FG.1 Leuchars 1970 Fujimi 1/72

[almac]

Hi everyone. I’m joining this group build with a Fujimi kit and Xtradecals markings for an FG.1 of 43 squadron based at Leuchars in 1970. 

 

 

As you can see the kit is moulded in a yucky white plastic and incudes white metal parts and photo-etch details. This will be only my second Phantom kit, the first was a Hasegawa one built for a group build in 2019. As I know nothing about Phantoms I will build it out of the box and try not to get bogged down in researching details. If I make it to the end of the build and it turns out ok then I’ll be happy. I’m looking forward to starting this one. 
 

Cheers Allan

Edited September 30 by almac
Photos re-uploaded

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Hello and welcome Allan, 43 squadron is starting to take a lead I think there are now 3-4 of their Phantoms getting built. 

[almac]

Morning everyone. Quick question for those who know things about phantoms and the Fujimi kit in particular. Just looking at the cockpit and I’m confused already. There are two parts that the placement of them is not obvious for me. The instructions are vague as to how they fit. Can anyone enlighten me please. The parts are number 45 and 56 for the rear part of the cockpit - see pic 

 

Cheers Allan 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

13 hours ago, almac said:

Morning everyone. Quick question for those who know things about phantoms and the Fujimi kit in particular. Just looking at the cockpit and I’m confused already. There are two parts that the placement of them is not obvious for me. The instructions are vague as to how they fit. Can anyone enlighten me please. The parts are number 45 and 56 for the rear part of the cockpit - see pic 

 

Cheers Allan 

you might find answers here, the left side is fuse panel, right side is a blank box that covers the in air refueling probe. 

 

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235077139-phantom-fg1-cockpit-help/

[almac]

@Corsairfoxfouruncle
you might find answers here, the left side is fuse panel, right side is a blank box that covers the in air refueling probe. 
 

Thanks for the link Dennis. I’m still a bit confused but I’ll probably work it out.

 

Cheers Allan

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

2 hours ago, almac said:

@Corsairfoxfouruncle
you might find answers here, the left side is fuse panel, right side is a blank box that covers the in air refueling probe. 
 

Thanks for the link Dennis. I’m still a bit confused but I’ll probably work it out.

 

Cheers Allan

Allan, if you want you could glue the cockpit tub to one of the sides. That will give you the correct spacing for the panel. Then paint the opposite piece. Glue the fuselage together. And drop the second side panel into place. The panels ate snug to the walls of the cockpit and the rear vertical as well. 

[almac]

27 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Allan, if you want you could glue the cockpit tub to one of the sides. That will give you the correct spacing for the panel. Then paint the opposite piece. Glue the fuselage together. And drop the second side panel into place. The panels ate snug to the walls of the cockpit and the rear vertical as well. 

Thanks Dennis. I'll give that a go.

 

Cheers Allan

[almac]

After a week of inactivity I on a whim decided I should remove the details on the rear of the cockpit as I understand it’s incorrect. I admit to shamelessly copying other builds by those who know more about these things than me (which is everyone) and attacked the raised details with my trusty Swannmorton with predictable results. 
 

 

 

Pretty sure that’s the wrong colour for the cockpit. 
I’ll continue tonight with adult supervision.

 

[Jabba]

Welcome along. It is not copying, it is drawing on the experiences of others. Oh ouch by the way.

[Pappy]

I used a flat file, no blood loss involved!

 

Pappy

[almac]

22 minutes ago, Pappy said:

I used a flat file, no blood loss involved!

 

Pappy

I agree, that would have been the sensible choice. 

[Pappy]

6 minutes ago, almac said:

I agree, that would have been the sensible choice. 

 

But did you learn your lesson 😊 

[almac]

Of course, until the next time. 😒

[almac]

I’ve made some solid progress with this over the weekend but I forgot to take some pics. The cockpit is not my best work as I struggled with the small detail painting and decided just to dry-brush the various panels. I need to get stronger reading glasses I think. The cockpit went in with my usual ham-fisted finesse - thankfully not much will be seen once the closed canopy is on. The fuselage went together ok and I think I’ve addressed any seams. The white plastic is awful to work with but when the primer’s on I’ll get a better idea what’s needing done. The tail fin needs some smoothing where the little antenna thingy broke off almost straight away. I’ll hopefully manage to fix that ok. The wings and fuselage are a good fit thanks to the spreader tip from @Pappy.

 

 

More tomorrow hopefully 

 

Cheers Allan 

[almac]

I can’t believe it’s been 11 days since I last posted here. Anyhoo, I’ve been pottering along with this build and I’m at the point of priming the model. Generally the fit of this kit has been very good, the exception being the intakes which had sizeable gaps on the underside. Not sure if I was at fault for that but it was a reasonably easy fix with plasticard and some filler. I’ll see how it looks with some primer on, probably will need more work. I used a generic phantom seatbelt set from Eduard, it may not be wholly accurate for this build but it’s on, most of it - so tiny! I neglected to take pics along the way but here are a couple before the primer goes on.

 

 

 

[Ray S]

Good work so far @almac. I'm tempted by one of the Fujimi Fantoms or the recent reissue by a firm I can't remember the name of but contains the number 2000

 

Ray 

[almac]

Thanks @Ray S It’s Hobby2000 who have reissued the Fujimi British Phantoms. Italeri has as well.

 

Cheers Allan

[Jabba]

Coming along quite nicely.

[Ray S]

19 hours ago, almac said:

Thanks @Ray S It’s Hobby2000 who have reissued the Fujimi British Phantoms. Italeri has as well.

 

Cheers Allan

 

I just happened to go into my local model shop today and they'd just put out some of these Hobby2000 Phantom kits, so it would have been rude not to get one, so I'll start a thread for that shortly. Thanks for the info 

 

Ray 

[heloman1]

Neat work with the scalpel! I don't like those curved blades I only use a 10A good all round blade. Yes it will still cut you buy you get a better cut!!! The other bits look good too.

 

Colin

[almac]

Morning all. In my last post I said the priming would highlight areas needing tidying up. Well, at first I thought it look ok but on closer inspection there was a lot to do. I thought I had addressed the seams ok but the primer showed up loads of issues, I blame the white plastic. The canopy was a terrible fit and I couldn’t see how I could resolve it so I’ve decided to go with the open canopy. I’ve addressed the seams as best I can and started painting the underside Light aircraft grey. I’ve used Mr Hobby aqueous H332 and I’m not sure how if it’s ok. As my knowledge on these issues is non existent I would appreciate if anyone could advise if it’s reasonably accurate.

 

Cheers, Allan

[almac]

Evening all. Some more progress with this over the weekend. I've got the main camouflage colours on after tedious hours of blu-tac and masking tape. Tomorrow I'll get the metal colours on the exhaust  areas.

 

 

Cheers Allan

[almac]

Hi everyone, my glacial progress continues. Tonight I painted up the metal tail parts with Vallejo model air aluminium and gun metal. As I'm progressing with the painting I'm noticing quite a few mistakes with the build I didn't notice before. As a result my enthusiasm for this build is waning a bit.

 

[dad's lad]

Brilliant work, but I'm curious, I've never seen a 1/72 Fujimi Spey Phantom with separate nose pieces before. Is this one of the modifications made when the other improvements were made I wonder?

 

Clive.

[Jabba]

Nice piece of painting.

 

@dad's lad if you notice in the instructions on one of the earliest posts, you have to cut off the nose. If I remember rightly the radome on this aircraft was a unique radome, as it was a test aircraft.