Restoration of a 1/72 Monogram Phantom

[billn53]

Looking great so far!

[opus999]

Those seats are terrific!

 

I have to admit being a bit disappointed when you said you were switching to a camo version, but after seeing your inspiration, I can see why!  I think it's going to look great.

[Brigbeale]

I knew something would crop up that should really have been done prior to the fuselage halves going together for the last time.

 

While perusing the inter-web this morning, I chanced upon a site which explained the fitment if the Rolls Royce Spey engines to the Navy Phantoms. One paragraph stated that the engines required auxiliary inlet doors which were open - especially when the Phantom was on the deck/ground
I thought ‘B*gger!’.

Oh well. It was relatively simple to sort the holes on either side, by measuring the Airfix Yellow Bird Phantom’s opened intake doors, I marked the Monogram fuselage by placing dark blue masking tape to form the shape.

A series of 1mm holes were drilled around the edge for cutting out the waste and then filing each one ro from a rectangle.

 

I’ve just got to copy the Yellow Bird’s intake to 3D print a pair to glue in using the engine apertures for access. 

The underside intake doors are already present and open.

 

Oh, I almost forgot. I’ve got a new magnifying headset for the more detailed work. I was using reading glasses of varying strengths, but they were giving me a headache if I used them for too long. With any luck, these will be better and they’ve got two bright LED’s fitted. 

[billn53]

1 hour ago, Brigbeale said:

Oh, I almost forgot. I’ve got a new magnifying headset for the more detailed work. I was using reading glasses of varying strengths, but they were giving me a headache if I used them for too long. With any luck, these will be better and they’ve got two bright LED’s fitted. 

 

Please give us a report on what you think about your new magnifiers. I, too, use reading glasses for modeling (my strongest is 6.0), and the magnifiers in your pic look like they might work better for me.

[Brigbeale]

9 hours ago, billn53 said:

 

Please give us a report on what you think about your new magnifiers. I, too, use reading glasses for modeling (my strongest is 6.0), and the magnifiers in your pic look like they might work better for me.

Ok then.

I was watching YouTube videos on modelling and an add cropped up for a set of these by Visionaid. I went to their website and found it was possible to buy these for £26 (powered by 3 AAA batteries, £27 for a rechargeable set and another offer where one of each could be bought together.

My interest sparked, I looked on eBay. One pair of Visionaid was listed for £25 in its box.

I did another search for a ‘magnifying headset’ and found the same looking AAA battery powered set for just over £10 with free shipping. So I ordered a set of these on Thursday 16th Dec. They were delivered yesterday (Monday 20th Dec).

 

They arrived in a grey polythene bag by Royal Mail. The box is what I would call a standard non branded box.

.

 

In the box is the headset itself, a plastic box with 5 different lenses (1.0x, 1.5x, 2.0x, 2.5x and 3.5x), an elasticated headband (for use instead of the normal arms), a cleaning cloth and a folded sheet of ‘chinglish’ instructions (which do give some good information) all packed in a thin clear plastic packing.

 

Obviously, the first thing to do was try the headset on. It looks ungainly and bulky. But to my surprise they are pretty comfortable to wear and they’re not overly heavy. the nose bridge arms are sturdy (being made of metal) and also comfortable (having soft rubber/silicone pads on the end). 
There is  a dotted rubber forehead pad which is also the battery compartment. The clip for the battery cover/forehead pad is quite stiff (which is probably a good thing in the long run)

The lenses are stacked in their box which has tabs to locate each lens to stop them touching each other. Each lens is made from a Perspex material which apparently has been treated “with a strengthening process to reach surface hardness of H5 degrees” (whatever that is!).

The lenses simply clip into the holder on the front underside of the mounting bracket. The lens holder can slide backwards and forwards to suit the user.

The lens holder is mounted on a swivel to angle the lens. Also the forward part of the headset (which also houses the two powerful LED lights) can also be rotated up and down.

