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Official: Phabulous Phantom Thread
Phantom2
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Östergötland, Sweden
Joined: April 18, 2006
KitMaker: 708 posts
AeroScale: 678 posts
Posted: Saturday, August 23, 2008 - 03:57 AM UTC
Hi all!

Ayhan, that Rhino rocks!
Beautiful build!

My Phantom is progressing quite rapidly!

For once, a build that´s easy and painless!

Seats are painted;



Airframe assembled;



Today I got the seats in the cockpit, canopy masked and glued to the airframe, and I painted the canopy frames black (inside color).

Now It´s time to hit the paint-booth!

Cheers!

Stefan E
Hoss
_VISITCOMMUNITY
Georgia, United States
Joined: January 05, 2006
KitMaker: 96 posts
AeroScale: 61 posts
Posted: Sunday, August 24, 2008 - 12:10 PM UTC
I,ve completed my first build since leaving the hobby some thirty years ago...

Hopefully within the next couple of days I'll have some pics of my VF-151 Phantom II. It has some glaring flaws but I am still tickled with the results. No weathering or anything fancy. I feel like I have learned so much thru the experience and am excited about starting another project. This model almost didn't get built because at the outset my dog got a hold of the front canopy and put a big hole in it. I decided to patch with putty and that is why the canopy and windscreen are painted blue...sorry no view of inside. Thanks for everyones encouragement and insight. Keep modelling.

Kirby
jam2727
_VISITCOMMUNITY
Victoria, Australia
Joined: June 28, 2007
KitMaker: 171 posts
AeroScale: 113 posts
Posted: Wednesday, August 27, 2008 - 12:08 PM UTC
Hey all,
ive decided to jump on the computer for a few minutes to congratulate luciano, Ayhan and kirby on some great models completed. kirby it would be great to see some pictures of your model soon.
with some help i got the ribbon posted onto the campaign.
Hoss
_VISITCOMMUNITY
Georgia, United States
Joined: January 05, 2006
KitMaker: 96 posts
AeroScale: 61 posts
Posted: Wednesday, August 27, 2008 - 02:49 PM UTC
Hello again,

WOW. I finally finished putting the decals on my Sidewinders and Sparrows last night. Glued 'em on the jet this afternoon and was so proud! Took a couple of pics with me holding the model up with sky (and some trees) in background...gonna try to upload in a few minutes. Decided to take the model to work with me to, 1. show it off to my friends and, 2. to take some cool pics with it held up in tower cab window and the Savannah airport runways in the backgorund. As I pulled into parking lot one of my fellow controllers was leaving so I show him and he likes the work...I am real pleased because this guy is always asking me if I'm ever going to actually build a model or am I just collecting kits!!!!!

Well you guessed it....I dropped the model!! CRAP!!! It looks to be salvageable although I lost fins off the right rear Sparrow which really sucks but rest looks not too bad. Like I said salvageable but what a pisser!!

Like I said I will try to get pics I have on the web.

Wish me luck...I'll be burnin' the late night oil doing the repairs.





Kirby
Removed by original poster on 08/29/08 - 07:57:45 (GMT).
Removed by original poster on 08/29/08 - 07:58:56 (GMT).
Hoss
_VISITCOMMUNITY
Georgia, United States
Joined: January 05, 2006
KitMaker: 96 posts
AeroScale: 61 posts
Posted: Wednesday, August 27, 2008 - 07:37 PM UTC
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Hoss
_VISITCOMMUNITY
Georgia, United States
Joined: January 05, 2006
KitMaker: 96 posts
AeroScale: 61 posts
Posted: Wednesday, August 27, 2008 - 07:42 PM UTC
Here are the other three pictures I took before the big crash...
Hoss
_VISITCOMMUNITY
Georgia, United States
Joined: January 05, 2006
KitMaker: 96 posts
AeroScale: 61 posts
Posted: Thursday, August 28, 2008 - 08:15 PM UTC
I have repaired the damage to my model after the drop - aka "the crash". All but the two broken fins on my aft AIM-7. At this point I'm just gonna let it ride!

