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Revell 1:144 F-14A - VF-84, The Final Countdown Cat-shot - update 12-5


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In the Tomcat STGB1 I built this from the early revell kit, it turned out ok but at best it's a little rough around the edges.

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For the USN GB I built this santa catfrom the dragon kit and the fightertown decals.

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So I've spent plenty of time mulling over what I'm going to build for this GB; with the release of the res-im flap and slat resin kit it seemed appropriate to dig out the dragon carrier deck. I've both the revell A & D kits but after watching the "The Final Countdown" on Netflix I'm going to do the early Jolly Rogers film scheme in the A kit.

So here's the revell F-14A and the dragon carrier deck kit, the resin wings, some reference material and a pair of Ozmods pilots to finish it off.

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If I get all this lot finished I may have a go at either the F-14A in the flanker scheme from Fightertown decals or black lions F-14D with a TARPS pod.

Edited by Neal
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Very dynamic pair, Neal. They look great. Any more pictures?

Thanks , there are more pics here in the WIP threads and the GB RFI threads

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234911880-revell-1144-f-14a-tomcat-vf-1-wolfpack-finished/

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234944618-f-14-santa-cat-dragon-1144-finished/

It's well worth a root though the Tomcat STGB1 as there are some great builds in there.

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Hmmm, I was perusing the plastic of the revell tomcat and have spotted that there's a massive ejection mark in the front UC bay, also looks like there aren't any sides to the UC bay, I was hoping that I'd be able to complete the build without any remedial actions. Now can I let that slide by or will the modelling OCD take over. . .

Looking forward to the kick off.

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I'm going for you choosing the OCD route Neal :winkgrin: but I'm sure it will look spectacular whatever you decide to do. I will be tuned in to your progress. :popcorn:

John you're probably right. Anyhow this is the offending part, no UC bay side walls and a ejector mark in the centre.

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Whilst I pondered that one I painted and decalled the cockpit. I think the grey is a bit dark but too late now. The ejection seats are getting some paint and some of the other parts are coming off the sprues reading for painting. The big job (relatively speaking) this evening has been to start on fitting the resin wing glove. This is where I'm at:

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Not quite there yet but there are undercuts to sand and it's easier to take more off later than have to put it back on. So it's slow and steady with lots of dry fitting.

Edited by Neal
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The cockpit looks very nice ! This sounds like a very interesting project, looking forward to seeing more.

Re. the wheel well, if you're doing an aircraft ready to launch, then it would be on the deck and nothing would be visible of the front gear well really. Personally I'd just add the walls from plasticard. The ejection mark can be sorted with a disc of plasticard, I've hit a similar problem in the intakes of my Fujimi Tomcat and cut plasticard discs using one of those rotary punch tools used for leather, a cheap tool that can be very useful

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The cockpit looks very nice ! This sounds like a very interesting project, looking forward to seeing more.

Re. the wheel well, if you're doing an aircraft ready to launch, then it would be on the deck and nothing would be visible of the front gear well really. Personally I'd just add the walls from plasticard. The ejection mark can be sorted with a disc of plasticard, I've hit a similar problem in the intakes of my Fujimi Tomcat and cut plasticard discs using one of those rotary punch tools used for leather, a cheap tool that can be very useful

Cheers Giorgio, I'm thinking simple card side wall, the ejection marks are pressed into the internal ribs so it think my options are either to re-instate the ribs with evergreen strip or use a square of plasticard to create a fictional but plausible hydraulic junction box.

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Managed to file off a little more than I wanted on the glove bags, not a disaster but a bit annoying. I've glued a bit of plasticard on to replace it so whilst that's setting properly I got stuck into the cockpit parts.

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I've covered the ejector mark with some card and added to hydraulic lines with some copper wire. With it installed in the fuselage it all looks ok, not sure I'm going to need to add the side wall.

I used the same wire to make the ejector handles I made a little jig with some plastic rod and a coffee stirer.

The seats are painted and dry brushed I've added some of the red warning "text" to the seats applying the paint with a pin. The ozmods crew are finished as well and I've painted some tamiya tape grey to give them a harness.

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The pictures aren't great but I'm quite pleased with it all although I might have a look at the reference pics and see if there anything else that I can do to them as the seats look a little "flat"

And the dragon fire engine is together.

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A tiny amount of progress. . . . A bit of dry brushing helped with the overall look of the seats. The crew unfortunately had to undergo a below the knee modelling legoptomy to get them into the cockpit, but all looks ok now.

