The Mig Killer - All Done!

[JimD]

We all have "holy grail" builds. Mine is a particular airframe:



OY 463 is an F-4D that was piloted by Steve Ritchie (the first U.S. Air Force ace of the Vietnam war) during his 1st and 5th kills. This particular airplane also shot down four other Migs during it's tour making it the most prolific Mig killer of the conflict.

I became obsessed with this airplane as a kid. My dad had built one and of the various builds he had around (including other Phantoms) this is the one that struck me the most. It helped a bit that my dad had actually known Ritchie having met him through work. In fact I had met him once not knowing who he was, and have since had the occasion to chat with him a couple of times over the years at airshows.

Since then I have always wanted to build this airplane in "all out" mode. Several years ago I acquired my first piece in the form of a MIcroscale Industries decal sheet with this airframe on it. I've held on to that sheet waiting for two things...First, I had a threshold where I wanted my skills to be and second, I wanted a new tooled kit in 1/48th. Regarding the latter, Academy has stepped up with a dang nice kit, and on the former, I guess I'm probably as close as I'm going to get, so I decided to load up

The Kit:



The Aftermarket:

Aires Cockpit
Eduard: Canopy Mask, Brassin wheels, Brassin exhaust, Brassin Big Sin Weapons set, fabric belts
Steel Beach Slime Lights
Def Model FOD Covers
Microscale Decals (Pictures forthcoming)





I expect to start this one some time next week. I am out of town for the weekend, and I want the Harrier on the display shelf and would like the main assembly of the Uhu behind me (I'm getting close and will have updates there soon).

Thanks for joining in

[dupes]

Holy crapsnacks. There's more aftermarket than kit there!

Let me know if You have any leftovers...haha.

[wing_nut]

Gotta figure a way that I will be able to enjoy watching this. Yeah, like THAT would ever be a problem

[Deano]

This is gonna be super detailed Jimmy , great AM stuff you got there !

[Tojo72]

Wow,another excellent project.

[JimD]

It's going to be an adventure that's for sure. I'm hopeful that all the AM cooperates, but I won't lie I'm a little concerned. I was actually going to throw the Aires wheel bays in there too but the way the cockpit tub interacts with the nose gear bay had be concerned...I may end up ordering them anyway if I get to that point and think it's worth a try.

[dupes]

You can't claim you've used ALL the aftermarket if you don't cram it all in there...just saying.

[JimD]

I know right? This one is already going to be my most expensive endeavor lol. I intend to put this one on a tarmac type thing...would like to add some figs and equipment, but we will see how my dedication holds on that one.

[wbill76]

This should be a fun ride Jimmy, hope it all plays nice (enough) that you can fulfill your dream with it!

[TRM]

Very cool stuff Jimmy!! That is a hefty pile of stuff you have there!! Can't wait to see you break into this one!!

[deafpanzer]

WHOA!!! Jimmy is doing a Phantom!!! Boy, it is going to be fun to follow this...

[venom1]

This is gonna be good......

Cheers,

Sam

[Leon]

Count me in Jimmy! Always liked the look of the Phantom.

[JimD]

Ok. Let's get this one started.

I began by devoting myself to cleaning up all the resin stuff I have in the beginning. I hate resin cleanup, but getting it all done up front meant it's out of the way.

First it became painfully clear a lot of kit plastic was going to have to go. The area marked in red needs to come off, but good ole Aires gave NO instructions on where to remove material, so I just went slowly and tested and tested.



And now here we are with all the material that had to come off. And there was SIGNIFICANT thinning of the kit sidewalls and the resin tub. I actually was getting to the point where I was going to pull my B kit out and cannibalize it and just use the kit tub with resin seats. I stayed with it though and now we have fit.



Now the real headache. I avoided the Aires wheel bays because...fit, but getting the kit well together wasn't a breeze. Here is what comes in the kit...the well sidewalls build up on the bottom of the kit cockpit, so cutting.



And here is what you're left with. It's paper thin and the bottom of the resin tub had to be sanded paper thin on the bottom too...and it just BARELY fits with trying to dry fit everything...which is hard to do without committing to glue on the tub because it just falls out. But I think I'll be fine when I do glue.



Not being familar with the brand, I wanted to test out the FOD covers for fit. Drop in perfect, so I'm probably not going to even screw with the intake trunks. They are fiddly and really the weak point of the kit I think.



Then I primed all the resin and got the base color on the cockpit pieces. XF-19 is close enough for me compared to ref pics.



Eduard burner cans are gorgeous. I'll get some pics compared to the kit parts. Far and away better than the OOB options. (Test fit suggest these will drop right in.



In the end I absolutely wont be using Aires on future Phantom builds. I have probably 10 hours of work getting them to fit. No. Kidding. It's gorgeous, but not worth it here...not for me.

