Roy107's 19 Sqn Phantom FGR.2

[roy107]

So, I've made it to my first group build. And it was always going to be a Phantom, wasn't it?

 

For this build I'm planning a 19 Sqn FGR.2, armed up and ready to go defend the skies of West Germany somewhere in the late 70s. Why 19 Sqn? No reason, other than that a relative flew for 19 Sqn in the war, so we've got a bit of a family interest in that particular unit. I had the Xtradecal 19 Sqn decals so it seemed a perfect fit.

 

I'll add a caveat into the build now. I'm a fully paid up member of the TLAR Modelling Club (That looks about right) and there's every chance I'll get things...er...wildly inaccurate along the way. Next, I'll work out how to upload pictures in readiness for the build starting.

[roy107]

 

 

There. A picture of the somewhat crowded workbench, Phantom and some accessories ready to go.

 

Yes I know I'm using an FG.1 to build an FGR.2, but as far as I'm aware, the right parts are on the sprues.

Edited August 19 by roy107
Added picture.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Hello Roy welcome to the build. Don't hesitate to ask questions. 

Edited August 19 by Corsairfoxfouruncle

[Stefan Buysse]

On 8/19/2025 at 10:54 PM, roy107 said:

Yes I know I'm using an FG.1 to build an FGR.2, but as far as I'm aware, the right parts are on the sprues.

Hi, Roy.

 

Good to have you on board with a 19 Sqn Phantom.

I don't have that Italeri kit. I gather that's the good old Fujimi FG1 kit. I doubt that the FGR2 parts are in there.

I respect the TLAR approach, but there are some easy fixes to the problem.

The main things are:

*the extra oleo scissors on the nosegear.

*the inserts with the bridle attachment points (Fujimi parts 42 and 43).  

*the slotted stabs, you want unslotted ones.

 

Solutions:

*just cut off the extra oleo scissors.

*fill and sand smooth parts 42 and 43.

*I think you can get pretty close to unslotted stabs with some sanding and filling too.

 

In the Fujimi kits, parts 42 and 43 are numbered 42 and 43 in both the FG1 and the FGR2 kit. But they are in a different location on the sprue and they have a small tab saying "K" or "M" next to them.  

 

Cheers, Stefan.

 

 

[roy107]

On 21/08/2025 at 10:13, Stefan Buysse said:

Hi, Roy.

 

Good to have you on board with a 19 Sqn Phantom.

I don't have that Italeri kit. I gather that's the good old Fujimi FG1 kit. I doubt that the FGR2 parts are in there.

I respect the TLAR approach, but there are some easy fixes to the problem.

The main things are:

*the extra oleo scissors on the nosegear.

*the inserts with the bridle attachment points (Fujimi parts 42 and 43).  

*the slotted stabs, you want unslotted ones.

 

Solutions:

*just cut off the extra oleo scissors.

*fill and sand smooth parts 42 and 43.

*I think you can get pretty close to unslotted stabs with some sanding and filling too.

 

In the Fujimi kits, parts 42 and 43 are numbered 42 and 43 in both the FG1 and the FGR2 kit. But they are in a different location on the sprue and they have a small tab saying "K" or "M" next to them.  

 

Cheers, Stefan.

 

 

Thanks Stefan, that's actually really useful.

 

The Italeri plastic is indeed the old Fujimi, the sprues are even bagged individually like the Fujimi was - I also have an older Fujimi F-4K boxing on the shelf, so I could swap the plastic out for that one if it was a better candidate, but you've described some pretty straightforward modifications there. I'll be sure to keep it all in mind once the build starts.

 

I appreciate the knowledge!

[Jabba]

I am sure that the slot on the stab was actually a piece welded onto a normal one. So the correction would be to remove the slotted bit  (if you are able to do so) and then smooth the stab back to an airfoil shape.

[Stefan Buysse]

2 hours ago, Jabba said:

I am sure that the slot on the stab was actually a piece welded onto a normal one. So the correction would be to remove the slotted bit  (if you are able to do so) and then smooth the stab back to an airfoil shape.

 

Hi,

 

Yes, I suspected that the slotted stab is a bit bigger in real life. But not as radical as the slotted bit being an addition to the unslotted stab. I think it's more like it is incorporated into the original stab.

