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phantom_phanatic309
#372
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Posted: Friday, June 12, 2020 - 09:31 AM UTC

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....My advice on the FGR.2 though is if you see it GET IT! It's a rebox of Hasegawa's and is around half the price of their box. Both are released rarely and go for silly prices when OOP. Hence why I got two!....


Mike, Stephen, Revell Germany has the kit in 1/48 out in their 2020 catalogue. It's #04962 and over here it's around 30 Euros. Not really expensive compared to other kits today ....



Thanks Torsten. I wasn't sure if Revell had dropped it from this year's line. My LHS hasn't had one since last year. I might have to add a third to do in FAA colours!

John, that's unbelievable! How it got to you intact is a mystery. I would be raising a complaint with Amazon about it though. For what they charge for prime membership and the high p&p for non-prime members, you expect better care. I worked in a model shop after leaving university, we did a lot of online and mail order and I can tell you that is simply unacceptable. I packed and posted hundreds of kits, slot-cars, railway, RC... everything. You name it, I packed and shipped it! Nothing was ever reported damaged. And we had customers as far afield as South Africa and Alice Springs!
Johnnych01
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England - South West, United Kingdom
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Posted: Friday, June 12, 2020 - 10:45 PM UTC
Lol.... My wife was over that like a complaints ninja when they delivered it... I didn't even know she had made a complaint till about an hour after she handed it to me...
As to the FGR2, Amazon did have a few the same as yours for 25 quid for prime holders so no delivery charge. .. and my LHS in Plymouth has one I think I saw for 29 plus p & p ... I thought they were reasonably priced but aircraft pricing isn't my thing to be honest.
phantom_phanatic309
#372
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Posted: Saturday, June 13, 2020 - 01:02 AM UTC
It's not a bad price for the scale to be honest, especially as Hasegawa boxing's are pushing £50-60 here in the UK.

Another thing to bear is the cost compared to Airfix's 1/72, which is only a few pounds less. It's probably a much easier build than the Airfix kit too. Especially the nose gear leg which needs to be chopped up and rebuilt. The Royal Navy's FG.1 had an extending nose leg to jack up the nose to increase the angle on launch from the smaller deck of the Ark Royal and Eagle. Unless it was about to be launched, you never see them with the nose stuck in the air and it was never fitted to the RAF FGR.2.
Despite this, Airfix decided to mould the nose leg in the extended position. Even Matchbox gave you the option of two. It's a minor issue, but not something you expect in a modern tooling.

Hope you get a response from Amazon. Sometimes I think need a reminder from customers that this isn't ok. The next one they send like that might not arrive as safely as yours.
phil2015
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Illinois, United States
Joined: July 27, 2015
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Posted: Sunday, June 14, 2020 - 06:47 AM UTC
I may join this. I have never built a model of a jet but wanting to do a phantom for while I ordered the 1/72 Hasegawa b/n kit. It will arrive within a week or so I think and perhaps I can wait until the start date to start. It's turning out to be more work to build it than I thought - just to get everything I need/want for it. I do airplanes wheels up, so I need to find a crew for it. And I ordered a couple of weapons sets from Hasegawa but I still feel like I'll have to sort all that out when it gets here.

Regardless I look forward to seeing the builds.
Sleepwalker71
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Singapore / 新加坡
Joined: August 30, 2012
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Posted: Sunday, June 14, 2020 - 07:21 PM UTC
I will go with this model:



The story behind this plane and unit is fascinating, and at the same time somehow unclear. Z-M gave an option to arm the plane as an interceptor, while since it had been equipped with LORAN-D its main purpose was night bombardment and pathfinder actions for harassing Ho Chi Minh route in Fast FAC missions. At the same time mentioned in the manual laser-guided armament was limited to just several planes (not the one depicted in the kit) and introduced in early 70', but not in 1971 yet.
After some investigations, I will go for pathfinder Fast FAC loadout with target marking flares, unguided rockets and cluster bombs, what seems to be more or less standard for these missions.
SpeedyJ
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Bangkok, Thailand / ไทย
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Posted: Sunday, June 14, 2020 - 08:33 PM UTC
Nice and very interesting version of the D.

phantom_phanatic309
#372
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United Kingdom
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Posted: Monday, June 15, 2020 - 09:45 AM UTC
Nice choice Damian. Don't think I've seen a build of that kit yet so it will be interesting to see.
Johnnych01
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England - South West, United Kingdom
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Posted: Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - 07:28 PM UTC
Hi all ... so here is the first of probably many easy questions for you Phantom guru's to help me with.

