Subject: Re: Article Submission 1/32 RF-4B John Peters
From: "Submissions for ARC" <[email-masked]>
To: "John Peters" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2008 18:39:08 -0800

Hi,
I just wanted to let you know your article went on ARC today.  Thanks again for sending it in.

Steve Bamford
Aircraft Resource Center
http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com

Live like there is no tomorrow;
Love like you've never been hurt.
Work like you don't need the money.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Sing like nobody's listening.
Live like it's Heaven on Earth.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: John Peters 
  To: [email-masked] 
  Sent: Saturday, January 26, 2008 2:25 PM
  Subject: Article Submission 1/32 RF-4B John Peters

    
  1/32 Revell RF-4B Phantom II 

  by John Peters
  --------------------

        Steve Bamford will insert full sized version of photo 01.jpg here  

  I've long been an admirer of the models I've seen here on ARC, and have finally completed one I thought was worth sharing.  It's no show-stopper; I'm no perfectionist and this thing fought me every step of the way.  It's also a first for me in several respects.  It's the first time I've used homemade decals (other than simple numbers), and it's the first real conversion I've ever tried.  The model is essentially the Revell RF-4C kit, with some help from Tamiya, Cutting Edge, a few helpful ARC'ers, and some sources I've long forgotten.  I did not make every change neccessary to convert a -C into a -B, but what I am going for is "Yeah, that is SUPPOSED to be an RF-4B".  

  I've always been partial to the green-tailed bird depicted by the 1/48 Hasegawa kit. This model has the long J-79 burners, slatted stabs, and main landing gear reinforcments on the wings.  I could only find a couple of pictures of the green-tailed RF-4Bs, none of which had the tail number of the Hase kit. (Or is that bureau number?  I'm an AF guy!)   The pictures I found all had short cans and unslotted stabs.  I built mine with the long cans and slotted stabs and elected not to use the gear reinforcements.  OK, the gear reinforcements I just forgot.  Is my model accurate? Who knows.  

  As usual, I started with the cockpit.  I know the kit's cockpit has some problems, but as I was not going to display the thing with the canopies up, I did not spend a whole lot of time on it.  I did add some aftermarket seats, though I don't remember the brand.  I also raised the rear seat, though not enough, and added the sidewall from the Tamiya F-4J kit.  From three or four feet away it looks great!  

  The antennas on the intakes came from the Cutting Edge F-4B conversion set, and the antennas on the airframe underside came from the Tamiya kit, as did the fin cap and external tanks.  The afterburner cans came from the Revell F-4E kit, and though I'm not totally satisfied with how they turned out, they probably look better than most I've made.  I spent a lot of time filling and sanding seams, and there are a few that could've used even more time.  I scribed both the photo-flash doors on either side of the tail, and the refueling door on the right side of the front fuselage.  That refueling door was the first time I scribed something other than a lost straight panel line, and I gave up after three tries.  Each successive try was worse than the previous attempt.  Try number one wasn't all that bad, actually!  

  Click on images below to see larger images

         Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 03.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 03.jpg   Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 04.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 04.jpg  

  The kit came with some rudimentary cameras that are quite visible when finished, so I added a few details.  This consisted of only a few rivets, decals, and a clear lens for each camera, but I think they look much better than the OOB cameras.  You can actually still see some of that detail behind my fingerprints on the clear camera cover pieces!  Those pieces fit quite well; the problems I had were all my of my own devising. 

  The landing gear is a Frankenstein-type creation using parts from Revell, Tamiya, and Cutting Edge, with some aluminum tubing and cast resin bits thrown in.  Before my patience hit the wall I'd hoped to busy the struts up a bit with some wiring, but that was one of the first casualties when my "That'll Have to Do" attitude set in.  From the other side of the room you can't even tell anyhow.

  The paint job was just how I like 'em- one color.  Well, two if you count that green tail.  The Testors green enamel in the little square bottle was a fairly close match, I thought, though I did mix in a little gray.  I used Model Master Acryl Gloss Gull Gray for most everything else with no problems.  Except for the radome that is....I noticed while I was taking the pictures that I put it on upside down!  I removed it thinking the repaint wouldn't take that long.  It didn't, if "that long" to you means four paint jobs and five weeks.  I'm not convinced it looks better now than when it was on upside down.  

  The decals came from a variety  of sources: CAM, Tamiya, my spares box, and my inkjet printer.  I've printed numbers and letters in the past using Testors decal paper with good luck, but this is the first time I've ever done anything more elaborate.  The foxhead, letters, and chevrons on the tail took several attempts, and are not perfect, but I am satisfied with them.  I enlarged some Mircroscale decals to 1/32, printed them on Testors clear decal paper that I had sprayed with Tamiya gold spray paint, then traced the black outline of the letters and figures with a black Sharpie.  I then wiped away the water-soluable printer ink with a damp cloth, leaving behind the water-proof Sharpie ink.  The last step was carefully cutting out the decals; this proved to be the hardest part for me, and was the part where I lost a bit of the detail.  I still think they turned out reasonably well.   

  I clear-coated the model with Future, and weathered things a bit with an oil wash, with mixed results.  For some reason, the numbers I printed on the decal paper reacted negatively with the wash, and I ended up re-printing those.  The weathering ultimately turned out fair.  It's not as good as I'd like, but better than I expected.  

  This was the first time I've photographed a model, and it's a lot harder than it looks!  They say the camera adds ten pounds, but I think it adds seams, blemishes, and silvered decals too.  After the giant sheet of cardboard I was using as a background got away from me and flipped the model over, I thought about making a crash scene diorama.  But you can hardly see those blobs of super glue....  

      

        Steve Bamford will insert full sized version of photo 02.jpg here  

  Photos and text © by "your name goes here"