New 1/72nd Airfix Phantom FGR.2

[Retired Bob]

A magnificent model general melchett.  Ah 70's camouflaged FGR.2 takes me back to when I worked on them, must do the RAFG contenders 19(F) Sqn, the cod squad and 92 Sqn, the snakes in the grass. Happy days, 8 marks to the £ and a big motorbike between the legs.

 

Bob

[general melchett]

Thanks for the support folks, it's appreciated,

 

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A very different load, but one that was seen on TV. See the start of the OTR at 5:20, finished load at 14:00.

Yes, I watched this a few times while building Rob, great footage, especially the Vulcan four ship launch. Great to see actual footage of the Lepus loaded, apparently, according to Chris they made quite a flash when they went off, blinding everyone in the near vicinity...got to love Raymond Baxter's commentary.

 

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I think this build in the mag probably did Airfix proud on the sales front 

Thanks mate, I hope so....maybe it'll tempt them into going for a 1/48th version 

 

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 Ah 70's camouflaged FGR.2 takes me back to when I worked on them, must do the RAFG contenders 19(F) Sqn, the cod squad and 92 Sqn, the snakes in the grass.

 

Have to agree Rob, best scheme by far. I also have great memories of RAFG but only as a lowly air cadet on summer camp at Bruggen in 1975 while they were transiting to Jaguars. The sight and sound of 14 squadrons night launches are indelibly etched on my memory, great days! along with the obligatory help with collecting the chutes. In fact, I'm in the process of finishing a Hase 1/48th FGR.2 in my favourite UK F-4 markings, 17 squadron (with apols to all other squadrons that were out there ).

[general melchett]

Just a quick thanks to those of you who were at Telford and commented on the kit, very much appreciated. Great to catch up with so many of you...

 

[Rich G]

Cracking looking Toom General, just finished reading the build in the November AMW and enjoyed what I saw, keep up the good work and make sure you catch the watchful Hun totally off guard, Baaaahhhhh!

 

Rich

 

 

Edited November 12, 2018 by Rich G

[iainpeden]

Ted Bayliss (F4SIG) and I spent sometime inspecting the model on the Airfix stand and it's a great build. However, we both thought it a bit disingenuous of Airfix to display it without referring to the significant amount of after market parts - it certainly wasn't "out of the box".

 

With the exception of the detailed intakes I still think the Fujimi series puts Airfix into a cocked hat on this one. I also had a chat to the rep about the amount of wasted plastic in this Phantom kit, an area he said they were looking to address in future kits.

[Gene K]

2 hours ago, iainpeden said:

I also had a chat to the rep about the amount of wasted plastic in this Phantom kit, an area he said they were looking to address in future kits.

 

What plastic was wasted?

 

Gene K

[iainpeden]

11 hours ago, Gene K said:

 

What plastic was wasted?

 

Gene K

Two sets of underwings (with/without straps), deployed and undeployed slats on the front of the wing, folded and unfolded outer wing panels, strips on the right hand side of the fuel tanks and the inner pylons are not worth the plastic used they are so inaccurate. Smarter design would have reduced the plastic used and probably made a better kit.

 

(Oh - and an extra fin and unneceessary ILS aerials)

 

Admittedly the Esci and Hasegawa kits tend to leave a good few bits unused but they were designed well before single use plastic became the number one enemy.

[ArmouredSprue]

That's just fantastic. 

[Gene K]

On 11/12/2018 at 4:11 PM, iainpeden said:

Two sets of underwings (with/without straps), deployed and undeployed slats on the front of the wing, folded and unfolded outer wing panels, strips on the right hand side of the fuel tanks and the inner pylons are not worth the plastic used they are so inaccurate. Smarter design would have reduced the plastic used and probably made a better kit.

Smarter design would not have left off obvious Phantom features such as the vents ... and would not have included the extra seams on the wing tanks. However, the extra features you po-poed like the extended flaps and the folding wings are certainly not "wasted plastic" in my opinion ...  they are appreciated options. 

