Yes it's yet another Airfix Phantom

[Jon020]

Hi all. well, this is my first proper post on the forum after lurking around reading various topics over the last year or so, having decided that Airfix's Phantom would be a good project to pick up and get back-in to the hobby, having taken a break from it for 30 years ore more. Over the last decade or so, I have dabbled with some railway modelling (correcting and detailing various ready-to-run loco models - toy trains) and seem to have managed to produce some half-decent results... good enough at least to see some articles published in national mags ... but I don't work quickly. My last conversion (a Sulzer class 26 for those that know what I'm talking about) took almost 5 years... and I'm only working in 4mm scale (1/76.2) - starting with oo gauge models - so they're nothing big. But, I worked to the philosophy that if you could reproduce a detail on a good O gauge model (1/43 scale) then you should be able to do the same in 1/76.2; whilst my eyesight has born the brunt of that decision, i try to stick by it.

Photo etch components for railway products are maturing nicely now, although it's still quite a new approach for products of extreme fidelity; it's been a great help to have a good friend who produces these (for his own company) as part of his day-job and I've trialled one or two items previously; sharing a love of "Deltics" was a big help there.

For switching to aircraft, I will try to see what can be achieved in 1/48 and replicate in 1/72 - yes, i'm probably mad.... but there are so many detailing options out there, that the job is almost done for you (or me).

Whilst I picked up the Airfix Phantom (K model FG1) a year or so ago, I decided to wait until some PE parts were produced.. along with (hopefully) some other replacement items to make us for some of the basic product's omissions and simplifications. I've seen some "complain?" or highlight at least that the model is made of a soft plastic, but I've found this to be a bit of a blessing when it comes to trimming small mouldings such as those on the seats ... which, to be honest, is about as much as I've managed so far.

I will post a few pics of progress as/when available, and when I think there's something to show.

And I'll probably have a few questions as I go along  - it seems that the hobby has evolved significantly in the last three decades. For instance... when it comes to paints, I think I must be "old school" having always worked with (and preferred) enamels. For railways, there are companies such as Railmatch and Precision that produce great ranges in appropriate colours that I've used, and I've supplemented these with Humbrol enamels when necessary. But, I see that there's such a move towards acrylics and cellulose? that one day I'll have to have a try (on something spare to practice on) but for now, for the 'toom, I'd intend to stick with what I know (or rather, I think I know ????)

Other points that are causing me to scratch my head are simple points such as how much weight to pop into the nose? It would have been useful to see this quoted in the instructions , or in any of the myriad of articles I've seen published - crikey, is it a trade secret?  I've some liquid lead to use for this, but knowing how much would be good.

 

So... what have I achieved?

Well, I decided to add the Eduard bits to the seats and tubs... but decided also that the instrument panel wiring (between the seats) was simplistically protrayed in the moulded form, and it's very visible in photos - so decided to scour various web photo sources, 1/48 and `/32 model articles, etc etc etc, and make up something slightly more representative using thin nickel wire and 5A fusewire. It's know where near  representative of the actual routing, but it gives a flavour of the mess of wiring and pipes behind the seat heads.

 

The moulded seat tubs had a few plasti-card and wire additions based on photos of the MB Mk7 in one of my phantom books (the Haynes manual one I think), and I re-profiled the cushions and parachute box to be more representative.... before painting and adding the PE bits. Wow they're fiddly ! The throttle levers ! Blimey!

Anyway... a couple of photos follow. 

IMG_20190419_190656399 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

IMG_20190412_201022881 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

IMG_20190427_093632322 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

IMG_20190425_193835788_HDR by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

As mentioned, I'll post more as I go. Hopefully for now, its a flavour of what I want to achieve ... and I hope that I don't balls it up.

 

And finally.... ok, here's one of my last project - a fully sprung (primary -body to bogie -and secondary -bogie to axles- springing), P4'd, superdetailed class 26, based on the Heljan OO model, which took nearly 5 years to work.

26046 - job done by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

 

Thanks for reading, and I'd welcome any comments 

 

Jon

[stevehnz]

Such detailing is a bit beyond my ken but for all that, it looks very impressive. 

Steve.

