UK Phantom STGB Chat

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

10 minutes ago, Captain Glumbo said:

Count me in too - will be doing FG.1 Phantom No.111 Squadron, Royal Air Force Leuchars, Scotland, September 1989

Now on the current list which is in the post directly above you. 

[Retired Bob]

Received my ResKit 1/48th MJ-4 3D printed kit today, most of you will be saying "What?"

It was a specialised vehicle designed to load weapons onto the Phantom, the RAF had a couple for each squadron, it was know as the armourers taxi and I'll be adding it to my Phantom build.

[Enzo the Magnificent]

3 minutes ago, Retired Bob said:

Received my ResKit 1/48th MJ-4 3D printed kit today, most of you will be saying "What?"

It was a specialised vehicle designed to load weapons onto the Phantom, the RAF had a couple for each squadron, it was know as the armourers taxi and I'll be adding it to my Phantom build.

 

aka "Jammer" .   

[Retired Bob]

1 minute ago, Enzo the Magnificent said:

aka "Jammer" .   

Yes, all I need now is 1/48th scale, 23 year old figure of me to operate it with a SUU-23 gun pod on the head, ready to load to the centreline station of a 19(F) Sqn Phantom. 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

1 minute ago, Retired Bob said:

Yes, all I need now is 1/48th scale, 23 year old figure of me to operate it with a SUU-23 gun pod on the head, ready to load to the centreline station of a 19(F) Sqn Phantom. 

 

Luxury!   Plumbers on Tornado squadrons had the Type W ("Wendy") loader which was a British built equivalent of the jammer.   The Jaguar fraternity had the V loader.  But the rest of us poor sods on Harrier squadrons had the R loader.  I can't tell you how many times I put my back out trying to crank the engine of that damn thing!!!    Mind you, it was still better than the Y loader.  That was just pure evil!    Just like a Tesco shopping trolley, it always had one wheel which was knackered...  

[Retired Bob]

52 minutes ago, Enzo the Magnificent said:

Luxury!   Plumbers on Tornado squadrons had the Type W ("Wendy") loader which was a British built equivalent of the jammer.   The Jaguar fraternity had the V loader.  But the rest of us poor sods on Harrier squadrons had the R loader.  I can't tell you how many times I put my back out trying to crank the engine of that damn thing!!!    Mind you, it was still better than the Y loader.  That was just pure evil!    Just like a Tesco shopping trolley, it always had one wheel which was knackered...  

We didn't just use jammers for Phantom weapon loading, there were R loaders to put the Sparrow/Sky Flash on and off, but we couldn't use the diesel engine in a HAS, so it was manual pump all the time.  On Buccaneers we had R loaders and Y loaders, strike weapons were loaded with Y loaders, they were changed for strike loading by adding a bonding lead (and all the wheels worked).  My last tour on Tornado F3 with the W loader, it was more reliable than the Jammer but not as versatile. 

[Rob G]

An incidental bumping of this GB in the public consciousness...

 

I started on a SABLE raid the other weekend, in an attempt to thin out the many, many kits that I don't need (I won't be posting them here.) In there, I found an 'asegawa F-4J(UK) boxing that I had forgotten about. That's my entry for this GB sorted (I'm now glad that I failed to send away that Hannant's order before Christmas.)

 

I may also have a crack at a Matchbox F-4M/K, just for fun. I have at least a couple of them.

[Luke1199]

That's me sorted for this GB, came with an old price sticker on the side of the box... £7.99! Safe to say it cost me a bit more 😅

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

5 hours ago, Luke1199 said:

That's me sorted for this GB, came with an old price sticker on the side of the box... £7.99! Safe to say it cost me a bit more 😅

 

That is the kit I used to build my #07 FG.1, they go together farewell well as Im sure you are aware. 

[Mark]

Count me in please!!

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

1 hour ago, Mark said:

Count me in please!!

Hello and welcome Mark, I’ve added you to the list on page six. 

[Mark]

18 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Hello and welcome Mark, I’ve added you to the list on page six. 

 

Thank you!!

[John Masters]

If I get back from my bicycle tour soon enough, I'll jump in with this one.  I'll be away from the bench from June 10 until sometime mid-late-October.

 

I'll do this...19 Squadron...

 

 

 

--John

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

54 minutes ago, John Masters said:

If I get back from my bicycle tour soon enough, I'll jump in with this one.  I'll be away from the bench from June 10 until sometime mid-late-October.

 

I'll do this...19 Squadron...

 

 

 

--John

Excellent choice John, please have fun on your trip stay safe and post plenty of photo’s so we can all escape a little bit. 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

I retrieved my three kits from The Stash today.  These were in the darkest recesses of The Stash and haven't really seen the light of day for twenty years!

 

Twenty years ago I became concerned at the lack of Hasegawa Phantom kits available, so on a visit to the Big H I bought fifteen of them in one go, in different versions.  I have never regretted that decision. At the time, the kits were £15 each.  In 2025 you can add another 30 quid to that price!!!

 

A few months later I bought a number of Fujimi British Phantoms as well.  After all that time, the stock of both kits is well depleted but, as I mentioned, I never regretted the decision.

 

 

The FG.1 will be built as an early RAF version from 43 Sqn.  The FGR.2 will probably be in the air defence scheme from one of the Wildenrath squadrons.   Obviously the F-4J will be in 74 Sqn markings but it will be in the weird delivery scheme.

 

Fujimi made three major production runs of their British Phantoms.  On the first production run, the auxiliary air inlet doors on the side of the fuselage were in the wrong place.  This was fixed in the second production run.  For the third production run, the moulds were re-tooled to show the fin top RWR receiver.   My FGR.2 kit is from the second production run while the FG.1 is from the third so they will need to have their fuselages swapped. 

 

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

6 hours ago, Enzo the Magnificent said:

I retrieved my three kits from The Stash today.  These were in the darkest recesses of The Stash and haven't really seen the light of day for twenty years!

 

Twenty years ago I became concerned at the lack of Hasegawa Phantom kits available, so on a visit to the Big H I bought fifteen of them in one go, in different versions.  I have never regretted that decision. At the time, the kits were £15 each.  In 2025 you can add another 30 quid to that price!!!

 

A few months later I bought a number of Fujimi British Phantoms as well.  After all that time, the stock of both kits is well depleted but, as I mentioned, I never regretted the decision.

 

 

The FG.1 will be built as an early RAF version from 43 Sqn.  The FGR.2 will probably be in the air defence scheme from one of the Wildenrath squadrons.   Obviously the F-4J will be in 74 Sqn markings but it will be in the weird delivery scheme.

 

Fujimi made three major production runs of their British Phantoms.  On the first production run, the auxiliary air inlet doors on the side of the fuselage were in the wrong place.  This was fixed in the second production run.  For the third production run, the moulds were re-tooled to show the fin top RWR receiver.   My FGR.2 kit is from the second production run while the FG.1 is from the third so they will need to have their fuselages swapped. 

 

 

I have this kit myself. 

 

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/hasegawa-09331-british-phantom-fg-mk1-no111-squadron--114289

 

Not sure which scheme I will do. I like the black Mike scheme. However have always wanted to do the Grey/Green early camouflage ? I have decal sets from 3 Hasegawa kits so should be able to get the markings needed. 

[Rob Sutto]

13 hours ago, Enzo the Magnificent said:

I retrieved my three kits from The Stash today.  These were in the darkest recesses of The Stash and haven't really seen the light of day for twenty years!

 

Twenty years ago I became concerned at the lack of Hasegawa Phantom kits available, so on a visit to the Big H I bought fifteen of them in one go, in different versions.  I have never regretted that decision. At the time, the kits were £15 each.  In 2025 you can add another 30 quid to that price!!!

 

A few months later I bought a number of Fujimi British Phantoms as well.  After all that time, the stock of both kits is well depleted but, as I mentioned, I never regretted the decision.

 

 

The FG.1 will be built as an early RAF version from 43 Sqn.  The FGR.2 will probably be in the air defence scheme from one of the Wildenrath squadrons.   Obviously the F-4J will be in 74 Sqn markings but it will be in the weird delivery scheme.

 

Fujimi made three major production runs of their British Phantoms.  On the first production run, the auxiliary air inlet doors on the side of the fuselage were in the wrong place.  This was fixed in the second production run.  For the third production run, the moulds were re-tooled to show the fin top RWR receiver.   My FGR.2 kit is from the second production run while the FG.1 is from the third so they will need to have their fuselages swapped. 

 

 

 

A quick glimpse into your future come November...

 

[Stefan Buysse]

On 4/29/2025 at 6:48 PM, Enzo the Magnificent said:

 

Twenty years ago I became concerned at the lack of Hasegawa Phantom kits available, so on a visit to the Big H I bought fifteen of them in one go, in different versions.  I have never regretted that decision. At the time, the kits were £15 each.  In 2025 you can add another 30 quid to that price!!!

