Model Aircraft – September 2019

of the lower wing section. I was a
little apprehensive of this as
I usually have a habit of
knocking or breaking
them of during
the remainder
of the build. I did
some test itting of
the gear legs to see
if I could add them
at the end and this
looked possible – more
of that later! Finally, the
upper wings can be mated with
the lower wing section sandwiching
the wheel wells in place. My attention then
turned to the intakes and exhaust areas. The
intakes are made up from two halves, painted
white and a compressor blade face painted
aluminium. The rear exhausts are of tubular
construction with the afterburner ring itted to
one end and the ‘cans’ to the other. I airbrush
painted these in Tamiya XF-84 Burnt Iron before
adding a little dry brushing of steel to the ring
edges for a little interest and detail. I painted the
afterburner cans Alclad Exhaust and set aside for
itting at the end of the build. The exhaust tubes,
together with the intakes were then added onto
the lower wing/fuselage section. There are
semi-circular shaped lugs pre-moulded in
the lower fuselage section in which the
rear exhausts it into – and this aids
in their alignment.

With the intakes, the rear of these are added

onto a spar tab which is glued into a slot on

the lower fuselage section too, again, making

the alignment of these easy. The front section

of the aircraft, containing the cockpit was then

added to the lower wing/fuselage section.

Unfortunately, this is only designed as a

butt join. So, to strengthen the area,

I added some plastic-card

tab plates, glued over the

top of the joint. This also

helped to avoid any

slight steps between the

two parts. Once joined

the main fuselage section

can be added. Academy

have designed this as a

one-piece afair which means

there are no seams to deal with

down the spine. It literally slots over

the top of the cockpit, intakes, exhaust

THE DECALS WERE DESIGNED BY CROSSDELTA AND PRINTED

BY CARTOGRAF, AND THE QUALITY OF THESE WAS SUPERB

I used an Eduard set

in the cockpit

Adding the cockpit and engines to the fuselage

MODEL AIRCRAFT SEPTEMBER 2019

F-4J PHANTOM

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