[Jon020]

Hi all, well time for another short update. I did say that I don't work too quickly on any of these - but spare time can be limited and there's plenty to spend it on. However, I've done some work and though it might be of interest. So...

After playing around with the cockpit tub, I did a few trial fits in the fuselage halves. Hmmm.... the fit was not quite what I'd expected. I couldn't initially see that the fit was anything to do with the detailing, and in the end opted to remove some of the moulded cockpit details on the port-side fuselage inside. This seemed to solve the problem and the fit seemed good. Have others had this problem ? I wondered as I'd seen some report that joining the fuselage halves can be tight. The bits I removed can be seen (unpainted) and they're hidden so it doesn't matter.

IMG_20190503_182758503 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Moving on, I decided to try a further dry fit and used the complete canopy section to test fit around the cockpit top. This was gappy too... especially around the front. 

IMG_20190503_182450882 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

I tried a few trial areas and eventually found that the glareshield coaming was fouling at the front edge... so a little sanding down and reprofiling removed the foul points; the edges of the bulkhead corners were a documented foul (in magazine articles published that I've seen) and these were taken down too. Eventually the canopy sat properly. The unpainted bits were the removed areas.... a repaint sorted that out (and a little filler on the fuselage side where I was cack-handed with the small sanding stick

IMG_20190503_182521452 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

The next stage is to add the intake ducts and splitter plates. To make up for the missing details, on the splitter plates, I'd opted to use the aerocraft parts (as others have done) but I found the instructions and the mag articles a little contradictory as to how to marry these up and fit them square .... so I opted to take it slowly and only cut away what I needed to.. bit by bit.

To not over-cut the kit parts, I cut the ducts over the edge of the back of the splitter plate, and then slowly filed/sanded them back to the right dimension

IMG_20190507_184008945 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

I hope I'm posting these pictures correctly!!!!

I cut the small slot at the top of the plate to locate the duct (0.55mm drill and sharp blade) and then pared back the lower lip of the splitter plate interface so that it held the underside of the duct in the right position .

IMG_20190507_210138181_HDR by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Hopefully this picture shows how much I cut away... using the flat edge of a small long rectangular file... almost like a chisel to slowly "gouge out" the material in a concave form to accept the duct outer edge.

This was the done one - and the next to be done one.

IMG_20190508_174718707 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

The eventual fit was good. The first side took me a couple of hours; the second side, the following evening, less than half of that (I'd worked out what to do)

IMG_20190507_210558191 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

I note that some articles suggest painting the insides before assembly. Yea, nice idea if straight from the box... but with fettling, I ended up with a thin flat brush giving them a coat of thin matt white (humbrol enamel) and later I'll go over this with the airbrush with another coat and then a satin or gloss coat before they're fitted to the fuselage.

I cut of the spey front compressor fan piece too - primed with halfords grey, and I'll paint that by hand silver/gunmetal or steel mix on the blades and a lighter spinner once I'm happy with what the colour should have been when on the aircraft were at sea.

 

I opted to weight the nose using liquid gravity. To add a compartment for this, I used one of the nose-open parts as a mask to cut a circle of plastic card to form a bulkhead that I then cut in half and added to each side with superglue.

IMG_20190509_183543474 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

and cut and fitted in place:

IMG_20190509_185501689 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

From the above image you'll see I've added the refuelling probe door - it was actually a tight fit that needed fettling but is nice and flush now.

When I added the liquid gravity, i wanted to get as much in as possible, and I think I over did it in the end - as the nose wouldn't go together (damn - serves me right for trying to get it done before dinner !)

I therefore filed the small balls down (as can be seen by the shiny surfaces) and eventually (after only a little cussing) I managed to get the two halves flush (lesson learnt - don't overdo them) Anyway... nose is weighty now and it'll hopefully do the job. I never did find out how much weight was needed in the nose on these things (why doesn't anyone right it down???) fingers crossed, this is enough

IMG_20190509_205119744 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

And the stuff used - and the recommended glue too

IMG_20190509_205315311 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Anyway... that's all for now. 

It's nice to be back with a kit - and even if I am ending up building bits out of sequence, it's still fun.

cheers

Jon

[Andre B]

In fact I newer had built any Phantom that needed weight in the nose. Neiter Hasegawa, Fujimi, Esci, Italeri, Monogram, Revell or the old Airfix.