 

Gene K

Edited November 14, 2018 by Gene K

[iainpeden]

Gene, my point is that those options could have been included without doubling up on some parts. For example, why have separate folded and unfolded outer wing panels when it could have been planned just to use one.

 

Anyway we live in free countries and can agree to disagree.

[VMA131Marine]

7 minutes ago, iainpeden said:

Gene, my point is that those options could have been included without doubling up on some parts. For example, why have separate folded and unfolded outer wing panels when it could have been planned just to use one.

 

Anyway we live in free countries and can agree to disagree.

You should have a chat with Eduard about wasted plastic. In some of there Fw 190 kits, but for a few small parts, there is enough in the box to build two models.

[FalkeEins]

17 minutes ago, VMA131Marine said:

You should have a chat with Eduard about wasted plastic. In some of there Fw 190 kits, but for a few small parts, there is enough in the box to build two models.

 

 ..not wasted ...very useful for 'tarting' up older kits, especially elderly Airfix 190s and the old Frog/Revell Ta 152. Stunning F-4 too by the way and certainly had me buying the magazine after a bit of a hiatus. I counted at least three separate F-4 features in that issue ..

[general melchett]

 

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 certainly had me buying the magazine after a bit of a hiatus. 

Thanks Falke, I appreciate that, the more magazines we sell, the more stuff we can include and thereby increase the range of subjects, that's the plan.....great blogs by the way! I have my good friend Jan Forsgren staying with me at the moment, post-Telford, and he has a great interest in Luftwaffe aircraft...that lot will keep him happy for quite some time!

 

[trickydicky210]

Umm, thats really a rather nice looking kit

 

Thanks Rich

 

 

[Piotr Sudnik]

Very nice Phantom. Good job! 

[RichG]

On 11/14/2018 at 4:10 PM, Gene K said:

... the folding wings are certainly not "wasted plastic" in my opinion ...  they are appreciated options. 

Completely agree. Unusual to see a manufacturer criticised for including different options; its usually the other way round!  I appreciate the original post was talking about smarter design, but I notice the Airfix F-4K/M kit does seem to attract people's ire (unfairly I think) - each to their own, personally I love 'em . 

 

Rich

 

PS I personally hope such complaints don't limit Airfix's ambitions for future kits - how disappointing would, say, a new Airfix Buccaneer S2 (A/B/C/D) in 1/72 be without a wing-fold option, closed air-brakes, no flaps, no bomb-bay...? 🤔

Edited November 15, 2018 by RichG

[perdu]

2 hours ago, RichG said:

PS I personally hope such complaints don't limit Airfix's ambitions for future kits - how disappointing would, say, a new Airfix Buccaneer S2 (A/B/C/D) in 1/72 be without a wing-fold option, closed air-brakes, no flaps, no bomb-bay...? 🤔

You mean a revamped Matchboxer?

 

 

Andy as usual I am at the bar too late again but blimey what a beautiful aeroplane

 

Thanks for sharing it, oh arr, thanks for helping Airfix Mag get over their fixation with painted on panel lines too

 

This is a thing of true beauty, I only missed it because I rarely get time to lurk in here

 

(Just getting in my excuses so the General keeps Darling away from my rhubarb patch, I caught him trying to bury Baldrick in it!)

 

 

I am another fan of this version of Airfix's 'toom, bring 'em on

[general melchett]

Cheers Bill, the bar is always open here at Melchett Towers, in fact I can't ever remember a time when it wasn't! Lady M holds a decent stock of after-meal imbibements...

 

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thanks for helping Airfix Mag get over their fixation with painted on panel lines too

Ha, funnily enough, I was talking to the editor at the show about exactly that!...he's having a few words with a few who still insist on making their models look like diagrams. Each to his own I guess, but I really Don't like them. You can get a far better effect by just playing with the colour tones of the panels themselves rather than just drop wash into the trenches to make them stand out even more,  but that's just my opinion, (although having chatted to a lot of brethren at the show there seems to be some agreement!

[perdu]

1 hour ago, general melchett said:

You can get a far better effect by just playing with the colour tones of the panels themselves rather than just drop wash into the trenches to make them stand out even more

I'll say