In 1/72, when I hold the two Fujimi stabs over each other, they are very close in size. I fear that with just removing the slotted bit you'd have a visibly undersized stab. And you'd probably lose some more by smoothing out the leading edge.

 

Cheers, Stefan.

[roy107]

There has been progress over the weekend but, inexperienced as I am in WIP threads, not much in the way of pictures. So far I've stalled work on the cockpit because I explored whether I could use the CMK resin tub, which is designed for the Airfix Phantom. That won't fit without rather a lot of surgery so I've decided to go down another route.

 

So I've been tinkering elsewhere, putting together the Reskit exhaust pipes, SUU-23 gun pod, and putting some extra details on the kit ejector seats. I also filled the slotted stabiliser.

 

Pictures, no doubt, to follow...

[roy107]

Here are the promised photos. Obligatory sprue shot which will be familiar to anyone who's built a Phantom before. 

 

 

I played around with some different ejector seat options, Fujimi, Airfix and CMK. Both the Airfix and CMK are too wide for the Fujimi tub so they were rejected in favour of the Fujimi seats. A slight cosmetic change including some extra padding, a ram behind the seat and replacement pull handles from some wire to be slightly more in scale has improved them a little.

 

 

Reskit's SUU-23 is 3D printed and incdedibly fine. That falls together nicely - its just pieced together in the picture and will be properly assembled and painted shortly.

 

 

The reskit exhausts necessitate removal of some of some of the strengthening tab 2/3 of the way down the Fujimi fuselage. Or you could do what I did and just take a pair of snippers to the whole thing - who needs a tab to align the fuselage halves anyway!

These take some careful work with the razorsaw to cut from their moulding tabs but they do push nicely into the fuselage so will pop in later in the build.

 

 

Everything other than the seats at this stage is placed together, not much glue has met the kit yet.

 

Edited September 2 by roy107
Making pictures display properly.

[roy107]

And here's the filled stabiliser. Close up photos are nobody's friend but rest assured some further polishing has taken place to smooth the filler.

 

[roy107]

Alright. It's been quite a busy weekend. And I have to say that this build is reigniting my mojo for the hobby, which had fallen off quite a bit this past year or so. So that's pleasing. I've even restarted progress on a couple of stalled kits and am building them alongside this Phantom.

 

But that, as Ringo Starr would have said, is a story for another day.

 

So onward with the Phantom. Like many others I picked up the QMT (Eduard) cockpit set for the Fujimi UK Phantom and that arrived on Saturday morning, so it was straight into the cockpit tub...

 

 

It feels wrong to take a knife and a sanding stick to all that fine detail, but comparing it to the real thing the Fujimi plastic is inaccurate, So off it went.

 

 

And on with the etch. I'm not 100% convinced that the etch is accurate either, but it's a better representation of the office than the original plastic and besides, I'm a "TLAR" modeller, remember? So it'll do. Not forgetting that once this Phantom goes on the shelf it'll be at eye height and nobody will ever look in there again...

 

 

I've since added a little weathering and I'll be picking out one or two details with a paintbrush. For instance, every photo I see of the Phantom, the back seater has a brown floor. So the floor will need some work. I'll probably also add a few pipes and wire runs here and there just to busy up some of the plain plastic.

 

That done, it was onto the jet pipes. I thought I'd have a play around because let's face it, Phantom jet pipes are one of the defining characteristics of the aircraft. I was going to paint the flat surfaces on the Fujimi kit black and just hope for the best, but then I was flicking through the Warpaint book and saw this picture...

 

 

Now if that doesn't really highlight just how important the jetpipes and visible engine faces are, I don't know what does. Looking back at my previous Phantom builds, the Revell kit represents the engine faces but not the jet pipes, the Airfix does a pretty good job of representing the whole thing, and the Monogram is like the Fujimi with flat faces and no jet pipes, so when I built a Monogram F-4J as an F-4J(UK), it got some nice aftermarket FOD guards to disguise the whole sorry affair. I wasn't planning on that for this build, so out came some creativity and a razor saw...

 

This ugly flat face had to go:

 

 

And I recall seeing a Britmodeller post about how it's possible to use thin card to make a Phantom jet pipe, so I got some (actually, thick paper) and made a start. A bit of judicious rolling later and we have a jet pipe! When combined with the Airfix compressor blades, it will look good enough. 

 

 

 

I'm quite content with that, at least as an improvement over the poor attempt at the original. At this stage it's all still held together with a little tape but as the cockpit is nearing completion, we're getting close to the stage of a Phantom build when it goes from nothing but parts to a recognisable F-4. Please do your best to look past the sanding dust in the above close up, we were in the middle of the "fettling and mocking up" stage!

 

I will say at this point, having never built a Fujimi F-4 before that it is a lovely kit and very nicely detailed, but it does show its age. Parts like the lack of detail in the jet intakes are "of its time". And the main gear bays are very plain so that's going to be another part of the kit that I'm going to want to improve. But (cue the Thomas the Tank Engine outro music), we circle back to how the post began to say, as Ringo Starr would have said, that's a story for another day.

 

Thanks for checking in. 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Nice intake mods. 

[roy107]

16 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Nice intake mods. 

 

Thanks Dennis!

[roy107]

I'll apologise for the lack of updates in the last few days, I've had a bout of the new COVID variant this past week and I'm only just getting back on the modelling horse, as it were. Add to that we've been looking after a friend's dog since the weekend and time at the bench has been scarce.

 

But, the intakes are complete, fuselage is together, and I've decided to do a little surgery on the air doors on the underside, which are of course always open when the aircraft is on the ground. There's nothing wrong with them per se, but they're overscale thickness and open to nothing. I'll be backing them with plasticard (and maybe a little detail from tubing and wire, if I can get a picture of the inside of the doors) and making the doors themselves from Plasticard.

 

I just like to overcomplicate stuff.

 

Pictures, no doubt, to follow.

  

[roy107]

Alright, so it's been a while. I appreciate I might be playing fast and loose with the "regular progress updates" rule that accompanies group builds, so I'm here almost restored from the bout of COVID with the latest progress update.

 

Much of the focus when I was last here was on the intakes. I completed those on both sides using thick paper rolled to a suitable shape, and used compressor faces from the Airfix kit to complete the effect. The paper was sprayed with a little Mr. Surfacer white primer and the engine faces were given a spritz of Mr. Surfacer black followed by a dry brushing of Tamiya gun metal and then Tamiya flat aluminium. I'm satisfied with the final result and I'd like to extend thanks to the genius who came up with this idea in the first place, as it was really easy to implement.

 

 

Moving on from the intakes, I thought "why should I make the rest of this build easy on myself?" - so attention turned to the doors on the underside which I believe always sit open when the Spey-engined Phantom is on the ground.

 

In the Fujimi kit, they are moulded open and scale out to about 3 ft thick, Needless to say, because I like things to be unneccesarily complex, it was out with the razor saw and off with the moulded on doors. Two new ones were fashioned from thin Plasticard, and the resultant hole in the fuselage was backed with a sheet of plasticard and odd bits of wire and plastic tube put in to represent "something" inside the doors. It doesn't look pretty, but it will all disappear into a coat of dark primer and some dry brushing anyway.

 

This may be the most exciting photograph so far, but here are the doors you've been waiting for:

 

 

And here's the underside. Note that I also got out the lead wire for the U/C bays as they were looking a little bare for my liking, and I added a strengthening strip from plastic strip too as it appears quite prominently in the walkaround photos. I decided not to go too overboard or too accurate with the U/C bays, I just wanted to populate them up a little.

 

 

So, at that stage it was time to mate fuselage and wing assembly. I find Phantoms remarkable in how quickly they come together. It's a fine kit but there was a lot of filler needed to fill the odd small gap here and there. Oh - and if you cast your mind back to early on in the build, I said the fateful line "who needs an alignment tab anyway", as I cut it away to accommodate the Reskit jet pipes...

 

It turns out, I do. The fuselage assembly was canting inwards towards the base, and that tab that I'd removed wasn't just for alignment but to keep the fuselage width correct. So out with the plasticard again, and some more alignment tabs had to be fashioned to spread the fuselage halves so that they'd meet the wings. In this photo, you can see the intake pipes as well so it's a good shot for to see how the assembly went together.