 

Is noseweight really needed in the new Airfix Phantom?

 

Cheers / André

[Reparty]

4 minutes ago, Andre B said:

Is noseweight really needed in the new Airfix Phantom?

 

Cheers / André

I've never met a Phantom yet that required nose weight, from the 1962 Revell F-4B up to the 2018 Airfix one and all scales and aftermarket in between.

[Jon020]

Ok. Thanks guys. I think that adding the weight has de-risked it being a tail sitter at the end... but I couldn't recall what I did with my last phantom kit over 30 years ago... hasegawa 48th G I think. I think stores will make a difference, but I'm not intending to add much in this regard as they didn't carry much in the early 70s.

Thanks

[Duncan B]

22 hours ago, Andre B said:

In fact I newer had built any Phantom that needed weight in the nose. Neiter Hasegawa, Fujimi, Esci, Italeri, Monogram, Revell or the old Airfix.

 

Is noseweight really needed in the new Airfix Phantom?

 

Cheers / André

Me neither.

 

Nice detail work on the cockpit. 

 

Duncan B

[Jon020]

June ‘toom update.

Well, it’s been a while since I updated this thread and whilst progress has been slow, there has at least been a bit, and I’m now nearing the stage when paint will become more of a focus.

As hopefully clear... this is far from a how-to-do-it, more of a how I bodged it thread... but hopefully of a modicum of interest to someone. And thanks for reading this and sticking with me so far.

In brief then, since my last update. I opened up the auxiliary bypass door mouldings, removing all of the material from inside the fuselage and leaving the frame in place. This was to allow the Aires engine tubes to fit later in the build (and these did need some further opening out of the engine openings later on, but these were eventually blanked with some thin plasticard with a short length of 0.4mm wire placed across the bay (placed in notches cut in the rear face of the sides and central strut) to represent a piece of harness – or just a little detail that will just about be visible when the doors are fitted slightly open later in the build.

IMG_20190512_201052316 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

The lower wing pieces went on (with plenty of filler and patience) once the lower auxiliary doors were fitted with the inner bays painted and detailed (sprayed in red but highlighted with lighter red, and shadows deepened with a darker red) before assembly. Visible once assembled? Probably not, but I know I did more than just squirt red paint on it. The intake outer shells were added – a stage that I wasn’t looking forward to, and resulted in a little extra topping up of the swear box. I suspect this was due to my cack-handedness and “novice” skill level but I resorted to a fair bit of filler around the intakes once happy that they were in the right (or nearly right) location – test fitted a few times to get in place and set for a while with the upper wing sections to help hold together. After much further fettling and fiddling I think they’re ok; a little re-scribing of panel lines helped (so pleased to find that we still had our old dymo gun and several spare reels of tape which has worked very nicely).

IMG_20190524_210950140_HDR by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

IMG_20190524_211008460 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Once assembled, it began to look ok. Once niggle I’d had was that the catapult hooks looked a bit naff being moulded only... so on the basis that I’d replaced similar on my railway models, I elected to cut these carefully out, drill out a small hole (the first hole was too big to be honest) and replace with a short section of 0.4mm wire bent and sharpened to reflect the hooks better. Photo shows the first (less successful side) and once both in place they looked fine. Again, something that many won’t see,  but I know it’s there.

IMG_20190525_150653398_HDR by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Eduard etched bits went into all wheel wells and airbrake bays, wing slats fitted and (after further considerable fettling) the outer (folded) wing sections attached... and inner flaps fitted (up). The nose intakes went on – with considerable sanding and a little filler – but again, ok in the end. Phew!

IMG_20190529_194317826 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

The wing fold areas are a little bare, and there’s plenty of detail to add if patience is in plentiful supply. For the bigger scales this will obviously be easier, but i thought that I could at least add the three air duct outlets in the leading edge, as these could be highlighted (shaded) to add a little something once finished. 1.2mm dia plastic rod was drilled out with a 0.4mm drill, and then the outer dia reduced to just under 1mm... and slithers of less than 0.5mm sliced with a sharp blade (Swan Morten 10A) ... glued in place and sanded a little more once dry. They should do.

