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Phantom FG1


Jabba

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For this GB I will using the Airfix Phantom FG1 to make the aircraft that was zapped by the US Navy whilst it was at NAS Key West (Or Oceana depending on which photo I look at) by VF-171  ground crew. I will be using Xtradecal for this, I have also ordered a set of intakes and engines from Aeromodels. For some strange reason I have not taken a picture of the box top, so I will remedy this shortly.

 

The kit

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Instructions and kit decals.

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Kit paint scheme and the Xtradecal markings

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Some reading material.

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As I mentioned in my first post I somehow forgot to photograph the box top, so here it is. Also the parts that I ordered from Aeromodels arrived today, which is a very good thing as I did not realise until looking at the instructions last night how soon the intakes are fitted in the build.

 

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Thanks for your comments. I remember seeing this scheme in a book many years ago thinking that I must do that one (I used to zap many a thing when in the RAF, so that is why it appeals to me), so now I have the chance.

I have now got some work done on this, the cockpit built using the kit decals, Some parts added to the fuselage now rather than later, started on the lower wing and got the intakes made up with the Aeromodels parts. The intakes are currently being painted.

 

The cockpit.

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The fuselage halves with the tailplane and refulling panel fitted.

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The lower wing.

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The intakes.

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After spraying the intakes these were fitted to their respective fuselages and the cockpit was then also added. After these had dried I fitted the fuselage halves together. Whilst these were held in place I also cut the spine panel, tail and engines from their sprues, plus the lower wing panel and trial fitted them to the fuselage. These have fitted well, although there will have to be some fettling to get some of them to fit better, but not that much. With the spine panel I may have to glue this in small sections to get this to fit right. I shall how these go tonight.

 

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Fuelage now together, but I am not really enamoured in the way that Airfix have engineered this, way too compilcated. I have managed to get the lower wing to fit, but that again was a struggle (it did not want to fit at the front end) and will hopefully fit that tonight.

 

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23 hours ago, Learstang said:

Nice work so far! That is some rather interesting engineering on Airfix's part.

 

Especially when compared to the way that other manufacturers have moulded this aircraft.

 

Any how got the lower panel fitted last night, and even with an fair amount of clamping around the front end there is stil a bit of a gap. But this could have been worse.

 

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I have added the fin, and cut off the ILS Aerials before so. I do wish that Airfix had had these as seperate items rather than adding them to the fin, especially as the Royal Navy aircraft never had them fitted and it is a bit of a pain to remove them. I have also fitted one of the intakes doing so with some heavy clamping and super glue. I am not really looking forward to fitting the other one, because this has been even worse so far during dry fitting.

 

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7 hours ago, rob85 said:

Looks like you sorting this one out whether it likes it or not! Good work so far.

 

Rob

 

To be honest I was not expecting a fight like this though. Anyhow I have added the other intake and as you can see a bit of a gap is there. To fit the intake I dry fotted the upper wing so that I knew the limits that I was dealing with when it came to the intake springing out which it had done on other attepts to dry fit it. I can see some plasti card coming to my rescue here before I start on the filler.

 

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I know that the intakes have been a bir of a pian on Hasegawa and Fujimi kits, but not as bad as these. Plasti card and filler added. As I want to build this model with the wings folded, I have been looking into how these fit. The outer wing is moulded with part of the lower wing added to it, which is fine if you wish to do the wings spread versions. But to be honset to have the folded wing fitted when it comes to painting I am not so sure. I am wondering if there is possibly another way of fitting the outer wing with perhaps the lower wing part removed and fitted before the folded part can be fitted later. I do wish that whoever did the test builds for AIrfix could have pointedthis out to the designers before it went into production.

 

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19 hours ago, Hewy said:

Good lord after seeing all that filler I'm  not looking forward to my raf boxing of this kit 

 

And I have another 3 of these (or FGR2s) in the stash. I may try just the kit intakes next time.

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Filler sanded down in the areas that have needed it. Unfortunately I have lost a bit of detail on the intakes, but will try and re-engrave these later. I have also fitted the upper wing part which yet again on one side had to be adjusted so that it fitted better. I have had a look at the fitment of the outer wing and think that I can cut off the section that fits under the upper wing leaving the folded part as seperate, so I will see how that goes.

 

I have also had a though about the intake make up and think that when I build my next one I will see if the intakes can be fitted as seperate items and be able to be fitted after the lower wing has been fitted. One of the main reasons for this being is that you cannot get to the areas behind the intake splitter plate after it has been fitted and although it can't really be seen there is a gap there that can't be filled at the moment. It may also hopefully make the intake joint a bit better.

 

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As mentioned in the last update I wa thinking about chopping off the outer wing section. Well I did and added the other part to the lower wing. As usual with this kit some filler required. I have also added the flaps and added the rudder at a slight angle, as I have seen this on a picture of the actual aircraft on USS Coral Sea.

 

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I got around to adding the leading edge flaps, the cheek intakes which fitted better one side after I cut off the location lump and yet again more filler. All has been sanded down now, and a few panel lines rescribed. I fitted the instrumant panel cover , but why the instructions tell you to add this now rather than earlier in the build so that you can adjust the IP at the same time I do not know. Also why it is a clear part I am not sure. I have now fitted the front windscreen, while surprisingly fits very well. I will mask this up, and I am looking to start painting this in the coming week, unless something else crops up.

 

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Thanks for your comments. I was looking forward to making this kit, having build a few of the newer Airfix one with ease. Still it might be my inept modelling that has got it into this state, as the review in this months SAMI does not mention these issues. Still you live and learn, hopefully the next one will be better with a slightly different approach.

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As mentioned earlier I was hoping to get some paint on this. So I have, spraying the bottom Appliance White from a rattle can. I also gave a spray to the upper surfaces with the primer to have a look at the seams that had been filled in, and to be honest they were not that bad until I had a look at the front windscreen. Either I had slightly dislodged it or it was not as well fitting as I first though but there was a gap there running most of the way around. So it was out with the filler and sanding of it tonight. One positive is that I have masked off the lower surfaces so that I can paint the upper when the sanding has finished.

 

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Now has some Grey paint added. Ihave alsopainted a few things on the sprues that require the grey too. 

 

I have also made up the fuel tanks, but I am in a quandry as to what colour they should be. The centre line tank is fine that will be White altough I have just found one where it is allover Grey, but the underwing ones I am not so sure about. I have looked at many a photo and they all seem to have different schemes. The main ones are, all over Grey including the pylon, then there is the one with the pylon and lower half White with the upper half Grey, The fule tank Grey with the pylon White and finally allover white including the pylon. I have had a look at the aircraft that I am building and in the photos that I can find it has no fuel tanks at all, but I would like to fit them. If anyone can offer any advice about the colour scheme of the tanks I will be very grateful.

 

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