Academy 1/48 F-4C ***5/1 disaster***

[M1Carbine]

Time to hit another wingy thing. The F4 is one of myu all time favorite. In fact it was an F4 that was my very first aircraft build when i was a little kid, courtesy of the Aurora model club. My mom had signed me up for a year and every month you got a different kit, the first being an F4.

A lot has been said about Academy's F4s, and all are good. The 4C variant is that of Col. Robin Olds. This will be OOB with no AM.



Bob

[Leon]

Count me in Bob! The F-4 is one of my favorites to.

[M1Carbine]

Just an awesome aircraft

Bob

[TRM]

F-4....always a good choice!! Looking forward to you cracking the lid!

[thug626]

Deal me in Brother. It's a sweet kit. I had a blast with mine.

[M1Carbine]

Todd - lid cracked brother

Dave - brother if it turns out half as good as yours ill be happy.

Bob

[thug626]

Why thank you brother. Given damn fine quality of what I've seen you build, this one will be no exception. Now, I'll just park my carcass over here and, enjoy the build.

[deafpanzer]

Great choice... count me in too! Good luck

[M1Carbine]

Your in brother

Bob

[M1Carbine]

Hi all,

Made some progress on the Phantom albeit a bit slow. IPs are pretty much done just have to dull coat some areas and general assembly is complete minus the ejections seats.













Although the kit is well designed I find it quite odd the that lower fuselage is in two pieces and is a pain in the ass to get aligned correctly. Some fancy clamping and maneuvering took place to get this seamless.



Also a pain that the rear landing gear must be installed before adding the wing tops, if not, you will not get them in place. From now on everything must be handled correctly or these puppies will snap off.



Intake seams need to be sanded out smooth and have soem of the engine components and ejections seat parts curing in the booth after a layer of Vallejo black primer.



Oh and just for the record.....I HATE! multi colored parts....really......I do.

Bob

[wing_nut]

Always been a Phantom fan. Looking forward to this.

[TRM]

Nice looking pit so far Bob!! Sub-assemblies do bite...LOL Looking good though my friend! Keep at it!

[M1Carbine]

Welcome Marc

Todd - thanks buddy, digging heels in lol

Bob

[thug626]

Good evening Brother. The CP is looking top notch. I know it's a day late and a dollar short....I added some styrene alignment tabs to help with the lower forward fuselage assembly. I mention this just in case you pick up the J variant

[Leon]

Pit is looking really good Bob!

[Wes]

She is one very sexy lady for sure.

Love the cockpit so far.

[M1Carbine]

Dave - thanks brother

Leon - thank you buddy

Wes - Oh yes Phantom SMEXY! lol

Been doing a lot of running around, I havce to get some shots up as there is already paint on......LOL

Bob

[thug626]

Now has the "running around" been unchaperoned? Or was Anne within transmission range of the shock collar?

[M1Carbine]

Brother Dave - unchaperoned LOL

Ok its been a while since I posted some progress as sh!t has kept me busy.

The build after the CP is pretty straight forward






There was a huge gap where the intakes joined the fuselage that had to be filled






after all that paint is on and the decal and stencil nightmare begins






I started to use a new Tamiya product. Mark Fit and mark Fit Strong. This stuff is freaking awesome and sucks the decals into everything. be advised, do not use the Mark Fit strong on normal thin decals, if you do they will go "POOF!" use the strong for overly thick decals and you will be fine.


So most of the decaling is done except for?
When I flipped the page over I damn near had a stroke. Are you freaking kidding me. I all for realism but holy crap!


This is going to take a while!

[Leon]

Nice progress Bob! The paint is looking good. Holy crap i don't envy you on putting those decals on.

[M1Carbine]

Leon - thanks buddy. Lets just say that the decals on the bottom will be........selective. There is just way to many, enoigh will be there for effect

Bob

[wbill76]

Just don't lose one Bob...there won't be any spares on the sheet! Plan your effort carefully, that's a lot of real estate to cover with all those decals for sure.

[jpc1968]

HOLY MOLY! that looks like a wiring diagram. I agree the Tamiya Mark Fit is great stuff, it's all I use. I haven't tried the "strong" yet though. Great job BTW.

[mrversatile]

Yes, there are alot of stencils. I had an inclination to get into my Eduard F-4N until I turned to the stencil page and decided to opt for another project. It just ruined my vibe bc I couldn't see myself doing all those stencils right then. Maybe in the not too distant future though. Nice job on yours so far.

[thug626]

Good morning Brother,
Yeah, I had similar thoughts when I saw that page as well. I ended up marking the decals off on the instructions sheet as I placed the decals. Just simply to keep track of what had been applied and, what remained. The stencils are a PITA but, in the end you'll sit back and look at it and think, "Damn! That looks good!"

[M1Carbine]

Bill - I have failed lol, at least 5 really tiny ones went "POOF"

JP - my exact thoughts when I looked at it myself lol and thank you

Gil - thats what prevented me from diving into this two years ago when I got it. Just dive in, take frequent breaks and lots of deep breaths buddy....you got this!

Dave - roger that brother, have been doing exactly that.

Well progress has been slow as I prepared for the show yesterday which went extreamly well. I will have a separate post on that.

The underside is moving along....albeit slow, but its moving.


back at the bench today and maybe by some time this evening it will be done.........maybe!

Bob

[Leon]

It maybe moving slow Bob,but your doing a great job!

[M1Carbine]

Thanks Leon

Bob

[M1Carbine]

Well freaking disaster struck. I was applying the final dull coat, when done i added airbrush cleaner to my airbrush to spritz some through it, as i turned to grab the clean station my arm hit the drawer and.................you guessed it, splashed out of the cup and over the completed model. I am so pissed at this point im spitting nails but its a lesson learned. the blotches you see have now cracked all the layers of paint.













I have another kit on order and will build this beast again. Needless to say i am extremely disappointed.

Bob

[fhvn4d]

you said final dull coat..... is it possible to buff this out with some very fine sanding paper and re-gloss, then re- dull or something