 

IMG_20190529_203227347 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

A test fit of the rear exhaust nozzles. Ok.. so, confession time. I “balls’d” up the first “cut” of these parts and managed to file/sand off the flanges that allow the exhaust can and reheat tube to connect to each other – by (mis)reading the instruction sheet – although the flange isn’t shown so I’d say that the illustration didn’t help to be honest). I kept trying to work out afterwards how n earth I’d get the two pieces to sit together, on the basis that the combuster fan sits so nicely in the other end of the tube – and then realisation dawned. Cut the other one leaving the flanges in place and “Ah”. Light bulb! Anyway, nothing for it – ordered a second set and I now have two (and a spare one if anyone needs one). It was roughly at this point that I knocked the lower pitot off the fin – so made a new one from 0.4mm wire... and decided to fit a plasticard cover to stop further accidents. I also managed to knock the fuel vent outlet off – or rather it fell off. So.... count to 10.... cut the pipe end face square and then fashioned a new exhaust from plasticard shaped (as correctly as possible) and pinned (0.4mm wire again) into place – small holes on each, but you get the drift. To be honest I think it’s a bit more robust that the original and possibly closer to the right shape (an odd shape aren’t they).

IMG_20190530_204054711_HDR by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

I sanded the front coaming down and fitted the Eduard HUD, with a small slither of plasticard over the kit hole (in the wrong place), added the small gauge that sits alongside the HUD – which I’ll have to look up again what this is and eventually sprayed the whole area matt black (and then a lighter black (tyre black?) later on to lift it a little.

Had a few problems with the airbrush (premiair G35 that I’ve had for years) so gave it a good clean... and also bought a new one – a Sparmax SP20X for finer work – I’ve an Iwata Revolution too – a 0.5mm one... for the bigger areas, which I’ll probably use on the body colour.

IMG_20190608_115213725_HDR by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

After assembling the engine bits, including the etched reheat ring (it is reheat on a phantom isn’t it – not afterburner or thrust augmenter – as it’s American rather than British! Oh well, hey ho). I assembled the Brassin TERs (with their lovely little etched attachment brackets) and added a piece of that 0.4mm wire to hold them when painted. The Aerocraft inner pylons were assembled and cleaned up, and also attached to a 0.4mm length of wire to suspend it on during painting.  The central fuel tank was also constructed and sanded down etc – and looks quite good. This will be the fit of the aircraft; they rarely carried outer tanks when onboard Ark Royal in the early 1970s... and the tank will be dark sea grey not white.

IMG_20190608_115243172_HDR by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

IMG_20190608_115253627_HDR by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

IMG_20190608_115312282_HDR by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Finally... the HUD glazing was attached with some “Glue and glaze” and left to dry.

IMG_20190611_104537264 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

The central cockpit frame was added with non-blooming superglue and the front glazing test fitted. It’s on now, but blimey, how difficult can it be? I had to remove even more of the coaming to get it to sit half decently... it’s now on, and the edges sanded to blend with the fuselage contours ... and gaps treated to more filler (currently drying) so I’ll add a photo once its presentable.

IMG_20190612_180442335 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

That'll do for now - more to follow with my little toom project. 

Thanks for the continuing comments and for reading this... again

Jon

 

 

 

[Jon020]

Just another quick update - windscreen surround filler now addressed and sanded down with various grades of paper, finishing with 2000. But, managed to slightly scratch the side panel with 400 paper, so sanded carefully with the 2000, then a cotton bud with a little t-cut, and finally another clean cotton bud with some MER... and cleaned with yet another cotton bud with cold water. It'll do - until some black... and then some primer goes on.

IMG_20190614_201030145-01 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

IMG_20190614_201020084-01 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

IMG_20190614_201003117-01 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Jon

[Lord Riot]

What a stunningly detailed build! Incredible at any scale but particularly 1/72. I'd love to see what you'd do with a 1/48 one. This is superb, well beyond my skillset, and patience!

[Terry1954]

Some seriously good detailing going on here, most impressed indeed, especially those MB seats. I do like the P4 class 26 as well - I have dabbled with 4mm and P4 and still have some stuff in the stash, although focusing on aircraft, AFV's and ships these days. I even have a half built DJH 9F deep in the store!

 

I'm going to follow this one with interest.