If you are one of the folks that might not have read one of my early posts...right after I began my project my dog got a hold of the front canopy and put a very neat hole smack in the top. Faced with a dilemma I decided against robbing my other Hasegawa kit and instead just puttying and painting all glass blue. Made lemonade out of lemons, right! Anyhow, it did rob you from a look on the inside but it was nevergoing to look that good....hey guys first build since I was a teenager many, many years ago! I did practice detailing the Martin-Baker ejection seat and held them back to use on some future build. Well like I said nothing fancy, no weathering....lot some of the engraved lines during sanding but just not at the level to engrave my own yet. I plan on practicing. Just not on this build. Thanks for looking. Good to get this one done. Learned a lot. Fired up to get better.

Kirby

PS. Plan on taking some pictures of the repaired bird tomorrow...hopefully some closeups.
Hoss
_VISITCOMMUNITY
Georgia, United States
Joined: January 05, 2006
KitMaker: 96 posts
AeroScale: 61 posts
Posted: Sunday, August 31, 2008 - 03:47 PM UTC
Well here it is...I have decided not to mess with the broken fins on the aft sparrow so I can move on to another build. Couple of other errors or should I say omissions. The keen eye of the Phantom Phan will certainly be able to pick them up! Had fun and learned a lot.

Kirby
SGTJKJ
#041
_VISITCOMMUNITY
Kobenhavn, Denmark
Joined: July 20, 2006
KitMaker: 10,069 posts
AeroScale: 3,788 posts
Posted: Monday, September 01, 2008 - 02:02 AM UTC
Kirby, looks good although the painted over cockpit looks a little strange. It could be one of those planes on dispaly in front of bases and the like. Some of these birds have the cockpit painted just like yours

Glad to hear you had fun - that is the most important part.

Looking forward to see more on the next build
Hoss
_VISITCOMMUNITY
Georgia, United States
Joined: January 05, 2006
KitMaker: 96 posts
AeroScale: 61 posts
Posted: Monday, September 01, 2008 - 07:31 AM UTC
Thanks Jesper.

The painted windscreen and canopy was not my intention but a necessity after my dog put a hole in the front canopy when I started the build! I puttied the hole and then painted just so I could salvage the build. I had actually enjoyed putting together the ejection seats . I had added scratch built seatbelts and ejection handles topside...I held them back and may use them in another jet.

Kirby
warreni
_VISITCOMMUNITY
South Australia, Australia
Joined: August 14, 2007
KitMaker: 5,926 posts
AeroScale: 2,201 posts
Posted: Monday, September 01, 2008 - 10:01 PM UTC
Hi all.
Here is my 1/32 Revell F-4F Wild Horse Phantom, my official entry in the Phabulous Phantoms Campaign. Totally OOB and not too much of a pain. ALthough a few of the decals decided to self-destruct.
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Hoss
_VISITCOMMUNITY
Georgia, United States
Joined: January 05, 2006
KitMaker: 96 posts
AeroScale: 61 posts
Posted: Tuesday, September 02, 2008 - 03:23 AM UTC
Hey Warren.

Outstanding!! I love that scheme. The Germans have it going on when it comes to great paint jobs and it looks like you captured it beautifully!!!

Kirby
warreni
_VISITCOMMUNITY
South Australia, Australia
Joined: August 14, 2007
KitMaker: 5,926 posts
AeroScale: 2,201 posts
Posted: Tuesday, September 02, 2008 - 11:18 AM UTC
Thanks for that.. Very flattering!!
magnusf
_VISITCOMMUNITY
Stockholm, Sweden
Joined: May 02, 2006
KitMaker: 1,953 posts
AeroScale: 1,902 posts
Posted: Friday, September 05, 2008 - 10:36 PM UTC
As usual I start with apologizing for not being the most frequent visitor over here! Some great work, the 1/32 Phantom in the German special scheme really is something extra! Congratulations!


