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This started in February in Big In Japan GB. Went on the shelf when Southern Europe GB came out. I have recently returned to it. Just done the heat shield and various formation lights. Paint needs a bit of tidying up, then it'll be varnish. Mid-Feb is credible and ties in nicely with 'Boomers GB start. Previous thread: Chris

My oldie from the stash is this Fujimi Phantom FG.1 from 1987. I bought it second hand 20 years ago and the sprues are still sealed. Intending to go out of the box with the 43 Squadron example from Greenham Common IAT in 1983 as https://www.fightercontrol.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=195674 Pictures to follow when I start. (Won’t be next week because I’ve another Rhino on the bench and plans for another GB.) Chris

Hello everyone .. Quick questions about FG.1 and FGR.2 Phantoms. Everything Ive been able to find says the camouflage is the same standard colors. Light grey belly with upper colors being dark sea grey and Dark green. Am I correct they never wore the complete wrap around in this color-scheme ? I think they went to the grey camouflage’s. The 1st being overall light aircraft grey. The other being light aircraft grey under Barley grey & medium sea grey. I think the change occurred sometime in 1980 or not too long after this ? I have 4 or 5 sets of 4 view drawings of each pattern. I was curious if I missed a complete wrap around pattern on Phantoms while searching. Thank you in advance for any help given. Dennis

Building the British Phantoms Volume 1 Modeller’s Monograph KLP Publishing The Phantom bears a familial resemblance to the F3H Demon due to the origin of the type, which was intended to be a Super Demon with a modular nose for different mission profiles, but in typical military procurement style the world over, the specification was changed completely at the last minute, and resulted in a two-seat, two-engined beast that could carry a substantial war load, a large, effective radar in the bulbous nose, and the workload spread between two crew members to prevent confusion of an overwhelmed pilot in the heat of battle. The type was adopted by the US Navy as the F-4A, and as the F-4C by the Air Force, with a confusing (to me) allocation of letters throughout its career, with more confusion (again for me) when it came to the British airframes, and don’t even mention the engines and other equipment. During the late 50s, replacements were needed for the ageing aircraft then in service with the RAF and FAA, replacing the Canberra, the Hunter, and in the FAA’s inventory the Sea Vixen, and following the forced amalgamation of most of the British aero-industry companies into two unwieldy creations by the British Government, the situation was far from ideal. The Royal Navy took the decision first to go with an ‘off-the-shelf’ solution rather than wait for the supersonic Harrier that was in developmental purgatory, justifying in the cancellation of the type by the incoming Labour government, who also took out the potentially world-beating TSR-2 with the same axe, amongst other promising projects. The RAF wasn’t entirely convinced, but took the Phantom on the basis that it would be configured to better meet their needs than the base airframe. The newly-formed BAC took the F-4Js that had already been built with some British equipment integrated as part of the contract, replacing the GE J79 engines with home-produced Spey engines that required some serious modifications to the airframe, obliging them to re-design the entire aft portion of the fuselage to accommodate them. These modified portions and components were then shipped for final assembly in the US, and were so different that they were given the new designation F-4K and sent back across the Atlantic again where they received their FG.1 designation. The RAF and FAA wanted 400 between them, a number that was curtailed to 140 by cost factors, and two additional carriers that were commissioned to fly them from were also cancelled, with the view that the FAA would wind-down their fixed-wing aviation in due course, while further cost over-runs eventually resulted in only 50 airframes that were shared unevenly between FAA and RAF. There’s a lot more going on with the British Phantoms at this point, but as Volume 1 of the book deals with the FG.1, we’ll leave it there. The Book This is the latest issue from Australian KLP Publishing that is written by Geoff Coughlin and covers the British Phantoms as they first arrived and throughout their service before the remainder were converted to FGR.2 standard to simplify maintenance of the newer FGR.2 fleet. The book is available in digital format only, and that’s going to save an awful lot of paper and physical storage space amongst its readers around the world. Purchase is completed from their website, and will be delivered once payment is received, and it should arrive as a .PDF file, which is the de facto standard for digital documents these days, having originally been developed by Adobe back in the early days of the internet. You can find out a little more about purchasing their digital books here if you’re new to this. There’s no physical binding to prattle on about, but there are 366 pages that would be in it if there were, and it takes up about 113,000kb or 111mb of your mechanical Hard Disk Drive (HDD) or Solid-State Disk (SSD) storage space, so not too taxing on your available disk space, as you can store around 9 such books in 1GB. The pages are laid out as follows: Introduction - Page 7 About Geoff Coughlin - Page 11 Evolution Of the British Phantom Page - 13 FG.1 Key Features Page - 35 The Model Builds Page - 97 Scale Model Gallery Page - 255 Colour Profiles Page - 269 FG.1 XT864 Walkaround Page - 282 Special Markings: Something Different? - Page 345 Resource Centre Page - 361 Once the book gets up and running on page 13, there is a wealth of information about the development of the concept, then the type and the totally frustrating procurement process that saw a buy of 400 dwindle down to a meagre 50 through the various shenanigans and delays that seems to accompany virtually every single military contract the world over. The text is accompanied by a deluge of photos, some of which are more personal than most of the photos you’ve seen before, and includes a Bond Girl that happened across the deck of the Ark Royal at some point in her service with Phantoms embarked. There is also a lot of detail on the service of the FG.1, again with more photos throughout, and tables of tell-tale differences between the airframes, their equipment and antenna fits, which also includes the more numerous FGR.2 that was eventually procured, based on the F-4M and a very different aircraft. As is usual with this range of books, the photos are accompanied by informative captions that point out unusual or individual details of an airframe, discussing colour variations, how the weather and use affected various surfaces, and the colours of those pesky radomes that seem to be some sort of chameleon. If you want to get the sensor fit correct for your choice of airframe, look no further as there is much discussion of these small but important detail that will add realism and accuracy to any model if depicted accurately. The next section details the builds of six Phantom kits in 1:72 and 1:48, as follows: FG.1 Phantom XT864 ‘BJ’ No. 111 Squadron Armament Practice Camp – RAF Akrotiri 1988, Airfix 1:72 by Craig Boon FG.1 Phantom XT597, Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) Airfix 1:72 by Geoff Coughlin; FG.1 Phantom XV582 ‘B’ No.111 Squadron, Hasegawa 1:48 by Biff Vivian FG.1 Phantom XT864 007 ‘R’, 892 NAS Royal Navy, Fujimi 1:72 by Adam Waistell-Brown FG.1 Phantom XT859 006 ‘R’ 892 NAS Royal Navy, Revell / Hasegawa, 1:48 by Andrew Terrell FG.1 Phantom XV574 ‘B’, No. 43 Squadron Royal Air Force, Airfix 1:72 by Mal Sleight Each build first recounts a little of the history of the airframe it is based upon, then summarises the build, with a group of photos of the finished model for your entertainment. Some of the builds are more detailed and include in-progress photos, as well as the various aftermarket parts, paints and so forth that were used to create the model. There is perhaps a little bit of product placement here and there, but it doesn’t jump in your face, so isn’t a problem. After the modelling is over, which ends with a gallery, there are pages of profiles by Simon Hill from prototype onwards, each one with a caption giving additional information on the subject matter, and they include an American F-4B that was zapped with the Omega motif from their FAA counterparts. The next section is devoted to a walk around of XT864 that can be found on display at the Ulster Aviation Society, consisting of dozens of photos broken down into aeras of the airframe, and getting into the guts of the machine, where the age of the aircraft shows in the amount of dust accumulated in areas that aren’t often seen. The penultimate section concentrates on the unusual markings that the FG.1 wore throughout its careers, and includes plenty of text to accompany the photos. The final part is a hybrid bibliography that also includes links to Facebook Groups, online magazines and model companies, some of which you will no doubt recognise. With the publication being digital, the links are as live as the URLs they lead to, but if any of them change or disappear in the future, they will give you the dreaded 404 error. Conclusion The Phantom is close to many British aviation enthusiast and/or modeller’s heart, as it served for a long period with the RAF and FAA when many of us folks of a certain age were young and enthusiastic about such things. The detail of the book is impressive, giving the modeller a massive helping hand if building an FG.1, and in Volume 2 the FGR.2 and the later third Volume covering the F-4J(UK) variant. All of this will take up zero space on your bookshelf, and can be viewed on PC or Laptop, Mac or Macbook, tablet or phone wherever you do your modelling. At time of writing, there's a special offer of purchasing Volume 1 and 2 together, with a substantial discount on the price. Volume 2 is even larger than this one! Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Made in 17 days, was a fun build. Thank you to the people in this thread that helped me get correct positions for flaps, airbrakes etc. Anyway, here it is: Here she is with my RN FG.1 And with my other RAF camo birds Thanks for looking!

Hello guys... Here is my work, done for my great friend, Renzo Bortolotto, dedicated to my favorite airplane... UK obviously I used a Fujimi 1/72 box and OOB builds Cheers for looking ciao Silvano

Some cockpit pics from FGR.2 XV424 which is in the RAF museum at Hendon. Pics from Frank Bell. Julien

Announced (sort of) on their FB page. https://www.facebook.com/Hong-Kong-Models-Co-Ltd-1375731456009809/timeline/ Cheers, Andrew

With the new Airfix kit out and the option of a cat launch pose oob (have a Fujimi kit and lots of resin in the stash for years for this project too...) What is the BM collective's opinion for suitable 1970 to 78 crew figures? Cant have it ready to shoot off the deck with no one on board!

Ok i started this build back in July and had to shelve it temporarily due to paint shortages through mid August. But Im going to consider this done with the exception of some Do not step decals and weathering. I should add these were the worst decals I’ve dealt with in 30 + years of model building. The glue was so thick everytime i worked with the decals it felt like my hands were covered in vaseline. Mind you i work with water in the 120+ degree range. I know how to work with Japanese decals. They were so slimy and did not want to work to well. I had two complete sets of original decals to work with i was able to save just two each of the white base and red field “omega” tail decals. The glue i blame on hasegawa the bad decals due to improper storage. This is one of many kits i was given by a friend who cleared out his storage unit stash. He didn't want to transport them 1000 miles so i was allowed to take anything i wanted. Thank you my friend. So without further boring you with a long write-up i give you my Fg.1 Phantom Circa 1975-1976 Ark Royal Cruise. The original teaser photo ⬆️ And the rest pf the photo’s. ⬇️ Ok some detail shots first up is the spey engine i used real foil stained with cooked eggs. To this i stained it further by adding some blue and copper tones drybrushed onto the foil. ⬇️ And the cockpit’s ⬇️ The eagle eyed among you will have spotted the Two different drop tank paint schemes. Thats done on purpose. During my research one of the members directed me to the Ark Royal’s Cruise books and when digging throught the assorted photo’s i found this photo i reprint here giving full credit to the Ark Royal crews and association. ⬇️ If you look closely i duplicated this pattern. I found everything from all white to all Dark sea Grey to mixed variations. So I lay my self on the Forums bench and await your decision if it meets the criteria for an Fg.1 Phantom from #892 Squadron. I’d like to add Great Thank You’s to all the members that gave me helpful advice in my Cold war question thread. This was a duel build with my EE F.3 Lightning. If anyone is interested here is a link to view that RFI. I say Thank You in Advance Dennis

The Phantom FG.1 pre production airframe XT597 (currently for sale at Everett Aero) was used by the A&AEE from 'birth' until retirement. She conducted the sea trials on the USS Saratoga and later went on to clear weaponry and systems before squadron service. By 1982 she had acquired some FGR.2 outer wing panels, a Doppler 72 radar panel under the nose and an air of scruffiness about her in the pictures I can see. Having the Hasegawa 1:48 FG.1 kit and the extra correct nose for XT597 but no decals left me with a odd spare part until I got ahold of the RAM Models Early British Phantoms sheet. Having already built XT596 (currently at Yeovilton) from this set this seemed like a great opportunity. http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234997445-phantom-f-4k-no2-xt596-royal-navy-a-aee/page-1 So, on to my build... Work in progress is here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235006034-phantom-fg1-148-hasegawa/page-1 The build is as accurate as I can make it, however I have added some artisitc licence. The tanks have Post Office red tips (This was a pure guess, but looks interesting) but are quite chipped and marked as by 1982 I figured the bulk of XT597's work would have been as a Tornado chase plane. For this reason I fitted an FGR.2 Strike camera in the port forward sparrow recess as it could have been used for taking film of the subject aircraft in flight. Here is a picture of the completed build, along with a picture of XT597 in her pre-rasberry ripple finish and the decal instructions...

I bought from ebay a part started Phantom FG.1 with no decals and a missing canopy. So I went looking for some decals to complete it with and came across the RAM Models set, however this still left me needing stencils, so I figured a bit of artistic licence, build a very early FG.1 and use an F-4 B/N set, this would at least be in period, my thinking was the YF-4K's were painted and finished with the stencils McDonnell had available until the British specific ones were made. Sounds likely to me anyhow! The RAM models set is not cheap but they went down extremely well, nicely coloured and in register. As a nice bonus I swapped one version (700P NASU) decal set for a canopy. :-D Kit, Hasegawa 1/48 Phantom FG.1, Decals Ram Models early Phantoms, stencils KitsWorld F-4 B/C/D/N. Paints, Humbrol EDSG Enamel, Halfords white primer and all the rest by Tamiya. Built OOB apart from decals. Enjoy.

Hi all, I can report it as finished. Some progress can be found at http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234965200-phantom-fg1-aka-f-4k-148/ . More pics are at http://www.kpmprosek.cz/v/panteri/mess/PhantomFG1 . Thanks for viewing. M.

The weathering looks a little worse in person, but I'm still pretty proud of this one, for sure. Everything really came together for me. (I also overweathered way too much, as this photo confirms: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24101413@N03/5264040287/) Many thanks to everyone who answered my questions about stencils! I used: the older version of the Fujimi FG.1 1/72 kit; Xtracrylics (which were immensely frustrating); a combination of kit decals from a newer FG.1 boxing, the Airdoc RAF Phantom FGR.2 in Germany decals, and the Airdoc FGR.2 in Germany stencil set, suitably modified, and a Flory models wash, for the very first time. I'll probably add stores and whatnot later.