 

Terry

[motogpMatt]

Love the attention to detail mate, never in doubt having seen a few of your loco builds

 

All the best and hopefully see you on a charter soon, matt

[Antti_K]

My goodness Jon! This is already a Masterpiece; not just another Airfix Phantom🙂

 

I thought I was the "Phantom Modeller No. 1" when I scratch built both landing gear lever (with clear wheel knob) and flap lever into to the cockpit of my Tamiya 1/32 scale F-4J...🤣 And here we have it all, in 1/72 scale! Beautiful work on all the details! I admire both your patience and skill.

 

Kind Regards,

Antti

[Jon020]

How did I miss all of these comments... thanks so much.; very kind of you. I'll have to keep a better watch on this thread and check back more frequently.. but usually I'm a little preoccupied in sorting real 'planes out

Well.... I hit  a bit of a snag and this week I've been in "dialogue" with Hornby bobbies spares looking to source a replacement rear canopy... but seemingly finding it very difficult to get the message across to them that the item does not have a part number (apart from its designation of F12) and that its a clear part on the clear sprue - Sprue F.... having given them the kit description - product code number and now batch code. I'm actually just trying to source a replacement rear cockpit canopy after the kit one (that needed a little polishing as it had some blemishes on it as it was loose in the bag) and after I found that it had cracked down the spine (from the sprue attachment) - maybe weakened after breaking off. Now... I'm not saying it's Airfix's fault and I've said I'd like to buy a replacement sprue... but the message seems to be hard to get across... but we'll see. Hopefully this will provide some clear direction. 

I was so much easier buying spares for toy trains - Hornby, Bachmann or Heljan - all simple. Oh well.

The crack/split isn't big - but it's noticeable.. with apologies for the poor "phone" photo

IMG_20190618_174754158_HDR by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

 

As a backup... I've sourced a Phantom FG2 (always planned to make one)  and I could do that canopy closed and use the open part from that for this "K" ... Deleted - not the wanted area.

 

but we'll see if Airfix (Hornby) come back to me.

 

Thanks all

 

Jonathan

 

[Jon020]

On 14/06/2019 at 22:48, Lord Riot said:

What a stunningly detailed build! Incredible at any scale but particularly 1/72. I'd love to see what you'd do with a 1/48 one. This is superb, well beyond my skillset, and patience!

Thanks - yes I keep looking at the Revel FGR2... but to be honest I remember how big they are (I made the hasegawa G about 3 decades ago) and storage space is a consideration (hence the wings folded on this one). But never say never 🙂 .  

[Jon020]

On 14/06/2019 at 23:05, Terry1954 said:

Some seriously good detailing going on here, most impressed indeed, especially those MB seats. I do like the P4 class 26 as well - I have dabbled with 4mm and P4 and still have some stuff in the stash, although focusing on aircraft, AFV's and ships these days. I even have a half built DJH 9F deep in the store!

 

I'm going to follow this one with interest.

 

Terry

Thanks Terry - always good to have some variety in the stash 🙂 . Mine now has three deltics a 37, a 50 a part converted 08, a Harvard 4, JP3, a Gnat T1 and a Gannet AEW3... Variety! But all in the same (ish) scale.

Thanks

Jonathan

[Jon020]

On 15/06/2019 at 07:53, motogpMatt said:

Love the attention to detail mate, never in doubt having seen a few of your loco builds

 

All the best and hopefully see you on a charter soon, matt

Ah ha - Matt. Thanks. Yes, hopefully see you on a shoot sometime; must look at booking something at Didcot sometime; always such wonderful atmosphere

[Jon020]

On 15/06/2019 at 14:10, Antti_K said:

My goodness Jon! This is already a Masterpiece; not just another Airfix Phantom🙂

 

I thought I was the "Phantom Modeller No. 1" when I scratch built both landing gear lever (with clear wheel knob) and flap lever into to the cockpit of my Tamiya 1/32 scale F-4J...🤣 And here we have it all, in 1/72 scale! Beautiful work on all the details! I admire both your patience and skill.

