Biggles and the Phantom Menace

[PR19_Kit]

You and Dizzy must have gone to the same  modelling school! 

[KiwiZac]

I needed a refresher course though - I haven't built anything this quick in years, it's rather fun! Picking out decals while doing paint:


And the copied Spey cans look pretty not-bad! A couple of air bubbles but that's fine by me:


To really make people scratch their heads: the Wingnut Wings 1/32 RE.8 and SE.5a instructions are coming in very handy, likewise builds of Revell's 1/72 Camel.

[KiwiZac]

No more photos until it's done. Expect an excerpt from the book "Biggles and the Phantom Menace" with the next post!

[Gondor]

Sorry about the cans being to poorer quality version from Fujimi. I obviously want to keep the better ones for myself.

Gondor

[NARSES2]

Coming along well 

[NARSES2]

You and Dizzy must have gone to the same  modelling school! 

That or it's Red Bull IV's

[KiwiZac]

Gondor - no need to apologise, they're better than the ones that came with the kit. Which was none

Thanks Chris! It's been a blast! 10.10am here on Sunday and I'm doing the last touches of paint before doing a clear coat to finish.

[KiwiZac]

In Biggles and the Phantom Menace, James Bigglesworth, Algernon Lacey and the rest of 266 Squadron have been challenged by new and improved German fighters over the Front when a mysterious man claiming to be from the year 1986 arrives at their airfield. The man, Jim Ferguson, claims to have travelled back in time to help Biggles and Algy defeat ace pilot Manfred von Stalhein - cousin of Biggles' arch nemesis Erich - and the cunning flyers of Jasta 213 and avoid the death of our heroes in a major dogfight in three days' time.

Ferguson leads the pair to a nearby farm where, inside an old barn, is a fantastic aircraft he'd brought from the future to help them...a "jet plane" called Phantom. After fitting out the plane with spare machineguns and bomb racks from the 266 Sqn stores, and repainting it to resemble their Camels, Biggles flies the Phantom to menace the Jasta 213 airfield and force Manfred von Stalhein into a fight he cannot win...











This is the Hasegawa 1/72 F-4K of probably 1960s vintage which I bought dirt cheap online, only to find it had no exhausts. Gondor was kind enough to send me some - along with some other spares to upgrade it - which I decided to clone and keep for another project. Making it wheels-up meant a very quick build! I put in a suitably-attired pilot and painted it based on a Sopwith Camel: PC-10 uppers, Clear-doped Linen (on a Phantom?) unders, a wooden radome, silver intakes (like a Camel's metal cowling), "wood coaming" under the cockpit and rusty exhaust areas inspired by SE.5a exhausts. Bomb racks made to look like varnished wood were attached, and some bombs from a Novo Vickers Vimy and some machineguns were the sum total of construction. Then decals scavenged from the box (mostly Revel 1/72 Camel and SE.5a) rounded off the build.

Quick and not particularly pretty - and the story could do with some work - but that's my entry completed!!! Started 11.20am yesterday, finished by 1pm today.

[PR19_Kit]

Hehehehehe, I LOVE it! 

The wooden radome is a total HOOT! And you may have beaten Dizzy's 'Shortest Ever Whiff Build Record' there too! 

[zenrat]

A wooden radome wouldn't be completely impractical...

Excellent work.  Not sure Colonel Raymond would approve though...

[Steel Penguin]

bravo sir, bravo.
inspired, and done amazingly quickly,  and a neat little backstory.

[NARSES2]

The random is excellent but the bombs are just 

[KiwiZac]

Thanks all! I've not built something so fast since my first days on the board back in 2005, it was great fun! The fact Tamiya acrylics dry so quickly was a major boost to the build.

Apologies for the dark photos, they were actually taken outside! Hopefully that doesn't count against me for the voting...

I'm glad you all like it!

[NARSES2]

Sometimes Tamiya can dry a tad to fast, same as Gunze

[Captain Canada]

Haha that is too cool Zac ! Nice work on this one. Defo somat different !