RAF Wildenrath residents - part 1

[Jabba]

2 hours ago, ScheF15 said:

 

 

 

 

Thanks @Jabba, nice to see some photos of freshly painted Phantoms. Remarkable to see that even in this stage the nose cone has a different color. I always thought it was the same grey as the rest from the start, but that the cone and fuselage discolored in different ways.

 

Cheers,

Rob

 

 

I think (or have been told) that the difference in the nose cone colour is due to the fact that it is made of fibre glass.

 

1 hour ago, PLC1966 said:

Never really noticed how long the undercarriage is when the jet is in the air.

 

Yes Phantoms used to be a pain to jack up when the shrink links were not fitted (had to be done for paint so that the U/C could be retracted), it just seemed to go on for ever.

[ScheF15]

On 5/9/2023 at 11:25 AM, Lord Riot said:

For join lines, have you tried Mr Liquid Putty? I use it all the time, just fill the gap, let it dry then sand it smooth.

I kind of neglected the join lines gaps, but after @Lord Riot mentioned it I realized it was not too late to fix them. My choice of weapons:

 

 

 

The result was not too bad, but, note to self: Revell Plasto shrinks, multiple sessions are necessary...

 

 

Before applying the decals, I wanted to touch up a few spots. Not wanting to use my airbrush, I took my brush and Humbrol enamel paint 167 as the Airfix paint guide advised. I had sprayed the fuselage and wing sections with Mr Hobby H334, and both paints should render the correct BS381C.626. Now I was not so happy with the result of H334, and to my surprise the Humbrol 167 turned out to be slightly lighter!

 

 

This is much more to my liking, so instead of starting with the decals, I'm going to repaint the entire fuselage and wing sections, with Humbrol 167... To quote Frank Zappa: 'The torture never stops', but the result will be worth it. I think.

 

Hurrah!

Rob

 

[ScheF15]

After repainting the fuselage and upper wing surfaces it was time for applying decals!

I bought the additional AirDOC and Modeldecal decal sets ages ago, and it was a bit doubtful if they would still stick...

 

 

Well, the decals did stick, but when applying the serial and code decals tiny particles came off, leaving the letters light grey instead of bright white... As the 'C' is rather stylized (check my photograph of XV430/C on the first page), I chose to settle for it.

The blue/white checker strip came in two: one straight white band and one with blue checkers only. I decided to skip the white band decal and paint the band myself instead:

 

 

And with the blue checkers applied:

 

 

To respect the basic model, I chose to keep the number of decals to a sort of minimum. Keep in mind that the decals in the box were even fewer!

 

 

 

On the port side the text is a bit too much, but I like the RETTUNG detail!

 

 

That wraps it up for the time being. Next Monday my wife and I set off for a three weeks holidays in the UK, with the Henley Swim Festival as the main holiday destination. However, I'm going to try to get my sweetheart to come with me to the Royal Air Force Museum London as well, ahem. And maybe even to nearby Hannants!

 

Cheerio,

Rob

 

 

 

[Jabba]

Nicely done with the decals. All aircraft that were based in West Germany had to have all their emergency markings in English and German, so that if they did have an accident and a local German came across it they would be able to carry out the emergency procedure. So that is why there was a lot of writing around that nose emergency handle panel. Even we as serving personnel had to have some phrases in German that we had to learn when going on gate guard. One of these not to get confused was "RAF stand still or I will shoot". This was because the words in German for shoot and soiling oneself were very similar.

[ScheF15]

During my holidays I gave the model a good thought, and upon return I removed the plasters from the canopy. That turned out quite alright:

 

 

Finally, it was time for the stores. I like to model my planes like I saw them 'in the wild', so for this particular kit I chose empty Sidewinder rails, as shown on the photo.

The Sidewinder rails in the box were as basic as the rest of the kit, but I had some spare rails which I used instead.

 

 

I cut away some part of the original brown pylon, modelled the spare rails to size and there we are:

 

 

As for the fuel tanks: they came without reinforcement strip on the port side:

 

 

During a conversation somewhere else on this forum, @iainpeden was so very kind to offer me some of his spare tanks which did have the reinforcement strips. They arrived by mail safe and sound, thanks again Iain!

 

 

 

Once glued and painted, the stores were ready to add:

 

 

 

And with that, I declare my kit finished. Well, of course I tried some weathering and washing, but those skills need some more attention, ahem. Better next time!

 

Cheerio,

Rob

 

[ScheF15]

P.S.: Pics of the result can be found here: