Phantom FGR2, 1977 Review

Jabba · June 2, 2022

For this GB I am going to build one of the Phantom FGR2s that flew in the 1977 revew at RAF Finningley. The aircraft come from either 19 or 92 Sqn normally based at RAF Wildenrath, but flew from RAF Wittering for the flypast. Both of these aircraft flew with a crown on their Port nose, but to some quirk of fate this was not seen during the flypast as all aircraft flew from the left hand side of the airfield therefore showing their Stbd side. I will be using the AIrfix kit with markings from Modeldecal at the moment (Xtradecal do a set too). I am not decided on which of the aircraft to do yet, but as I already have a Blue 92 Sqn aircraft the 19 Sqn might be built. The 92 Sqn did get zapped, but neither of the decal sheets mentioned show these. I also have some Aerocraft bits, but I may just use the exhausts for this build.

The Kit.

Some spare bits from a FG1 build.

Aerocraft bits.

Modeldecal markings.

Some info.

Jabba · June 7, 2022

I have made a start one this one with the cockpit, but not enough to show yet. I do have to make a decision very early though and that is the under fuselage/wing part that either has or does not have the strap (right hand part) across it. It does look like I will be building XV439 (A), as this aircraft has the RWR topped aicraft. I did look at the aircraft that were at RAF Finningley, but none of these aircraft carrried the crownmarking on the nose. The pictures these aircraft being fully armed including the gun on the centre line. I know that the strap under the wing is something to do with the fitment of the gun, but I am not sure. If someone can confirm either way I will be very grateful. Unfortunately the aircraft in the flypast only had fuel tanks and pylons fitted.

Jabba · June 8, 2022

These arrived today. I thought that some newer decals for some of the bigger markings and the crown might be a bit better for bedding down. Unfortunately the checks around the fuselage roundel are the wrong colour in that the flying and reserve aircraft for the flypast had the darker blue checks there. The aircraft that was at Finningley had the newer lighter blue checks.

I think that I have found to answer to the strap question in a thread in the Cold War Aircraft section, in that it was too early for this mod to have been done. So a strapless aircraft will be built.

Jabba · June 14, 2022

I have done some work on this one wit the cockpit being built up. I have done a trial fit to the fuselage and one side fits perfectly, whilst the other is slightly off. Having had a look at the cockpit it seems that the bulkhead at the fron is not quite sitting flush on the affected side. I will do a bit of trimming to get it to fit. I have also built up the lower wing structure and the intakes. A bit of filler on the joints of the under wing parts, it may look a lot but it is nothing too drastic.

Jabba · June 16, 2022

Fuselage fitted together and engine fronts fitted. I have done a trial with the spine part and the lower wings. They seem to fit alright, but may require a litte work and pressure when fitting.

CliffB · June 17, 2022

It's coming together nicely now Jabba and I'm pleased to see that you've managed to resolve your questions. Great attention to detail :thumbsup2:

Jabba · June 20, 2022

I have now fitted the lower wing part to the fuselage, having to super glue the front part as it would have been difficult to have held it whilst ordinary glue dried. I did remember to fit the exhausts before doing so, but I have just noticed that I need to cut the slot out in the lower wing for the outer fuel tanks. The next job to do is to fit the outer parts of the intakes, which if I remember from the FG1 that I built a couple of years ago were a bit of a pain. I have also prepped the wing parts so that they can be fitted after. I really do not like how Airfix have done the outer wing panel, I think that it could have been done a lot better. Before I fit the fin I will remove the ILS aerials as they do not look right and borrow some from a Revelll Tornado as a template.

Jabba · June 22, 2022

A few more parts added and starting to look Phantom shaped. The intakes were not as bad I thought that they were going to be, but still had to use a touch of superglue to get the front part to stay. It maybe that I used the kit ones this time rather than the aftermarket ones. I have also added the upper wings and the last photo show that worst of the gaps that have appeared.

Looking a bit into the future I have been looking (or trying) to see what configuration the aircraft flew in for the flypast. From the photos that I have found it definitely had the outer fuel tanks, nothing on the centre line and the inner wing pylons. From what I can make out here only 1 sidewinder rail with no missile was fitted and this was the the outer position on the Port inner wing pylon. I also cannot see anything fitted to the Fwd Sparrow bays, where usually something is fitted even if it just drill rounds (the blue missile shaped things). I am hoping that someone else might be able to confirm this.

Black Knight · July 1, 2022

Thats come together quite well

How are you getting on with this?

1 month has gone already!

Jabba · July 2, 2022

Work is progressing fine, no photos at the moment as I am at the filing and sanding stage. Hopefully this will be done this weekend and photos of the progress will resume.

Jabba · July 5, 2022

I have finished sanding down the main airframe. After this I fitted the leading and trailing edge flaps, which for the front parts was out of sequence with the kit instructions. I had to do some minor adjustments to get these to fit better and then came more filler and sanding. I have also fitted the intakes just behind the radome, plus the small parts by the exhausts. I have filled the front parts but forgot about the back bits, which I will do tonight. A few more parts to fit and then onto painting.

Jabba · July 10, 2022

A quick update on my progress. I fitted the instrument shroud., what a pain this was. I had to cut off the locating lug to get the part to fit. Must rememeber on my next Airfix Phantom to fit this whilst assembling the cockpit area. I have also added the front windscreen and started to paint the undersides.