On the one I will be attempting, the F4J II Jolly Rogers from Revell, I would like some help with the weapon load out.

It has Sparrows, Sidewinders and bombs with what look like long rod penetrators fitted.

I want to fit it with the Sparrows on, but on the inner weapon pylons on the wings, would it have all sidewinders fitted to both sides, or would it possibly have bombs on one side and Sidewinders on the other ? I take it you couldn't have bombs and Sidewinders on the same pylon or could you ?

I don't want to do it with an incorrect load only for all you flying thing guys to mock me later lol

All help is greatly received.
RedwingNev
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England - East Midlands, United Kingdom
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Posted: Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - 07:59 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Hi all ... so here is the first of probably many easy questions for you Phantom guru's to help me with.

On the one I will be attempting, the F4J II Jolly Rogers from Revell, I would like some help with the weapon load out.

It has Sparrows, Sidewinders and bombs with what look like long rod penetrators fitted.

I want to fit it with the Sparrows on, but on the inner weapon pylons on the wings, would it have all sidewinders fitted to both sides, or would it possibly have bombs on one side and Sidewinders on the other ? I take it you couldn't have bombs and Sidewinders on the same pylon or could you ?

I don't want to do it with an incorrect load only for all you flying thing guys to mock me later lol

All help is greatly received.



Is this for over Vietnam John?
Sleepwalker71
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Singapore / 新加坡
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Posted: Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - 09:09 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Hi all ... so here is the first of probably many easy questions for you Phantom guru's to help me with.

On the one I will be attempting, the F4J II Jolly Rogers from Revell, I would like some help with the weapon load out.

It has Sparrows, Sidewinders and bombs with what look like long rod penetrators fitted.

I want to fit it with the Sparrows on, but on the inner weapon pylons on the wings, would it have all sidewinders fitted to both sides, or would it possibly have bombs on one side and Sidewinders on the other ? I take it you couldn't have bombs and Sidewinders on the same pylon or could you ?

I don't want to do it with an incorrect load only for all you flying thing guys to mock me later lol

All help is greatly received.



The long rod is a fuse causing a bomb explosion over the ground.
With TER adapter carrying three bombs you can still install sidewinders.
Johnnych01
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England - South West, United Kingdom
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Posted: Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - 09:30 PM UTC
To be honest Neil I am not totally sure. I am just going from the box art and pictures on the back, it has the markings from the USS Roosevelt, so Im sure thats well post Vietnam ?. The more I think about it I would rather just see it with air to air missiles fitted.
Johnnych01
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England - South West, United Kingdom
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Posted: Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - 09:53 PM UTC
So, after some quick online wizardry I have now realised there was a USS Franklin D Roosevelt before the USS teddy Roosevelt .....whoops.

So, the box art has it as VF-84 which did have F4J's and was on board the F D Roosevelt from 70 to 75 , but I dont think it was deployed to the Vietnam area ?? so the box art may be just artistic measure showing various weapon loads ??

I knew I should just of stuck with tanks lol.
Sleepwalker71
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Singapore / 新加坡
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Posted: Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - 10:50 PM UTC
While VF-84 was abroad USS F.D. Roosevelt it has been deployed to the Mediterranean.
phantom_phanatic309
#372
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Posted: Wednesday, June 17, 2020 - 04:07 AM UTC
To answer your weapons question.
The Navy B, J, N and S Phantoms could carry up to 4 AIM-9's along with TER mounted bombs or rocket pods on the inboard pylon. So could the Spey engine FG.1/FGR.2 which was based on the J model.

USAF model C, D, E and G versions could not carry both. It was either a pair of Sidewinders (or Falcons), or TER bombs, rocket pods. A huge range of other guided air-ground weapons are possible too. It was all to do with the inner workings, wiring and a little bit of inter-service politics. The same goes for export versions of these, like the Luftwaffe F.

Fortunately, there's an easy way to tell:
If it's sharply angled it's Navy and can carry both.



If it's curved it's Air Force and it's one or the other.