 

I have tried each lens in and for me the 1.5/2.0 is the happy medium for general work on the model. For painting detail, I would probably go to the 2.5. 3.5 really does magnify  the object but it does mean you’ve got to get closer to the object in hand to focus on it. So the stronger the lens - the closer it would need to be to focus on it.

 

Unlike reading glasses, to pick something up or get more paint on a brush, it’s easy to see past the lens. When  I was using the reading glasses using 3.0 magnification, I couldn’t see what I looking for so I’d have to raise the glasses with in hand and get what I was after with the other, put the glasses back and then pick the model up again. 
This magnifying headset dispenses with that rigmarole.

 

I used them last night (but by looking at the drilled hole placement, you’d think I had my eyes shut but as long as I kept inside the tape iit didn’t matter as a file was needed to square the holes up anyway).

 

So, for modelling I’d say they’re brilliant. They leave both hands free and they’re comfy to wear. If you prefer the headband, the arms can be removed and the headband can be clipped in instead. 
The overall weight is 101 grams with the 3 AAA batteries and the heaviest 3.5 lens fitted).

Fir the £10.59 I paid for them, I say they were a bargain. 
Whether the Visionaid ones are the same or better - I don’t know as I’ve not got a set to compare them against. 
The rechargeable set may be better if the LED lights are used a lot, but my magnifying angle poise lamp throws a lot of light anyway. (It has good magnification itself but it’s just awkward to use fir modelling so I just use it a a lamp). 
 

 

Edited December 21, 2021 by Brigbeale

[billn53]

Thanks for the detailed write up, Brian! You’ve convinced me to try a pair — found new for just US$ 10 (shipping included) on eBay. If I like them then maybe I’ll get a second one so I won’t have to swap out lenses when going from “normal” to detail work.

[Brigbeale]

1 hour ago, billn53 said:

Thanks for the detailed write up, Brian! You’ve convinced me to try a pair — found new for just US$ 10 (shipping included) on eBay. If I like them then maybe I’ll get a second one so I won’t have to swap out lenses when going from “normal” to detail work.

 

That’s no problem. I hope they work out well for you.

[Tony G]

I have been using these for a couple of months and they are great and having various lenses is Brilliant.

It does not make a better modeller but at least now I can see my mistakes and try and rectify them

[Brigbeale]

Another session with interruptions curtailed my work on the Phantom. 
I used the spare auxiliary inlet doors (the closed option) and sprue goo’d them in position with the use of a lolly stick with some double sided tape on the end. The stick was then used to make sure they didn’t protrude out of the holes. They look ok but they’re partly covered by the open doors (which I’m yet to make).

 

While they were setting, I sanded the second coat of Mr Surfacer on the seams, so they’re practically sorted.

 

I also fitted the inner air intake/splitter plates. These will be painted with a dirty white colour as the whole Phantom is going to be well weathered.

 

The tail fin was added and Mr Cement’d into position. Before it set fully, I trimmed the original rudder from the old Monogram broken tail. The fit is reasonable. It just needs a tweak with a sanding stick. 
 

Thats all I had time for this evening.

[stevehnz]

The Phantom is coming on nicely, I like the look of what you're doing here. The magnifiers sound like a good thing too. I get by with #4 hobby glasses at present but can see the need for something better before long. I'll be checking them out. Thanks for the info.

Steve.

[bigbadbadge]

The Phantom is really looking good Brian , great work .  I have the same Magnifier too, it's great value and can't be without now.

 

Chris

[Brigbeale]

I purchased a pot of Mr Color Aqueous H21 Gloss Off White today. I was hoping for a white with a hint of grey. However, it’s more of a creamy white. Not quite what I had in mind for the intakes but it’s better than flat white as they did get grubby in there.

I decided it was time the canopy was fitted, so I had to re-mask it for the camouflage colours. Once masked with Tamiya tape, I used Humbrol Clearfix to fit it in position. A strip of Tamiya tape was placed at the front and rear to hold it down while the adhesive goes off.

