Rather than take over Doug's masrterful build of his F-4B, I'll start this, just because. This build has been stalled for a few years while I procrastinate on how to solve a couple of problems.

I did some work in the office, but not that much is visible anymore unless you have a dental mirror. I thinned the seat way down, added knobs to the throttle quadrant, cables to the elevator trim wheel, electrical boxes to the starboard fuselage side, a much too narrow seatbelt and a few copper electrical cables here and there to make things look busy.

After I had the fuselage closed up and painted I discovered that Hasegawa in their infinite wisdom had re-used the F-4B's tailwheel despite the fact that the vast majority of P-12s used tail skids. Out came the files, sandpaper, micro drills and styrene rod. Oh well, that was just a preliminary coat anyway.

The biggest problem is the Townend speed ring. It fits closely over the cylinder heads, and there appears to be no way it can be glued before being fitted. If I glue it afterward, I'll have at least one messy joint to clean up, and then a tedious masking job. The next problem is how to cut and bend 9 little pieces of tubing for exhausts to relace the anemic little rods Hasegawa provides. I'm still pondering that one.

Anyway, here it is in all its WIP glory.
Fuselage shots as already shared in Doug's thread


These show the model press fitted together. As Doug noted, the fit is very good. I won't need to do much if any filling, especially with that critical lower wing joint.



A peek into the cockpit


I think that once I get the struts on that misallignment will go away

In the words of the immortal bard, "Out damned misallignment"

Looking great Jessica, once again you come up with a most uncommon build subject !

Cheers. D

That looks great Jessie! As I mentioned in my build thread (and it is clearly not "masterful"), I;m really glad to see this, as we don't see near enough of these kits built!

It seems you just have to put a little glue on it and you can finish it off! I'm sure you'll be done before me!

Will watch with interest, let me know if you find any snags to be aware of

Doug

Here's a bit of an embuggerance. The lower wing fits snugly, but not without gaps. This means a delicate and tricky filling and sanding job with a large potential to damage the surrounding paintwork.




I'm more concerned about damaging the yellow on the wings given that I'll have to paint that lower section of the wing carry-through area olive drab to match the fuselage anyway. I'll have to mummify the wings in tape and sand very carefully.

The fin is going very slowly. Hasegawa in their infinite wisdom negected to include the fin stripes on the decal, so I've had to cut them out of trim film, and then cut each red stripe to length and place them individually. I like to leave each stripe to dry before I place the next one so I don't damage them too much. Patching and touching up is the name of the game here.

Hello Jessie_C:

If I remember correctly, you can cement the Cowling halves together and with a little coaxing they will fit over the engine. It has been 20 years since I build mine so I may be mistaken. I found a tail skid somewhere, and glued it on. One thing Hasegawa did get right on the kit is that the F4B4 had double riveted skin for strength to sustain the violent carrier landings whereas the P-12 was molded with single rivets. They really are striking aircraft when completed. I will be looking forward to yours.
For the wing joint I painted the anti skid plate black and it concealed the joint quite nicely. If you look closely at the actual a/c there was a noticeable joint seam.

Best

Mark

A noticible joint seam is one thing, a half milimeter gap is quite another. I'm planning on using black decal stripes as the anti-skid walkway, which will go a long way towards concealing the repair work I've just done.
The lower wing had some dihedral, and the kit wing was flat. I ran a piece of masking tape from tip to tip and forced much of the gap closed that way, then applied the glue. I only hope that I didn't throw the fit of the struts and upper wing hopelessly out. I may end up needing to sand the mounting points down. It's a good thing they're fairly substantial...

The Townend ring cracked open when I tried to coax it over the cylinders, so I reglued and re-cleaned up the seam. I'll have to hide the inside mess somehow, probably by putting it near one of the rocker arm covers.

Jessie,
You are certainly getting challenged by this little devil. On the other hand, and such "embuggerances" (new one to me, I love it!) aside, it'll be a beauty when done.
Keep at her, you're doing great work arounds and if it's too easy where's the fun?
Cheers,
Lance

Good to see you working on this Jessie! The under-fuselage fuel tank will cover up a lot of the issues on the wing underside Once you get this sorted, a little touch up paint you'll be done in no time

Is it easier to use the decals on the rudder compared to masking it all and painting?

Doug

I'll have to say that's a definite maybe. The corrugations would make masking a royal pain, but of course the decals themselves are also a royal pain. Here it is with all its imperfections. Touching up is definitely in order.



I would dearly love a single piece decal rather than having to deal with this fuss.

So now I've unmasked the wing joints to see how it all turned out.




It's a lot better. I stil need to neaten up the joints where the yellow and green meet under the wings, and hide that mess on the upper side under the wing walk decals, but it's 100% better than the gaping holes that used to be there.

