1/72 FAA Phantom

[36feet10inches]

McDonnell Douglas Phantom FG.1 XT864/007
892 Naval Air Squadron, FAA
HMS Ark Royal, 1976

Thought I'd kick off my FAA collection with an icon of British naval aviation...

Fujimi 1/72 kit, which was lovely to build. Took blooming ages, not because it was particularly difficult, just that there's a lot going on, all that stuff dangling off the bottom. Very different proposition to whacking a little single-seat prop together. My first crack at a jet too. Anyways, I'm reasonably pleased with the outcome.

Cheers

 

[Wurger]

Well done.

 

[Gnomey]

Excellent!

 

[otftch]

One of my favorite birds. great job.
Ed

 

[BombTaxi]

Beautiful mate, I love Phantoms and I love the FAA, so this is one of my Holy Grail kits If you don't mind me asking, where did you get it? Most places I look never have it in stock

 

[36feet10inches]

Beautiful mate, I love Phantoms and I love the FAA, so this is one of my Holy Grail kits If you don't mind me asking, where did you get it? Most places I look never have it in stock

Ebay, if I remember rightly. I think it was one of those "buy now or best offer" jobs, after a bit of haggling I got it for around 17 or 18 quid or something. There's one on at the moment at 39 quid which is just barmy. If I see one come up at a reasonable price I'll let you know.

 

[BombTaxi]

Cheers, I know that 1/72 Phantoms do get a bit silly, especially when you get into Fujimi/Hasegawa territory. Your build looks spectacular though, certainly a standard to be aspired to!

 

[magnu]

Very nice build

 

[FalkeEins]

lovely job !

 

[36feet10inches]

Your build looks spectacular though, certainly a standard to be aspired to!

Cheers, I really appreciate the positive feedback, but you might be being a bit generous there . The kit is beautifully engineered and to be honest I think it would be difficult come up with anything that didn't look pretty good as long as you are methodical and put the hours in. A bit of tricky masking apart, there's really nothing difficult about the build. I don't do all that weathering/superdetailing stuff and certainly I'm light years away from the standard we see from other guys on this forum. But as I said, I appreciate it!

 

[Airframes]

That's a beaut model Conk, well done mate! I don't know if the Fujimi kit includeds it, but the old Matchbox kit has the option of the extended nose-wheel leg of the FAA Phantom, which makes for a great pose on a display base made as the catapult deck.
It's still available through King Kit, who might also have the Fujime kit.

 

[36feet10inches]

Cheers Terry. Yes it does include the "40 inch leg", as well as open and closed canopies, and three decal options. It really is a superb kit. I have the "Yellow Bird" version in the stash to do at some future date.

It was nice to do a build of a kite where source photographs are readily available! Here she goes off the deck...

(interestingly this must have been before the RWR fin was fitted to the tail...)

 

[Airframes]

Nice shot, think I've got some more like that. Yes, the RWR fairings were coming into service just before the Phantoms left the FAA and were transferred to the RAF. Even in the early 1980's, some RAF birds were still without them.

 

[36feet10inches]

Interesting that... the kit comes with "Silver Jubilee" nose markings which I didn't like the look of, so I left them off, thinking it would make a '76 Phantom rather than a '77 (logically). I have seen pics of XT864 without the nose markings and with the RWR (e.g. below) - wonder when this was taken?

 

[Crimea_River]

Nice job!

 

[hawkeye2an]

Real Nice Model. Your photos brought back a memory of this photo. Anybody know the circumstances of these markings/masquerade?

 

[hawkeye2an]

For the answer check out my posting under Markings and Camo.

 

[Wayne Little]

Nicely done CK!

 

[A4K]

With wayne- great work Tony!

 

[T Bolt]

Very nice looking Phantom8)