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Had to de-crew the cockpit to get everything closed up, then seeing speedmans build I realised that I should've painted the UC bay, hey-ho too late now.

Whilst that's drying I finished the first wing glove bag, glad I've done it as it makes quite a difference when compared to the original. Then I shortened the front UC leg and tidied up some of the other parts ready for priming.

photo-17.jpg

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After much sanding the second wing bag is complete. With a bit of tissue and PVA I've created the fabric cover for the RIO's console, for interest I've also added some fictitious controllers on the rear cockpit decking. The holes for the drop tanks were opened up then filled with some stretched sprue.

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Oh and the village people have reformed.

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YMCA

Edited by Neal
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Not much to update; a few more bits off the sprue and another coat of white on the intakes.

I've some tamiya clear green to tint the front pane of the canopy. I've never applied this before and I'm a bit worried that it'll be a bit dark rather than a subtle tint, is it best to just thin it or use it to colour some klear and apply that? Any ideas?

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I carefully separated the resin wings from the casting block (although I still managed to break off the gear mesh from one side). The read fuselage is now glued, the rear is loose whilst I dry fitted the wings. Good job I did the dry fitting as the pivot holes weren't aligned top and bottom and the resin was so think (relatively speaking) at the wing roots the fuselage wouldn't close up properly. But a bit of sanding soon fixed that.

I dry fitted the canopy and soon found the ejection handles were interfering with the canopy fit so I had to sand the base of the seats a little. The canopy is now I a pot of klear.

The island is attached to the base and the JBD is propped up with a bit of bluetack.

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All dry fitted at the moment.

Anyone any ideas in the canopy tint?

Edited by Neal
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Looks great Neal, I like those resin wings. I think I am going to have to get some for my future builds.

Re canopy tint, I found this on another forum I hope that it is of some use.

http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=53203

John, thanks for the link. I think I see if I've a spare canopy somewhere and try a few things.

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Just a small update; the resin wings were a bit thick at the roots and we're stopping the fuselage closing up properly, once that was fixed with a bit of sanding the main assemblies could be joined together. The pheonix pallets are on and the wings have been slotted to allow them to be fitted later. I've pinched and idea from Speedmans build and punched some painted plasticard discs to represent the engine compressor.

photo-19.jpg

There's a slight step where the cockpit fits the fuselage but nothing too serious.

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A lot of work going on there, the detail in the cockpit looks to be a lot more than my 1/72nd effort is going to have in it. Well done.

Thanks, not sure how much will be visible when the canopy goes on though

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In any case what's in that cockpit will look very realistic !

I'm looking forward to seeing the wings in place, they will make for an impressive model

Are you sure it's in 1/144?! I would say that it's in 1/72.

Good work.

Cheers,

Thanks for the kind words chaps.

I want to get it all primed this weekend, then I can get stuck into painting it all. Masking the wavey demarcation to the white lower area is worrying me at the moment, theres a strong tempation to do the later all over grey scheme. Plus theres the eternal which Tamiya Grey is the best match. . . .

Edited by Neal
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Thanks for the kind words chaps.

I want to get it all primed this weekend, then I can get stuck into painting it all. Masking the wavey demarcation to the white lower area is worrying me at the moment, theres a strong tempation to do the later all over grey scheme. Plus theres the eternal which Tamiya Grey is the best match. . . .

The nice thing with those VF-84 markings is that even the overall grey aircrafts were still very colourful !

To mask the wavey line, I'd choose one of these two options:

- Use a long thin sausage of blu-tak.

- take a strip of masking tape, draw the demarcation on the tape while this is flat on a surface and then cut the various "waves" patiently with a pen-knife or a small blade cutter

Both will take time and patience, but both work well

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Thanks Giorgio. I think I'm going to use masking tape as I recon I'll knock the white tack off. My reference pictures show a fairly soft demarkation line but at this scale I don't think it'll make much difference. I have been pondering how to cut the tape and end up with a symmetrical mask and I think I have it. I'll stick the tape to some greaseproof paper then stick another piece to the other side so I end up with a tape sandwich with the greaseproof paper being the filling. Then when I cut the wave I'll have a left and right side of the mask.

Anyway to proper modeller rather than "thought experiment" modelling. I've applied a bit of filler around a couple of the less tidy joints. I've got most of the loose parts on sticks ready for washing and priming. I've tinted the from pane of the canopy I ended up mixing klear with the Tamiya clear green to about 5:1, a little dark but ok.

And finally I've started my most hated modelling job of splitting the UC doors. I did notice that there's moulded detail on the inside of the main UC doors, well done Revell.

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