 

Kind Regards,

Antti

Thanks Antti - Eduard bits really help... so I can't take much of the credit here; it's probably cost a bit in terms of eyesight degradation though 😉 Thanks for the comments; I hope it comes together as hoped for - time will tell. As you can see, I don't like to rush these things 😉

[Jon020]

Deleted - again effectively a wanted post

[neil5208]

The Airfix replacement service can be a bit random with its emails but usual post a replacement part after you have given details/batch info, both times I have request parts they arrived 2 days later.

[Jon020]

2 hours ago, neil5208 said:

The Airfix replacement service can be a bit random with its emails but usual post a replacement part after you have given details/batch info, both times I have request parts they arrived 2 days later.

Thanks Neil. Fingers crossed.

 

[Mikey-1980]

Absolutely love your work on the tub!

 

Tuned in for this one

[Jon020]

It doesn’t hurt to ask... and after some toing and froing, a package arrived today from Airfix, with a replacement for the offending part. Well packaged, so can’t complain. 

IMG_20190620_181522431_HDR by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

IMG_20190620_181639505_HDR by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Interestingly (or perhaps not) this piece had the same blemish on the side that the first one had – exactly the same! So, not damaged in transit in the first case. Anyone else had this?

IMG_20190620_181843076_HDR by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

I set about sanding and polishing but with a little more care, and leaving it on the sprue runners to minimise pre-stressing, and holding it with care. The result has a small blemish but it’s not really too evident, so it will do. that's a small hair in the middle of the shot - only the small round blemish towards the rear remains (I can live with that)

IMG_20190620_194144397 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

So... thanks to Airfix Spares – it still works. (note to them to say thanks on its way.

On another positive point, whilst we’re at it... a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that the node gear uplock hook has disappeared from the gear bay! A search revealed nothing, so on the basis that I’d no idea when it disappeared, I presumed that the carpet monster must have consumed and digested it by now. However, having moved my office chair across to my other desk (I say desk but its a big plastic (metal legs and very sturdy) pasting table that I took delivery of yesterday – so that I could set up my spray booth near the window to vent it outside (which seems to look promising) and its quite comfortable to work at too, I looked down on the floor by my old desk, and there glinting in the evening light coming through the window... the uplock. Maybe the carpet monster had “passed it”... but there it was. So... recovered and I’ll look at a more secure “gluing” method to fit it in the bay. I'll tidy up that sharp edge on the lower etch piece too first.

IMG_20190620_194301522 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

That’s all for now; time to go and watch Catch 22

Jon

Edited June 20, 2019 by Jon020

[Jon020]

A quick mid-week update.

Checking pieces to put together prior to priming. Really can't believe that the arrestor hook would be so poorly shaped,

IMG_20190624_183952418_HDR by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

but after a bit of reprofiling it sat reasonably well.

IMG_20190624_195529723_HDR by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

The tongue to fit the slot was, er loose! So I added a small piece of microstrip to bulk it up (on the right side) and it sits gripped fine now. 

IMG_20190624_200804974 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Canopy sections masked (inside and out) and attached to some shaped and sanded sprue to hold in a clamp - attached to the glazing using some maskol. How do others do theirs?

IMG_20190624_200908169 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Glazing sections masked and sprayed with black (well, dark grey) and tidied up afterwards. Managed to clean out my old aibrush too (flat spray pattern - found gunge inside the back of the nozzle surround. Now seems fine. But used my new sparmax 0.2 to drift this paint on. Humbrol.

IMG_20190625_201333897 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Realised that whilst the airbrakes have nice PE parts, there's no jack to put in there. I'm sure these are in the 1:48 kits.... so, made some up using plastic rod (paced in the minidrill and "turned" using a sharp blade and sandpaper, and drilled out (0.6mm) and a piece of wire added for the jack shaft. It'll do. Shown bluetacked in place to check lengths and airbrake fit - which seemed fine for the first one.

IMG_20190626_194413941 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

... and the two of them, now put away safely (after I nearly swept them off this mat into the bin as I was tidying away) phew! I'd have been a bit cross 😉

IMG_20190626_200011037_HDR by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Thanks for reading

Jonathan

 

[Jonners]

This is coming on a treat, Jon. Some teeny tiny pieces there! I’m sure I’ll get round to one of these some day. If you haven’t already read it, I recommend ‘F-4 Phantom’ by Robert Prest. An unusual writing style, but I loved it when I was given it as a teenager and still do.

 

Jon (yes, me too!)