Hope it helps.
Johnnych01
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England - South West, United Kingdom
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Posted: Wednesday, June 17, 2020 - 04:33 AM UTC
Cheers Stephen and Damian thats all great info and gives me plenty to work with. I will check the kit later but Im pretty sure its the pointy version for the Navy as the box art depicts.

cheers guys
phantom_phanatic309
#372
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Posted: Wednesday, June 17, 2020 - 06:22 AM UTC
Happy to help John.
Looking forward to seeing your build. This seems to be a very inexpensive and easy to find J. I have a fair few decal sets for the J version I'd like to build and this one might be a good choice for me.
Johnnych01
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England - South West, United Kingdom
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Posted: Wednesday, June 17, 2020 - 07:25 AM UTC
Im looking forward to it as well, by what I've seen through the plastic it looks ok. And for £12 you can't go wrong. As I do the build I will try and do it as a mini review with as much info as I can in. The Phantom was the main UK fighter in my early years hence why it is my favourite bird I think. The times of the Phantom, Buccaneers, Jaguars... To name a few....
RedwingNev
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England - East Midlands, United Kingdom
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Posted: Thursday, June 18, 2020 - 02:27 AM UTC
I've checked my references John, and it seems most of the time USN F-4's carried either AIM-9s OR 500lb bombs on the inner pylons, but rarely both. I managed to find just two pics were both are being carried.

F-4B's off the Coral Sea could only carry 2 x 500lb with AIM-9s due to the take-off-weight restrictions off the Coral Sea's shorter deck.

I found one pic of a VF-96 F-4J with 4 x AIM-7, 4 x AIM-9, 6 x 500lb. This aircraft only had a centreline tank, no wing tanks (again, I assume due to TOW restrictions off the carrier).

As Damien said, VF-84 flew F-4J's in the med between 66-74 off the USS Independence, then FDR. So not a Vietnam loadout, but who knows what training loads they flew with, especially every time it got a little hot in the Middle East.......
phantom_phanatic309
#372
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Posted: Thursday, June 18, 2020 - 02:54 AM UTC
That's a good point Neil.
The individual aircrafts role would also determine the fit of Sidewinders. Is it flying a strike, CAP, escort? And location of course.

Best thing to do is a trawl of photos and see what VF-96 was typically lugging around in the Med.
Of course there's nothing stopping you loading it out to the max!
Johnnych01
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England - South West, United Kingdom
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Posted: Thursday, June 18, 2020 - 03:41 AM UTC
I did have a trawl around the witchcraft web .... by what I can make out, the box art of VF 84 would suggest it was from the med cruise during the first part of 1970, in which the nose cones were black. On the 1971 cruise back in the Med, the nose cones changed to white.

As for the load, I have decided to keep it simple ...... missiles only, so sparrows and Sidewinders ..... to be honest, I dont like Phantoms with bombs on, it doesnt look right to me.
RedwingNev
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England - East Midlands, United Kingdom
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Posted: Thursday, June 18, 2020 - 07:36 PM UTC
So some inspiration in case anyone needs some. Phantastic HD footage of the final flight of Japan's 501 squadron "Woodpeckers".

Glorious

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUtO8oRpb78&feature=emb_logo
Johnnych01
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England - South West, United Kingdom
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Posted: Thursday, June 18, 2020 - 09:00 PM UTC
Nice one Neil , that was a nice clip. It does look great in the air, it just has the look that you know it means to get the job done.
noddy927
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Scotland, United Kingdom
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Posted: Saturday, June 20, 2020 - 12:02 AM UTC
I have joined the campaign, 1st one for quite a while, I have a Revell F-4 F 1/32 kit in my stash of which I will upload a pic shortly.

Pete
Bigrip74
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Texas, United States
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Posted: Saturday, June 20, 2020 - 01:54 AM UTC
Neil, I really enjoyed the video of he RF-4 final flights. The off shore camo scheme was of interest.

Thanks

Bob
phantom_phanatic309
#372
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Posted: Saturday, June 20, 2020 - 02:19 AM UTC

Quoted Text

I have joined the campaign, 1st one for quite a while, I have a Revell F-4 F 1/32 kit in my stash of which I will upload a pic shortly.

Pete



Awesome Pete. I'm currently trying to get my hands on one of these. God knows where I would put the thing. They're big enough at 1/48!