[aeroaustin]

Jimmy, thank for showing about resin cockpit.

[wbill76]

That's a lot of time to get it all to play nice for sure Jimmy, don't blame you there. Those Eduard cans sure to look spiffy.

[dupes]

Aftermarket can look as hot as it wants to...if it won't fit, I ain't using it!

[JimD]

Apr 27, 2015 13:52:54 GMT -5 dupes said:

Aftermarket can look as hot as it wants to...if it won't fit, I ain't using it!

Oh how I wish I wasn't so stubborn

[M1Carbine]

Woohoo a phabulous phantom. Lots of goodies going on this puppy. Im tuned in



Bob

[doogsatx/]

Making great progress on this one - will be following for sure! Hopefully you can avoid my "Academy block" - every kit of theirs I try to tackle gets Shelf of Doomed.

[JimD]

That's kinda exactly what I did with the B. Hopefully it won't happen here. I'm pretty determined though. As nice as this kit builds up, it's just a little quirky and could have used some more thought in the engineering.

[JimD]

*Rage face*

Spent a couple of days painting and weathering up the cockpit tub. Installed it this morning and the fuselage isn't close to coming together along with the wheel bay.

So...I almost just boxed it and threw it in the closet, but after some reflection realized I was too heavily invested to quit. I'm going to poach the B fuselage and cockpit tub I guess. That will mean some mods, but I'll be able get it done. I'll use the resin seats and bits of the PE, but I'm most disappointed about loosing all the sidewall detail. The kit has none. Ugh.

[doogsatx/]

Ouch - sorry to hear it. That's one thing I hate about a lot of resin - it feels like it's often designed with absolutely no thought as to how anything else will go together.

[JimD]

Used three sets before this one with no issues. On the Harrier I didn't even have to remove pour blocks...lol...I guess I was due for a bad one. The worst part is all the cutting to the kit parts necessary. At least with the Harrier if it hadn't fit I could have gone with the kit pieces. Not an option here. If I didn't have the B kit I won't ever finish I'd be in a much worse mood right now.

[doogsatx/]

Apr 29, 2015 13:03:51 GMT -5 JimD said:

Used three sets before this one with no issues. On the Harrier I didn't even have to remove pour blocks...lol...I guess I was due for a bad one. The worst part is all the cutting to the kit parts necessary. At least with the Harrier if it hadn't fit I could have gone with the kit pieces. Not an option here. If I didn't have the B kit I won't ever finish I'd be in a much worse mood right now.

Yeah, I LOVE resin that does fit without asking you to cut the hell out of the plastic. I've got the Aires resin for the Hobby Boss A-10 and it looks like it's pretty close to a drop-fit. And the Wolfpack pit for the big Academy F-16 requires no cutting or thinning at all (unfortunately there's the rest of the kit...)

[JimD]

Agreed. Eyeballing the Wolfpack set for the 48th Tamiya F-16..so maybe it will be similar in fit.

I wound up doing some Google and found exactly 1 WIP where someone attempted to use the Aires pit on this kit...strangely the updates stopped not long after he installed it...hmmm...should have done more digging on this one first I guess.

[JimD]

Ok, took a couple of steps back, but moving forward again.

Cannibalized the cockpit tub out of the B kit. Having started that one already meant removing the B firewalls and installing the ones for the C/D.

The kit consoles aren't terribly bad, but they lack throttles. Used the ones from the Aires set, along with the control sticks. Still need to gloss and wash the tub.





The seats are from the Aires set. To fit them I had to remove some location points in the bottom of the tub intended for the kit parts. A couple molded on handles were removed to be replaced by the Eduard PE. The belts are Eduard Fabric. They look nice, but man in 1/48 they are a pain. I'll probably stick to resin molded on belts in the future. (I see I need to fix on of the PE handles...oops.)




I've also been working on the Eduard exhaust. Painted with Alclad "jet exhaust" and "exhaust manifold" and heat treated with Alclad transparent blue.

[dupes]

Can't believe a very recent Aires set for such a new kit would suck that bad. Man...makes you think twice about dropping big bucks on aftermarket. Sure, it LOOKS good, but if it won't fit...

[JimD]

I had already thinned the bottom of the resin tub down so much that it was starting to wear through. It wouldn't even fit with the top of the gear bay removed...the only way I can see that would have worked would be to grind material off the bear bay effectively making it shallower...which would screw up the way the airplane sits.

[aeroaustin]

Jimmydel, I will get this same model kit and does worth to get aires cockpit or may not recommend? leave it original cockpit alone than being a pain in butt? just ask for your experience. I plan to put it down the list for aftermarket for this model to buy in future.