Tamiya F-4E Phantom II

The front of the engines as they are in the kit 

Drilling holes to assist in removing the moulded turbine blades 

Cutting along the dotted line 

All the moulded bits cut out 

A 'crown' of plastic card is added to act as support for the new blades 

Fitting the blades with some PVA glue 

All of the blades fitted 

Area to be removed from one of the fins on the center fairing 

... and on the other 

And the final product 

The nose prior to surgery 

First, take an impression of the hatch covering the hinge ... 

... then stick the impression to some heavy foil ... 

... and then CUT 

The parts scuffed up a bit to make working with them easier 

The radome with interior 'ribs' removed 

The mounting plate for the gun and radar will need to be trimmed 

Post-Op II 

The nose dry fitted 

The bulkhead and ribs for the radar bay ready for painting 

The bulkhead showing the ribbing, the gun gas vent hose (which was later replaced) and the housing for the securing bar for the radome, made from a bit of syringe needle 

The parts painted in a custom interior green mix 

The parts test fitted into the nose section 

The interior component of the gun gas vent scoop, before paint 

The revised gun gas vent hoses are fitted to the bulkhead 

The parts are glued into the freshly painted nose section 

The nose closed up (only with tape for now) 

The area to be removed for the seamless suckers is marked off 

Comparison showing the sections that were removed 

Fitting the splitter plate to the resin part required some serious clamping 

The custom engine face was added to the resin 

Looks quite good in the end 🙂 

The PE document box from the Eduard interior set. This was my first ever PE part so fogive the sloppy bending 🙂 

I decided to liven up the document box with a manual and a map. The image on the manual is the cover of Phantom Pilots Handbook, rediced to 4 mm wide. The map is a map of SE Asia, also reduced to 4 mm wide. A toothpick provides some scale 

The document box with it's contents added 

The right intake leaves a potential gap at the bottom 

On the left, there was a large gap between intake and fuselage 

Plastic card as gap filler 

The left sanded and cleaned up 

The right cleaned up 

The burner cans qare smooth in the kit but in reference shots they have hundreds of little holes that act as air vents to cool the metal 

so, using my Rivet-R Mini, I added random dimples in the plastic 

before and after (with an ink wash to show the holes) 

I also noticed a number of bands around each can so I added these with plastic strips 

All together and ready to have the seams filled 

I got myself some Master Models replacement barrels for the Vulcan. This is after 4 hours of construction! 

Compared to the kit part 

Front comparison 

To fit them, a little work was required on the breech part as they are slightly longer and wider at the base 

So the inside of the breech was ground down to make space 

Compared to the completed kit part 

And the parts test painted and fitted 

The stand components 

The spare is test mounted on the stand 

The stand gets a coat of silver, folllowe dby some hairspray and finally some flat yellow. Then a gentle rub with some water to chip away for the worn look 

The breech gets a dry-brush with some Mr. Color metalizer 

All metalized up 

And finally mounted on the stand 

Yet another front view 

Rear view 

Used some lead wire to ad one of the cables. 

The Eduard PE cogs after a spot of semi-gloss black 

The business end. I see the paint has started to wear off. Where's my brush? 

The cover over the radar scope on the rear panel is the wrong shape for an F-4E. So it needs to be removed and replaced 

And it's GAWN 

A replacement is fashioned out of heavy foil 

Painted up using semi-gloss black and fitted to the panel 

A bit more painting and some extra detail (T handles made out of styren rod and strip) 

And fitted to the pit 

With the other extras added, the rear pit is basically done. Time to move to the front 

T handle for the front with toothpick for scale 

T Handle fitted with a scratch built gear lever 

The kit stick and throttle added 

Some detailing on the bulkhead. The PE document box (right) and the scratch built emergency canopy actuator 

All fitted in 

Another shot of the fit. At the moment, it's soft-fitted as I want to do a bit more detailing