Falklands Phantom 1/48 Hasegawa

[Mark V]

I had 2 Hasegawa/Revell 1/48th Phantom FGR.2 kits.  I just completed the Revell kit as a green/gray camo jet with 23 Squadron circa 1975.  Next up is another FGR.2 as a Falklands-deployed 23 Sqd jet in the later gray camo.  I bought the kits second hand, one of which included a lot of aftermarket sets.  Included were the Aires FGR.2 cockpit set, Aires engine nozzle set, Aires RAF Phantom wheel set, a True Details SUU-23 gun pod, and a set of Airdoc RAF Phantoms in Germany decal set.  For this kit I plan on using the cockpit, nozzles, and wheels.

The kit instructions are for the original boxing I guess, but the kit box is a newer release.

 

 

I will use the XtraDecals 23 Squadron History decals for a Falklands FGR.2.  Kits decals for the stencils.

 

 

On these kits, one of the first things that I do is glue the underwing cover plates into the holes where the FG.1 catapult hooks would go.  Much easier to align them from the back side.  I then glue the wing top pieces on.  I also glued the nose cone, external fuel tanks, and the kit SUU-23 gun pod together.  The True Details gun pod has some nice features, but the vent slots near the nose were messed up, looking kind of rough.  There are a couple of sink marks on the kit pod, but they will be easy to deal with.

 

This is the first time I will try to cram the Aires cockpit set into a kit fuselage.  I've searched the web for hints and clues on how to make this work and have found some good advice. First off was to cut the main parts from their mold blocks.  Circled in red is the air refueling door, also glued in place.  

 

One requirement for the Aires cockpit is to remove all interior fuselage molded on detail and the air refueling probe well bump on the inside of the right rear cockpit sidewall.  Once removed, with a Dremel tool sanding bit, I also glued the outer door for the AAR probe from the inside.  In this kit, since it was pre-owned, many parts were removed from the sprues, or the sprues were cut down.  The AAR door was attached to a part of the sprue, but was otherwise loose in the box.  At some point it got bent so has a small section that sits proud of the fuselage side.  Easy enough to sand it flush later.

 

 

This will be a slow starter with the cockpit.  Ugh.

 

 

[Mark V]

I spent a couple of hours today working on getting the Aires cockpit set to fit.  

One of the online resources I referenced was the Genessis Models step-by-step FGR.2 build videos.  I watched the first 4 in the series which gave me some good tips and techniques for working with the Aires parts.  Unfortunately, to watch any more of the videos I would have to subscribe, for a fee, to the website.  I don't do that (pay to subscribe) so I'll figure the rest out on my own.

One tip was to use tiny drops of super glue to hold the cockpit sidewalls to the tub to make it easier to test fit the cockpit into the kit fuselage as material is removed.  It's easy to pop the parts loose for painting once the fit problems are sorted out.  (As long as you don't overdo it on the glue.)

 

I was able to get a good fit on the forward cockpit coaming and glareshield/instrument panel piece.  The windscreen clear part fits over it very well.  I'm not sure how well the gunsight glass will fit though.

 

The cockpit still doesn't quite fit.  I need to keep thinning the canopy sills and trim the Aires sidewalls to get a decent fit there.  

 

The notoriously bad fit of the nose gear well under the cockpit is a real dilemma.  I've thinned both the cockpit floor to near nothing and the nose gear well top is also quite thin now.  I held the parts up to the window, it's a bright and sunny 97 F/36 C here today, and you can see how translucent they are.  I can do a little more on the gear well, and just a whisper more on the cockpit floor.  

 

 

You can see the notch sanded out of the gear well.  I didn't want to sand the whole thing down to keep some meat for strength of the part and something to hold the nose gear strut.  I the photo below you can see the darker areas on the left and right where I didn't sand the top of the part.  For the mounting holes to the right, for the retraction strut and the structural crosspiece, the bottom of the cockpit, a thicker area under the seat, will provide strength.  Also visible is the ejector pin mark in the roof of the part.  It is not too obvious once the gear is in place.