Now a dress rehersal.

Looking good! You're tempting me to pull out one of my P12 kits once I finish off the F4B! Did you paint the cowl ring on the engine?

What do you plan to use for rigging?

Doug

I painted the ring after very carefully running loops of Tamiya tape around the inside and stuffing a torn-up kleenex into the centre. There are still a few spots that need touching up, but it came out surprisingly well.

The dreaded digital camera also shows me a spot in the gun trough that I missed. That was another of my bugaboos; how to paint the gun troughs without getting the guns themselves covered with olive drab. I settled for brush painting the bottom and sides where the gun barrels protrude, gluing the upper section in place (sliding it on over the gun barrels), stuffing in masking, then painting the rest.

Altogether it was much too complicated. I should have just painted and then gone in and retouched the barrels with a fine pointed brush.

I'm going to rig it with monofillament, the same stuff that I used for my Traveller in the What If campaign. I'll hit it with some Silver Rub'n Buff first so it's visible.

It's a fun little kit with surprising challenges. I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as you're enjoying your F-4B

Wonderful work!

Another nasty Hasegawa corner-cutting trap has sprung. P-12 wingtip navigation lights are most often seen on the extreme tip of the upper wing, while F4B lights are predominantly seen on top of the wing. Hasegawa provides both lights on the wing, but the instructions neglect to warn you to remove the redundant one. The wigtip light mount is also a little anemic; photos show a fairly substantial oval flat area faired into the wingtip for the light to mount onto.

I'm going to have to do a fair amount of work to the area in the circle. Doug, your work is substantially less; a little sanding and fresh paint puts you on your way again.

I had to laugh when I read your last post on the lights Jessie. I figured out the same thing yesterday, and sanded them off. Since I found out the order for the yellow wrapping around the underside of the wing was not issued until 1936, my F4B4 would not have had it, unless it had been to a refurbishing depot after that date. So, I need to re-do the wing underside anyway

Noting the two different lights in the instructions would have been nice, but at least we both caught it before it was too late!

Doug

The upper wing roots are cleaned up with black decal wing walks. This makes them look ever so much better. I also did the leather cockpit coaming and headrest in Humbrrol #26 Khaki.





Here's the work on the wintip light mounts. I cut a notch into the wing approximately back to the point where the F4B lights were, then glued in a piece of .080" rod. I'm slowly building up the Mr Surfacer to fair the rod into an oval shape at the wingtip. I may need some tiny triangular slivers of plastic to give the putty something to grip onto.

Jessica,
Great project to date my friend. Absolutely love seeing these wonderful old kit being built up and so well too.Looking forward to following your progress.
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette

The model is definitely on the final stetch. I've sorted out the navigation lights with MV Products lenses.



The engine installation gave me some difficulty lining everything up and figuring out how that Y-shaped exhaust pipe was supposed to go. The instructions are not entirely clear, and photos seem to show several variants. I suspect that it's going to a cabin heater or perhaps a tubrocharger (I'm a little unclear about the internal anatomy of a P-12). Anyway, I finally got all the pipes on and properly rusty. I'm going to have a fun masking job to clean up the top of the Townend ring where my fnger and some thinner got into the paintwork...

Here it is as it sits today:


And with the top wing balancing on the cabane struts

I decided to drill out the vent holes in the engine faceplate. It looks much better now.



Next up, repairing the damaged paintwork, giving the fuselage a nice shiny coat of Future and then the decals.

Very nice, it's been awhile since Boeing has built a fighter! Russell

A whole lot of mummification has to happen when you mess up the paintwork after assembly.

But it makes it look so much better once the paint's dry.

And the model is unmummified once more.

Jessica,
I'd say she came through the mummification process perfectly my friend. Looking forward to seeing this Golden Age Classic fly from your bench.Outstanding project it's a joy to see an old kit reworked into a real gem.
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette

The decals are on. I chose the most boring scheme because I didn't want to fuss with masking and painting the markings that weren't included on the decal sheet. I also wanted to show an aircraft that didn't follow the fashion of gaudy markings. This is as plain as a P-12 ever got.


The U.S. Army markings and the upper right roundel reacted severely to the Solvaset. I don't know yet whether they'll smooth out as they dry.


It's nearly done. I have to attach the upper wing and struts, rig, and give the prop a last minute polishing before installing it.

Awesome work, looking great Jessica.

Cheers, D

Hello Jessie:

This is coming along nicely. I like your work on the port and starboard upper wing lights. I had no idea. If I ever tackle one of these again, I will bear that in mind. I used to cut a chunk of a red and green toothbrush for the lights, and sand to shape. Yours look great. (Lights that is)

Best
Mark

Okay, it's finished.