This is my Tamiya
Phantom. I've always liked the big Tamiya jets and when the local hobby shop had
them on sale I couldn't pass it up. The kit is 'phantastic'. Excellent detail is
provided right out of the box. I wanted to use the Eduard PE set for the cockpit
but it was taking forever (over two months) to arrive from Squadron so I started
without it. Of course soon after I began the set arrived. Arrrggghhhh! Oh well,
the kit detail on the instrument panel is good enough to begin with so I added
what PE stuff I could and pressed on. I also used the Cutting Edge
"seamless" intakes. These were very nice despite what others may have
said when comparing them to the Seamless Suckers F-4 intakes. The CE intakes
require a bit more care, pre-planning and filler but in the end look just as
nice.
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images below to see larger images
For the bang seats I
had started out with the CE MB Mk 5 seats but several forum members pointed out
these were all wrong. Now here I am with complete, painted and weathered MB Mk 5
seats...what to do? I ordered a set of True Details MB Mk 7 seats and painted
and weather them. Another week wasted...<sigh>. Construction went right
along with no major hang-ups. The only fault I can find with the Tamiya Phantom
is how they deal with the horizontal stab. The way the kit is engineered the
stab is a one piece assembly that is held in place with a keel fitting. Know
that this area has to be painted it seems to me that the stabs should be
seperate and be allowed installation later (after painting). One could try to
wait and install the keel and stab assembly after painting but there would be an
unsightly seam. So, I had to engineer a way to seperate the stab halves then
provide a way to attach them later. I ended up using wire pins in the stab roots
to mate with match drilled holes in the center stab fitting. The stab fitting
and keel are assembled allowed the stab halves to be fitted later. It worked
like a charm.
The Eduard PE set
contains quite a few details for the entire aircraft. One particular portion
that takes quite a bit of time and patience are the canopies. These are almost
kits unto themselves. It took about a week just to complete these. The end
result though is very pleasing and realistic. When attaching the outboard wing
panels I used a template to achieve the proper 12.5 degree bend in the wing. (I
heard the Tamiya had made the angle much greater than that).
Once major assembly
was done it was time for paint. One good thing about these Tamiya jets is that
very little filler is required. Most all of the seams are nicely hidden or blend
very well along panel lines. After masking the cockpit off I gave the model a
shot of Mr Surfacer 1000. Minor imperfections were taken care of follwed by
another light coat of Mr Surfacer. Panel lines were pre-shaded with PollyScale
grimy black. The underside and radome were sprayed with Tamiya white. The white
was masked at the demarcation line then the top sprayed with PollyScale Light
Gull Grey. The anti-glare shield area was then masked off and painted with
Tamiya black. The next job was the stainless steel areas on the aft fuse
and stabs. These were done with various shades of MM metalizers and Alclad II
lacquers. I used CE resin nozzles (which I found out are too small in diameter
but look good anyway) and painted them various shades of steel and washed with
black enamel to bring out the details. It was time now for the PollyScale gloss
clear coat and decals.
I wanted to do a Marine Phantom
used in Vietnam but I didn't want to use the kit decals since they represented a
post-war Phantom. I used a mix of kit decals and CAM's decal set for VMFA-333. I
really like the Tripple Shamrock bird. Both the Tamiya and CAM decals went on
nicely. I did need to use the Solvaset in certain areas but several applications
made sure everything snuggled down. An enamel wash was appled to bring out the
panel line detail. A final coat of satin was applied to everything and it was
time to add the fiddly bits (landing gear, drop tanks, ordinance, pylons,
nozzles, seats, canopies, wheels, flaps, stabs, gear doors, etc. etc.). A fellow
ARC'er (BrockyTaz) donated a set of CE resin wheels, which look great. The
Tamiya sidewinders (I found out through the forums) are incorrect. The forward
fins are too far aft. I fixed two of the missiles and mounted them on the out'bd
rails. I went with the kit furnished C/L tank. I have heard that F-4's used a
less ogive shaped C/L tank (similar to the wing tanks) but in all my research I
didn't find many pictures to support this and none of the VMFA-333 pictures I
had showed anything but the C/L tank as furnished in the kit. I went with a CAP
warload. marine Phantoms would routinely fly either CAP or ground attack
missions so the same plane could be configured either way. Once all the extras
are added it really looks like a Phantom. So there you have it. My big F-4J. It
even took 2nd place at the local St. Louis Gateway IPMS contest this past
September.
Now, where did I put that F-4D?
Jeffrey
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