Enzo's Phantom Phrenzy Part 4 - Matchbox!

[Enzo the Magnificent]

I couldn't resist this one.  

 

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, a few months ago I found something quite out of the ordinary.  Its quite rare to find plastic kits on sale in these shops but 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.      

 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

The parts are exactly as one would expect from Matchbox.     

 

 

 

 

I built this kit as a callow yoof when it was first issued.  From what I recall, if you fit three SNEB pods to the CBTE, then the lower SNEB touches the ground and lifts the nose gear off the deck!!!     

 

Note, the carriers on UK Phantoms were not quite the same as US TERs.  They were a licence built version by Hunting Engineering using UK ERUs and safety systems and were designated Carrier, Bomb, Triple Ejector (CBTE).  Just a bit of trivia.  In 1/72 a CBTE would be visually identical to a TER.

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Welcome with #4

[Christer A]

Now THAT is a boxart that instantly sells you a Phantom!

[PHIL B]

Cracking choice. How about finishing this as XV424 in Alcock & Brown(e) markings using Modeldecals sheet 55 which were designed for the Matchbox kit? I have a spare copy itching to be used. 😉

 

Phil.

[Jabba]

17 hours ago, PHIL B said:

Cracking choice. How about finishing this as XV424 in Alcock & Brown(e) markings using Modeldecals sheet 55 which were designed for the Matchbox kit? I have a spare copy itching to be used. 😉

 

Phil.

 

I remember doing exactly that when this kit came out, as I had been to Greenham Common and seen the aircraft. Good luck with this one.

[Enzo the Magnificent]

As this is a nostalgia build, I didn't attemt to improve the cockpit.  I simply sprayed it with Lifecolor UA-033 and represented the consoles and instrument panels with matt black.  Exactly as I did when I first built this kit as a callow yoof.

 

What is different is the ballast.   Back then I used plasticene in the radome.  The oils from the plasticene then leaked out a few months later and caused the paint to peel off.    

 

[Pappy]

Ahh, memories,

 

I am very glad to see this being built as intended, please tell me it will be mounted in flight on the Matchbox stand?

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

[Enzo the Magnificent]

1 hour ago, Pappy said:

Ahh, memories,

 

I am very glad to see this being built as intended, please tell me it will be mounted in flight on the Matchbox stand?

 

No.  It will be the same as I built it back in the day.  On its gear with the canopies open.   I will have some seats left over from the Fujimi builds in this GB and so I was considering putting those in instead of the Matchbox ones, but I decided against it.  If I do that, I might as well fit the closed canopy from the Fujimi kits, thereby correcting one of the kit's issues.  Once I'm done that, I should really correct the radome shape.  And then suddenly it's not a pure nostalgia build any more.

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Fuselage assembled.

 

 

 

 

Intakes fitted.   The intakes are usually a problem area on Phatom kits, but these went on perfectly.   The wings are just clipped into position.

 

 

[Pappy]

Crikey, you are streaking ahead, it is already Phantom shaped

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

[George Norman]

On 8/16/2025 at 8:10 PM, Christer A said:

Now THAT is a boxart that instantly sells you a Phantom!

It is class, Pity its too cropped as it would make a nice framed picture for the man cave wall. 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Main assembly completed.  I quickly masked off the cockpit and primed it with my usual technique of a coat of clear lacquer from a rattle can followed by grey plastic primer, also from a rattle can.  I then spent some time sanding the joints again.  The windscreen and canopy bridge was then fitted and masked.  After another quick coat of grey plastic primer it will be ready for the paint shop.

 

[Jabba]

That looks to have gone together very well.

[Enzo the Magnificent]

1 minute ago, Jabba said:

That looks to have gone together very well.

nodnodnod.   It's a Matchbox kit.    

[Planebuilder62]

Well done Enzo. I like the idea of just building this kit as it is. Goodness, don’t you build fast.

 

Regards Toby

[John]

I had a friend who spent many a happy hour grafting the Hasegawa or FROG nose onto the Matchbox fuselage. Add some Modeldecal markings and the results were excellent. 

John 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

I then sprayed it with Vallejo Model Air 71.049 Sea Grey.  The disrutive patterm was masked with my usual technique of Blutak worms and masking tape squares, sealed with Copydex.

 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

The disruptive pattern was sprayed with  Lifecolor UA-001, now renumbered to UA-560.  The undersurfaces are sprayed Xtracylix XA1015 and the NMF areas with various aluminium shades from rattle cans.

 

 

The decals behaved very well indeed, although the carrier film turned into a weird milky substance.  The only problem was with the ejection seat warning triange which steadfastly refused to release from the sheet, so I replaced them from the spares file.