Troffa

The recent Tamiya 1/48 F-14A Tomcat is widely regarded as the best in scale, but having not built it I can't guarantee that it can be built wheels up, but I can guarantee the fit will be flawless. The venerable (and tricky) Hasegawa kit can be built with undercarriage doors closed, with a bit of modification. Not seen the Hobbyboss. version to comment. Is the issue with the Academy Tomcat fixable with plasticard or filler?

Thanks Dazza for the controls query, and as for those decals, they are already on their way Mr Draken! All of this was started after a work trip to Teruel in Spain last week. It's now a bit of a storage airport for Airliners, but it used to be a bombing/ artillery range for the Spanish military. Got me thinking about Spanish Phantoms. Cheers, Troffa

Hi Daniel, welcome aboard! There is some very nice work on your club's website! Looking forward to seeing your models here on BM.

Quick additional question regarding the RF-4C- were they all dual control (Twin stickers in RAF parlance) ? I've spent the last few days staring at the revell sprues, looking through my references and buying obscure titles from amazon and ebay, I've been bitten by the Photo Phantom bug- they look great, and have some fantastic schemes to model. Cheers again, Troffa

Thanks very much Ben, that's a detail I'd have missed, very helpful of you, thanks for taking the time to post. cheers Troffa

Wow, thanks for all the replies chaps! Great info. I'm going to be delving into the stash for the phantom this weekend. Hope I can find it quickly...

Thanks Iain! I'm hoping that the fixed Refuel Probe (Looks like the Israeli type fit to me) was a later addition to the Spanish birds, but I have scratched one before for an Israeli F-4E many moons ago. I've just found this thread from last year on the same subject, so it looks like I may be in luck. Phantom Thread

Looking for confirmation of the following statement (my own) for a future project: "The basic airframes of the RF-4C and RF-4E are essentially identical" I'm not too worried about panel lines as these can be rescribed/ filled as required, and I will have to pay close attention to Slotted/ Unslotted stabilators. swap out the jet exhausts, check my wheel/ tyre types, curved/flat camera fairing, but in essence It would be a relatively simple task to produce a Spanish RF-4C from the Revell RF-4E kit linked here: Revell RF-4E Phantom Am I on target or way off the mark? Thanks for looking, Troffa

Being of a similar vintage to Mr PLC, my thoughts exactly- certainly the last Attack aircraft for the UK in my lifetime- but even stranger- is this the RAF's last fighter with a Pilot on board? I think it might well be.

Great looking Model, and top marks for choosing those fabulous 43(F) Sqn Markings. Always nice to see.

Spectacular work- It reminds me of the masterpieces in the Verlinden "On Plastic Wings" books- The attention to detail is fantastic, the weathering superb and the composition inspired. A real show stopper.

Great looking Jag, especially from the Italeri kit! Hard to believe these have been out of RAF service for over a decade now.

Thanks for the reply Hairtrigger, there are several versions of Yellow 14 and that (very nice) high demarcation camouflage scheme is kitted by Hasegawa amongst others. (and the depiction of the swastika is banned in Germany for obvious reasons- hence they are not in the Revell of Germany kit)

This one nearly didn't make it and I seriously ran out of enthusiasm during this build. It's the Revell re-box of the ICM Messerchmitt 109F in 1/48 scale. The kit is fine, nice detail, good fit, apart from the nose which suffers from the same issues as the Spitfire from the same company (ICM) with an engine and separate nose cowling parts- it's a bit of a struggle to get it to sit nicely, and I just filled the be-jeezuzz out of the gaps, sanded and re-scribed. It's an OK-ish job, but not one that stands too much scrutiny. In line with EU regulations that similarly demand that all Typhoons are Closterman's and all MkIX's are Johnny Johnson's as its a 109F Trop, The aircraft is finished in the markings of "Der Stern Von Afrika", (The Star of Africa), Hans Joachim Marseille. Marseille shot down a shedload (158) of British and Commonwealth fighters, mostly in North Africa. He was killed in September 1942 at the age of 23. Finished in Humbrol colours. Decals are fine but the kits sheet lack the swastika for legal reasons- I have a spare sheet of them somewhere but couldn't be bothered to put them on. I did enjoy parts of the build- the comparison to the engineering to my Hurricane, Spitfire and Tomahawk builds was interesting- the 109 seems very slender and compact in comparison , the wings slim and un-encumbered with blisters and bumps, the undercarriage is very stalky and spread eagled. Anyhoo, onto the next one- thanks for looking, Cheers, Troffa

might have a look online for any clips of the scene. thanks for the reply!