jcjchung Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 Greetings, It's been a while since I built a Tomcat, so here we go. I'm also a rather slow builder these days, so progress will be slow, if you will bear with me. First off, some work on the Office. The kit seats are modified with a new seat pan and launch tube from styrene. New cushions and parachute packing are made from Tamiya epoxy putty, and belts are from Tamiya tape with the buckles from styrene. Kit tub and panels are used with a scratch built throttle for the pilot and new fabric on the coaming from epoxy putty. Primary colors were airbrushed Tamiya and Gunze acrylics, with detail painting done with vallejo and finally a light oil wash and a matt coat. Mike Grant decals instrument decals are used to embellish with the various dials. Happy (American) Turkey Day! -jc 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 Nice start so far! Do you already know what squadron it will represent? Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 Always good to see a Tomcat, more so in 1/72 scale... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcjchung Posted November 26, 2015 Author Share Posted November 26, 2015 Thanks Gents. Alex, it will be the blue/grey spintered NSAWC bird. Cheers, -jc 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woody37 Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 Great scratch building to liven that cockpit up 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vultures1 Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 Thanks Gents. Alex, it will be the blue/grey spintered NSAWC bird. Cheers, -jc Cool! Looking forward to this Great start on the tub, by the way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcjchung Posted November 27, 2015 Author Share Posted November 27, 2015 (edited) Minor update. The forward fuselage is together. Perhaps it's the age of the tooling, but a lot of the panel lines are soft or disappearing. Most of the nose therefore warranted a re-scribe of the surface details. My kit also came with the very early gun vents so they were filled and new NACA vents made.I further elected to close the boarding ladder and steps. Also the MLG gear wells were cleaned up. In addition to some minor ejector marks, the forward wall left large gaps between the adjacent walls. It was therefore removed and new forward walls made from sheet plastic. Cheers, -jc Edited November 27, 2015 by jcjchung 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Since I have one of these, I'm really interested in this build. Will follow with great interest. Cockpit looks brilliant! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mountain goat Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 O_o Great Scott! I'm planning to do an F-14 (A, early) build in 2016 so I'll be watching closely. Your work with the Tamiya tape and - putty is most excellent Sir! Jay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Yes, the gaps in the MLG wells are one of the most annoying issues with the Hasegawa Tomcat, you've sorted these very well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DannyB Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Nice work on the cockpit. It's amazing how just a bit of work with the epoxy putty really makes those seats jump out, and, your work on the IPs and side panels is really neat, this is going to be a cracking build! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radleigh Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Lovely work so far, will be one to watch this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dermo245 Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Always good to see a Tomcat, more so in 1/72 scale... Absolutely. Nice work on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcjchung Posted November 28, 2015 Author Share Posted November 28, 2015 (edited) Cheers, all. A little more update today. Some of these are get-ahead tasks already done to-date. The wings, including the slats and flaps, were assembled in the retracted position, which required some cleaning up and rescribing. The boat tails have been installed to their respective upper and lower fuselage halves, and the airbrakes closed. This is easier to clean up than if the instruction is followed. FInally, the intakes are cleaned and primed, and sanded, and primed, and (repeat, with a side dose of choised wording). These are also finished and ready to have the grey forward portions painted. -jc Edited November 28, 2015 by jcjchung 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jusjay Posted November 28, 2015 Share Posted November 28, 2015 Looks great, and love the cockpit work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcjchung Posted November 28, 2015 Author Share Posted November 28, 2015 So I wanted to position the wings at the full aft angle of 68-degrees, and not the 75-degrees oversweep for parking. However Hasegawa designed the wings with a single tab on the fuselage for positioning and two corresponding slots in the wings for either with 20-degrees (full forward), or the oversweep position. I thought I'd be smart and just enlarge the oversweep tab. Nope. All it gave me was a very sloppy fit. So I looked at it and thought, all I needed was something to fix the position of the wings. So I traced the outlines of the inboard edges of the wings, removed the existing fuselage tabs, and glued sheet styrene along the outlines to butt the wings into. This also gives me extra surface area to adhere the wings to for support. Bonus! Cheers, -jc . 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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