 

 

Rear cockpit floor is mostly normal thickness after removing the casting block.  Not much light passes through.  The forward floor, to the right, is very close to non-existent.  

 

 

I'm thinking I may have to start removing the upper edges of the sidewalls to lower them to fit the fuselage.  The canopy sills have marginal detail anyway.  I have some etched pieces left over from the Eduard cockpit set that I used on the other FGR.  Those PE parts will also cover gaps if there are some.  

 

I'm taking a break from it today and will try again tomorrow.

 

 

[billn53]

Ah, the joys of working with Aires cockpits! They invariably require thinning both the resin tub, and the receiving fuselage, to within a micron of destruction.

[Phone Phixer]

I feel your pain on the Aires cockpit, I'm working my way through that currently.

I've no experience of the Aires engine nozzles, but I've read other threads that say they are too small in diameter. I got a set from Res Kit, they look stunning. Time will tell if they fit OK.

I know it's looking far ahead, but some observations re the wing colours. There was a discussion many years ago on here. Those of us that worked on grey Phantoms, never noticed the medium sea grey area of the upper wings.

What with all the muck and boot marks, it just merged in with the barley grey areas. On my 19(F) sqn build I just added a bit of darker grey to the barley grey for those areas.

 

Rob.

[Christer A]

Aires phantom cockpits are a pain, that's for sure!

The end result is usually worth it though.

 

There are two sets of Aires engine nozzles for this one. The old one should be avoided since that has the smaller diameter, but that's not an issue for the newer ones.

 

[Mark V]

10 minutes ago, Christer A said:

Aires phantom cockpits are a pain, that's for sure!

The end result is usually worth it though.

 

There are two sets of Aires engine nozzles for this one. The old one should be avoided since that has the smaller diameter, but that's not an issue for the newer ones.

 

Christer, 

Yes, I have read older posts about new vs. older engine nozzle sizes.  Fortunately I have the newer, correctly sized nozzles.  They are an improvement on the kit parts externally as well as internally. So that’s a plus. 

The cockpit is another problem.  I finally got it to fit, barely. Photos tomorrow.  

[Mark V]

Rob, Thanks for the reminder on wing colors. I remember reading the threads where you guys that have experience with the Phantoms remember that the colors were not distinctly different. My plan is to lighten the MSG to more closely match the Barley Gray. I’ll add some BG to the MSG to lighten it some. 

I have a Hataka lacquer paint set that has all three colors. I like Hataka paints so it should look good in the end. Fingers crossed. 

[Mark V]

I finally got the Aires cockpit to sit within the fuselage with the nose gear well underneath.  The left forward sidewall sits just a bit high but should be a fairly simple trim to force it into place.

 

 

I disassembled the cockpit resin parts and gave everything a good wash using a toothbrush and dish soap.  After everything dried overnight I sprayed primer to get ready for painting the cockpit and to check the other subassemblies; tanks, gun pod, radome, etc; for areas that require further attention.  The gun pod had a couple of sink marks that are filled with white correction fluid.  I'll sand it down after the filler dries.

 

 

Here is an inboard wing pylon with the AN/ALE-40 chaff and flare dispensers added.  These are resin pieces that came with the True Details USAF Pylons.  The flare dispensers are on the outboard side of the pylon and angle down.  Some minor clean up required, but they will be mostly out of view on the completed model.

 

 

I painted up about 100 missiles several weeks ago because I hate painting missiles at the end of the build.  I collected the missiles from several kits and painted the lot - AIM-7/9. AMRAAM, HARM, Meteor, etc.  I had planned ahead for this build so a set of Skyflash and AIM-9Ls are ready for decals.  Skyflash decals from the Revell FGR.2 kit.  AIM-9L decals from two Tamiya F-16C kits.  The missile bodies are not as dark IRL as they are in the photo.  Bad lighting I guess?