 

A few months later I bought a number of Fujimi British Phantoms as well.  After all that time, the stock of both kits is well depleted but, as I mentioned, I never regretted the decision.

 

 

 

The FG.1 will be built as an early RAF version from 43 Sqn.  The FGR.2 will probably be in the air defence scheme from one of the Wildenrath squadrons.   Obviously the F-4J will be in 74 Sqn markings but it will be in the weird delivery scheme.

 

Fujimi made three major production runs of their British Phantoms.  On the first production run, the auxiliary air inlet doors on the side of the fuselage were in the wrong place.  This was fixed in the second production run.  For the third production run, the moulds were re-tooled to show the fin top RWR receiver.   My FGR.2 kit is from the second production run while the FG.1 is from the third so they will need to have their fuselages swapped. 

 

 

 

Hi,

 

That's a very recognisable story.

I bought a dozen Hasegawa F-4's in 1995 in a panic after seeing them as "discontinued" in the 1995 Hasegawa catalog. 

It turned out that they were discontinued in their original form as the "Ka" series, but they have since then been abundantly available in "limited releases".

I also never regretted the 1995 purchase. The F-4C and F-4D that I'm doing in the 1980's GB are from that batch.

 

I also like the Fujimi Spey Phantoms. I'm not sure that the "third production run" involved a permanent modification of the molds to include the fin top RWR. I believe there are separate molds for the fuselage sprues.

Probably even 4 separate fuselage molds, the original one from 1987 (Fujimi 7A-H6) has the fin top RWR, the Yellow Bird (Fujimi 7A-H8) from the same time has no fin top RWR. 

 

I look forward to seeing that F-4J in the weird delivery scheme, I wonder what would be good paints for that.

 

Cheers, Stefan.

[Doug M]

If I can find an 1/48 Hasegawa or Revell I'm in...

[Enzo the Magnificent]

On 01/05/2025 at 09:02, Stefan Buysse said:

I look forward to seeing that F-4J in the weird delivery scheme, I wonder what would be good paints for that.

 

It seems that the RAF colours were replaced as follows:

 

Barley Grey  -  36314  Flint Grey

Medium Sea Grey  -  36270 Medium Grey

Light Aircraft Grey -  36440 Light Gull Grey

 

However, the Flint Grey was applied in thin coats over yellow zinc primer, giving it a distinct blue/green tinge.  I think I'll simply add drops of Sky to the Flint grey paint until it looks right. 

[Marklo]

This is going to be hard. My first thought is a Royal Navy scheme having attempted this everyone’s as a kid and never getting it right, but I’m also thinking the later grey schemes with the pink and pale low vis markings. That said a two tone RAF scheme looks good too and of course there’s Black Mike…

 

And no @Enzo the Magnificent I only have one kit, no budget and a massive WIP (wahey ?)

 

hmmm….

[heloman1]

Looks like my request from may have fallen of the Master-at-Arms desk! I see my name down as number 34 but not on the total list (page one)!

I'm still interested, bags packed and railway pass n pocket, just waiting for the tilly van to take me to the station...

 

Colin

[Ray S]

@Enzo the Magnificent, has this group build been accidentally moved to the bunfight? I'm sure it was in the Future Group Build section earlier, 

 

Ray the possibly confused 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

5 hours ago, Ray S said:

@Enzo the Magnificent, has this group build been accidentally moved to the bunfight? I'm sure it was in the Future Group Build section earlier, 

 

 

Finger trouble on my part. 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

I have my three choices for this GB already set up on The Ledge.     However, I am going to add a fourth.

 

In the small market town where I live, there are seven charity shops!  When I go shopping, I'm like that bloke in the Kinks song "Dedicated Follower Of Fashion".   Now I know what you're thinking.  I don't pull my frilly nylon panties right up tight.    But I do my little rounds and flit from shop to shop just like a butterfly.  Mostly I'm looking for comic books and old coins.  Sometimes you can run across a bargain.  

 

However, today I found something quite out of the ordinary.  Its quite rare to find plastic kits on sale in these shops but today I found a Matchbox Phantom!  The shop wanted a fiver for it.   It was too good an opportunity to miss.  

 

The Matchbox Phantom will be my fourth entry in this GB.  I'm very aware of the outline problems with this kit (not to mention the work of the Matchbox trench digger) but I don't really care.  This will be a pure nostalgia build with absolutely no attempt to rectify the shortcomings of the kit and no additional detailing.  It will be finished in the kit markings, although I reserve the right to substitute modern decals where necessary. 

 

Looking forward to this one.