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1/72 Hobbyboss F-14D Super Tomcat


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Hello everyone!

My next build is the F-14D. Easily one of my favorite aircraft, it's been on the build radar for a while now. I settled on the hobby boss offering as the I already own a die-cast F-18F in the VF-2 CAG scheme.

 

The Hobby Boss kit is a pretty well balanced kit. There's a reasonable amount of well defined surface detail which stands up pretty well to reference photos. Despite this, it has a relatively low part count (as compared to the Hasegawa offering) and hopefully should come together with minimal fuss. The kit is lacking or could use some sprucing up in a few key areas. I see this as a +plus as it offers a good opportunity to scratch build. Armed with a healthy bunch of stretched sprue, thin cement (chloroform) and styrene card, my intent is to detail the aircraft to as close to the real thing as possible.

 

I have added links below to the various build milestones crossed so far for your quick reference.

  • Main Landing Gear:
    • Part 1:  Torsion Link weight reduction depressions
    • Part 2:  Hydraulic Lines and adding missing elements
    • Part 3:  Hydraulic Lines (contd)
    • Part 4:  Paint, decaling and weathering (Coming soon....)
  • Cockpit:
    • Part 1: Console Hood Canvas using tissue paper, and installation of the DreamModel cockpit PhotoEtch
    • Part 2: Cockpit errors
    • Part 3: Cockpit corrections

 

Kit sprues and close-ups:

Since a review of the kit is missing here on Britmodeller, I took the liberty of posting sprue shots and close-ups for anyone interested. (Pic heavy)

 

Box Art:

oBoZddC.jpg

My choice of livery for this build. The kit also comes with two other options including the low-vis version of the same livery.

akA0OFv.jpg

 

Upper fuselage:

VIEqA0l.jpg

Fine recessed lines and riveting detail. The airbrake is moulded in the closed position, but for this build, it isn't a concern.

h1yhlWt.jpg

 

Lower fuselage:

s8BrKC6.jpg

MVuUIQg.jpg

 

Sprue A:

Front

dzTl8Wq.jpg

Back

PSDYQbL.jpg

LHS front fuselage

C33YzPR.jpg

RHS Front fuselage

SgS1HFg.jpg

Nose gear bay and MLG bay door detailing

O3npuyY.jpg

Nose gear (RHS) with option of catapult bar raised and lowered

Wt8IpQZ.jpg

Nose gear LHS

TsznIjy.jpg

MLG detail

Yezr7wW.jpg

MLG Wheels

bUfJn1M.jpg

Nose gear wheels

aUAnNjl.jpg

Lower hull surface below cockpit area

E53Q3cY.jpg

 

Sprue B:

Control surfaces. The great advantage of the kit is the possibility to pose the wings extended or withdrawn. Unfortunately, there's no option for dropped flaps.

bbXAgss.jpg

Upper wing detail

plsLraL.jpg

Lower wing detail

26CvP9k.jpg

Vertical stabilizers

PUbUFgd.jpg

Elevators

UvsUS7e.jpg

 

Sprue C:

Sparrow Missiles and fuel tanks

rORzk46.jpg

 

Sprue D:

Phoenix and Sidewinders

9pKKDVk.jpg

Sprue G:

Exhausts etc

0i3S31m.jpg

XlbRBVr.jpg

 

Sprue J:

Pretty detailed Ejection Seats. Will spruce them up a bit nevertheless.

fz9Qo7c.jpg

 

Sprue E:

Clear parts

JqBpjqz.jpg

 

Decals:

Pretty comprehensive with almost all stencils provided.

JZXYtDs.jpg

Weapons stencils:

vy06s0v.jpg

 

Dream-Model PE for the cockpit:

ilnZfeH.jpg

 

DreamModel Brass Pitot:

YquHA13.jpg

 

That wraps up the introduction to the kit. In the next post I plan to start detailing the Main Landing Gear.

 

Your feedback, suggestions and comments are much appreciated.

 

Thanks for watching!

 

Cheers,

Alex.

Edited by alxzinbox
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Nice to see one of these F-14D's being built, I think they are great kits for an easy build and offer a lot of detail in a great package. Just remember, for a D model, remove those ECM bumps under the wing glove.

I think the 1/72 model sufferes from the same over sight as the 1/48 kit with regards to the nose pitot. Both seem to have the base too far back. If you want to use the metal pitot (I would), glue in the plastic one, then sand it down until you get the same diameter as the metal one, then drill a hole and glue it in at the end.

Have a look online at some close up pics of the F-14 pitot and you'll see what I mean about the kit part extending too far to the rear, resulting in a 'fat' looking conical base.

The Dream model PE looks really nice.

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Nice to see one of these F-14D's being built, I think they are great kits for an easy build and offer a lot of detail in a great package. Just remember, for a D model, remove those ECM bumps under the wing glove.

I think the 1/72 model sufferes from the same over sight as the 1/48 kit with regards to the nose pitot. Both seem to have the base too far back. If you want to use the metal pitot (I would), glue in the plastic one, then sand it down until you get the same diameter as the metal one, then drill a hole and glue it in at the end.

Have a look online at some close up pics of the F-14 pitot and you'll see what I mean about the kit part extending too far to the rear, resulting in a 'fat' looking conical base.

The Dream model PE looks really nice.

Both points duly noted Parabat :) Thank you for the tips! Since the brass pitot has much smaller diameter than the nose tip, your suggestion seems most logical.

-----------

Breaking with tradition, I decided to start the build by detailing up the Main Landing gear.

One of the first minor niggles of the kit is the awkward placement of the very thick attachment points. I found it pretty challenging to do especially on the cylindrical parts.

2NlyiTD.jpg

The MLG has very basic detailing. My first port of call was to replicate the weight-reduction in the support arm. The kit offers no surface detail on this part.

baYVFJI.jpg

scooping out the plastic accurately would be beyond my technical capabilities. So I decided to create the detail using 0.3mm plastic card. I first removed excess plastic to make space for the new insert.

iyzrXwd.jpg

I then measured drew and cut out the shape while still attached to the main sheet so that the fine edges didn't deform

4DcmmKm.jpg

It fit snugly to a reasonable error, and looked fine after a bit of filler and sanding. The black marking was to determine which side faced up.

mMdfleg.jpg

Still not too happy with the result, I decided to redo the part entirely by creating two sheets of the cutout, and sandwich a 1mm piece in the middle. The bonus is that I am also now able to replicate the depression on the side of the strut as well.

9GPxWrN.jpg

The smaller parts are for the suspension which is again lacking any details.

5VC99x3.jpg

With the new parts installed. A little thick on the borders, but it'll get covered up with the hydraulic lines later on.

rlQKVq5.jpg

Cheers,

Alex.

Edited by alxzinbox
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Straight out of the box, the MLG looks pretty basic. It also misses some pretty obvious bits like hydraulic lines, the actuator spring connecting the MLG to the fuselage and some other parts.

sEZpc0k.jpg

I managed to achieve some pretty amazing results scratch building the Martin Baker Mk-10 Ejection seat and nose gear on my Sea Harrier build. Stretched sprue and plasticard worked wonders.

4ru2yES.jpg

aL2cMVw.jpg

I started off with the actuator spring, using 0.3mm styrene card and stretched sprue of various diameters.

UYy5qby.jpg

Stretched sprue is pretty maleable like copper wire, with the additional bonus of welding perfectly with the plastic. The spring was made by wrapping copper wire around a stretched sprue core for easy installation.

For the hydraulic lines, I glued one end first. After it had dried completely, I used thin cement to attach the other end and intermediate points.

31XxccG.jpg

s9hDAZZ.jpg

3LV98Zm.jpg

The finished result (back half) v/s the original:

XVxcKDh.jpg

The next update will be the detailing of the front facing half of the MLG, which has the bulk of the hydraulic lines, as well as the PE tie-down handles. As always your suggestions for improvement are always welcome and appreciated.

Cheers,

Alex.

Edited by alxzinbox
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Beautiful workmanship!!

So the HobbyBoss kit is worth expending such outstanding effort on?! If so, I need to look into that kit, having dismissed it as HobbyBoss.

Gene K

Edited by Gene K
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Thanks for the inbox review, the kit looks good, I was looking for a Tomcat in 72nd scale seems like I found which brand to chose!

And your detailing is amazing, especially for such a small scale, congratulations!

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Wow, that's impressive work, it really shows off your skills! I honestly couldn't suggest anything more!

Thanks Parabat! My main reason for doing the WiP is to not work in isolation. More eyes are better than two. You have a much more in-depth knowledge about the aircraft than I, and I would highly appreciate any inputs for improvement from all of you :) Far from being an expert, I'm just studying references and moving along one step at a time.

Beautiful workmanship!!

So the HobbyBoss kit is worth expending such outstanding effort on?! If so, I need to look into that kit, having dismissed it as HobbyBoss.

Gene K

Thanks Gene! That's what I mean in part by calling it a balanced kit. It has sufficient detail to create a decent looking Tomcat OOB, yet offers opportunity to the modeller to add their personal detailing touches if they so please. My only other experience with Hobby Boss was their Sea Hawk FGA6, which was a joy to build. I'm hoping that this kit will live up to the expectations I have of it.

Thanks for the inbox review, the kit looks good, I was looking for a Tomcat in 72nd scale seems like I found which brand to chose!

And your detailing is amazing, especially for such a small scale, congratulations!

Thank you Daniel! :) The inbox review was my small token of giving back to the community.

That's lovely detailing work on the landing gear. Really makes a world of difference.

Matt

Thank you Matt! It's all the little things that bring the model to life, so the time spent on doing them are absolutely worth the effort.

Cheers,

Alex.

Edited by alxzinbox
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HI Alex, I've built a version of the HobbyBoss kit and wish I'd paid as much attention to the detail that you have! Amazing effort so far. What decals are you going to use? Good luck with the build.

Thanks Victory-is-in-the-Kitchen! There's always your next build that will provide plenty scope for detailing :) I'll be building the Hi-viz CAG scheme.

yZKPd0c.jpg

Lovely work so far, this looks like it will be one of those 'wow' builds. Thanks for pics of the kit too, looks great.

Thank you Mirageiv :) Kit pics are my pleasure!

--------------

A small update in the detailing on the left MLG. Continued adding hydraulic lines and additional details on the main strut.

44XsV9U.jpg

As further details are added, the probability of breaking off work on the opposite side is dramatically increasing. :mental: It's pretty fiddly work- this little detailing took around two hours along with plenty redos due to uncooperative bits refusing to cement properly. The stillness and quiet of late night is perfect for this kind of work. Nevertheless, when compared to the kit piece, it seems to be time well spent.

ogFfbfU.jpg

The macro-lens does highlight the blemishes, but I dare say it looks pretty decent at scale. Will be using microfiller/ primer to fill in the gaps between the lines and the terminators.The primer coat will also hopefully smooth out the results that look pretty rough right now. It's almost unthinkable to take sanding sticks to the part.

Will probably take it to paint and decal application in the next update as some hydraulic lines might run over the decal and make it's application much more difficult later on.

As always, critique, suggestions and tips are welcome and appreciated.

Thanks for watching! :)

Cheers,

Alex.

Edited by alxzinbox
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On 1/9/2016 at 3:03 PM, rom1 said:

hi

that is quite a interesting build!

I like you scratchbuild skills. very nice improvements to the kit.

Meanwhile, this kit seems to be a very nice one.

bye

On 1/9/2016 at 6:49 PM, Air-to-Air said:

Shaping up very nicely. Looking forward to seeing more.

On 1/9/2016 at 10:21 PM, Giorgio N said:

Great detailing job on the landing gear, looking forward to more pictures !

Thank you Rom1, Air-to-Air and Giorgio! :)

-------

Ejection Seat Detailing

As I wait for the arrival of some consumables needed to complete the landing gear, I decided to start on the SJU-17 Ejection seat. The kit offering is devoid of any representation of the rocket motor systems, as well as missing the very prominent canopy smasher horns on the headrest.

 

I started off by making a small cradle for easy manipulations during detailing, paint and decal application. The seats are held on by blu-tac

y2JEfRU.jpg

 

The lower portion of the EJ seat seemed to be pretty well detailed to not require any upgrades. Also, I didn't want to spend time on something that would be hidden inside the cockpit. I sawed off the top half, and decided to redo that portion.

d7V8EyP.jpg

I used 0.3mm styrene card to fashion out the canopy smasher horns. Instead of cutting two sets for either side, I glued a piece of card over another using water soluble PVA glue. I could then cut out the shape and end up with two identical parts of the same. A quick dip in water is sufficient to separate the parts.

jLIaLyl.jpg

The bulk of the head rest was made from three 1.3mm styrene cards stuck together, cut and sanded into shape. These are the parts for the first assembly.ujf88p5.jpg

The rails and rocket motor was made from 0.5mm strips and a 1mm thick stretched sprue.

vsBmhzi.jpg

The headrest support was made from 1.3mm styrene card, and shaped using a round needle file.

YeV4FCm.jpg

Stretched sprue was used to make the rest of the parts on the rear and sides of the seat. After finishing the detailing, the seat looks like a pretty good improvement over the kit's offering.

YG4Lpao.jpg

9HQqV2p.jpg

After paint

Ys4kWGS.jpg

Decals and Dream-model PE.

Akbbqfc.jpg

26LjdUy.jpg

Ij7Y27i.jpg

uFPOxsB.jpg

 

There is a considerable gap between the PE head-rest plate and the head-rest. Realised it only after transferring the photos from the camera. It's going to be difficult to fix as I have liberally applied CA glue in multiple places around the harness etc. A bummer for sure, especially as it fit well during dry-tests. :(

 

So that's the result from a labor of two days. I didn't work on both the seats simultaneously, as I didn't want to make the same mistakes twice. Hindsight is 50-50 and lessons learned on the pilot's seat will make the RIO's seat all that much easier. Atleast, that's the theory.

