Written by 10:10 am On the Bench

WIP : Fujimi 1/72 RF-4C Phantom II Pt.3 – Construction

So I was told by a fellow modeler that the fit of the 4-part canopy might not be great so I decided to do a quick dryfit. Thankfully they fit fine. Problem is the rear canopy has a crack in it. Nice. I’ll live with it. A dip in Future is next for these.

The nose inlets were attached and well, they didn’t look right.

They sit proud of the nose. Looking at reference photos, the ends should smoothly transition into the nose.

So I quickly sanded where they join the nose. The transition is smooth now.

I originally wanted to leave this alone but since I’ve done so much already I might as well do it. The ‘arrowheads’ on the horizontal stabs are not present for the RF-4C I’m modeling.

These were quickly trimmed away and sanded down.

I test-fitted the stabs into the slots on the fuselage. On the starboard side there are 2 visible holes that are out of place.

So I filled the gaps with plastic plate.

I marked all the panel lines on the spine since they will definitely be obliterated by the time I’m done fixing the gaps.

See? Anyway, now I need to scribe them all back. Also, all the panel lines are very fine (though nice), too fine in fact. So I went ahead and went over them lightly with my scriber.

My scribing skills is amateurish at best. And after a re-check, I missed out on the refueling door when I took this photo. Ah well.

I think they should look fine under some coats of primer and paint.

I’m modeling a USAF aircraft so I had to remove the panel lines for the air-to-air refueling door on the side of the cockpit.

The catapult strops are blanked off but the parts provided didn’t fit properly so I added 0.2mm plastic plate and carefully sanded it flush to the bottom.

The kit provides a clear HUD but it’s very thick so I decided to make one from scratch. First I cut out 2 small triangles from plastic plate to act as the HUD mount.

The HUD itself is a clear piece from a battery blister pack.

The RF-4C has a offset antenna on the spine. I added this using 0.2mm plastic plate. This was glued into a groove I cut out so it’ll have a stronger fit.

The final step before painting is attaching the ejection seats and the canopy in place.

Now I can FINALLY start finishing this thing.

Build Log
Part 1 – Construction | Part 2 – Construction | Part 3 – Construction |
Part 4 – Painting | Part 5 – Finishing

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