Ray S

You didn't happen to 'eat them all' when you first started did you? Things like that can have traumatic consequences in later life causing certain behavioral patterns to arise. Yours concernedly, Ray

I think so too, but it was a close run thing. Thanks for the comment Thank you. I was very pleased with it. The problem now is keeping it like that! Phew! Thank goodness for that. I've plenty of things in mind for next year's GBs. I think I missed the boat doing this in Black and foregoing an obvious contender Thanks Col Things have progressed rapidly again with this. That is one of the problems with doing kits from Tamiya, they just fall together. After some of the builds I've done recently, that is no bad thing. It seemed to take an age for me to work out how the front seat frame fitted to the seat itself. More an issue on my part rather than Tamiya, I hasten to add. It got so bad I scraped off the chrome on the frame on the wrong side! Doh. Then I remembered that I had a Chrome Paint Pen that I had bought at our Club Show back last May. I used that to repair my damage, and afterwards, I could not tell where I had applied the pen, it was so good it just blened in with Tamiyas Chromework. Wonderful! The rear flooring was called out as German Grey by Tamiya, so I brush painted that with Humbrol 67 Tank Grey acrylic. It brushed on well; an un-thinned first coat followed by a wet (water wet, I mean) brush dipped in the paint and brushed on. This second 'wet' coat tends to even up the surface and gives a smooth finsh most times, I've found. The underside is very colourful: I tried to make it a bit 'used' under there, knowing that if it didn't work, it would be well hidden. The wheels fitted well aided by poly caps but one needed popping out and re-fitting as the wheel wanted to fall off. I even managed to get the front wheels to be able to move. Sadly my skills were not good enough later to get the steering wheel to turn in sync though. The body shell fits nicely during a dry fit: Today I managed to finish off the interior. Three instrument transfers were fitted along with the three foot pedals (one was very tricky to fit as it was so close to the sidewall) and the steering wheel, and finally the door cards. The fit has been superb so there's not really much to say except that oh boy! am I certainly enjoying this! Well, that's it for now, hopefully I'll get lots of chance at doing some more tomorrow. Thanks for looking and for the comments, Ray

I remembered to vote once I realised that voting was underway Ray

Oh goody. I can get one of those and hopefully have enough transfers for my Contrail one! Perhaps they'll accidentally pop in a second canopy so I can replace the rather yellow one too Ray

Hello all. After the rapid Komatsu Bulldozer that I built for this Group Build, I was detoured into two builds in the UK Phantom GB. After that, I was a bit 'decalled out', so to speak, and it is great relief that I now return to this Toyoda. Forgive me for being somewhat tardy, and @Mjwomack, I hope you haven't eaten all of your popcorn! I decided that, considering the parts breakdown, to tackle to floor pan and main body shell first. The front mudgaurds and running boards are built into the floor, and the body shell slips on over that. Having done a test fit, I found (unsurprisingly) that the fit was excellent, so sprayed white primer over all and then I masked the flooring to protect the parts that would be white and German Grey, and sprayed Tamiya Gloss Black over the rest. I then sprayed the body shell black too (sorry @johnlambert not to do it in dark blue). One think I couldn't stop was the paint pulling back on the recessed panel lines: I had masked the window openings to prevent spray through as the interior was white. Oddly, Tamiya were (I think0 contradictory for the interior. In the written colour details it suggested the interior was white, but call out XF55 (Deck Tan) in the pictorial building instructions. The box top shows white, so that is what I'm going for, but with a twist to be revealed. The spray can gave a very nice, smooth and glossy finish, just what I was after Taking out the masks showed up the nice white interior well. In the meantime, I had bought myself an airbrush set. I've been dabbling with a Mitsubishi Zero (Hasegawa 1/72) as my practice build (only two major colours) and that seems to have gone well considering the last time I used an airbrush was about 1986. I decided to do the seats and door cards with it, and used Tamiyas instructions, and sprayed on Deck Tan: Yesterdays effort produced a strange effect with a very patchy colour coverage. I may have sprayed too close or too much, but today I gave it a second coat and things were much better. I've decided to have the white area internally to be above the doors, hopefully it will look okay. That's it for now, I am so glad to be started with this now. Any afvice will be greatly appreciated, especially if I say I'm going to do something which in other's eyes would be wrong. If I can correct I will. All the best, Ray

Thanks for the comments @Winded Penguin. It's an interesting thought, and echoes mine halfway through the process. Great minds and all that! @NIKONN, thank you for your lovely comment. Sadly, I could see yours very well but what I did looked fantastic Thanks @Patton gunner Many thanks @binbrook87. I am still amazed at your avatar photograph! Hello @alhenderson, yes, you are right, the Hobby2000 originated with Fujimi. It was an easier kit and more refined in some areas, and in my opinion Airfix was better in others. I'd be happy to tackle either again (I have another Airfix one in the stash). The Hobby2000 one is a steal at their current prices - I think I paid £22 or thereabouts for mine Many thanks @Zoran Srb for your comment. I tend to stear clear of weathering, it has never been a strong point of mine and I've ruined a few kits because I've tried to dirty them up. Please forgive me Thanks @lyn, much appreciated Many thanks @FalkeEins @Doc D, many thanks for your comment. I am terrible at weathering, and I found a couple of images online which showed a fairly clean airframe. That's my excuse (one of a few) anyway Thanks everyone else for the views and 'likes', all have been very much appreciated Ray