 

 

Last thing today is some work on the kit intakes.  The back sides of the vari-ramps need to be filled in since they are visible when installed.  Also each intake has 4 ejector pin marks on the interior.  Even though the intakes are not full trunks, what interior there is, is visible (without intake covers) and the marks are easy to fix.  

 

 

I'll probably spend the next several days on the cockpits and seats.  Plus get the missiles decaled and the other parts cleaned up as required.  

 

Thanks for following along.

[FortyEighter]

You've made a great start on this kit and I'll follow with interest.  It seems to take a lot of work to get that resin tub to fit - I've never tried using one and prefer to use etch.

 

That decal sheet can be addictive; so far I've finished two FGR2 (another in primer), Mosquito, Blenheim and Tornado using it!  Also a Javelin that stalled at the paint stage (masking tape pulled off some of the metallic finish) and an unstarted Lightning.  The Vampire and Venom NF versions are rare and often sell for silly money but I'll keep looking.

 

Mike

[heloman1]

Looking good...

 

Colin

[AntPhillips]

It's a Phantom, it's British, it's a 23 Squadron a/c, what's more to like.

 

I look forward to keeping an eye on this one 👍

[Mark V]

14 hours ago, FortyEighter said:

You've made a great start on this kit and I'll follow with interest.  It seems to take a lot of work to get that resin tub to fit - I've never tried using one and prefer to use etch.

 

That decal sheet can be addictive; so far I've finished two FGR2 (another in primer), Mosquito, Blenheim and Tornado using it!  Also a Javelin that stalled at the paint stage (masking tape pulled off some of the metallic finish) and an unstarted Lightning.  The Vampire and Venom NF versions are rare and often sell for silly money but I'll keep looking.

 

Mike

I really like the idea of multiple different airframes on a decal sheet, that follow a theme. I have so many decal sets that I do one model then have the rest of the sheet sitting in the spares box for years. With the 23 Squadron history, like you, I can do several different aircraft from the one sheet. 

So far I have only completed the Mosquito (Tamiya). With the previous Phantom I used a different decal set, bits from multiple sets actually, to do the green/gray camo jet. 

I have the Lightning Mk6, a Tornado ADV, Blenheim, and A-20 Havoc/Boston in the stash. I would love to get a Javelin but unless I happen across a really low price, I have plenty of kits to keep me busy for years. 

Thanks for following along. 

[Mark V]

OK, after a week since the last update I found my thread back near the bottom of page 5.  Lots of activity on BM, but that's a good thing!  So many great builds in progress.

I got the Aires cockpit mostly painted, just a little bit left to touch up and scuff up.  The Genessis step-by-step mentioned coating the back of the instrument film sheet in white to highlight the dials. It does make a difference (better) than painting the resin backing panel white and gluing over it, I think. Here are the cockpit parts waiting for assembly.

 

 

I dry fit the rear IP, radar set (stowed), front IP/glareshield and right side wall.  The parts look good and paint up fairly easily.  

 

 

I started painting the seats too.  There are 8 colors on it so far.  Now to start on the details.  Later the PE belts.  Not the fun part.

 

 

While the cockpit parts were drying, I painted a few other airframe parts and finished the missiles.  The missile bodies are all the same color, just depending on how they are angled to the camera, the color looks a little different.  The "brown" stripes on the Skyflash are from the Revell FGR2 decal set.  They look a little orange, but not enough to do it over.

 

 

Next up will be to put the cockpit together and get the fuselage together.  Once that's done the wings are ready to go on.  

[heloman1]

Coming together nicely, lots of add on goodies too. 

 

Colin

[Mark V]

Status this evening, Monday 11 July.

