Scale aviation modeller international

engine interiors were painted black.

Deep intake tunnels fit over

the intake vanes, and like the

engines, these have been moulded

in two halves. Split horizontally,

they have some prominent seams

running their entire length,

which require filling and sanding

smooth if they are to remain

hidden when the tunnels are

viewed through the gaping intake

mouths of the finished kit. Several

applications of primer and filler

were required, as well as wet-

sanding between the coats, before

the seams finally vanished. This

was followed by a coat of white

enamel, fading to black towards

the rear of the tunnels to add

to the impression of depth.

Although not attached at this

time, the jet nozzles are cemented

directly to the engines, meaning

that the engine assembly in its

entirety must be inserted into the

fuselage before closure (there is

an engine stand supplied in the

kit, which although pretty basic

does allow the option of displaying

an engine in its entirety).

The fuselage halves are long

and very flexible, and require

a lot of clamping and taping to

get them to close fully. This task

is made problematic by the fact

that there is no lower fuselage as

such, just a gaping hole where the

wing assembly will eventually sit.

Neither did the manufacturer think

to add any internal supports to

counter the inevitable compression

effects of using rubber bands and

clamps to brace the fuselage whilst

the cement hardened. However,

the parts have been designed so

that the upper seam is enclosed

beneath a separately moulded

spine section, which means that

any alignment issues or gaps

in that area can be hidden.

Closing the fuselage halves is

made even more problematic if,

as mentioned above, the cockpit

is slightly misaligned. Despite

my having taken every care to

align the cockpit tub and integral

wheel bay, I still found it necessary

to trim some plastic from the

horizontal lip that protrudes from

the port fuselage wall before it

would slip beneath the cockpit’s

upper ledge (part C-4) as it was

intended. Several clamps were then

required to force the nose section

(reluctantly) into position and hold

it there whilst the cement hardened.

A decision must be taken in

advance of closing up the fuselage

halves concerning the position

of the tailerons, for if these are

posed in anything but their neutral

position, surgery is required: the

integral attachment points must

be drilled and then cut from the

rear fuselage. A pair of separately

moulded alternatives must then be

inserted into the resulting gaps.

This seemed to me to be an

unnecessarily arduous task and

certainly not one that could be

undertaken by a novice modeller.

It would surely have been simpler

if the manufacturer had simply

supplied separate inserts, as is

commonly the case with Phantom

kits from other manufacturers. In

this instance then, the Zouki-Moura

kit could be reasonably described

as being under-engineered,

and I soon discovered that this

was not an isolated instance.

WINGING IT

The wing assembly consists of

separately moulded wheel bay

walls, which need cementing to

the one-piece lower-wing section

before the wing halves can be

closed. Remember too to open the

appropriate holes should you wish

to load your Phantom with the tank

and missile options supplied.

There were no issues during

wing assembly, though fitting

them to the fuselage threw up one

or two challenges. Alignment of

the lower-fuselage nose section,

which protrudes in two lengths

from the wing leading edges to

pass beneath the cockpit either

side of the nose wheel bay, refused

to sit correctly, doubtless due to a

slight misalignment of the bay.

I found it necessary to align,

secure, and cement the two

sections millimetre by millimetre

until the correct position was

acquired. This prolonged process

resulted in two horizontal seams

that were fairly simple to clean up

without destroying the exquisite

engraved detail in those areas.

A smear of filler was required

along the wing roots and in places

along the horizontal fuselage

seam to fill obstinate gaps.

The curved intake fairings have

appropriately thin leading edges

and the two-piece splitter plates

feature delicately engraved detail.

There is a small internal T-shaped

pitot tube provided for each intake,

which must be attached prior to

assembly, and once in place the

assembled intakes slide into place

behind the wing leading edges.

The fit of these large and

prominent features is poor, with

considerable gaps along all edges,

which all require filler. There

were also noticeable steps along

the upper mating edges of each

intake, but I decided that these

were better left alone, as filling

and sanding would have resulted

in a far messier join and the loss of

surface detail. (I have found similar

fit issues in these areas on many

a Phantom kit, from numerous

manufacturers, in the past and in

other scales, but I was expecting

more from this modern tooling).

On the plus side, once the

wings are added, separate flaps,

ailerons, and leading edge slats

allow options to add life to the

model. Again, though, surgery

is required to complete the

effect, as the integrally-moulded

leading edge slats on the wing

tip dihedrals must be surgically

removed and replaced with the

separately-moulded alternatives

provided, if such is your wish.

SIDEWINDERS AND

SPARROWS

Work was progressing on several

sub-assemblies whilst the airframe

was coming together, including

the fuel tanks, missiles and

pylons, and the undercarriage.

The landing gear built into solidly

impressive units, featuring separate

scissor jacks, actuating arms,

and hydraulic fluid containers.

The nose gear features single-

piece tyres, while those on the main

gear are two-piece items, which

required considerable tidying up

to remove the wraparound seams.

This resulted in smooth tyres,

devoid of detail, which was re-

scribed using strips of Dyno Tape

to create straight edges against

which to score the new tread.

White was the predominant

shade required on the undercarriage

units and on the missiles, though

a dark base coat was employed

to create depth. The four AIM-7

Sparrows are nicely rendered and

include correctly shaped fins,

with razor sharp edges. The only

downside to having such beautifully

32 • OCTOBER 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

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