Did any of you steely eyed warriors master this Airfix gem
Yes, after my (and Aber Ratman's) father seriously upgraded the rubber band of the catapult on the Christmas morning that we got it (as a joint present). This then allowed the Phantom to actually travel the whole length of the line before turning and gave a decent chance of catching the arrestor gear on landing. (The rubber band supplied only got the Phantom a few feet up the fishing line, and you had to raise the slider on the stick as the phantom left the catapult or it just ended up in the ground in front of the deck) The downside of my father's mod was by the evening of Christmas Day the catapult system was totally U/S due to the extra stress of the upgrade ripping a large chunk out of the flight deck at the front of the catapult.
James May covered Super Flight Deck in one of his programs about top toy's and apologised to his parents on TV for actually pestering them to buy it, as he stated it was in fact rubbish!