 

 

So, on with the wings, and then the nosewheel bay. There's a fair bit of detail in there already so I decided against adding anything, even if I could add depth by putting in some wire, as I figure some "instant skill" Tamiya panel line wash and some dry brushing will add the depth more easily. You can see a fair bit of the filler here and there.

 

 

And here's the upper side. There is of course another set of doors higher up which allow airflow from the Spey engines on the ground, and those are always represented open too. So again I added a pipe to be visible in the small space under the doors, and of course Fujimi's doors had to be replaced with Plasticard, suitably rolled to add a curve. That's why there are four doors on my photo above - I'm not just expecting to lose two!

 

I doubt this detail is in any way accurate (TLAR, remember! - but if I ever find (or take) any photos of these openings, I'll gladly try to replicate the innards more accurately), but it will be all but hidden except in close up anyway, so I just felt it was worth having a little play with some extra bits.

 

 

With the cockpit now fully in, the next step will be to break out the airbrush and get some colour on. As luck would have it I'm painting a 19 Squadron Hunter at the same time so I'll probably treat them both to some grey and green together.

 

 

And that's where we're up to as of today.

 

[Jabba]

Some very good work on the intakes and U/C bays. the doors that are on the fuselage sides although open are in reality amost closed, so you may not see the work that you have done in there.

[roy107]

3 hours ago, Jabba said:

Some very good work on the intakes and U/C bays. the doors that are on the fuselage sides although open are in reality amost closed, so you may not see the work that you have done in there.

 

Thanks Jabba. Yes it's pretty much a case of "well I'll know it's there" which is why I'm not putting in much effort, just a hint from the right angle that there's more behind the hatch than just nothing. I was inspired by my Airfix FG.1 that I built as XT597, where the doors show too much nothing for my liking.

 

 

[roy107]

Where does the time go, eh?

 

So what progress has there been since the last update? Well, some. I'm trying to sync the Phantom build with my 19sq Hunter build, but that's not really working and usually when I try to sync builds, they end up grinding to a halt. I always have too much on the workbench and get too bogged down in planning the next step of each build rather than actually building. However, the Hunter has had its first coat of RAF Grey applied and I'm hoping to get the green on today or tomorrow*

 

So a bit of detail work has taken place on the Phantom, the HUD that came with the cockpit upgrade set has been fitted and I think it's quite nice:

 

 

There's a lot more detail that I've yet to fit to the cockpit, electing to leave it until towards the end of the build to protect fiddly parts against accidental removal - the control columns, ejection seats, throttle levers, mirrors and any other greeblies that furnish the office.

 

Next, the canopies were fitted and masked ready for painting. Next, I finished dry brushing some detail work inside the various air vents, before putting the scratch built doors in place with some blu-tak to enable them to cover the detail for painting. Ailerons were fitted and the two blade aerials on either side of the nose were fitted and filed to a more appropriate shape. A little filler is still needed on those before they're ready for primer but, she's 99% of the way there and should receive a coat of Mr. Surfacer in the next couple of days.

 

 

With the main aircraft all but ready for paint, attention has moved to some of the piles of Reskit details. The jet pipes have been primed and I'm planning to paint them NMF in the same session as putting some Aluminium on the underside of the Hunter. I don't have a pic of the primed pipes but here they are, ready to receive the coat of Mr. Surfacer black.

 

 

 

Finally I've been removing the 3d printed Reskit AIM-9s and Skyflash missiles from their support trees. I can't quite cut close enough to the missile to avoid leaving a tiny little bumplet on the body of the missile, and removing sixteen bumplets per missile is quite a tall order so I'm hoping they won't be noticeable on the finished articles. Do any of you have tips, tricks or thoughts on these?

 

It feels sacrilegious but I'll have to remove a pair of fins from each Skyflash so that they fit into the recesses on the underside of the aircraft. It was easier with the resin and etch Skyflashes that went onto my F-4J(UK) because I just didn't bother to fit one side worth of fins to each Skyflash...but needs must I suppose.

 

And that's where we are.

 

* Actually, the Hunter was painted once and I was completed unhappy with it, so it was reprimed and is now on its second trip through the paint shop. But that's not an experience I want to relive 😄

[heloman1]

Great start and welcome to the Gb. Some neat work happening here...

 

Colin  FLY NAVY

[roy107]

1 hour ago, heloman1 said:

Great start and welcome to the Gb. Some neat work happening here...