Just to prove that things are moving forward. I will make it to deadline but it has taken a lot longer to finish than I anticipated. It just proves that dabbling with several models at a time never helps progress!

As usual, the full story is told in the build blog !

By the way, have you ever seen this oddity:

This one turned up over in the Swing Wing 2008 campaign thread, thanks to Chuck.


Magnus
CRS
_VISITCOMMUNITY
California, United States
Joined: July 08, 2003
KitMaker: 1,936 posts
AeroScale: 1,168 posts
Posted: Saturday, September 06, 2008 - 04:08 AM UTC

Quoted Text

This one turned up over in the Swing Wing 2008 campaign thread, thanks to Chuck.



I had intended to build this project for both Campaigns , but me timing was off a bit. Being away most of the month of August, I held on to it until Swing Wing started.
SGTJKJ
#041
_VISITCOMMUNITY
Kobenhavn, Denmark
Joined: July 20, 2006
KitMaker: 10,069 posts
AeroScale: 3,788 posts
Posted: Monday, September 08, 2008 - 08:52 PM UTC
Warren, that is an excellent Phantom. The colour scheme is stunning. Could you share a few more pictures with us. Maybe a side view as well.

Thanks for sharing
magnusf
_VISITCOMMUNITY
Stockholm, Sweden
Joined: May 02, 2006
KitMaker: 1,953 posts
AeroScale: 1,902 posts
Posted: Thursday, September 11, 2008 - 09:09 AM UTC
More progress!



Build blog here! !

Night is still young so I'll have time to sand a few Sparrows as well before bedtime! (That sounded odd, didn't it ?)



Magnus
JollyRoger
_VISITCOMMUNITY
Istanbul, Turkey / Türkçe
Joined: December 22, 2004
KitMaker: 1,241 posts
AeroScale: 616 posts
Posted: Friday, September 12, 2008 - 12:32 AM UTC
Nights can be prety long in Sweeden as far as I know. A few months maybe:}
Phantom2
_VISITCOMMUNITY
Östergötland, Sweden
Joined: April 18, 2006
KitMaker: 708 posts
AeroScale: 678 posts
Posted: Saturday, September 13, 2008 - 09:49 AM UTC
Hi all!

I´m making slow but steady progress on my Misawa Phantom!

After painting the seats I dropped them into the finished cockpit.







Then I turned my attention to masking the canopy.


I used the airbrakes, main and front gear covers to mask the wells.
Fit was perfect and presented no problems, all hatches are only press-fitted, NO GLUE!





Then I could paint the airframe with WEM Light Compass Grey.





Note that I have not yet glued the splitter plates at the intakes, they will be after the Dark Compass Grey are painted.

More pics later!

Cheers!

Stefan E
Hoss
_VISITCOMMUNITY
Georgia, United States
Joined: January 05, 2006
KitMaker: 96 posts
AeroScale: 61 posts
Posted: Saturday, September 20, 2008 - 06:47 PM UTC
Nice job to Stefan and Magnus.

Looking forward to seeing finished work.

The F-4 sure was a mean looking jet. Wish they were still flying in the U.S. It really sucks that we're going down to just a few various airframes...remember the days of A-7's, OV-10's, F-106's, F-105's, F-4's, A-1's, and F-111's sharing the skies with F-15's and F-16's. I miss those days!

Kirby
Phantom2
_VISITCOMMUNITY
Östergötland, Sweden
Joined: April 18, 2006
KitMaker: 708 posts
AeroScale: 678 posts
Posted: Thursday, September 25, 2008 - 11:28 PM UTC
Hi all!

Now I have started the decalling process, but we´ll take it one step at atime!

First i masked the aft part of the airframe and painted the metal surfaces with different Alclad colors.





When dry, I demasked the aircraft and painted the radome black.
Tthen I gave the model two good coats of Humbrol Gloss-cote, to get that "wet" looking surface.





Rear end;



Finally time to get decalling!
Luckily, this is always my favourite moment in every build as it will be a shore to get all those decals on the model.



