Revell F-4G Phantom II: Part 5

The fifth step in the build is the air intakes. This step took 3 hrs 49 mins.

I divided the work into sections: air ramps, air intake covers, priming/painting/assembly.

Air ramps

Air intake (right) and air ramp (right); trimmed and sanded
Underside of the air ramp

I’m clueless as to why these were separate pieces, as by the time you glue them together, those ridges on the right piece are invisible.

Gluing the air ramp and air intake, underside (Tamiya extra thin cement)
Air intake parts ready for assembly
Assembled air intakes (underside)
Assembled air intake assembly (topside)

Air intake covers

Air intake covers

Each air intake cover has four prominent injector pin marks that are recessed into the plastic. I chose to use cyanoacrylate (CA) glue (aka: super glue) to fill them. After I had sanded everything down, I found a video online that used water-based filler putty instead, which looked much simpler. Lesson learned!

Why CA glue? Unlike putty that shrinks as it cures (meaning you typically have to apply more putty later), once CA glue cures, it’s basically plastic that doesn’t shrink. I’ve seen several professional builders use CA glue as filler.

Filling the injector pin marks with CA glue
After CA glue has cured 24 hours
Upper intake cover has some sanding, lower intake cover unsanded

This is the part that took me the most time, using four progressively finer grits of sanding sticks. Four injector pin marks on two parts = 8 times the elbow grease.

Intake cover sanded
More sanding; showing air probes (on sprue) for scale

Those probes were tricky because there’s a slight raised portion on the air intake cover where they attach (as opposed to a pre-formed hole).

Air probe ready for gluing to a very small raised notch
First air probe attached!

After seeking some help from /r/modelmakers about how to pull this off… Someone suggested not using plastic cement, but CA glue with an accelerator (aka: kicker) that cures the glue within seconds.

Reverse-action tweezers hold the air probe in place while I glue and cure

Priming, painting, assembly

Primer: Alclad Grey Primer and Microfiller (ALC 302)
Air intakes and ramps primed
Air intake cover primed
Other air intake cover primed

This next part is a bit subtle, as the intake cover insides are painted with Tamiya Medium Gray (XF-20).

Air intake covers painted
The air probes were painted Alclad Steel (ALC-112)

The air intakes were painted with Tamiya Medium Gray (XF-53) and then attached to the fuselage. The test fit was good, but I needed rubber bands to keep things in the place while the cement cured overnight.

The overall fit left much to be desired. One side fit better than the other, and both sides will need sanding and filling later.

Starboard air intake cover gap
Air intake cover gaps (underside)

Really looking forward to dealing with gaps and raised areas on the port side. (Sarcasm, in case you hadn’t picked up on that!)

Air intake cover (and upper/lower fuselage) gaps; port

Something neat about this kit is that you can see the engine bulkhead by looking into the intakes. I wish the kit maker had made the lower part of the intake line up because there’s a huge chunk of plastic missing.

Engine bulkhead visible; also visible, large gap between upper fuselage and lower fuselage
Air probes are visible on both sides

Next step

Step 6 involves assembling the rest of the wings.