bar side Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 (edited) OK, first WIP, please be gentle! Quick background – built loads of kits in the early 80's before getting old enough for the pub. When I got my own house I started back with model railway layouts. Then a couple of years ago my wife gave me an airfix spitfire for christmas. And that was me off again. After a couple of 1/72 kits I got a 1/48 Canberra PR9 from modelzone. I had done a couple of 1/48, 1/32 & even 1/24 kits as a youngster, but I enjoyed the 1/48 detail. So, the Canberra needed a Hunter to go with it and then a Lightning. Now I live near Wattisham and the Hunter was a Wittering example, and the Lightning from Binbrook. Both (along with the Canberra) are in late 70s grey / green camo. So I fancied making a Phantom. Should it be FGR2? If its camo then its nots likely to be a Wattisham example. Maybe a 74 sqadron F4J (UK)? But on the cheap – not going to pay £50 for a kit thats out of production on ebay. Got to be sub £20. For me its about the fun of the build, not the extreme detail. Love the builds that do spend a fortune on etch & resin and when my skills get to the point of making use of this level detail I will have a go. So on ebay up comes a deal – not one but two phantom kits in one auction. One Esci, one Monogram, enough parts to complete both, but neither complete & only one set of (US only) decals. Won for less than £20. The kits were slightly started. Wings glued together & a bit of one cockpit started. One is a C/D, one an E/F. But a result on the E/F, the standard rad dome and all of the front wheel bay gear for a standard nose. So time to get started This is the result of 2 mongram cockpit interiors. One fits the Monogram kit (as it should!), the other needed to be modified a bit to go in the Esci kit. As I said I had one set of decals, so I photocopied them, cut them out & stuck them in. Hardly the high detail seen on other builds, but looks ok to me. Positioned in to their respective homes they look OK. The wings were just dry fitted at this point Edited June 27, 2015 by bar side 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woody37 Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 Looking forwards to seeing your progress Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted May 30, 2015 Author Share Posted May 30, 2015 Cheers Woody Now there are lots of better Phantom builds on here (most of them in fact!) but I have enjoyed researching & putting these together. I have got paint on them now, but will run through a few more photos of the build as it happened. Major issues encountered: Esci kit – surface panel joints. I had a go (first attempt at this) at re scribing the main lines. Results are OK, could be better but thats a practise thing Monogram kit – badly warped body. Not close to fitting snugly and the tail was over at a noticeably bad angle. Lots of soaking in hot water, gluing it in sections and a bit of internal bracing before it started to look passable. On the plus side the panel lines were great . Started to see why these were on ebay at this point! Also the Esci kit is a bit 'skinnier' than the Monogram kit. So here are the bodies without wings. I used a tube of car body filler from poundland as my sandable filler. Works ok and was needed as you can see. I put the main gear on when I painted the bays so I could check the centre of gravity. As suspected they are fine without any weights in the nose. The front gear was just bluetac-ed on for effect. The Esci kit had only one tail fin, but the pack came with two Monogram tail sets, so the olive drab fins are noticeable. Now on to the FGR2 primed up & my first pre-shading attempts. The tail top has had the FGR2 radar fitted & the additional fins on the sides. Underneath both have had the bracing plates fitted as described elsewhere on the forum. I made my own templates up for these. The F4J (UK) has been similarly treated, but its inner section wings and nose cone have had a first top coat. Got to say at this point something about the two of them reminded me of the dumped F4s when they were scrapped at Wattisham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted May 31, 2015 Author Share Posted May 31, 2015 So on to painting. I want to get back in to airbrushing, but my old badger airbrushes from the 80's are a bit past it. New brush on order, but for now it is humbrol rattle cans and hand brushing humbrol enamels. As to the dark art of F4J (UK) grey – a hand mix of greys, yellow, blue, white etc until it looked about right. The FGR2 was hand painted underneath (light aircraft grey) and rattle can sparyed using bluetac in rolled up 'snakes' with masking tape to cover off areas. This was work in progress: So after initial paint here is what they looked like: The F4J (UK) is going to be a Wattisham 74 sqn. Don't know about the FGR2 yet – having real trouble finding a good set of late roundel (blue/red not red white & blue) and matching FGR large serial number for the underside. One possible set of RAF Germany decals seems to be it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted June 1, 2015 Author Share Posted June 1, 2015 Moving on with the F4J (UK) build. I ordered a set of Xtradecal 74 Sqn decals and I think they look pretty good. She has been marked up as ZE353. This is the real one: https://www.flickr.com/photos/last_lightning/4294793811/ I haven't finished off detailed painting or any weathering so I won't call this finished. The tanks and missiles are held on with bluetac for the photo and the tanks are still in primer. The FGR2 still has no squadron or identity but I have added detailed common decals. The wheel well doors are not on as the large underside serial numbers may go over these doors & it will be easier to put them on before adding the doors to the model. Now I have seen some great dioramas on here and I was looking at the Wattisham Station Heritage Museum website and saw their Phantom in one of the Wattisham HAS. http://www.wattishamstationheritage.org/phantom-xt914.html Got me thinking – how big would a 1/48 HAS be? Turns out about 75cm long & 45cm wide. Roof peaks at about 20cm. So some old cardboard got quickly held together with masking tape. I quite fancy buidling this up, putting in somw led lighting and buidling a couple of those heavily reinforced doors. Plus a pan outside, bringing the whole thing up to about 1.25m long. What do you think? Worth doing? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thorfinn Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 Got me thinking – how big would a 1/48 HAS be? Turns out about 75cm long & 45cm wide. Roof peaks at about 20cm. So some old cardboard got quickly held together with masking tape. I quite fancy buidling this up, putting in somw led lighting and buidling a couple of those heavily reinforced doors. Plus a pan outside, bringing the whole thing up to about 1.25m long. What do you think? Worth doing? Not only is it worth doing, but I suspect you'll have a ready and enthusiastic audience along the way if you show us how. Lovely, lovely work on the Rhinos. Looking forward to seeing them in all their glory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted June 2, 2015 Author Share Posted June 2, 2015 Cheers Thorfinn. Now need to work out how to do the HAS! Have some ideas but still thinking them through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zone19 Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Great Work...Love the idea of a HAS...And the cardboard idea is great!!! Which one are you going for? 1st Gen http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-aircraft-bunker-image16673641 3rd Gen http://www.panoramio.com/photo_explorer#view=photo&position=172&with_photo_id=20575679&order=date_desc&user=2532938 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted June 3, 2015 Author Share Posted June 3, 2015 Well Zone19 I was going to go for 3rd Gen as they are the ones I have photos of on the west side of Wattisham field by crash gate 4. This is one: Like the vents on the back too - side by side just ready for a Phantom. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted June 6, 2015 Author Share Posted June 6, 2015 OK, been mulling over the cardboard HAS idea. The roof is lined / supported by a series of tubular forms. I would guestimate between 70 & 80. I have been looking at scratch build solutions for this interior and had a few ideas - redundant data cables or curtain wires. Curtain wires have a nice pattern which closely matches the real HAS interior. OK, so that is approx. 70 tubes of 68cm length - that is just shy of 50m of tube. So any kind of metal containing tube is simply too heavy. So what to do? Have been looking at forming paper mache tubes around a wire & trying to slide it off. That's not going to work 70 times, with the right curve on it.... So now looking at soaking cardboard and taking off the top layer, exposing the rippled interior. Then drop it on to the interior curve of the HAS while damp so it takes the curve without creasing. Not perfect but it might paint up ok. If the weather holds out I'll give it a go soon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon382 Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 Very nice job on your Phantoms. I've got the Monogram kit in my stash and if I ever get a day to myself I might get it started! As for the HAS I'm really looking forward to seeing how it goes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FatFlyHalf Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 OK, been mulling over the cardboard HAS idea. The roof is lined / supported by a series of tubular forms. I would guestimate between 70 & 80. I have been looking at scratch build solutions for this interior and had a few ideas - redundant data cables or curtain wires. Curtain wires have a nice pattern which closely matches the real HAS interior. OK, so that is approx. 70 tubes of 68cm length - that is just shy of 50m of tube. So any kind of metal containing tube is simply too heavy. So what to do? Have been looking at forming paper mache tubes around a wire & trying to slide it off. That's not going to work 70 times, with the right curve on it.... Just a passing thought, Would plastic drinking straws work for the tubes? A gentle heat may bend them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted June 7, 2015 Author Share Posted June 7, 2015 Did think about plastic tubes, but it would still be nearly 50m of them. I have been having a go at a cardboard-based option that is looking promising. Also keep thinking about 're-purposing' some white led lights as hanger lights. Cheers Simon, as long as your kits hasn't got the warped body I had then it should be a nice enough build Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted June 12, 2015 Author Share Posted June 12, 2015 Right a little HAS progress! Sticking to a shoe string budget, I started thinking about that corrugated card in the middle of cardboard. So I soaked the top off a sheet. It looked ok, so I did some more. Then stuck it inside the mock up cardboard shell. A quick coat of emulsion - white with some added black poster paint - hides the worst of the crimes. So looking from the usual viewing position: A couple of rough coats of varying grey-ness looks passable: The ends will be covered over & a new outer shell is very likely but its progress. Still not spent much so if it goes wrong it can still hit the recycling. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Vader Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 Well I think it looks brilliant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted June 13, 2015 Author Share Posted June 13, 2015 Cheers Darth Quiet day today so a bit of HAS progress. Its got the back on & the floor painted. I have been toying with the idea of lighting the HAS because its big & dark in there for any photographs. So I had a dead string of low voltage christmas leds, found enough working ones & put it together. This is how it looks inside: Not quite so impressive outside. It needs a front door frame, doors and a skin over the whole thing, plus the vent building on the back. But as a diorama its starting to work. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 That HAS is a great idea; nice one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thorfinn Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 Great work so far on the HAS. That shot with the Christmas lights is beautiful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted June 14, 2015 Author Share Posted June 14, 2015 Cheers guys. Quite pleased with the lights too Thorfinn - might try to disguise them a bit though. Some 1/48 lamp shades? Tried fitting a skin over the HAS today to hide that now rather crinkled corrugated cardboard shell. Fitted with lots of masking tape, yet to be glued up. Will be avoiding water based pva now so that the outside doesn't curl & distort. I thought a foreign visitor from another time and place (well Wethersfield anyway, but pre dating most UK HAS of this design) should come by today. I have modified the HA entrance with another HAS style front door 'arch' to try to straighten up & stiffen the shell. It will generally be at least half hidden behind the doors anyway. It gives a better frame to any photos at least. Lots to do now to put this together & add vents etc. and all of the internal trunking and the like. Then door building - that will be fun! 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zone19 Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 Awesome Work on that...I do believe I will be stealing that GREAT idea This is the best picture I could find to give you an example...On the right you can see some frames...That is under wing tank storage (For Tonka's)...Then behind that is a crew cabin...Not sure what it was like for the 'Tombs' at Wilders (Wildenwrath) but I'm sure if one of them see's this he'll let you know 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted June 16, 2015 Author Share Posted June 16, 2015 Cheers - I did fancy making a 1/72 hanger some time back, but that could be even bigger than this. Love the photo of the Typhoon. I have been trying to work out how the back exhaust doors (do they have a proper name?) could work. I want to open them to take rear photos of the posed plane. So nice to see the doors open in your photo. I would love to see some pics of the storage in the days of the Phantoms. I have a few spare tanks, sparrows & aim 9s but I doubt they would have been left laying about. Also not sure if a houchin was standard equipment to be seen in or around a HAS. I was going to include the rear exhaust structure, but hadn't planned the crew cabins (I presume thats what the building to the side are) just down to the model size - the hanger is about 75cm x 45cm, With the baseboard in its 125cm long. Add the exhaust structure (about another 20cm) and the side cabins, then allow for the front doors to be fully open (almost double the width) Might have a go though as an add on later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zone19 Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 Cheers - I did fancy making a 1/72 hanger some time back, but that could be even bigger than this. Love the photo of the Typhoon. I have been trying to work out how the back exhaust doors (do they have a proper name?) could work. I want to open them to take rear photos of the posed plane. So nice to see the doors open in your photo. I would love to see some pics of the storage in the days of the Phantoms. I have a few spare tanks, sparrows & aim 9s but I doubt they would have been left laying about. Also not sure if a houchin was standard equipment to be seen in or around a HAS. I was going to include the rear exhaust structure, but hadn't planned the crew cabins (I presume thats what the building to the side are) just down to the model size - the hanger is about 75cm x 45cm, With the baseboard in its 125cm long. Add the exhaust structure (about another 20cm) and the side cabins, then allow for the front doors to be fully open (almost double the width) Might have a go though as an add on later. They slide, and are called 'blast doors' I believe...But I'm sure I'll be corrected LOL The storage was pretty much the same for the Tonkas I believe...We used to leave Aqui's lying around...Every HAS had a houchin and GSE (Ground Support Equipment) The MK1 and 3 had an annex where the houchin was, and it could also take a fuel bowser for refuelling the Jet...The Houchin cables ran in through the wall whilst the Fuel came in from next door via an underground pipe...Check out the Wattisham Station Heritage page and look at the HAS there...You can see the hardened area for the Bowser and Houchin... Your doing a cracking Job so far Keep it up... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattBlack33 Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 The build and setting are looking stunning. I'm looking forward to seeing this in all its glory! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KiwiRho Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 Looking good so far. Well considered hangar project has impressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMK Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 Really impressed with the concept & execution of the HAS! Maybe a light coat of clear yellow or yellow-tinted future could help capture the 'sodium lighting' shade? Enjoying watching this develop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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