Jabba · July 16, 2022

The Dark Grey now painted. Before I painted this I added the inter canopy glazing which was a bit small to fit properly. I think that I must have mis-aligned the cockpit, as I did not have this problem when I made a FG1 a year or so ago. Still I will have to live with it as I now cannot do anything about, although I did have a try. I also have to paint the insides of the intakes when I get chance. I have also not fitted the inflight re-fuelling door yet as I am toying with having in the open position.

RichG · July 18, 2022

On 6/14/2022 at 7:51 PM, Jabba said:

I have done some work on this one wit the cockpit being built up. I have done a trial fit to the fuselage and one side fits perfectly, whilst the other is slightly off. Having had a look at the cockpit it seems that the bulkhead at the fron is not quite sitting flush on the affected side.

I had a similar problem with an Airfix Phantom I built a few years back. Warning bells should've sounded when trying to fit the part for the wheel wells... but dI ignored it and I chopped up the part to fit. Then trying to fit the cockpit tub it wasn't even a marginal fit, it was way off. I had another phantom and compared the parts. I then noticed the sprue in question was not flat but "s" shaped in profile. So although the part in question looked OK in isolation it was badly out of whack and would never fit. Airfix did replace the cockpit tub.

Rich

Edited July 18, 2022 by RichG

Jabba · July 20, 2022

On 18/07/2022 at 12:43, RichG said:

I had a similar problem with an Airfix Phantom I built a few years back. Warning bells should've sounded when trying to fit the part for the wheel wells... but dI ignored it and I chopped up the part to fit. Then trying to fit the cockpit tub it wasn't even a marginal fit, it was way off. I had another phantom and compared the parts. I then noticed the sprue in question was not flat but "s" shaped in profile. So although the part in question looked OK in isolation it was badly out of whack and would never fit. Airfix did replace the cockpit tub.

Rich

I don't think that the issue has helped with the inter canopy glazing.

Anyhow onwards and upwards, I have now painted the Dk Green. I now have to do a few touch ups on the Dk Grey and then see how the lighter Grey is.

Jabba · July 25, 2022

Painting now done, I will do the jet blast panels later after applying the varnish. A couple of coats of Klear and then decalling. Oh the joys of Phantom stencils, must be a glutton for punishment as I have built 4 in the last couple of years.

Jabba · July 30, 2022

I now have all the major decals on. For these I used the ones from the Modeldecal sheet as the ones one the Xtradecal sheet were not quite as accurate as the former. Within the crown on the nose it should read 19/92 after the Sqns from Wildenrath, but the Xtra sheet has for some reason 19/82, also the 19 Sqn emblem paint finish does not seem complete and some other things are missing. The decals have held up very well considering that they were produced in 1982, settling down well with Micro Sol/Set. The wing roundels have come from the kit decal sheet and do seem different to the ones on the fuselage. I may replace the ones on the fuselage so that all are of the same type. Now all I have to do is a million and one stencils to apply. I did make a start on these whilst applying the bigger ones so that I could get the crown in the right place.

Jabba · August 13, 2022

After a week of applyimng about a third of the stencils, here is the result. It is very hard work trying to find the decal on the instructions as there are numbers all over the place and no logical order. I have placed 2 decals on the R/H nose area, the next 2 are at the L/H rear, the next 1 is underneath and then the next 2 are back at the R/H nose area. It often makes it difficult to handle the model as I am applying these decals, also they are all individual itmes where some could be grouped together. I did know what to expect having built a RN Phantom a year or so ago, but it is still frustating especially as some of the designers at Airfix are modellers. Have they had a look at this when doing trial builds? Still only a couple of hundred stencils to apply, mainly on the wings and underneath.

RichG · August 13, 2022

Ahahahaha!!

You posted the picture of the million and one stencils on the decal sheet which looks incredibly challenging I thought; and then the thread changed to "2 weeks later". That made me laugh out load... 😂 🤣😂 sorry... unintended irony from the discussion forum software!

Its looking great - keep going!

Rich

Jabba · August 14, 2022

19 hours ago, RichG said:

Ahahahaha!!

You posted the picture of the million and one stencils on the decal sheet which looks incredibly challenging I thought; and then the thread changed to "2 weeks later". That made me laugh out load... 😂 🤣😂 sorry... unintended irony from the discussion forum software!

Its looking great - keep going!

Rich

No offence taken, I did sort of know what I was letting myself in for. In fact I did take a week off on this one before starting the stencil decalling getting another model ready for a club meet.

Jabba · August 16, 2022

After 2 mammoth decaling sessions on Sat and Sun (over an hour each), I gave myself a night off yesterday. Although I have broken the back of these stencils, I still have about 20-30 still to do. Hopefullly a couple more nights, but it is getting easier as I now have less numbers to look for on the instructions, as I have crossed off the ones that have been applied.

Jabba · August 18, 2022

A small update. Decaling done, well that is apart from the weapon pylons, fuel tanks and canopy.

With the weapon pylons Airfix say Light Aircraft Grey, whilst Modeldecal say White. As dick Ward more than likely walked around this aircraft and knowing what a stickler that he was for accuracy I will stick with what he says.

Jabba · August 30, 2022

Another small update. Some weathering and a matt varnish applied. I have also fitted the U/C. Not shown are the fuel tanks that have now been painted, plus the open inflight refueling probe which has been adjusted slightly so that it represents an actual probe better, although (I think) still not quite right, but that would take a bit more of a major adjustment. I will be applying the decals to the tanks and inner pylons tonight.

Jabba · September 3, 2022

Almost there, with a few more parts added. Started making and painting the ejection seats. I have applied the cut through (yelow dashed lines) around the canopies, which in some places are a little on the short side. I would have preferred some that were a little longer which could be cut down, rather than trying to add.