Anthony in NZ

Awww thanks mate, it's just my OCD pushing me to do the best I can LOL, I will try not to laze around anymore sir....having fun and relaxation is for sissy's anyway Thanks, I dont know how I maintain motivation at times either. I guess I just LOVE Brit Tooms! Thanks Chris, I really appreciate your encouragement mate! Yes I keep telling myself it will be worth it in the end too! Small update tonight Undercoat of silver done before a little more tidy up on stuff you just wont probably see On with some colour, sheesh that red is bright! Now toned down with an oil wash and flat coat. This area got quite oily and sooty, considering how filthy the belly of the Phantom got it probably should be worse, but I didnt go too overboard On to something else now, running out of things to do before paint! Cheers team, appreciate your feedback and likes Anthony

Yes I totally agree, that is a gorgeous Brit Phantom build...love all the extra details you have added. Beautiful finish etc Cheers Anthony

Absolutely gorgeous! My goodness I’m enjoying what you are creating here! Top shelf modelling and scratchbuilding I’m in awe cheers Anthony

Thanks Chris, getting there mate! Thanks buddy, I sometimes wonder when that will be lol LOL trust you! Yup stay tuned Colin! Wow Pete, that was awesome!! I wish I could have seen one fly....actually, just to see one would even be great! That was a great inspiration, thank you! Well I have actually been steady with progress, but with such things I didnt really have much to show until today A package arrived in the mail from Kerry! Somewhere in here is an FG.1 leg test print! I know that because I have seen this..... So I set about trimming and found this inside Now for those who cant remember, the reason for the completely new leg is because it is very different to a std Phantom NLG. Aside from the double extension with extra scissor link, the actual oleo itself is of a bigger dia and rakes rearward. He nailed it, a perfect fit! An overall shot showing the rearward rake, only done by eye, not actually glued in properly of course. I have started testing all the dimensions and so far so good! Also an area that needed attention was the aux air doors top and lower. Both sets needed scratchbuilding. First up are the lower ones, just basically layer upon layer of plasticard and raised rivet decals, followed by a layer of Mr Surfacer Raised rivets and extra details on the other side..... And a comparison on the other side with the kit ones. The kit ones are smaller and further back. Apologies for the lack of updates, had a bit going on. But still not stopped on this...she is still alive! Cheers guys and thanks for stopping by Anthony

James, that’s absolutely sensational mate! Beautiful work/creation Can’t wait to see your new fuselage You have my full attention and respect cheers Anthony

Thanks very much, I appreciate you sharing your vast knowledge. Very helpful and really interesting at the same time cheers Anthony

Brilliant information! We’re the “sim plugs “ very big or noticeable if the station was empty? Thanks again Anthony

Sorry to drag this old thread up again, but there is so much interesting info here. Looking at my 1/32 FG.1 loadout at the moment and was originally just going to put the 2 'blue ballast'units in the front wells and then I realised the detail in the rear wells is pretty poor and thought about fitting eith 4 AIM7/Skyflash drill rounds or another pic I saw was the 2 ballast units in the front and 2 Skyflash drill rounds on the back. Nothing on c/l But the more I look it seems it wasnt a very common fit, as I only found 3 photo's Thoughts? Cheers Anthony

Nicely done and a big improvement!! Glad you spotted those other details too. Cheers Anthony

Ok I might be able to help here Whilst researching these for my 32nd conversion I found myself asking all the same questions. Basically these plates got bigger and bigger through their service life. But essentially they finished up how your kit depicts them in a 'late mod'state. This is how I did mine This was done with a lot of help from @Gene K and he cut the plates on his Silhouette Cutter for me. But essentially this is how they should look at the end of their service life. So any variations on this usually means earlier mods. Even then, there seems to be slight variations. Hope this helps, Lovin your work! Anthony

Absolutely loving your progress! You’re doing an amazing job. One thing I just noticed is doing forget about the big bulge on the front left skins in the cockpit for fairing the gun. But seeing your work I’m sure that’s all sorted keep up the great work Anthony

Thanks Chris, yes I am really looking forward to the test print of the nose leg. In the meantime I am back at the hot end.... Thanks Colin, yes the wear is the tricky part. Too easy to make it look overdone in my opinion So the rod insert thing seems to do the trick, painfully slow but working. Here is a couple of pics of where I have got to. As you can see there are still a few 'rogue' washers and some with dodgy screw holes in the centre, but I will fix those. The aim here is to get close and then let everything cure and sink for a few days then hopefully I can do all the fine tuning and finish this side Then of course there is the other side Note above also here there are extra washers/fasteners down the side panels too Placed a reheat can in also just to see how it looks overall Yikes these huge pictures really show up all the imperfections etc! Still obviously a bit to go here to make it look better, but time to breathe, step back and look at the big picture again Might look at the Vari ramps while this area all cures Cheers Anthony

