moaning dolphin Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 Greetings all and a happy new year to you all! I thought I would kick this year off with a quick WIP (which will start off quick and then just slow right down like all the others! But the intentions are there!). I got this kit from Santa last year (alright I bought it and gave it to Mrs C, who wrapped it and gave it to me for Christmas……. a nice surprise too, I wasn’t expecting that!), I wanted the airfix version but there were one or two small niggly things that I didn’t like, the main one being the lack of vents by the exhaust (see I told you they were niggly), whilst searching up the Airfix kit I saw this one was available for a little less and with free P&P. Having had several incarnations of Fujimi Phantoms in the past and checking the molds were the better detailed ones I plumped for a bit of nostalgia rather than the new and modern, my foggy memories does make me think that these Phantoms hold up very well. I keep forgetting to take a photo of the box and kit so here is a cheap box shot including all my other holiday additions! Whilst waiting for Santa to do his stuff I also bought some replacement seats and canopy mirrors both from Quickboost, which look very nice. I think the seats are the only weak point of the kit and these do look the part. I also got a set of canopy masks from QMT to save my ham fistedness in masking for something less worth while! So I am all set, a good wash ensued and then onto the cockpit (where else). Like I said I didn't do photos of the kit parts as: a. they have been around for years and you can see them on the web and b. I totally forgot because I was too excited to get going! I gave the area a good clean up and went to prime, unfortunately here in Nova Scotia the temperature doesn't always play ball and with my spray booth being in the garage it doesn't always go well, it was -17 outside which brought the garage temperature right down and even started to freeze my pot of brush washing water! Luckily I invested in a small space heater which warms my bench area up quite nicely to double figures after 10 mins or so, a much cheaper option than trying to relocate my spray booth into the house! So started with a cockpit.. and then a coat of Vallejo Medium sea grey, I also threw a bit of black around and started to colour in the seats with Vallejo acrylic. For the instruments I decided to opt for the kit decals rather that painting, I knew I wouldn’t get it as neat or the colour details in and I do know the raised details on the plastic doesn’t match the decal but I didn’t think it would be too noticeable anyway. A quick gloss coat on the decal areas and with the decals in place I applied lashings and lashings of MicroSol to try and get the decals to settle down so at least some of the detail would show through…..not that it would make much difference.It looks a bit bright in this shot but that is mainly due to the flash. Before fitting the halves together I added a tiny little bit of detail just to fill the area in front of the Observers instrument panel a bit more, And then bolted the fuselage together nice and tightly! Lastly, every phantom build I have done, the pitot tubes on the fin never survive my sausage fingers during the build, so far so good! but will they last?? There is also a spine antenna molded into one half but I sacrificed that straight away as that would hinder in tidying up the join. Once the fuselage is all together and joins faired in it should continue quite quick! So until next time.. Laters all! Bob 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hook Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 You had me at "Phantom"! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigdave22014 Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 All Phantoms should be FAAbulous! (see what I did there? It's a theme in my RFI posts....) Nice Sheffield BTW. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billn53 Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 No such thing as too many Phantoms! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy54 Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 I like the work you have done on the cockpit and am looking forward to the rest of the build. Does that kit have the metal wheels and rubber tyres? I just finished two Fujimi Phantoms, an FAA, similar to your boxart and an RAF (Blue Scheme). I really struggled with the Fujimi decals on the Navy Phantom which is why I went with Model Decal deccals on the RAF Phantom. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 A nice start there Bob. I have this kit in the stash, so I'll tag along and take notes. I'm glad I had the opportunity to move my cave indoors, booth and all. Stuart 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alhenderson Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 Nice. Just getting to the end of mine, and its been a lovely build so far! Hope I haven't jinxed it now! Could've done with the canopy masks - my masking was not really up to the job and it shows. Didn't even know there was such a thing! Al. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 Nice choice Bob, the best scheme the Phantom flew in. Got one on the shelf of doom, you may just give me some enthusiasm to haul it down and finish it!!! Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moaning dolphin Posted January 29, 2020 Author Share Posted January 29, 2020 20 hours ago, Bigdave22014 said: All Phantoms should be FAAbulous! (see what I did there? It's a theme in my RFI posts....) Nice Sheffield BTW. Cant believe I missed a trick there! Hopefully I'll have the Sheffield in RFI soon so keep your eyes peeled! 12 hours ago, Billy54 said: I like the work you have done on the cockpit and am looking forward to the rest of the build. Does that kit have the metal wheels and rubber tyres? I just finished two Fujimi Phantoms, an FAA, similar to your boxart and an RAF (Blue Scheme). I really struggled with the Fujimi decals on the Navy Phantom which is why I went with Model Decal decals on the RAF Phantom. My kit came with the rubber tyres but plastic wheels. Not sure I'll use them but will build them up all the same, it also came with full plastic wheels which I intended to use. I have got an older kit in my scrap box and I think metal wheels may be in there which gives me another option. Thanks for the heads up on the decals, I will tread carefully with them. 21 hours ago, Hook said: You had me at "Phantom"! 13 hours ago, billn53 said: No such thing as too many Phantoms! 6 hours ago, Courageous said: A nice start there Bob. I have this kit in the stash, so I'll tag along and take notes. I'm glad I had the opportunity to move my cave indoors, booth and all. 7 minutes ago, heloman1 said: Nice choice Bob, the best scheme the Phantom flew in. Got one on the shelf of doom, you may just give me some enthusiasm to haul it down and finish it!!! Thanks for chipping in, hopefully I'll make it an entertaining build! 1 hour ago, alhenderson said: Nice. Just getting to the end of mine, and its been a lovely build so far! Hope I haven't jinxed it now! Could've done with the canopy masks - my masking was not really up to the job and it shows. Didn't even know there was such a thing! I seem to remember these were enjoyable builds and so far this one is going together nicely in the main, hopefully the masks go well, its amazing what you find just lazily trawling through the Hannants website! Welcome along all, build going well, hopefully have an update in a couple of hours. Cheers now Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gene K Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 23 hours ago, moaning dolphin said: I thought I would kick this year off with a quick WIP (which will start off quick and then just slow right down like all the others! Bob, Thanks for starting what will be an entertaining thread to follow. Looking great so far. 23 hours ago, moaning dolphin said: here is a cheap box shot including all my other holiday additions! Nice haul. 23 hours ago, moaning dolphin said: I wanted the airfix version but there were one or two small niggly things that I didn’t like, the main one being the lack of vents by the exhaust. And the lack of vents over and under the intakes! Many shrug off those intentional"oversights" as minor niggles, but to me, they are major disappointments. 23 hours ago, moaning dolphin said: ... me think that these [Fujimi] Phantoms hold up very well. The Fujimi British Phantoms are much better than the rest of the Fujimi line. Only thing missing are intake ducts, but I overcome that easily. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moaning dolphin Posted January 29, 2020 Author Share Posted January 29, 2020 Good day everyone! Onto another update, we are fair motoring with this build so far, its hard keeping up with the progress! So since last update, fuselage is together and also the wings, so now it was down to mating the two..... My initial response was "oh my!" (or words to that effect), quite a disappointment but I thought I could stretch out the fuselage to fill that gap and set about looking for a suitable solution and during this thought process something said "fit the piece that holds the nose undercarriage bay". Which I did …. Now to fit this in involves clicking it into position which in turn makes that nasty gap …… *poof*! ….. disappear just like that! So with that sorted, it was on with the assembly Next …...Intakes! Really the only major disappointment with these Fujimi and the bigger Hasegawa kits, now I do like the idea @Gene K provided above (quoted below!) 38 minutes ago, Gene K said: The Fujimi British Phantoms are much better than the rest of the Fujimi line. Only thing missing are intake ducts, but I overcome that easily. A great idea - and if that is the shape required to do that then you should copyright it and sell it on lol! - but alas a little late for me. I had already discovered a set of resin intake blanks from a previous build in my spares box, so decided to recycle (upcycle?) them, which doesn't slow down my progress …… like the pitot probe protection system you have going on as well BTW . So intakes assembled and in... So far I have really tried to take my time assembling to ensure the joins are all nicely aligned to reduce the need to rework the seams. Its working out ok so far. The spine did have a bit of a mismatch as I found joining the halves strangely hamfisted, but a small bit of work sorted them out. So far I have had no use of filler although the sprue attachment areas may look as if they would need a little touch up. I also dug out the closed canopy, mine will have the open version so this one is perfect for protecting the cockpit during build up and initial spraying. It is held in with a couple of small blobs of white glue. Finally today are the small intakes on the lower nose area, in this kit they are really rather crude Luckily they are oversize crude as opposed to undersize crude so I squared them up, securely glued them in and left them overnight. Once solid it was out with the sandpaper and a bit of whittling and sanding ensued... Much better! You can also see where I have a small bit of filler just forward of the gear bay, and a bit of rework where the forward panel meets the main wing area. I did have a bit of a gap here as well but before gluing in I fitted a thin plastic shim to take up that gap. It worked a treat, the rework was just getting that shim nice and flush. That's where I am at for now, I am enjoying this build and it is falling together quite sweetly which is great for a kit of this age, read 'em and weep Airfix! Laters! Bob 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hook Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 Great progress! Cheers, Andre 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phildagreek Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 Looking good so far! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 Coming together great and with very little filler which is very reassuring to know. Stuart 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moaning dolphin Posted January 29, 2020 Author Share Posted January 29, 2020 28 minutes ago, Courageous said: Coming together great and with very little filler which is very reassuring to know. Stuart It is! If I had taken a little more care with removing the sprue stubs and a little more time with the intakes I wouldn't need any filler or any post fitting sanding at all ……….. Stand fast on those nose intakes ……….. So far! Bob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moaning dolphin Posted January 29, 2020 Author Share Posted January 29, 2020 4 hours ago, Gene K said: And the lack of vents over and under the intakes! Many shrug off those intentional"oversights" as minor niggles, but to me, they are major disappointments. Yeah to be honest over the last couple of days Ive looked hard at some builds of the new Airfix kit and it seems this is a lost opportunity, their finer detail is missing, its disappointing and looks too much like a diecast representation. Although without these Fujimi kits I would probably look on Airfix more favourably. I think their Buccaneer fairs better and also has the advantage of poor plastic competition. I haven't got hold of the Bucc kit but I haven't been put off …… yet! Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moaning dolphin Posted January 29, 2020 Author Share Posted January 29, 2020 Oh Shoot! I've just given myself a self induced delay ….. I had doubts about the decals and having confirmation of them being full of troublesomeness from @Billy54 I had a quiet hour or so in work tonight and started trawling through the Hannants website (always a bad idea when bored, bit like looking at take away menus when hungry!) and happened across the Xtradecal release for Naval Phantoms …… AAANNNDDDD …….. their stencil set for Navy Phantoms. Oh well looks like most of February will be given up to decaling then! Shouldn't be too long a delay, it normally takes about 10 days so to lob small items over the Atlantic and I have plenty to do before I am ready for them. Laters all! Bob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy54 Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 Nice progress on this build Bob. I approach the small intakes at the lower front the same same as you, decide which way fits the best, glue them on and then clean them up with putty and sanding. The Hasegawa Phantoms have a similar problem with their intakes and I treat them the same way. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 8 hours ago, moaning dolphin said: stencil set for Navy Phantoms My greatest fear are the numbers of stencils on a Phantom. When I get round to Phantom building, I will look and see how many of those bloody things are seen, the underside is a good candidate for 'losing' a few . Stuart 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gene K Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 (edited) 19 hours ago, moaning dolphin said: [The seamless intakes are} A great idea - and if that is the shape required to do that then you should copyright it and sell it on lol! I've used that basic pattern for decades ... the one in the picture is tweaked for the Fujimi kit, The basic shape and procedure are modified slightly for the 1/72 and 1/48 Hasegawa and Monogram kits. Here is an example of the pattern used on the outstanding Hasegawa/Monogram 1/72 build my friend Georgio did here on BM. Gene K Edited January 30, 2020 by Gene K 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 1 minute ago, Gene K said: Here is an example of the pattern used on the outstanding Hasegawa/Monogram 1/72 build my friend Georgio did here on BM. That in was in 2015. That long ago, already? Must build another Phantom ASAP BTW, nice going so far, Bob! Ciao 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moaning dolphin Posted January 30, 2020 Author Share Posted January 30, 2020 Good morning again everyone! Last night was a bit of a slow day as I was working overtime and didn't really get much time at the bench, although I had far too much time on the Hannants website! So with the majority of the assembly at a point where I can start looking at painting I set about trying to get all my priming done in one shot. That meant a lot of preparation to be done as I like to paint assemblies as complete as possible, and also a lot of cocktail sticks! There are a few ejector pin marks on several items which need attention like the U/C doors and weapons pylons, but after a little spot of filler and a splash of sanding they all came good, so that left me with a nice pile of plastic ready for paint. That's where I am at now, ready for some paint. First coat will be a white primer for Mig Ammo One Shot which will give me a nice base coat for the white underside. Not sure yet if I will keep the white for remainder or go over again in grey primer, we shall see how that goes. Well that's all for now! Laters all! Bob 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billn53 Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 Putting a flag with the part number on your cocktail stick... great idea! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alhenderson Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 32 minutes ago, billn53 said: Putting a flag with the part number on your cocktail stick... great idea! That's genius!! its the simple things... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moaning dolphin Posted January 31, 2020 Author Share Posted January 31, 2020 On 1/30/2020 at 11:24 AM, billn53 said: Putting a flag with the part number on your cocktail stick... great idea! Alas I must admit that I saw that idea on here I think, certainly makes things clearer! So on with the show! With yesterday being a normal work day I had a whole evening of progress, I set about priming the whole aircraft and the many add ons. As I said before I use Mig Ammo One Shot primer. I love this product as a regular bottle will last me for months and using an airbrush its easy to control unlike my last default of Tamiya Aerosol. It also comes in various colours and most important it sands and feathers well unlike Vallejo. Ive heard that it is Styrylnyz in disguise but having never used that before I wouldn't know. Any way I gave everything a good coat of white and checked for faults, nothing sprang out at me so after a couple of hours drying I then hit it with Model Master Acryl White Gloss in the relevant areas. I then put the aircraft down and walked away so I wouldn't screw it up! One thing I failed to mention before was that I added some wire pipelines in the main U/C bay, not very visible here so I'll take a better photo later. And here she is with all the ancilliaries. Blends in quite nicely with the window sill inside and snow outside …. youll have to take my word about the snow! Going back to the previous photo you can see I fitted the actuator arms for the inner main landing gear doors, These were too small to paint separate and I didn't want to paint them on the sprue and have a chunk of missing paint, so feeling confident after still not damaging the tail pitots (see they are still intact!!) I installed them and will try not to destroy them! Although the right hand one snapped while removing it so I don't have a massive amount of confidence in that one lol! So while that is drying and hardening I am off on other projects. Next up will be masking and EDSG! She is storming along! Laters! Bob 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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