Yes @beefy66, that looks good. All the best for the future Ray

Hello all. This fine Forum currently has a Group Build running which is devoted to UK Phantoms. I recall seeing them at RAF Leuchars back in the early 1970s and they were an amazing sight. They were only over-shadowed (in my opinion) by the two squadrons of RAF EE Lightnings that were there during my time. I had an Airfix FG.1 so it was a good contender for me. I got some Xtradecal markings which had a 43 Sqn bird from 1974, and that was close enough for me. I also obtained some Aerocraft upgrades - the intake/splitter plate set, along with replacement exhausts. The build was tricky for me, especially getting the intakes etc to fit but that was my problem, not Aerocrafts. The stencil markings took six sessions to do, and it was very confusing trying to track them all down on the huge decal sheet Airfix supplied. I brush painted the model with Humbrol enamels. The build log is here if you'd like to delve a little deeper: This is what I ended up with: Shortly after I started that, I was in my local model shop and found the Hobby2000 GF.1(Late) at an incredibly good price, so I had another to do. I thought it would be interesting to compare the builds. I chose 111 Squadron this time with the black spined three toned grey aircraft. This build was much simpler than the Airfix one but overall it doesn't seem to have quite the presence of the Airfix one. Perhaps it is the rivets on the Airfix one? The only two major issues I had were the masks leaving a whole load of sticky gunk on the glazing, and lack of a placement guide for the fuselage side stencils. I could not see what they read being white on a pale blue backing sheet. Luckily, I still had the stencils from the Airfix kit and its placement guide, so I added those instead. The build log for this one is here: This is what I ended up with this time: I did finally manage to remove the gunk on the Hobby2000 kit. After asking advice on here, WD-40 came to the rescue. I've still got another FG.1 from Airfix in the stash, but I think I've done enough transfers for a while. Anyway, thanks for looking, Ray

Nicely done Tim Ray

Hello all. This is my second Phantom for this Group Build. It is the Hobby2000 (ex-Fujimi) FG.1(late). I brush painted with Humbrol and ColourCoats enamels and used Xtradecal markings for the main scheme and a mix of Hobby2000 and Airfix for the stencils. I had to use the Airfix stencils and guide as Hobby2000 gave no clue as to the vast majority of the fuselage side stencil placements, and seeing white stencils on a pale blue backing sheet was impossible for my eyes. The build itself was pretty straightforwards and an absolute joy. The build log is here if you missed it: Here is what I ended up with: That was a very enjoyable two builds. Huge THANKS to the good people running the Group Build, you've done a great job. Thanks too to those who dropped in, liked, commented and gave advice. All the best everyone, Ray

Thanks @Jabba, they did! @Corsairfoxfouruncle, I would feel as though I were cheating if I did that, I would notice. However, a few did get missed in the end due to circumstances outside of my control. I also feel like I get my money's worth using them all. Thanks @lyn Well, the Airfix transfers went on well for the fuselage, and their placement guide did it's job. Some of their stencils were tiny, and I mean, tiny! I think in some cases I could have got away with adding a drop of very light grey onto a palette and using a sharp coctail stick, just put dots of paint in situ instead. Anyway, I am made of stern stuff and added the transfers. I used my mobile phone to photograph them, and even most of the small ones could actually be read! Crikey. I even managed to get the wraparound transfers onto the pylon mounted missiles this time which was an improvemnt over the 43 Sqn machine earlier. After they had been added, the final bits and bobs went on and suddenly, today I had my second completed Phantom for the Group Build. Here she is in all of her three shades of grey plus a fetching black top: What a great deal of fun I've had with these two builds. Thanks to all who looked, liked and commented during the work, it was all very much appreciated. It'll be back to the Tamiya GB next for something with slightly fewer transfers. All the best everyone, I pop some pics into the Gallery next Ray

Yes @Ralph, this is coming along nicely. I liked your idea for the in-flight support, and a great way of ensuring it stays straight. Ray

Count me in please, I have a suitable subject for this Ray

Looking forward to seeing you progress with this one, nice choice Tim Ray

I sometimes wonder about what I term my brain does. This afternoon I was working myself up into a bit of a lather with those undocumented stencils. When I was having my evening meal, I remembered that I had the stencil diagram for a grey aircraft left over from my 43SQN build, so it could help with placement. After tea, I went and got it from another Phantom box, and there, snuggled in with the guide, was the corresponding set of grey Phantom stencils. I will now use this discovery to finish off the fuselage for this one. Phew! Ray, who seems to have a brain like a sieve without the wires