After completing painting on the Aires cockpit, I got the fuselage halves together.  This was followed by adding the end pieces (radome and drag chute door}, along with the big box antenna on the top of the vertical fin.  In parallel I painted the insides of the intakes then assembled them.  They were also added to the fuselage.  I went ahead and smeared some Tamiya gray putty on the seams since I'm pretty sure they will need a bit of filler.  There were small gaps at the upper sides of the cockpit that I also smeared some putty into.  I wiped off the excess putty with a "cleaning cotton swab", a dense conical tipped swab, dipped in lacquer thinner.   I'll let that sit for a while since I have to go out of town for a couple of days.  When I get back I'll start the sand, wash, prime, fill, repeat cycle.  And rescribing some of the lost panel lines.

 

 

Here is the completed cockpit.  On the real jet, the paint on the floor gets rapidly worn through by the aircrew boots.  First to the greenish primer, then to bare metal.  The forward console is not glued in yet.  I'll get that secured after the wings are on and all seams cleaned up.  Which reminds me, I did not glue the cockpit into the fuselage.  The fit is so tight it did not require glue to hold it in place.

 

 

Sorry, I didn't know the picture would be so big...

 

The wings are ready to go on, but I think I'll clean up the fuselage first.  Then I can concentrate on the wing to fuselage forward underside seam.  After a dry fit it looks like some sheet plastic shims will be required.  Typical for Hasegawa Phantoms I think. 

 

 

A couple of side notes:

Before I installed the intakes, I sprayed some Camouflage Grey on the back of the intakes and the fuselage sides.  It's hard to spray down in there and get an even coat after it's assembled.  The primer will cover up some of it, but primer overspray is easily covered.  It's all grey anyway.

 

I thought the Aires Spey engine nozzles were the later, correctly sized, set.  Wrong.  The kit nozzles are 2cm diameter.  The Aires nozzles are 1.8cm.  Plus the extended afterburner cans interfere with the upper engine cooling bay boxes.  And as another issue, the external nozzle rings are a butt joint to the AB tubes.  There is no lip to match up to the fuselage, so would require thinning the fuselage edge to a razor thickness to not have a step to the nozzle.  Like the real jet, but the metal there isn't what holds the engine nozzle in place.  With the size issue and installation problems, I will use the kit engine nozzles.  

 

Hopefully the next update will have the wings attached and the jet ready for paint.  

Thanks for your support, likes, and comments.  I hope my experiences help someone else with their build.

[Mark V]

It's been a few weeks since my last update.  Did some local travel and had to do some work around the house, so less model time than usual.  I did get the wings attached and final filling, sanding, rescribing, sanding, polishing, washing done, I hope.  I needed a circle scribing template and found one at Sprue Brothers, a USA mail order shop.  Since I had to pay shipping I added a few other items, one of which was the Flying Leathernecks F-4E/G/S/J(UK) Belly Strap.  It's a vinyl stick-on "decal".  There was also a resin option from Sprue Bros, but it was $15 rather than $5 for the vinyl.  I figured the resin would be either too thick, or too brittle, plus it was 3x cost.  I ran some copies of the belly strap on my printer to try to do a paper version.  That's what I put on the Phantom.  I wasn't going to bother, but I thought that I would give it a try.  If the paper doesn't work I can strip it off and use the vinyl.

 

 

 

The vinyl decals are in the zip lock bag.  Printed copies are the black/white papers to the left above.  I thought it would be easier to cut out the paper versions if the contrast was high on the page.  But as you can see, it is rather stark on the kit.  I may paint over them with a brush to lighten them up.  I did glue them down with the dark side down, but when they got wet, the printer ink bled through.  Primer will show how it looks.

 

I also finished the seats.  Aires resin with PE belts.  I used that same set on my previous FGR2.  Like I said then, the resin is excellent, the belts are a pain.

 

 

I am leaving on Friday for a 5000+ mile road trip with the wife from Washington state to the St. Louis, Missouri area.  I would rather fly, but airline prices are insanely high this summer.  I refuse to pay extorsion level prices for no guarantee of service.  By driving, we can stop along the way and visit friends and family.  We plan on being away for 2 weeks minimum.  If we drive back the "southern route" through Phoenix to visit friends and family, we may head over to Disneyland for a couple of days.  My wife is a Disney fanatic.  The price I have to pay, and it's a big price tag, for her going to air museums with me.  At least gas prices are coming down...

Hopefully my next update will have the basic camo paint applied - the 3 grays for a Falklands jet.

Edited July 28, 2022 by Mark V
correct typos

[Mark V]

Ok.  I'm back...

We got back from our 5700+ road trip a week ago.  Let me tell you, that was way too long.  I drove from the Portland, Oregon area to Denver, Colorado.  Then on to the St Louis, Missouri (Quincy, Illinois) area.  Spent a week with relatives there, then on to Dallas, Texas for a few days with our daughter.  She's a zookeeper at the Dallas zoo.  Even though it was nearly 100 deg F we still went for a behind the scenes tour.  After visiting some other friends in north Texas we started back west.  Rather than fight Denver traffic again, I decided on a more southern route to see some roads that were new to me.  Albuquerque, New Mexico then Salt Lake City, Utah.  We drove through Moab, Utah but did not stop at Arches National Park because you have to make reservations ahead of time.  We were not looking that far ahead.  Since we spent the night in SLC, I decided to make a stop at the MRS Hobby Shop.  That's the storefront retail shop of the Kitlinx online hobby shop.  I've ordered from them several times and wanted to see the shop and pick up a couple of things.  I could have spent hours going through the book section alone.  WOW, what a store!  My wife waited in the car outside for a while but finally came in to see if I was done yet.  Probably saved some $$$, but I still didn't walk away empty handed.

 

 

I also picked up some Spitfire decals to add to my stash.  I plan on doing both kits as Eagle Squadron aircraft using the new set and an older Aeromaster set "Yanks in the RAF".  I have needed the circle template to rescribe the circles on the spine of the Hasegawa F-4s after cleaning up the seam.  

 

 

After getting some house and yard work done I could get back the Phantom model.  I spent one day just looking over what I had and what the next steps would be.  I airbrushed the radome with Hataka orange line lacquer Light Ghost Grey.  I hope it will give a nice contrast to the RAF colors on the fuselage.  Once dry it was masked and the lower surfaces were sprayed with Light Aircraft Grey (BS...627).  The paper copy "belly strap" doesn't look too bad with paint on it.  

 

 

On my last Phantom I added the Eduard photoetch interior frame parts before I painted the frames.  That complicated the camo painting a bit, so for this one I'll paint the canopies on the jet and add the interior frames later.  I have the windscreen and center section glued on and masked up the forward and aft canopies so I could tack them on.  Then I realized that I'd forgotten the aft canopy external mirror.  I tried to notch the mask to glue the mirror on but messed that up.  I had to remove the masking, sand out the scratches in the canopy, polish it out, then I could glue the mirror in place.  I dipped it Future/Pledge this morning and it is drying now.  In the meantime, I tacked on the forward canopy.  I'm reusing the canopy masks from my last build.  They still seem to be sticky enough for low pressure airbrush painting.  The rubber band is holding the forward canopy in place while the white glue tack sets.  Hopefully I can pop the canopies off after painting without any problems.

 

 

I had to cut down the Aires interior part of the side-mounted periscope for the Nav.  It just wouldn't fit in the space between the canopy frame and instrument panel. It looks a bit oversized, but not too bad.  The exterior piece is the Hasegawa kit part which looks slightly small.  Once painted it should all look ok.  

 

 

Once the aft canopy dries, I will mask it, tack it in place, and get on with applying the upper camo colors.  Hopefully by the end of the week I'll be ready for decals.

Thanks again for following along.

[Winded Penguin]

What a great last post Mark 👍

I'm a bit late to the party but I'd like to follow your story from now on.

[Mark V]

11 minutes ago, Winded Penguin said:

What a great last post Mark 👍

I'm a bit late to the party but I'd like to follow your story from now on.

