Rémi Posted October 16, 2020 Share Posted October 16, 2020 With the end of my P-51D Mustang, one place is free on my desk I choose this time to exit from my stash a 1/72 kit. I decided to make the FH-1 Phantom from Special Hobby. Special Hobby has several boxes of this plane. I have the "Demonstation Teams and Trainers" box Test fit show me that this kit need some adjustement and certainly the help of your best friend : the putty tube. But nothing impossible to fix 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ptmvarsityfan Posted October 16, 2020 Share Posted October 16, 2020 Looking forward to seeing a build of this very attractive little fighter! Cheers, Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rémi Posted October 18, 2020 Author Share Posted October 18, 2020 Let"s go I started the kit For this kit my strategie is "test fit" "tes fit" "test fit". Have you tell you "test fit" ? To resume the probleme of this kit is that all interior details are too big for the fuselage/wing The cockpit : - the front and rear bulkhead are too large. - the rear bulkhead is too thick - the cockpit floor is too long For all little world enter in the fuselage, I proceed like this I glued the front bulkhead and adjust it to close the fuselage After, I adjusted the rear bulkhead but not glu it. I sanded the rear bulkhead until I can close approximatly the fuselage Now I can adjust the cockpit floor to two bulkhead space The main wheels bay The wheels bay have four parts. But if you follow the instruction, the assembly part is too large too. I follwed these steps Glue two part on the under wing Glue the two other parts together. Adjust the second step to the first step by cutting the parts as needed. Reduce the high of part near the fuselage because this part is too high. Now you have finish to adjust the wheels bay The rear engine parts I didn't follow instructions too. I assembled the rear section and add the ignition chamber His engraved is little too large and you must sand it for adding the last part of he rear engine section But now with these works, you can start the paint 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackson Duvalier Posted October 18, 2020 Share Posted October 18, 2020 Thank you for sharing this. I want to build this kit and it is good to be aware of potential problems before they arise. Your dry-brushing on the cockpit details is exquisite! How do you do that so well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rémi Posted October 18, 2020 Author Share Posted October 18, 2020 Hi I use the classical technique but my brushl has almost no paint. I prefere to pass several time with a lighter mouvement. The brush touch barely the piece. And I stop when I'm satisfact with the result If I see that my brush has too paint, I dry it more. Before start I test the brush on a black paper. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rémi Posted October 20, 2020 Author Share Posted October 20, 2020 With all preparation works, I can insert the cockpit in the fuselage Don't forget the weight in the front noise. The instruction give a little weight of 3 grammes but I prefere add aroubd 6 grammes weight Now I can close the fuselage and go to the next step : the wings The wings are another major step who requiert some attention I glue the air intake on lower wing. The intake must be adjusted by sanding/cutting it for place the upper wing On right wing I have a gap who must be filled with plastic card Now you can assemble the wing and the fuselage and see the last problem : the gap between wings and fuselage 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tailspin Turtle Posted October 21, 2020 Share Posted October 21, 2020 Before you fill the gap between the wing and the fuselage, I suggest that you check the dihedral: http://www.alternatewars.com/SAC/FD-1_ACP_-_1_March_1946.pdf Thanks very much for the build notes so far. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted October 21, 2020 Share Posted October 21, 2020 Nice choice of subject and excellent start. I love these early service jets, and I'm also a fan of Special Hobby. You have to put a little more effort in, but I find most of their subjects are nicely finessed. Will follow this one for sure. Terry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rémi Posted October 22, 2020 Author Share Posted October 22, 2020 Thanks Tailspin Turtle for your documentation I follow it and saw that if I didn't force the wing on the fuselage, the diedral is wrong. I will choose to not fill the gap but force the wing and glu it on the fuselage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rémi Posted October 22, 2020 Author Share Posted October 22, 2020 The wing is in his place I added the fins The engine is in place only for the photo 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rémi Posted November 1, 2020 Author Share Posted November 1, 2020 The paint ! I bought two reference for the paint of this early US jet : The AK Dark Sea Blue and the Gunze C365. None of them convince me. I think the AK reference is for WWII plane and the Gunze paint didn't look to be blue I like him This blue is my own interpretation. For this I use my own paint a mix of tamiya paint and gunze paint Yes it is not really advise to mix paint from different manufacturer, but I have these paints in my stock I use a mix of Tamiya X3 and Gunze H326 (50-50) and add H2 for having a darker paint I decided to make the aerobatic team scheme I painted all decoration even if Special give some yellow stripes on the decals sheet. Why I didn't use the decals ? Because it is difficult to have the same tint when you use the decals for a part and the paint for other I painted the US insignia too. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 Looking superb, and a very nice paint job especially those markings and the yellow areas! Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 It sounds like a typical Special Hobby kit. Which is not a bad thing, by the way, I have more Special Hobby kits in my display case than any other brand. You're doing a great job so far, and your build notes (as well as the document from @Tailspin Turtle) will really help when I build mine. I've always wanted an original Phantom in my collection, but all I could find way back when was the MPM kit (which was one of their earlier efforts). Luckily Special Hobby came along with the new tool, and the old MPM box went the eBay route. I'm anxiously awaiting your next installment! Cheers, Bill 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rémi Posted November 11, 2020 Author Share Posted November 11, 2020 It finished 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 Oh I was expecting the other Phantom. Pleasantly surprised lovely build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now