 

Colin  FLY NAVY

 

Thanks Colin,

[roy107]

Having disappointingly dropped off of page 1 of the GB, and down into the lowly doldrums of Page 2 (with absolutely no offence intended to the other builders who are populating the rest of the GB's pages, of course, but a higher expectation placed on myself than others - especially in my first GB), I'm back with a progress update.

 

But if there's one thing I'm not used to, it's photographing my builds as they progress. Actually, that's not strictly true, as I do have the odd friend who gets a regular update. But still, I need to work on taking more pictures as I progress.

 

So this isn't actually the latest progress but brings us up to just before the weekend.

 

Shall we begin? Let's!

 

I left you with the airframe that will become XV474 all zipped up and ready for its first coat of primer. Well, a couple of coats of Mr. Surfacer grey were duly applied and here she is, sat next to the interloper - the infamous 19 Sqn Hunter that doesn't belong here!

 

 

 

The Hunter was repainted to be used as a bit of a guinea pig, with the camo painted using TopNotch masks as a test to see how I get on with them. I have to admit I think they're fantastic - far easier than my amateurish attempts at using putty to demarcate the camo pattern. But, it will be horses for courses I think as there will be occasions when putty remains preferable.

 

Nevertheless, proof of concept delivered, the paint went onto the Phantom. First, an overall coat of Xtracrylix XA1004 Dark Sea Grey, followed by a coat of Xtracrylix gloss varnish and at least 24 hours to cure, then the application of the Top Notch masks. After that came the XA1001 RAF Green. The final result after the removal of the mask set was satisfying, but it came at a cost paid into the swear jar as two minor mistakes quickly bustled into the modelling room like unwanted guests at a party.

 

Having used the canopy masks for the Phantom, I realise I'd used the masks intended for the buff-coloured canopy framing and should have painted that first, then applied the larger masks before ever touching camo colours. But my impatiance caught up with me and made me forget all about the canopy framing, didn't it? Well, I suppose I can try to apply the canopy framing with a fine straight edge at the end of the build, before the canopy masks come off... We shall see.

The other problem was, after I'd cleaned the airbrush, and gave myself a pat on the back and a bottle of beer for a job well done, well that was when I noticed the unattached stabilisors, which were left off to facilitate painting of the metal tail. Much banging of head onto modelling desk left me with the imprint of a sprue on my forehead and a little splodge of dark sea grey, so after cooling off I broke out the airbrush again and proceeded to spray again... now the upper surface of the stabilisors are painted and ready to move onto the next stage.

So this is where we were at that point:

 

 

 

Where to next? With at least 24 hours for the coat of Xtracrylix gloss varnish to cure before I could start masking for the next paint, I moved onto the Reskit dangly bits. 4x Skyflashes and 4x AIM-9s will be gracing the underside of this bird, along with an SUU-23 gun pod. All are 3D printed and exquisite, as mentioned previously, but they needed the final printing supports removing before a first coat of Mr. Surfacer white could be applied...

 

Here they are waiting for the primer:

 

 

 

The SUU-23 has already had the gun barrel and shroud painted black and dry brushed with gunmetal and aluminium. Compared to the blocky plastic example Fujimi provide in the kit, it's light years ahead. You'll notice one of the Skyflashes in the left hand box is detached from the other three: the base snapped as I was removing the trees. Perhaps I was a little heavy handed, but it seemed like a crack had worked its way in. Not an issue at all, it just means two grippers on the paint stand instead of one, and a reminder to me to be careful working with a medium that I'm unfamiliar with.

 

Next I gave the Reskit jet pipes a primer using Alclad black primer, followed by Alclad stainless steel, and last Alclad jet exhaust. Here they are after initial priming and first metal coat:

 

 

And here they are push fitted into the tail of the F-4:

 

 

It's a very tight fit and they don't work all the way in, so I suspect I shall take a round file to the plastic to see if I can widen the hole just a fraction before final assembly.