Thanks Keith! Win some lose some, but I think I have sorted the left side hot section now Hahaha, ..........ahhh you make me laugh mate! Thanks Chris! Yup it motivated me again, I think I have the left hot side sorted. will know more after a little primer later on, but looking hopeful Not too much to add except Kerry's exceptional work on the nose leg continues....almost finished now, I think he said there is a little plumbing to still do. During Kerry's study of the leg he noticed it was slightly assymetric (or very slightly off centre) You can see that in the top of the leg where the triangular flanges are bigger on one side compared to the other. So aside from being thicker the FG.1 leg was very slightly offset. Oh and the side u/c door opens up past 90deg Cheers guys! Anthony

Hahahah, ok ok I will promise to finish it. I have visions of an angry mob standing outside my front door with flaming torches hammers and nails Thanks Chris, just got to pull off a good paintjob to finish her off soon!

Thanks buddy, nice to hear as I have struggled these past few weeks Thanks Trev, I will look for your build with interest, goodness knows I am needing inspiration at the minute! LOL....suffering lots sometimes Awwwwww thank you...just what the Doctor ordered, thank you! Thanks, yes I am going to have to be careful not to overdo it either. Thanks again! Seriously, this 'Hot section'has challenged me more than anything else I think! I am at 'Plan R' and we know what is after R? S and S= SOD! However I just couldn't put her on the shelf as I feel like I would be letting too many people down after so much amazing help and encouragement. I ended up drilling holes and them reaming them out to take a piece of Evergreen rod number 221 3/64" or 0.047 dia. Because there is so much resin, CA, plastic card and other crap in there I had to slowly ream out otherwise the edges were crumbling and I got a few cracks between hols, Ugh. Finally I have a method that seems to work. Anyhow I decided to take a break from that section as it has been really intense for me to get consistent results. But I think I can get a nice accurate representation eventually Not flash but I can make this work, still a lot of work to go on in here I realised So, time to clear my head and do something else @xvtonker here has done some gorgeous 1/32 RAF Phantom boarding ladders, thanks so much to you they are awesome and really look great fitted to the model. Highly recommended!! I have decided to only use the rear one as often you see the built in front step down for pilot access and a rear ladder fitted only. So I gave it a light sand/buff down to remove some very light print lines, I lost a few bolt heads and so added Archer ones to replace. Then primered Mr Surfacer 1200, sprayed Mr Color silver and then a clearcoat Then I made a mix of Dk green/olive drab and sprayed the ladder. I left 24hrs and then used micromesh, fine sanding sponges and a piece of worn smooth emerypaper. to very carefully wear through to the silver, the clearcoat was there as an added barrier in case I went too deep and hit grey primer. Added some stencils matching a few photos and a '43'as sometimes the sqdn marked their own stuff. These ladders got really rough, but I didnt want to go too overboard. Then a flat coat and a gloss on the silver to make it shine a little. Oh I also lightened and darkened the green to look like oily rags and handprints had tarnished the paintfinish. This is what I ended up with Someone got something right between Tonka and myself as it fits perfectly! So I am feeling better now and can face doing more washers at the back.... Thanks for tuning in team Cheers Anthony

Oh wow....how did I miss this beautiful build?? Thank you for the compliment, it sure means a lot seeing the quality of your work! Love what you have done so far, and just yell out if I can help in any way. Just beautiful! Cheers Anthony

Sensational Chris and amazing detail/scratch work so far! You are gathering an awesome RAN collection now Just beautiful....love helicopters

Absolutely stunning Chris, I know I dont comment much on your builds, but I sure follow and enjoy all of them! What you can do with a brush is staggering and an art very few have mastered in my opinion....you sir, definitely have! Love the Merlin Beau, keep up the awesome work Anthony

No worries James, I will send you a PM Thanks for the Phantom compliment...she's testing my nerves right now LOL

Oh my word!! Awesome! Let me know if I can help....Its a 30min drive but am happy to help if I can! Cheers Anthony

Awww Thanks Ivan, you guys are really helping keep me motivated. Sometimes I think you guys want it finished more than I do LOL Thanks Chris, took a little longer than I expected but an happy with how they look now Thanks mate, but you'd be surprised how easy it really is using good quality oils and you tube! You could easily do this. LOL thanks buddy, that means a lot coming from the master like you! The hydraulic lines disappear into the wheel well ether. Yup, brakes all bled ready for fitting of hubs! Well I am so pleased you can enjoy the build as much as I surprisingly am too. Not much to show except I am re-doing (again) the back end 'hot area'. Not so much the shapes as I am happy with those, but the surface finish, a split in a join (now repaired from inside with JB Weld and a syringe) the surface texture, some uneven rivets and a few wobbly lines need addressing. I am getting close to paint so dont want any unexpected surprises. The 3D printed hinges need to get grafted in next but I just want the surface details as perfect as I can get them before moving onto inserting them. I know in myself if I add the hinges and havent delt with the surrounding imperfections I might very well get overwhelmed at the amount of work needing doing. So for now it is just fine tuning, redoing and final surface buff ready for the metal area. For some reason I am going back and re-doing a couple of areas I thought were good enough before, but arent up to scratch now....I hate my OCD! Also the big washers directly behind the reheat cans need reworking to something more acceptable...watch this space I guess. You can see the work I need to still do when you see these 3 pics Thanks as always, you guy are so encouraging with your comments but also especially with all of your own work on here you inspire me with! Now I have a lot of work to do on this rear end.... Cheers Anthony

Cool, thanks Chris! Hope we all have a great 24 with lots of projects getting finished! Thanks Colin, Cant believe how much work in the end to get this result, I quite frankly have no idea what I am doing half the time and make it up as I go. Tanks finished I think Whoa that last one is a bit close! Ok, onto something else now.... Cheers Anthony

Thanks! But I know what you can do so I appreciate that feedback

OK fuel tanks and dents.... Hmmm I didnt realise doing dents would be more difficult than I imagined, well at least for me either. Thankfully I have some great photos of the tanks XV571 worre mostly in the late 80's (so much stuff seemed to chop and change, it makes me wonder if ordinance etc might have been shared between 43 and 111 sqn's as one of the fuel tanks often worn on 43 Sqn XV571 even appears on XV574 if 111 Sqn at one stage. If anyone has an answer I would be interested to hear it??) Anyway, my first advice is NOT to try and match every single dint and scratch on the tank you're looking at, it just looks plain wrong. Just do the main ones, the final result will be much better. Prime the surface with Mr Surfacer and then you can see what size and shape and angle your dents, flat spots and scrapes are and you are happy with the position of them. I used a couple of different shaped curves scalpel blades to make the initial dent. Then using emery paper rounded, I blended it in to smooth it out. Some dents are soft (meaning there isnt really a defined edge, yet some are and sometimes have an almost creased edge. Experiment is pest, but it is actually a lot of fun and I think (hopefully will make a nice natural appearance to the final look) you will enjoy it. I am particularly looking forward to denting my Paragon 100Gal underwing tanks on my 1/24 Mossie when I eventually get back to it. Carry on sanding and priming untill you are happy. Oh by the way, these are the @Jet Passion Scale Models tanks and the wall thickness may be more than the kit ones One final thing to be mindful of is that if your Phantom has the strengthening belly strap then your pylons are going to sit slightly off the surface (this is normal even on the real airframe), so you will have to add the rubber sealing strip between the two You can even see here there is fresh air above the inboard one, note the rubber seal on the outboard one? And my version Off to the paintshop.... Now I have had real issues trying to find the correct greys for this model. I have brought all sorts of paint brands and nothing has satisfied me very much at all. Of course I have never seen a Phantom in my life so I have to go off photo's and take into account lighting etc etc. Anyway this is where I am at. I know some will possibly balk at what I am doing, but this is the best I can come up with, I am as always open to advice. My main 'Base color'is Mr Color 73 Äircraft Gray" which is just a tad too dark on its own for Camouflage Grey BS626 (the main overall uppersurface colour) and all the other greys for the undersurface look a little 'çold' for the Light Aircraft Grey. So what I did here as an experiment was spray the overall tank '73' (this was my base) then I lightly randomly sprayed white over the top for the underside and pore so for the pylon as these are actually white. Then I added a dash of 73 into my white and softened the white and full tone blotchy finish underneath. This evened things out and oddly enough the dents took on their own shadows! Then I masked the demarcation lines and sprayed 73, but lightened with a touch of white, blotching it in areas with the base colour. The lower tank in the pic above had a slightly newer rear end section added and was lighter and the grey demarcation was feathered not hard edged. The upper tank has a Green white rear end apparently taken from their spares inventory which is in a US green and white. This is what I ended up with Then I used oil paints and added some filters and then Burnt Umber and black mix was used to simulate the centre main tank section which often got quite dirty underneath Hard to see I know, sorry Desperately trying to go with the 'less is more' theory which is hard I hope you guys approve, as this is all a bit new for me this type of weathering. As always your ideas, tips and input is appreciated for those of you who know how to do this properly Again my mix of Greys is home made to how. I feel looks right and maybe it looks wrong to those who have actually seen a Phantom, I appreciate any feedback as I am flying blind here. Thanks again chaps, and I super appreciate all of your help and encouragement along the way this year as its been a tough one. Lets hope we can get this sucker finished in 24!!! Cheers Anthony

Nawwwww thanks mate, comments like that make all the photos and time spent uploading and figuring out what to say all that more worthwhile!