Here are some shots of a 1/48 Hasegawa RF-4C Phantom II that I'm building for a customer. The build is out of the box, with the exception of the True Details resin seats.
I still have a little bit of filling to do (to eliminate the lights on the fuselage sides, and a few small gaps). The intakes are just dryfit. I'll be painting all the white areas first, including the landing gear and cover interiors, and wheel wells. Once that's done, I can apply the camo colors. Painting this camouflage will be a lot of fun, since I love painting camo.








I'm hoping to have the colors applied sometime this weekend.

Bill, that's shaping up nicely.
The cockpit looks great.

Hey Bill the cockpit looks great, love the seats. Can't wait to see her finished. Will you be putting it into the Aircraft MOM...hope so! Question, the belts on the seat, are they molded in or did you add them on.

Joe

Hi Bill.
Looking very nice.Great cockpit detail.
Can we look forward to an interesting decal scheme.
Some of those Phantoms look great,and if I was a fan of jets,I guss the Lighting and Phantom would have to be my favourites.
At the Milton Keynes IPMS earlier this year there was a whole table devoted to the F4.
Nige

Thank you Dave, Joe, and Nigel !

Joe - I'm building this for a customer, so the decision to enter it really isn't mine. The belts are cast into the True Details resin seats. Unfortunately, the belts are in the same positions on both seats. Oh well.

Nigel - this one will be wearing the four-color Viet Nam scheme (SEA?). This is the actual aircraft:


Thanks again !

Very nice Bill.
Looking forward to seeing this one finished.Might even tempt me into doing something thats not prop driven.
If you finish it in time it could even make a nice entry for the Show Your Teeth Campaign.
Nige

Outstanding job in that cockpit. What scale is it ?

I have that same kit in my stash Bill. Got it for Christmas this year from my sons.
I wish I had the skill and patience to work up a realistic cockpit like you've done. It really looks fantastic so far.
Have you had any fit problems so far with this kit? I mean beyond the usual minor gaps and so forth?
Great work so far. And if you do enter it in MOM I'll be sure not to enter anything that month. :-)

The belts may be cast the same on each seat but they are worth the upgrade -looks good so far.

Thank you Nigel, Carlos, VonCuda, and Scott !

Carlos - the kit is 1/48. At this scale, it's as big as Accurate Miniatures B-25 !

VonCuda - the fuselage seams are long, and I suggest using liquid cement (I use Tenax), gluing a little of the fuselage at a time. I left the fuselage seam under the wings unglued. This allows for a tighter fit of the wing without gaps. I had to do some trimming to get the wing to fit forward, and align at the rear of the fuselage and tail hook. I would suggest gluing the nose wheel well to the piece that attaches to the bottom of the fuselage, rather than the bottom of the cockpit. The (mis)alignment pins caused a gap that required tedious filling and sanding on the walls of the nosegear well. As you build the kit, tape pieces together and dryfit. The plastic on this one is soft, which allowed me to "massage" the long seams.

Scott - my customer wants the canopies closed, so the belt positions won't be as visible. At $2.25 US for each seat, they're well worth it.

Thanks again !

The cockpit looks very good Bill.
What colour black did you use for it, as it doesn't seem to be pure black, but verging on the grey side ?
Will you be masking the camo pattern or using the "blue tac method".
Thanks for posting, and keep up the excellent work.
Andy (++)

Hi Bill

That's looking very nice! The TrueDetail seats are great - I really like the way you've picked-out the harness.

What brand silver paint did you use for the pipe-work on the seats - it looks excellent and I'm always on the hunt for the "best" answer for metal finishes.

So they've got you building a jet too! I've bounced myself into building an F-84F for a campaign! It just doesn't seem right - the world's gone crazy!

All the best

Rowan

Thanks Andy and Rowan !

Andy - I mixed RLM 66 (black gray) with flat black for the "black" areas. I wanted a shade that looked almost black, but would show a pure black wash. I used a few different variations between the seats, instruments, and consoles. If you look at something that's actually painted black, the shadows will always be darker. I try to replicate this on my builds.
I will be painting the camo the same way I did this 1/48 Hasegawa Scooter - freehand:


Rowan - the metallic details were done with Model Master Metalizer non-buffing Aluminum and Steel. It's mixed and intended to be "airbrush only," but small areas can be painted with no ill effects. The metal particles are reasonably fine, and don't look like large "flakes" in the photos. If these paints aren't available on your side of "the Pond," you can mix a touch of white, black, or gray with a good-quality chrome silver. Chrome shades usually have finer particles than other "brush-friendly" metallic paints.
As for building out of our "comfort zones," I think it has somethiong to do with the Earth's magnetic field. Right now, I know of half a dozen or more modelers who are building things they normally would never consider. I'm building this one because I'm getting paid to build it. I'll never build for the frivolity of a dare.

Thanks again !