SPA Modeler

Stikpusher wrote: I have already started with those sidewall mods and should have some work to show in a few days...

Good decision! Curious to see how this will come out.

mostrich wrote:

Stikpusher wrote: I have already started with those sidewall mods and should have some work to show in a few days...

Good decision! Curious to see how this will come out.

Well, so far, so good. The basic sills are on using angle stock with a square strip underneath to add more bonding area and as a spacer for the locking bars, which I also was able to add a little while ago.

So aside from strip, rod, and sheet styrene, these few items from the spares bin are what I am using to dress up the cockpit...

a very poor 1/35 Lindberg IDF water can become some "black boxes"



some 1/35 ERA bricks become more "black boxes"



another "black box", this time ammo cans from a half track kit



some T-34 hull hand rails will become canopy lock bars





and some of these spare handles will also be added where needed



these non used cockpit side panels that come in the kit will be cut up for use as sidewall details

basic side sills added as described previously





with canopy lock bars added







levers added for canopy lock bars







then some levers and emergency jettison handles bases added to the IPs

front



rear






and lastly the extra side console parts cut up

left side parts not for use, right side, parts to be used



parts that will be added to the sidewalls



paint to be done soon... thanks for looking

Looking good...

Thank you my friend. I hope to get a couple good days in at the bench with this sometime in the near future... But I just could not look at all that empty space that was so visible when I was test fitting the forward fuselage parts...

Man, Carlos, You sure have that thing cooking.

Thanks Paul. It was just too tempting to pass up the opportunity to dress up the front office... Just a wee bit...

Really well done scratch building on the canopy rails! Did the crew had to lock the canopy by hand, or was this done hydraulics?

Looking at the real thing, I think it was a manual hand lock operating those bars. After all, the basic F-4 design is late 1950's technology.... My understanding is that it was a power system to raise and lower the canopies. Either pneumatic or hydraulic.