Well it's bright and it's done.
This is my second Hasegawa Phantom depicted as a jet (37-8322) of 302 Hikotai based at Naha Okinawa in December 2008. It was specially painted to commemorate the trasnfer of the unit to Nyutabaru after 24 years on the island. The aircraft was scrapped 3 months later in March 2009.
Lessons Learnt
Not all Hasegawa Phantoms are the same. Even though
the Sprues for the Wings (sprue L) and Fuselage (sprue J)are labelled the same there are 2 different versions of the same sprue depending on the boxing.
As such I really should have used the F-4EJ Kai boxing,
which has the proper fuselage and wings with the correct antennas.
My biggest disappointment was the Wolfpack resin nose. I
wasn't happy with the depth of the lines /detail so I re-scribed it, and didn't do a good a job. I'm not sure what it offers over the kit nose to be honest.
A close second was the True Details Pylon's, The engraved detail in these is pretty fine (non existent) and also needed re scribing.
Thirdly was the colours chosen by Model Alliance for the bright green decal text. It's nothing like Tamiya X-15, which seems to very closely match the green on the actual aircraft.
Enough rambling, onto the details
The Kit
- 1/48 Hasegawa RF-4EJ Recon Phantom (HSG 09923)
Aftermarket
- Wolfpack Nose and Pitot
- True Details Pylons
- AMS Resin Intake Blanks
- Aires Exhaust
- Eduard PE
- Quickboost Seats
- Royale Resin Wheels
- SAC Landing Gear
Decals
- Model Alliance and Hasegawa for the stencils
Painted with
- Tamiya Acrylics and Gunze Lacquers.
- Gaianotes and Tamiya Gloss coats
- Winsor and Newton Galeria Matt Varnish with some Dullcoate thrown in.
- Vallejo and oils for the details
Weathered with
- Oils and Pastels. This is probably a bit underdone but I'd lost interest by this stage.
Build threads
The Photos.
