AREA 88 : "Break the Big Leg" (F-4E Phantom II)

Greg Baker
Now for part two of the 1/144 Area 88 project "Break the Big Leg"...

Martin Oostrom
Greg and a F-4? Things are getting interesting

Peter Hardy
I love watching this bloke! Just when you think he has to zig, he zags! Oriental wizardry!

Donald Dickson II
So flipping small. LOL

Greg Baker
Is a F-4E from me really such a surprise? It is tiny though...

Spanjaard
i am in of course. Greg and F-4, Not to be missed

Greg Baker
You guys are starting to mess with my head a bit... I feel the pressure mounting now...

Greg Baker
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.

Donald Dickson II
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! 😄

Greg Baker
WHAT SEAM?

Martin Oostrom
It seems some people seem to see a seam. Some seam squirrels seem on a seam hunt. Seems like nothing to seam here!

Spanjaard
since i can not see the seam line, it is in the outside, in the inside, or both?

Peter Hardy
It would appear that you have been wound up Greg. It looks like two fillets off one fish to me.

Donald Dickson II
Its gonna have a sharks mouth, right???? 😉

Peter Hardy
Groan .....................................

Greg Baker
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. 😉

Martin Oostrom
If you ever become a surgeon or a doctor, please don't move here.

Spanjaard
LOL 😄

Peter Hardy
🙂

Greg Baker
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.

Greg Baker
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.

Martin Oostrom
Nope. [img1]

Spanjaard
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...

Spanjaard
i wonder why Martin's picture appears just as a tiny stroke... well i had the same problem yesterday

Martin Oostrom
Yup, but click it and it goes to the right place.

Spanjaard
indeed. but many people will not even know that there is a link there, unfortunately 😉

Peter Hardy
I found it!

Peter Hardy
Greg, jet looks fantastic mate. I am going to have to try electrifying a model.

Martin Oostrom
I wont Peter. It would end in electrifrying

Donald Dickson II
Yeah, that gap absolutely is not correct. Thats weird.

Greg Baker
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.

Greg Baker
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?

Donald Dickson II
Looks like the fun part is next. the intakes. Yay!

Greg Baker
Tell me more about that...

Donald Dickson II
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

Greg Baker
Do you paint the inside of the intakes first? If there's that much fiddling, there might not be any point...

Donald Dickson II
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.

Donald Dickson II
[img1]

Like that

Greg Baker
Ok... I think I've got them on... what's next? 😉.

Martin Oostrom
Looking good Greg 👍

Donald Dickson II
Looks like they went on fairly well. 🙂

Spanjaard
nice 🙂

Calvin Gifford
Neat! Do you have to make your own decals??

Greg Baker
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.

soheil moghisi
Nice

Greg Baker
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.

Spanjaard
no pre-shading Greg?
that would have been fun 🙂 well, still in time to do post-shading 🙂

Greg Baker
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.

Spanjaard
🙂

Martin Oostrom
"Both of my fans" 😄

Greg Baker
Hmm... I dunno... is this something an F-4E Phantom II would wear?

Donald Dickson II
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.

Greg Baker
Ok... now that does NOT sound like a compliment... 😛

Spanjaard
light green maybe a git too light for US Air force but why not for area 88 air force?

Donald Dickson II
Spanjaard has a point. I am thinking in terms of USAF SEA colors. Who is to say what area 88 would be?

Greg Baker
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... 🙂

Augie
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 🙂

Greg Baker
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. 😉

Martin Oostrom
You are creating little gems in tiny scale.

Donald Dickson II
Regardless of color, it is, as per your usual, looking great. 🙂

Greg Baker
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".

Donald Dickson II
OK, are there any color illustrations of the plane from the series?

Peter Hardy
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!

Greg Baker
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.

Donald Dickson II
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".

Greg Baker
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.

Donald Dickson II
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.

Martin Oostrom
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 👍

Spanjaard
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 😛

Greg Baker
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.

Spanjaard
looks good

Greg Baker
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.

Peter Hardy
Lot of folks overdo panel lines anyway Greg. Quite effective the way it ended up. I like it like that!

Donald Dickson II
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.

Greg Baker
Now there's a man with a good idea! Lemme try that and I'll get back to you.

Donald Dickson II
I occasionally have one of those. 😉

Peter Hardy
Better mark that one down on your calendar Don, don't want to forget the day you had a good idea!

Donald Dickson II
ROFLMAO thank you Peter. LOL

Greg Baker
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.

Spanjaard
pictures 13, 14 and 15 are gone.....

Spanjaard
looks nice by the way

Donald Dickson II
Its good to know that I am internationally respected. 😉 LMAO

Get the B-1 going man! 😄

Greg Baker
What happened to my pictures? Oh, no... well, I re-uploaded them...