The outer air intake covers were fitted. The inside was also painted off white. 

Once the Mr Cement had set sufficiently, Mr Surfacer was painted over the seams. They will be sanded back to a flush finish tomorrow.

The joint around the cockpit sides were also painted with Mr Surfacer to help reduce the gap. That may need another coat once it’s carefully sanded back.

 

Earlier today, I designed and 3D painted replacement engine exhausts.

And fitted them. A couple of small gaps will need filling once the sprue goo holding them has fully cured.

[Brigbeale]

More progress tonight.

The first thing to do was carefully sand the dried Mr Surfacer on the cockpit canopy and the air intakes.

Once that was done, I moved on to the flaps. Fortunately, I had two spares from the Yellow Bird Phantom albeit in the lowered position. The Airfix ones are longer than the vacant slot on the Monogram wings, so I was a simple case of offer them up - they were almost an exact fit in width. I pinched the new flap to the underside and used a pin in a hand drill to mark where the excess should be cut off - which was done with my Tamiya P-cutter. They were then fitted in position and held in place with two small wooden pegs.

 

The two small white squares in the photo are a paint of auxiliary doors for the fuselage sides made from 0.5mm styrene card.

 

Sprue goo was used to fill the gaps around the replacement exhausts along with the front and rear of the cockpit canopy. Once it’s fully dry, I can clean the areas up.

 

I took a photo of the air brake on the underside behind the wheel well and printed a scaled up image. The angles and dimensions were measured and I quickly designed the replacement. They were 3D printed in 7 minutes and they will look the part once fitted and painted.

 

While they were printing, another coat of Mr Surfacer was painted around the canopy.

Also, the Xtradecal decals turned up today. 

Edited December 23, 2021 by Brigbeale

[Brigbeale]

On the evening before Santa comes and hopefully brings me more models, i spent more time on the Phantom.

 

I started by airbrushing Tamiya X-10 Gun Metal over the engine exhausts and the heat shielding under the tail section. I do like the way this paint settles when airbrushed on.

 

While that was drying, I took a photo of one of the Airfix Yellow Bird Phantom tail wing/stabiliser from an angle perpendicular to the surface. The stabiliser was then measured across the rear edge. This was used to re-size the image to actual size. One ‘as is’ and one reversed image were printed on standard A4 paper. a straight edge was used to cut the images from the paper. The waste was used to scribe the two wings onto 1mm styrene card. 
The Tamiya P-cutter was then used to scribe the card deeper. A craft blade was then used to cut through the remainder of the card to release the two wings from the sheet.

A sanding stick was used to shape the trailing edge to a taper and round of the leading and side edges.

Once that was done, the positive cut out images were used to re-create the panel lines on the upper and lower surfaces on the newly created wings.

They will look good once they’re painted and fitted - which highlights a slight issue in the creation of them - nothing to positively affix them to the fuselage.

Oh well, I’ve got plenty of card left so I’ll re-do them with an attachment tab to fix them in position.

 

On a side note, some more patients turned up today. 2 Hurricanes and 2 P-40 Warhawks. I’ve no idea of the brand of each model, but I’ll work them out.

 

And, with @bigbadbadge’s recommendation, my son bough home the car pin-striping tape. The roll has 5 widths on it. I used a short piece of the wide one to touch up the top fuselage lines.

 

That’s all for tonight and I wish you all a Merry Christmas, hoping Santa brings you the kits you’ve been longing for.

[billn53]

Good job on the stabilizers! But, concerning your new "patients", they look more like walking dead to me 

[Brigbeale]

7 minutes ago, billn53 said:

Good job on the stabilizers! But, concerning your new "patients", they look more like walking dead to me 

Absolutely brilliant!

[bigbadbadge]

Great work on the Phantom   it is progressing very well.  

Thanks for the mention,  not tried that type before   I used the fineline type, I am  interested to see if this tape is thick enough to be able to scribe along, if it is you get five times the value there!!!