I started with the white backings;



Not that many decals, but It took me nearly three hours to get those in place as they were very delicate and fiddly.
I can only say that Zots decals are top-notch and works perfectly with Micro-set and -sol, which Is a really must to get a good result!
Despit the thinness of the decals, they are very tough and can stand much fiddling around!
It took me about 20min only to get one of the fin-flashes in place.
When dry, they snuggle down really good!





Now I left the model a few days to dry.

Finally, i could start with the colored decals!



I tried applying the fin-flash on the left side as a whole decal, NEVER even think of trying that!
It could have ended up in disaster, but I managed to (almost) get it in place after what felt as an eternity!
I cut the right fin flash in 3-4 pieces and that worked as a charm!

These decals are super-thin as very prone to fold-up if not applied very carefully!

I cut the dragons in 3 pieces and had no problems applying them.

I probably worked about 5 hours to get all decals in place, but i´m happy with the result!


More pics later!

Cheers!

Stefan E

Phantom2
_VISITCOMMUNITY
Östergötland, Sweden
Joined: April 18, 2006
KitMaker: 708 posts
AeroScale: 678 posts
Posted: Friday, September 26, 2008 - 12:06 AM UTC
Hejsan!

OK, here´s next part of my last post.

As I said earlier, I encounterd some problems when applying the fin-flash, and you can see that the colored flash don´t follow the white backing pefectly.
It´s hard to see on the model tough so I can live with it!



As the squadron calls themselves the "Panthers", of course they have a big black Panther on the fin!



On the left side of the fin, I cut the flash-decal on several smaller pieces and now it was a snap to get it to follow the backing!
Oh, why did I not do this from the beginning!

The Samurai (which is the Phantom "spook" if you look closley) holds his sword in one hand and a missile in the other.
Japanese symbolism at it´s very best, paired with a touch of humor!





Then I could turn to the colorful dragons!
As I had been burnt before, I cut them in 3 pieces each and had no problems whatsoever applying them!

The blue one;



...and the green one;



The pics can´t show the true brilliant colors of the decals as the flash makes them look pale and flat.
But think Shapphire blue and Emerald green and you´ll get the idea about the true colors.





Now it was time to get all those small clouds in place.



This will be easy, I tought!
No way!
When I dipped the paper in the water, the clouds dissapeared totally!
It was very hard to see the decals and I had to do some guesswork, but finally I got´em in place and the effect is really striking!

Then came the most dreaded moment, all those pesky stencils!
How come nearly all Phantoms have the manual written on the airframe?

Hasegawa have kindly gatherd many stencils into larger decals but it´s an awful number to apply anyway!
Here´s a section of the belly;



On top of a wing;



The nose;



It looks as if a drunken spider had walked all over it!

Finally, all decals were applied and the decalling was done!



Hasegawa´s decals worked perfectly and behaved very well together with micro-set and -sol.
A quick dip in the water and the decals release in 10 seconds (i used mostly rather "cold" water, about 20C).
They are very thin, opaque and in perfect register.
When applied they snuggle down perfectly and looks as if they were painted on the model.

I spent almost 20 hours only on the decalling, during 5-6 sessions!

I had one small problem with this set of decals from Zotz, It´s intended for a earlier issue and not the one i had!
What´s the problem then as the plastic is exactly the same?
The decals in the kit of course!

In the intended issue you can build some aircrafts from the "Black Panthers", so the Zots set did not include the nose numbers!

Can´t blame Zots as the fault is completly my own!

How I solved the "number-issue" will be revealed in the next update!


Cheers!

Stefan E
magnusf
_VISITCOMMUNITY
Stockholm, Sweden
Joined: May 02, 2006
KitMaker: 1,953 posts
AeroScale: 1,902 posts
Posted: Friday, September 26, 2008 - 10:04 PM UTC
Stefan, you really must like decals! I am not a decal-fan, I am more of an action-modeller, decaling is too slow for me !

I've had my rounds against the decals during the last week, finally that part of the build is finished:

Yes, that wing tip is broken. Read about it in my build blog !



Magnus