56 Squadron FGR.2

**muller** · 09-21-2011 06:28 PM

My 1/48 Hasegawa FGR.2 is next on the bench. I'm hoping it will look something like this when it's done.

I bought this kit on ebay last year, I didn't notice when I got it first, but one of the fuselage halves was cracked. I don't know if the kit was sold like this, or it got damaged in transit.

This is what I tackled first, a bit of glue and filler, a bit of sanding and it's sorted.

Legend resin bangseats painted....

Cockpit painted, seats are just dry-fitted....

Cockpit fitted in fuselage to check how it looks.....

Fuselage halves glued together....

Intakes painted white and weathered....

Intakes and radome glued to the fuselage. Wings and a few other bits glued on too.

That's it for now, it's awaiting a filling/sanding/rescribing session at the weekend

**Crimea_River** · 09-21-2011 08:03 PM

Great stuff Keith. Those seats look especially well done.

**Airframes** · 09-21-2011 08:47 PM

Nice one Keith, and a kick up the Rs for me to finish my 're-paint' of 43 to 56 Sqn of the same kit!
One thing though mate, the bang seats you've done are the American version - the Marin Baker seats fitted to UK Phantoms had the full harness ( and a few detail changes), not the Koch-fastener harness as shown on your seats. These were used only on the 'stop-gap' F4J(UK) used by 74 Squadron, where crews had to use ex- USN flight kit, from helmets to oxy systems etc, as the Brit Government (i.e. clowns) couldn't afford a re-fit !!

**muller** · 09-21-2011 09:05 PM

Cheers lads. Terry, I just went with MB H7 seats, I'm hoping only RAF experts like you will notice!

**rochie** · 09-22-2011 08:09 AM

these may be of some use Keith, from Hendon

**Airframes** · 09-22-2011 09:03 AM

OK Keith, no problem. To be honest, it won't be noticed anyway. If you want any detail shots, just shout - I should have a number.

**muller** · 09-22-2011 04:40 PM

Cheers lads, great pics Karl, she's a big bugger!! I might try and scratchbuild a ladder for my build and add some of those stripy tags.

Terry, what colour would you say that radome is? The kit instructions call for Barley Grey, but it's not the same as the fusealge in that pic.

**Airframes** · 09-22-2011 04:48 PM

The radomes seemed to vary in tone Keith, between the shade shown in Karl's pic, and a darker shade. Back in the early 1980s, when the low-vis grey scheme was first introduced, I saw three different shades at Coningsby on Squadron and OCU aircraft !
On my model, I just mixed a slight variation, using Barley Grey as the base, and making it a touch lighter. In the pic, the lighting might be affecting the tone, but it looks similar to the very last colour used, before they retired, which is similar to 'Hemp', the colour used on the Nimrods, canberras and VC10 tankers.

**muller** · 09-22-2011 06:44 PM

Cheers Terry, I'll mix some sort of grey colour and make it a bit darker than the fuselage. I saw a pic of one with what looked like a shiny chocolate brown colour! They're probably a bit like the green colour Irish Seafires were painted with, open to debate!

**Wayne Little** · 09-23-2011 07:18 AM

Like what you've done so far Keith!

**Airframes** · 09-23-2011 07:49 AM

Yep, as mentioned, there were various tones. Here's a 56 Sqn aircraft in the mid 1980s, and my model, before changing from a 43 Sqn FG1, which was based on pics of the real aircraft when at Leuchars.

**rochie** · 09-23-2011 08:42 AM

Keith, going from memory the Phantom at hendon had a radome very like the one in Terry's picture, it is the lighting affecting the tones on the picture i took, if that helps ?