Building this beastie is why I got back into modelling in the first place. I've always wanted a top notch model of a Phantom. Of all the fast jets it's by far the coolest. To my eyes it still looks modern.
This one is boxed as Revell but it's the old Hasegawa kit. Thus, there isn't much at all wrong with it. You can buy any number of resin cockpit components, but what's there isn't actually all that bad. I bought the Aires resin cockpit for this one but it was a bit advanced for my skills trying to shoehorn it in without doing serious damage to it. It doesn't fit at all well. The resin ejector seats are also not particularly good. There are better I'm sure. On this build I was content to use the seats supplied but with PE seatbelts. It's not by any means perfect but this was my first serious go at hardcore modelling.
As it happens, this one is the wrong colour and there are other accuracy issues with it, but accuracy on this build wasn't really a concern. I was going for something that looks good - and I think I succeeded. There's minimal weathering on it but I have used a Flory wash which does a lot of heavy lifting.
When it comes to Phantoms I think elite modellers have a tendency to overdo it, adding decals you can't normally see on the real thing, and going overboard with the panel accentuation and pre-shading. They do it because they can. Here you have to question if the mission is to showcase your skills or just make something you like looking at.
Since taking this photo in the lightbox I've added two Sidewinder missiles which sets it off nicely, but I think the definitive UK Phantom is the green and grey camouflage one. I think I'll have built one before this year is out. I have a second one in the stash because they're so bloody cheap. When they were sold as Hasegawa they used to cost around £50 but now you can get them for less than half that in the Revell box, so thank you Revell!
Build wise this one is fairly straightforward. Hasegawa are always at the higher end of the quality spectrum and there are no serious issues with this kit so far as any normal builder is concerned. The intakes need a bit of filler on the join and they don't quite align right, but that's fixable. There's no major engineering works to be done on this one.
Eventually you get the rhythm for twin seat fast jets. I have enough of them now, but the Phantom along with the Tomcat seems to be a skill benchmark so it's really worth having a crack at one. At less than £25 for an ex Hasegawa, you'd be daft not to.
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