Subject: Re: Tamiya F-4S Article for ARC PART 1
From: "Submissions for ARC" <[email-masked]>
To: "John McCormick" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 26 May 2013 12:06:38 -0700

Hi,
I just wanted to let you know your article went on ARC today.  Thanks again for sending it in.

Steve Bamford
ARC Air - Aircraft Resource Center
http://www.arcair.com

Live like there is no tomorrow;
Love like you've never been hurt.
Work like you don't need the money.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Sing like nobody's listening.
Live like it's Heaven on Earth.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: John McCormick 
  To: [email-masked] 
  Sent: Sunday, April 28, 2013 12:10 PM
  Subject: Tamiya F-4S Article for ARC PART 1

                          Hi Steve,

                          I hope that this email finds you well.  I've written an article for ARC about my latest build, and I am hoping that it will be considered for use on the site.  I will be sending a total of 3 emails; the last 2 will be the additional photos.

                          My Best,

                          John McCormick

                          Gallery Article Template

                          1/32 Scale Tamiya F-4S 

                          by John "johnnymac" McCormick
                          --------------------

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                          I had not built a Navy version of the Phantom in about 35 years, so I was definitely due to finally get one done.  I picked up a Tamiya F-4J on Ebay for a very good price, and I wanted to attempt something a bit more daring with this kit.  I had always thought that the Heater-Ferris camouflage scheme that was applied to the F-4S's of the VF-301 squadron would be fun to try, so this seemed like a perfect opportunity.

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                          As there are no "dedicated" F-4S conversion sets available anymore, I had to use a conglomerate of aftermarket sets for other various Phantoms, as well as some minor scratch building and surgery, to make this conversion as accurate as possible.  Isracast's F-4E slatted wing conversion set was used to add the slats to the outer portion of the wings.  This set can best be described as "crude"; the rivet detail is WAY too heavy handed, and the actuator arms that hold the outer slat in place are roughly formed and misshapen.  I had to fill all of the rivet holes with CA glue and replace them using a .03 mm drill bit, and the actuator arms were all sanded and trimmed to a more accurate shape.  Additionally, because this set is for an Air Force Phantom,  the slats had to be reshaped so that their leading edge is more angular, which is consistent with the Navy style slats.  The longer Navy-style wing fences were scratch built using sheet plastic.  

                          I had a set of Paragon inboard extended slats lying around in my stash, and this seemed like this would be a good home for them.  Even though this set is designed for the Revell/Monogram F-4E kit, it fit on the Tamiya kit with no difficulties whatsoever.  

                          The reinforcement strap on the underside of the plane was scratch built using sheet plastic, and the avionics vent on the underside port side of the nose was reworked and moved forward of the starboard vent, which is consistent with the F-4S version.  

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                          In addition to the conversion work, the intakes were reworked using putty and latex paint to make them seamless (no aftermarket set was used).  The inboard trailing edge flaps were cut out and repositioned in the down position, and the additional detail on them was scratch built.  The unsightly raised panels that Tamiya molded onto the fuselage, wings, and vertical stabilizer were all sanded off and rescribed.  The anti-sway bolts on all 4 wing pylons are fashioned from small segments of a guitar string.  

                          Most of the reference photos that I found showed the aircraft from this squadron carrying no underwing stores whatsoever; not even a center line fuel tank.  I could only find one photo that showed them carrying a single, finless CATM AIM-9 practice Sidewinder.  To recreate this style of missile, I used a leftover AIM-9L Sidewinder from the Tamiya F-4EJ kit.  The fins were cut off, holes were drilled on the nose where the front fins would be mounted, and stretched sprue was added to the rear to simulate the plates where the rear fins would mount.  The cover for the IR sensor on the nose of the Sidewinder was scratch built, and the RBF tags are leftover from a Tamiya F-16.

                          Other aftermarket sets used are the Aires F-4J cockpit set, Master Model Pitot Tube and AOA Sensor set, as well as Eduard's F-4J Photo-Etched set, Formation Light set, Exhaust set, and weighted wheel set.  All of these are highly recommended.

                          Model Master enamels were used to paint the camouflage, and I used a sheet of copier paper held in place by hand to mask the straight lines of the camo pattern.  Very simple but very effective! After the base colors were applied, I went back over each color with both lightened and darkened versions of each base color, spot spraying little blotches as well as the odd panel to try to recreate the blemished, spotty color that all Navy planes seem to have.  I could not find any good reference photos clearly showing the faux canopies on the underside of the nose, so I had to use poetic license for style and placement when I painted these.  Future was used as the gloss coat, and CAM VF-301 Decals were used for the squadron markings.  A black wash was applied to both accentuate the recessed panel lines and add weathering streaks.  Alclad Flat was applied to dull things down.

                          The entire project took about 8 1/2 months, and it was one of the most enjoyable projects I have done in quite some time.  

                          John McCormick

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                          Just delete any of the boxes below you don't need.....it's not important to include them.....they are there to give you an idea of the finished article.  It is best to limit your article to no more than 60 or so photos, so the finished webpage won't take too long to open.

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