less forgiving of the mistakes.
10 December 2018, 14:04
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I think I'm having stage fright with the Phantom... I'm scared of screwing it up in front of both of my fans... I finally worked up the courage to paint... the underside... light... grey. Now Imhave to go lie down for a bit.
12 December 2018, 14:09
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no pre-shading Greg?
that would have been fun 🙂 well, still in time to do post-shading 🙂
12 December 2018, 14:11
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I think I will do pre-shading actually... the grey was a bit just to check the seams are okay. A couple need a bit more work.
12 December 2018, 14:15
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The only thing I would say is the lighter green seems off to me. Like its too light of a green. But thats just me.
21 December 2018, 21:35
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light green maybe a git too light for US Air force but why not for area 88 air force?
22 December 2018, 17:04
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Spanjaard has a point. I am thinking in terms of USAF SEA colors. Who is to say what area 88 would be?
22 December 2018, 21:50
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Well, since I was extremely detailed in choosing the right paint for the job... "Oh, look... that green is a bit lighter... good to go!" Let's just say... that's the way they paint 'em in the Kingdom of Asran circa 1980... 🙂
23 December 2018, 01:42
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I like it, plus despite all aircraft supposedly being painted in same colours, there can be a lot of varience between batches of the same colour paint 🙂
23 December 2018, 02:50
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Heh. Thanks for that Lode. It's interesting to think that my ham-fist attempts at building itty bitty models might be referred to as a style. 😉
23 December 2018, 08:05
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Regardless of color, it is, as per your usual, looking great. 🙂
23 December 2018, 14:24
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I dunno, this little Phantom is making me quite nervous. It doesn't have to accurate, but I feel the need to get it "right".
23 December 2018, 15:16
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OK, are there any color illustrations of the plane from the series?
23 December 2018, 18:19
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I hate putting oil on the water (a lie) but as an accredited rivet counter I will point out the preposterous fact that the US Senate has never approved the sale of Phantoms to the Kingdom of Nod, errr Asran. Must have been another of those secret arms deals the US were throwing around way back when.
Apart from that Greg, I like the colour combination and think it looks awesome. Am I to take it that the Kingdom of Nod, errr, Asran was a tropical Monarchy? Carribbean? African? SE Asian? My imagination requires facts, not speculation!
23 December 2018, 20:58
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No colour images Don, just B&W, but to my untrained eye it looks like every other Vietnam war era F-4E.
The background on Area 88 is that it's a mercenary airforce fighting the Anti-Government Forces (AGF) in the Asran Civil War. The fictional Kingdom is in North Africa - I like to think of it squeezed in between Libya and Egypt - along the Mediterranean, and the War takes place in the 1978-1983 time frame. Almost all the planes are sourced from "Old Man McCoy", whose tag line is that he can get you anything from a toilet paper to tactical nuclear warheads, as long as you can pay for it. Some of the planes "fall off the truck", some are cobbled together from multiple airframes/engines. So, it's pretty much anything goes as far as I'm concerned.
23 December 2018, 23:43
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And there you go. It matters little how I see it. It can be anything you like then. The premise of the story almost dictates that nothing is going to be "standard".
24 December 2018, 00:18
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Yeah. The colours are going to be limited by my meager knowledge, range of Tamiya acrylics and my patience. For the brown and the dark green I went off the FS codes provided by Platz with the kit painting guide... but then it got more complicated and I just took the path of least resistance. Even though it's fictional, I'd still like to keep it within the range of believability. If that makes sense. That's why I'm happy to get the feedback and advice, even if I choose not to take it necessarily.
24 December 2018, 00:25
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LOL Well, the light green looks more to be the green used in some African nations planes I have seen and on Israeli planes.
The U.S. SEA FS numbers are (in case you dont have them)
Dark Tan FS 30219
Med Green FS 34102
Dark Green FS 34079
Model Masters makes them. I also have them in Tamiya rattle cans. Havent seen them in Tamiya bottles though.
24 December 2018, 01:05
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To SEA or no to SEA. I see there's no sea. That acronym made me scratch my head a few times as a former sailor. They call it SEA and there's no blue in sight!
I also found some oil! I had to check google maps for your Kingdoms exact location: google.nl/maps/@26.8..36146,1946695m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=nl (switch to satellite!)
SEA camo would not have been very effective there?
It is the best livery for an F-4 though and I also think yours looks awesome 👍
24 December 2018, 09:18
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let's say it came from a tropical country (vietnam?) and they did not bother repainting it, there is a war out there lads, and they are to busy to repaint the flying junk they have 😛 and of course, the sun can fade the original colors.... so i guess it is pretty accurate 😛
29 December 2018, 23:42
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Alright, with the B-1 back underway, this one was also revived. I sprayed the engine area a combination of Tamiya aluminum (XF-16) and metallic grey (XF-56). The masking could've been a bit better though, and the camouflage seems to have picked up a few stray "sparkles". Annoying, but I think after a coat of Future and some weathering it won't be too noticeable. Not worth going back and repainting the whole thing over, so I guess I'll just have to live with the results.
7 April 2019, 23:25
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After the future and the weathering, the sparkles disappeared. So I'm glad I didn't try to restart the paint job. The panel lines were a bit frustrating. They're so shallow that I kept cleaning the wash right out of them. So the effect is a bit more subtle than I intended, but I can't think of any way to fix it, so it is what it is.
9 April 2019, 14:38
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Lot of folks overdo panel lines anyway Greg. Quite effective the way it ended up. I like it like that!
9 April 2019, 20:51
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With Peter on that one. they look good. BUT, if you wanted to do more, you could always just run a pencil along the lines. I have done that to great effect before.
9 April 2019, 22:39
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Now there's a man with a good idea! Lemme try that and I'll get back to you.
9 April 2019, 22:54
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Better mark that one down on your calendar Don, don't want to forget the day you had a good idea!
10 April 2019, 11:37
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Hey now. There was that one other time, and we didn't make a big deal about it so as not to scare him... 🙂
Anyway, I added a few decals... more or less randomly from the various options available, so this baby is more or less done. Just have to finish off the base while we await the finish of the B-1.
10 April 2019, 15:17
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Its good to know that I am internationally respected. 😉 LMAO
Get the B-1 going man! 😄
11 April 2019, 22:28
Album info
A build of the F-4E Phantom II that Shin and Warren fly during the bombing mission to break the Big Leg. Part 2 of my 1/144 duo-build