 

I had quite a productive weekend of modelling while my dearly beloved was away at a concert or watching That Blasted Dancing Program, so where have we got to since? Well, you may notice from the picture above that I've brushed the Xtracrylix XA1015 Light Aircraft Grey onto the underside of the airframe, while the missiles, gun pods, and fuel tanks are all primed and ready for paint. The entire underside of the Phantom is now masked up and ready for the next painting stage, which will either be the white for the U/C bays, the red for the air brake bays, or the natural metal tail - I haven't decided what order to do them in yet.

 

I've also got to break out the XA1015 again for the SUU-23, fuel tanks and pylons, and of course for those damn-and-blasted horizontal stabilisors because yes, you've guess it, in my haste to pat myself on the back after cleaning the airbrush what did I do? Shout out at the back, I can't hear you over there! Yep, that's right, I forgot to paint the bloody things didn't I?

 

By Sunday afternoon I was all Phantom'd out and decided to make some progress on the Hunter too, so that build looks likely to be completed around the same time as the Phantom and should end up in RFI.

 

Thanks for checking in. 

[roy107]

Disappointingly little progress to report, I'm afraid. For a couple of reasons.

 

Firstly, I've been embroiled in planning a memorial service for a close friend who sadly passed earlier this year, so at the request of his parents we're having a memorial on the day that would have been his 40th birthday. That's taken rather a lot of evening and weekend time...

 

And secondly, I've been lucky enough to inherit my uncle's stash of kits, paints, tools etc on the occasion of his downsizing to a smaller flat elsewhere in the country for health reasons. It's sad to see that he can't model anymore, and it means I've spent several evenings cataloguing the 60+ kits that are now all over the floor of the hobby room. Many of these will be going up for sale in the coming days along with a few of my own stash.

 

More progress hopefully to report on the Phantom soon.

[roy107]

So, posting this update for two reasons. Firstly, there has been progress. I've moved some of the boxes around the plane room to make enough space to continue to work, but I think I've achieved the ultimate in being boxed in now!

 

Secondly, I'm testing out hosting photos on Flickr instead of HobbyPhotoHost, to see which is easier.

 

So let's get on with a tiny progress update for quite a lot of progress.

 

The Phantom now has its undercarriage legs painted and installed, the bays are white but still need a quick wash of Tamiya "Instant Skill". The airbrake bays are also now white. The airbrakes are red on the inside and grey on the outside, while the undercarriage doors are all white on the inside and grey on the outside. So far, so good. The masking for the natural metal has been applied, and a shot of Alclad primer over the bare plastic. Tonight I'm planning to get the metal on the top - and no, this time, I didn't forget to paint the stabilisors!

 

I've also airbrushed some Tamiya Rubber black over the nose cone, which completes the painting of the airframe. I quite like the way this looks and hopefully with a semi gloss coat over the top it'll finish nicely. Once the natural metal is on and dry, I'll be unmasking the whole thing and she can bask in her glorious camouflage for all to see.

 

 

With little more that could be done to the airframe, attention turned to the various bits going underneath. All 8 Reskit missiles were given a final coat of white, and will next get introduced to some gloss varnish before decals can be applied. The SUU-23 and fuel tanks have been masked ready for a final airbrushing of Dark Sea Grey on the upper surfaces. But that will all happen tonight (hopefully). 

 

 

The final question for the underside is the Chaff/Flare dispensers. I thought about mocking some up from plastic channel section (and I may have done some rough outlines already), but it would seem that an F-4 based with RAFG in 1977 wouldn't have had them fitted as they appeared from the mid-1980s and mostly on home-based aircraft - any experts who know better please let me know if I've got that wrong, as I can always hang onto the ones I'm cobbling together for a future British Phantom.

 

I'm planning a good session at the workbench tonight, and will try to get more progress photos as I go. 

 

Thanks for checking in,

[Jabba]

Nice work. The Chaff/Flare dispensers did not turn up until much later in the RAF Phantoms career. So no RAFG aircraft would have had them in 1977. Just a point the SUU-23 would be alll one colour and probably Dk Green for the time period that you are doing.

[roy107]

3 hours ago, Jabba said:

Nice work. The Chaff/Flare dispensers did not turn up until much later in the RAF Phantoms career. So no RAFG aircraft would have had them in 1977. Just a point the SUU-23 would be alll one colour and probably Dk Green for the time period that you are doing.

 

Thanks Jabba. So no light aircraft grey underside, just all green?

 

I'll break out the airbrush again