 

Thanks for watching, and as always, your critique, suggestions and tips are welcome and appreciated.

 

Cheers,

Alex.

Edited by alxzinbox
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Awesome model, the scratch skills are strong with this one! I would love to have a pair of 'D's in both high and low viz for this squadron. Looks like the box art shows low, and the plate show high. Am I wrong in assuming this kit carries both options? If so I might need a pair.

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Thank you ArmoredSprue, Modelglue and Val! :)

Awesome model, the scratch skills are strong with this one! I would love to have a pair of 'D's in both high and low viz for this squadron. Looks like the box art shows low, and the plate show high. Am I wrong in assuming this kit carries both options? If so I might need a pair.

Yes, the kit has both the high and low vis schemes, with separate stencils for both. There's also a third scheme for a VF-31 Tomcatters, you can have a look at the decal sheet above.

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Great work! And you made the perfect choice for the markings - VF-2 in high-viz is one of my favourite F-14 schemes. I have a question about the kit - does it correctly reproduce the NACA ducts on the port side of both ventral strakes? I read somewhere that Hobbyboss mucked that up, but it might have been their other kit in the unmentionable scale.

Cheers,

Bill

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Great work! And you made the perfect choice for the markings - VF-2 in high-viz is one of my favourite F-14 schemes. I have a question about the kit - does it correctly reproduce the NACA ducts on the port side of both ventral strakes? I read somewhere that Hobbyboss mucked that up, but it might have been their other kit in the unmentionable scale.

Cheers,

Bill

Hobby Boss did not get the NACA vents on the strakes at all. See the ongoing six Tomcat build for more info, the chap is casting another manufacturers ventral fins to put onto the HB Toms.

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Thank you ArmoredSprue, Modelglue and Val! :)

Yes, the kit has both the high and low vis schemes, with separate stencils for both. There's also a third scheme for a VF-31 Tomcatters, you can have a look at the decal sheet above.

How did I miss that? (rhetorical)

Thanks for the answer though, be awfully tempting to do a tomcatters jet now too..

Jeff

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Great work! And you made the perfect choice for the markings - VF-2 in high-viz is one of my favourite F-14 schemes. I have a question about the kit - does it correctly reproduce the NACA ducts on the port side of both ventral strakes? I read somewhere that Hobbyboss mucked that up, but it might have been their other kit in the unmentionable scale.

Cheers,

Bill

Thanks Bill. As Parabat mentioned, it's missing in this HB kit as well. It would have been nice if they provided the fins as a separate piece instead of moulding it to the fuselage. Then again, lots of details that one would take for granted in a Hasegawa offering are missing in the kit, thus all the scratch building.

Hobby Boss did not get the NACA vents on the strakes at all. See the ongoing six Tomcat build for more info, the chap is casting another manufacturers ventral fins to put onto the HB Toms.

Well, that's a viable alternative. A friend has the Hasegawa kit. Will attempt a similar procedure on this build if scratch building a fin from styrene sheet doesn't work. Resin Casting seems to be a very handy skillset to have in the inventory.

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Ventral Fins with NACA ducts:

Thanks to the discussion intiated by Navy-Bird in the comments above, I decided to reproduce the NACA ducts using styrene card instead of going down the complicated route of casting it from the Hasegawa kit.

I started off with the basic dimensions and hand drawn outline for the ducts on 0.3mm styrene card

W08SlMM.jpg

Using a new blade, carving out the duct was pretty easy.

LP64Aoh.jpg

I further refined the shape after detaching the fin from the rest of the card.

7ZfTpM3.jpg

I then glued the fin on to a 0.5mm card. As per the kit dimensions, the base of the fin measured 1mm in thickness. So the final thickness of 0.3 + 0.5 = 0.8mm should look reasonably passable in scale. I made the blunder of gluing the first card the wrong way the first time. Fortunately steps 1,2 & 3 were pretty simple to replicate (took around 5 minutes each time), so no love lost.

dPrVyX5.jpg

After the cement had completely cured overnight, 15 minutes of sanding the edges to a keen edge (with reference lines drawn on to the fins) and the result was looking pretty good already.

7hhxUxi.jpg

And finally here is the end result (not attached to the fuselage) with the original for comparision. Added the panel on the inner starboard fin, along with riveting. Some filler will still be required along the tips, which will hopefully be solved by the Mr. Surfacer 500 (which is still in transit over surface mail- also required to complete the landing gear)

ySJ6nru.jpg

Building both the fins took little over 2-2.5 hours in total (including mistakes, stretched over two days), and adds a nice additional level of detail to the build.

Thanks Navy-Bird once again for bringing this detail to my attention! :)

Cheers,

Alex.

Edited by alxzinbox
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