Official Freewing 90mm F-4 Phantom II Thread

[Evan D]

I'm not...

[jetfool]

Are you guys getting old e-mails? I/m getting 20-40 old e-mails every day. Is there a spam problem?

[jetfool]

Evan D,
Very helpful. I have the instrument panels grey and the dials flat black. Does this look more familiar to you? These are pics I using.
Rex

[Evan D]

I think the walls of the cock pit and floors were gray.

Looking at pictures on line I think I was wrong, all the instruments on the front panel were black but the panel is gray. On the sides they control panels covered the mounting almost 100% but I think it was gray under them too.

[jetfool]

Evan D,
So, I need to paint the inside tub flat black, not light grey?
Evan your experience is very helpful. Any suggestions would be great. Although the scale panels fit the cockpit they don't have a lot of correct details on them. I'm trying to make it as presentable as possible. Thanks for your input.
Best Regards, Rex

[Evan D]

Yes. The instrument panels, front and sides were also flat black.

[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?

[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]

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

[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]

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]

Rex,

Looking good.

Best, LB

[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

[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]

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]

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

[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]

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]

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]

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