Official Freewing 90mm F-4 Phantom II Thread

[davegee]

Hi Rex: F-4 coming along great! I like your nose gear door detail with the AOA indicator and landing light. I did put lights behind those holes on my F-4N and used colored plastic for lenses for the red, amber, and green lights that would show up so the LSO could help give commands to the pilot to be sure he would land safely and ideally hit the no. 3 wire. Those are cool details.

A good friend of mine I flew with with the airlines in a previous life was an LSO and talked to lots of different types of planes trapping on the boat, including F-4s. He was rated as a pilot on the E-2 Hawkeye with the rotating dish during his time in the navy before the airlines. So he got a bunch of traps himself during that time.

Good hand on painting the stripes on the overhead ejection seat handles. Nice and straight. Judges should like that.

Cheers

Davegee

[Elbee]

jetfool

Good-lookin' details, Rex, love that "B" Model Nose Gear Door....

Best, Steve

[jetfool]

What is the best way to remove the OEM landing gear lights from frame. Cut the backside of mount? Rex

[Elbee]

I had purchased the F-4 lighting set and used one of the other White LEDs.
I simply glued it to the backside of the "B" Gear Door and ran the wires upward.
Otherwise, yes, cut away the plastic cover the best you are able.

[jetfool]

I have brushed the 3rd coat of poly acrylic and waiting for to dry. I try to give it 3 hrs. time before the next coat. It dries faster but I feel I get a harder shell if I wait. Another scary moment as I completely gutted the canopy and cockpit so the scale cockpit can be installed. Going to line the cockpit w/.010" styrene sheet to eliminate the foam blistering in the future. Things moving along briskly.
Best regards, Rex

[Elbee]

jetfool,

McDonnell-Douglas joins Republic to become Rex Worx Ltd.

I like it.

Best, LB

[jetfool]

LOL Elbee,
These projects are making my winter enjoyable. It's all your fault. If you look in the background you will see my 90" Jerry Bates F4B-4. I have everything to finish but since I modified my Corsair (2019) I have done nothing except scale foam models. I do plan to finish the Boeing at some date. I hand cut the parts and scratched the scale cockpit, DLE 61. I'd like to take it to Toledo someday.
Best Regards, Rex

[Elbee]

In that case, I'll take full responsibility for the merger. Lookin' good, Sir.

[jetfool]

More ongoing work that takes time and seems like paddling upriver in a strong current. Fuselage is getting filler primer and sanding, sanding. The cockpit is coming a long also. Added some scrap styrene to have a better finish. Figuring out where the canopy bows go before gluing and a primer coat to start the basic cockpit color for the Navy F4 N. Hope I'm not boring everybody.
Best Regards, Rex

[Elbee]

jetfool

The canopy bow location is pretty much determined by the Canopy frame.

Use the Freewing canopy as your guide.

It is not dead-on scale, but the outline shape is pretty good.

Best, LB

[jetfool]

Thanks Elbee for the Info. Did you glue the center bows together? they don't fit perfect together. Trying to figure it out.
Waiting to hear from Chris Wolfe on printing his STL of the canopy frames, May need to see if the HS kids can do a quick print up for me. I need to purchase that mini- prusa.

[Elbee]

Rex,

My canopy bows were a bit of an after thought.

There are things on the Phantom that are so evident those need to added.

The canopy bows are one of those things, especially if you're considering doing opening canopies.

That would be a great mod, IMHO.

I didn't have much experience with T-CAD at that time, so all the F-4 designs are a bit rudimentary in comparison to my later work.

Everyday is a school day.

If Chris has a better design for the bows by all means use those and whatever else he sells.

I bought his nozzles and would have bought canopy bows had those been available at that time.

As for a Prusa printer, you're the best judge of if and when, but it changed the way I see modeling and certainly how I approach it now.

As I have written, if I were to build another Phantom, I would certainly upgrade my current parts and add a few more.

Best, LB

[jetfool]

Elbee,
Chris doesn't have the bows, just the frames. His STL for the frames are free for download to all. I'm waiting for him to see if he will print them for me. I plan to use the parts I have just waiting for the frames to fit it all together.
Best Regards, Rex

[jetfool]

I have the tailhook servo dialed in to raise and lower and added a fiberglass cover over the servo. Filling seams and will feather sand so it will be hidden. a simple task to remove if it needs replacement. Put it on channel six so I can control with a knob, looks great raising and lowering.
Best Regards, Rex

[jetfool]

Moving around while thigs dry I sanded the filler of the cockpit, ready for more primer. Removed the tires/wheels, masked and sprayed primer. I put Cotten in the main wheel brg. so paint won't enter.
Elbee, I used the scale hook and shoe.
best regards, Rex

[jetfool]

Sprayed a light coat of the exterior grey. When dry I'll sand with wet 600 paper to smooth out the paint specks and re-spray. should be pretty smooth after that.
Best Regards, Rex

[Elbee]

Rex,

Looking good.

Best, LB

[jetfool]

Wasn't happy with the surface so sanded smooth and sprayed regular primer. Looks better so after drying I'll re-spray the grey. One step forward 3 steps back

[Elbee]

jetfool,

Hah, I remember shooting a coat of primer on my Phantom cockpit in around thirty degrees winter temps on a sunny day.

I set the cockpit down on a piece of cardboard and went inside to put the spray can down (1 minute, maybe).

When I came back out the part had gatored so bad I had to start over, too.

I figured the solvent could not 'gas off' well in that cool a temperature and simply ate the cohesive bond between the EPO beads.

It was a major pain in the buttocks.

Best, LB

[jetfool]

Started spraying some color on the stabilizers. Used aluminum for the inner side. Then the strip will be a dark grey shade. Are these the correct colors for this area?
Best Regards, Rex

[jetfool]

Working on the cockpit parts today. Painted the cockpit tub and started on the panels. Nothing glued in yet. Also painted the nosecone with the grey, next will be the white underside and the shark mouth. Turtle pace but moving along

[jetfool]

Guys,
A picture of the real 201 F-4, it looks like the upper consoles and canopy inside frames are flat black. Am I seeing this correctly?