Thank you.  Welcome to my little adventure.

[Jonners]

Nice one, Mark. Some good 'top tips' here for when I get round to my Revell FGR2 to which I'll add etched parts, particularly to improve the rather spartan nav's cockpit, rather than fightimg with Eduard resin.

 

The last Phantom that I saw in 1435 Flt markings* was the gate guardian outside the 'terminal' at Mount Pleasant!

Jon

 

*Edit - I've just noticed that your choice of markings is for the early 23 Sqn det to Stanley airfield, and not for the later 1435 Flt at MPA. Oops! Still, I was close.

Edited August 22, 2022 by Jonners

[Graham T]

Great work so far - having been through the trials of fitting the Aires cockpit in mine a couple of months back I sympathise.  HOWEVER, have you tried fitting the exhaust cans yet?  Here's a hint………..thy don't!

[Mark V]

21 hours ago, Graham T said:

Great work so far - having been through the trials of fitting the Aires cockpit in mine a couple of months back I sympathise.  HOWEVER, have you tried fitting the exhaust cans yet?  Here's a hint………..thy don't!

I have already given up on the Aires exhausts. You are correct, they don’t fit at all. I bought the kit second hand and the exhaust set was in the box. I considered them as free to me, so I don’t feel as bad tossing them out as I would if I had spent $20 on them. 

[Graham T]

22 hours ago, Mark V said:

I have already given up on the Aires exhausts. You are correct, they don’t fit at all. I bought the kit second hand and the exhaust set was in the box. I considered them as free to me, so I don’t feel as bad tossing them out as I would if I had spent $20 on them. 

Shame.  I DID get mine to fit but had to cut down the part that is hidden inside the fuselage considerably.  Doesn't show unless you look up them!

[Phone Phixer]

On 8/23/2022 at 9:20 AM, Mark V said:

I have already given up on the Aires exhausts.

On my build of the same subject (only very slower progress). I am having a bash with the Res-Kit offerings.

 

Lovely detail.

 

And very rough fitting attempt went well.

 

Nice progress on yours.

 

Rob.

[Mark V]

OK, my wife started back to work this week, she is a 4th grade science and math teacher.  Now I have my days available for hobbies.  (I'm retired)

I masked up the canopies and tacked them in place.  Then I sprayed black for the framing that shows in the interior, along with some pre-shading.  I have never had much luck with preshading but there was extra black paint in the airbrush cup so I thought I would try again.

 

 

Once that dried I masked off the bottom for the demarcation between the Light Aircraft Grey and the Camouflage (Barley) Grey.  I let that dry for a couple of hours and mixed the Hataka Medium Sea Grey with the Camo Grey about 50/50.  That was to lighten the MSG for a less stark contrast with the CG.  I think it came out pretty well, contrast-wise.  I let some of the preshading show, but not too much.  I ended up with a slightly splotchy finish, which was what I was going for.  

 

 

I let that dry overnight and then masked off the metal areas on the tail and the stabs.  In the photo I'm showing this new-to-me Tamiya tape for curves.  I used it around the radome and, for the tail, around the edge that mates up to the nozzle.  I highly recommend this tape.  It's a thin vinyl that allows it to stretch a little and follow the curves without kinking.  It performed very well and I'm glad that I tried it.  I also used it on the outboard wing tanks and where the bare metal meets up with the base of the vertical stab.  

 

 

In the above photo you can see how the MSG inner wing panels contrast with the CG outer wing panel on the far (left) wing.  There's not much contrast with the near (right) wing colors due to the light angles.  It looks very much like one of the reference photos that was posted on Britmodeller sometime in the past.  Also looks like I need to straighten out that pitot tube.  I'm surprised that I haven't broken it off yet.  There's still time...

 

 

Still need to add a little more variation to the metal areas on the stabs, then unmask and see what touch ups to do.  

 

 

After touch ups, I should be ready for gloss, decals, panel line wash, and some initial weathering.  Probably get to that next week.