MiGFan79

The Furball masks help! Essential for these early schemes.

Been concentrating on getting all the empennage painted ready for decals, for me this is the best this about the kit, being able to build and paint lots of sub assemblies in bite size chunks for assembly towards the end. I have some primer on the rear fuselage assembly and need to do some pre shading, however lack of paint has slowed me down somewhat.... Probably been mentioned before but if you are planning to mate the forward fuselage to the main "pancake" towards the end of the build I suggest masking the joining surfaces. The fit is snug enough thata few coats of paint plus clear could actually b@gger up the fit.

the cockpit falls into the “good not great” category for me. If I built another I’d probably go with etch or a Quinta set. But the rest of the build is so much fun I can forgive that.

In a change of form form for me i'm managing to do a bit most nights on this build.... Painting the front landing gear box components - Nothing flash, just primer white, pick out some details here and there, shot of lacquer then a light application of Flory "grime" wash. Landing gear box and cockpit completed - Hopefully get the nose assembly completed next week then other than painting it should fall together in large sub assemblies going forward. Still havn't made a decision on the scheme as yet but luckily that doesn't really have an effect on the building process as all my choices are 1970's grey / white schemes.

As previously mentioned the Eduard LooK set only contains printed instrument panels, not the side consoles, so I've been cracking on with the cockpit in the old fashioned way. Base colour is Mr Paint US Interior grey, then I've picked out the panels and canvas parts with a brush, followed by dry brushing with darker grey and metallics where suitable to help the details pop. I've also highlighted the odd switch here and there in white. Obviously the end result isn't as accurate or precise as using etch or one of those new fangled 3D sets but I think it looks ok. Untitled Untitled Untitled Untitled I'm trying to get to the position of having the front fuselage boxed up as soon as possible as that concludes the large sub assemblies.

Things moving on a bit at a time. Intakes painted and built up Exhaust rear trunking and nozzles Made a start on the cockpit by assembling the resin panels from the Eduard LooK set. First time i've tried these and fairly impressed. Some care needed taking them off the blocks but appearance and fit is great. I am a bit unsure about the grey colour though, although that can also be said about a lot of etch,, The main fuselage "Pancake" is buttoned up now and all intakes are in place, up to now I have used two cocktail stick heads of filler, one on the joint above the right rear stab, the other on one of the inner nacelle seams. Literally smeared it along the joint and rubbed the excess straight off. Quite impressed so far!

I never seem to get momentum going to finish many group build submissions despite my initial enthusiasm so I make no promises about getting this over the line. However I will say a kit of this quality at least gives me a fighting chance... Tamiya 1/48 F-14A - known quantity by now, not built one myself yet but know someone who has - apparently it's as "shake and bake" as plastic gets so fingers crossed. Extras are as follows - Eduard LOOK set (cockpit panels / wheels / seat detailing etch / Masks Furball control surface masks Various Decals I'm undeceided on the scheme as yet other that it being an early Hi Viz scheme from the early days, so Grey / White with suitable flamboyant tail / nose decoration. Candidates are VF-1 Wolf Pack (fond memories of the 1/72 Airfix kit), VF-41 Black Aces (great scheme, possibility of building an F-4 in the same scheme as a shelf mate down the line), VF-142 Ghost RIders (See VF-41). While I like the OOB schemes they are a bit done to death. Not got far as yet but impressed so far. Being able to attach most of the control surfaces towards the end of the build will make like much easier for painting.

This one -

Great news for me, especially considering Hobby Link Japan have just this morning delivered a set of VF-41 decals for B and J versions.. My sphere of interest is US Navy and British Phantoms, i find the RF and gun equipped versions hideously ugly so for me Tamiya have made the correct call, especially as ZM don't seem to want to do the original skinny winged versions.

Hasegawa 1/48 Phantom FG1 XV574. Eduard cockpit and seat etch, Xtradecal decals for the special scheme (stencils stolen off the ADV part off the Revell sheet as the Hasegawa decals were toast) and mainly Gunze paints. Main thread here - And finally with it's stablemate FGR.2 that I complete in 2019...

Ok i'm calling this one finished - only four years in the making. Apologies for the photos, I really struggle to find a decent place in the house to take photos, especially with the modelling room now being repurposed as an office. And finally with it's stablemate FGR.2 that I complete in 2019...

Moving on swiftly.... Only really the seats and canopies left to sort now, should be over the line this weekend and on the shelf.

Getting on pretty well with this now! Masked and painted the spine which I expected to be a terror of a job but came out well. I think shooting Barley grey (the main colour) over the tape before applying the black helped to seal it as there is next to no bleed. I'll certainly leave the splitter plates off the next one though! Let the decalling commence! I expected more issues than I actually had. I tried to use some of the Hasegawa stencils but they dried with a very yellow carrier film (to be honest the entire sheet looks "old" so I should have known..), so raided the Revell sheet for these. Insignia is from the Xtradecal sheet and generally settled down very well, I had a small split under the RWR unit on the fin but Gunze yellow was a very good match to hide it. Airframe is now sealed with a coat of Satin varnish awaiting weathering. In the meantime I've been completing all the little sub assemblies - Exhaust cans and FOD's I've got the ILS fins to paint in yellow to match the tail decals then it's just a case of weathering and assembling all the bit and pieces.

Making some headway on this, it's bumped the F-14 off the bench due to the earlier finishing date. Just a bit of masking and painting. This lot should be cured by the weekend so I can then get the black spine masked and painted.

Lol no. it’s on the fightertown decal sheet but I thought it would look good, especially on an early hi viz ‘cat.