 

Chris

[Brigbeale]

Tonight I recreated the rear stabilisers,but this time with the tabs to fit in the slots in the fuselage. I also put a kink in where the tab locates on the stabilisers to get the angle of the slant correct.

Once I was happy with them, I started masking up the gun metal on the exhaust heat shielding for airbrushing the sliver which (according to the colour call-out from Airfix) is above the gun metal round where the stabilisers fit. 
Once that’s fully dry, I can mask that off in preparation for airbrushing the underside light grey.

 

 

[Thom216]

Looks like you'll be resurrecting the dead with those patients. Not that there's anything really wrong with zombies...

 

And cool work on doing the tail planes. However, are they set yet? I think you'll need to kink them a little more.

 

Thom

[Brigbeale]

Thanks for the image @Thom216. They’re just dry fitted at the moment as it’s going to be easier to mask and paint them and the fuselage without them being fitted. I can sort the angle of the stabilisers later once it’s time to finally fit them permanently..

 

With regard to the Hurricanes, one is an old Frog kit first released in 1967 and the other is an old Airfix kit first released in 1957.

Edited December 26, 2021 by Brigbeale

[Brigbeale]

It was finally time to get some colour on the Phantom, but first some pre-shading needed to be applied.

So, it was out with the Nato black again and airbrushing the panel lines.

I decided to forego the grey plastic primer as it needs to be done either outside or in my shed/workshop. The weather at the moment is either wet or cold, so that curtails that step in the progress of the restoration of this Phantom.

For some reason, I could not get the paint/thinner mix/ air pressure in tune to spray as I’d liked it to. I persevered anyway and got it to somewhere half decent.

 

This afternoon I had some time to myself, so I adjusted the masking on the stabilisers. After looking at an Airfix colour call-out for a camouflaged Phantom, white was suggested for the underside. I didn’t feel that was right. I did an internet search for the underside colour and was led back to Britmodeller where somebody asked the same question. The consensus was either US Gull Grey or Light Aircraft Grey - both of which I don’t have at the moment - so I mixed some Sky Grey and Flat White to make a lighter shade. 
The paint was airbrushed onto the underside lightly to show the pre shading off.

 

[Brigbeale]

Tonight I had another eventful evening painting the Phantom.

I used an Airfix colour callout for the camouflage pattern and pencilled it onto the fuselage.

I looked through my Grey paints to find a suitable colour to match up to a photo of a Phantom. Tamiya XF-66 Light Grey was a pretty close match, so I used that.

I masked the bottom with Tamiya tape to mask the straight lines and then my blue household tape to mask the larger areas to prevent overspray getting on the painted underside.

 

I freehand airbrushed the grey pattern following the pencil lines I’d previously applied.

That was given about half an hour or so to dry.

I then selected a Mr Color Aqueous 73 Dark Green and, again airbrushed it onto the remaining areas. I also remembered (just as I nearly forgot!) to paint the auxiliary inlet doors.
By the time I had finished, the motor on my airbrush compressor was getting quite hot, but it hung on in there.

The paint was given about 15 minutes to dry off and then I unmasked the whole of the underside and admired my work.

The grey and the green does have some lighter patchy areas which is ok by me as I didn’t want it to be a uniform colour across the panels.

 

And for tonight’s conclusion, I placed the Phantom on a roll of insulating tape,  got the Yellow Bird Phantom out of the cabinet again and photographed them side by side. Although getting the Yellow Bird out of the cabinet so often did mean I knocked the starboard missile pylon off - which isn’t really a problem as it makes it easier to copy it.

Edited December 27, 2021 by Brigbeale

[opus999]

Wow!  I love that camo!  I've never really seen Phantoms in that scheme.  The yellow bird Phantom looks really sharp too.

[billn53]

Nice work on the camo 

[bigbadbadge]

Great job Brian the camouflage does look very good.  I will never tire of seeing the two Phantoms together, as they are both now looking Awesome.   It will be great to see them together at the end of your restoration too.

 

Chris