nick

Well seeing as the voices in my head made me buy the delectable 1/32 Zoukei-Mura Ta 152 at Telford (and OK they sold out of Skyraiders in about 3 seconds flat) I guess it would be rude not to join the group build, so count me in. Nick

Last few shots have highlighted how ropey the wheels look, so I have stripped the paint off now and will have another go. Got some electrical cabling to add to the leg and then I think it might be done. On to the next challenge (-: Nick

And now weathering ... Ignore the dust on the wheels, only just noticed it (-: Thanks for looking and all you suppoprt during this 'illness' Nick

Now with paint! starting to come together a bit. Nick

Finished detailing ONE leg now made a start on the other. It's ready for primer next, which will tie it all together. Managed to replicate most of the fasteners on the leg which finishes it off. On reflection, probably gone over the top with this especially as I am planning to chain this down on a base, so it's highly doubtful any of this will be visible. ah well. In the immortal words of Magnus, 'I've started, so I'll finish'. Here's some piccies, primer next. [ Thanks for looking Nick

SLOW progress, got some more plumbing done today, very time consuming. Realised the thick bands moulded into the tops of the legs aren't correct so they had to go. Looking OK though I think, I will post some pictures tomorrow. Nick

Hi all, going to try and get some more work done on the landing gear soon. Pesky work doesn't half get in the way of important stuff. Been quietly working on figuring out and sketching the cable runs, so have a better idea of how to finish this off now. Nick.

More work on the landing gear today. Trying to figure out all of the pipe runs as well as scratch building all of the fittings and articulations. Quite pleased with the tie downs now after about 20 attempts, forming a D-ring, then soldering a bar across as in the fullsize, then flattening and rounding the ends. Making the collars for the flexible hoses is fiddly with sausage fingers as well. Nick

In the unlikely event of my ever finishing my tomcat, this is next in the stack for building. This is clearly how you do it then Absolutely top class build, you're making an excellent job of this very nice kit. Top marks. Got my eye on the Rather nice HPH catapult to go with it too Nick

Got a little more work done on the landing gear legs Scratch built the spring mechanism that locks the leg into the fuselage with brass and soldered brackets It's still difficult to see in these shots, but the white object is a scratch built 5 way staggered hydraulic manifold that distributes the leg plumbing through the pivot. It will look better in paint. Need to polish the ends of all of the pins as you can see, currently they are just cut roughly to length. Thanks for all the continuing support of this little project Nick

Bit more progress, here is the second louvre, you can see here how the edge is folded down and the frame soldered in place underneath. Remade the brackets for the landing gear as well. you can't really see it here, but I have made the hydraulic mainfolds that sit on the pivot shaft as well as drilling out all of the pivots on the scissor links Did a bit more on the scratch built structure inside the gear bays Thanks for looking Nick

MKII Louvres now. I've changed the design now to be the same as the full size. The inner edges of the frame are folded down on the real thing, so I have managed to do the same, now the lip of the vent is curved as it should be. Also more accurately replicated the brackets holding the vanes as well. Here's the new louvres anyway, quite pleased with them finally. While I was at it, I tried a new technique with photo etch, previously I was drilling holes at each corner to align my printed sheets with each other. There was a slight error in this and I was getting the two sides out of register. So today, in my drawing I added a centre line, and by scoring this, and not separating the front and back sheets, I was able to fold the two sides of my drawing and sandwich the brass in the pocket. This has turned out to be much more accurate (and easier) than my previous method. Might make more sense from the drawing (Maybe not !) Nick

First attempt at the louvres, needs a little attention, but not a bad start I think Nick

Here they are then Full sized Nick

Next job is the CAD drawings for the louvered air outlets that sit on top of the air intakes, then more photo etch fun Nick

More updates on the wheel wells, boy this is time consuming. I can safely say that there are A LOT of pipes in an F-14 Nick

Here is an update on the wheel wells and maingear bays First, scratch built well interior Photo etched missing panel detail Started to add some of the plumbing, lots to do! For the gear bays, cut out the incorrect square side walls, and extended the bay ceiling inboard, also made an extended bulkhead that will eventually carry the landing gear pivots I fabricated Made a start on the internal cylindrical air intake structure that is quite visible on the real aircraft Here is the original, kit version, which is depicted as a smooth flat panel, as opposed to the curved, complex structure it should be. I will scratch, all of the detail I have removed from the gear bay ceilings later also. Plenty more to do! Nick

I spent most of yesterday hacking away at the fuselage and scratch building the internal structure on the outside of the air intakes inside the wheel wells, if that makes sense. I'll post some pictures later when i've got something to show. Also, drew up some more photo etch parts for the wheel wells as well as some gills for the nose. Out with the acid again tonight Nick

Here's what I'm trying to replicate:- Polished everything up a bit so looks a little smoother now Need to try and build the weird hydraulic distribution mainfold next that lives on the pivot shaft. The shape of the leg isn't quite right either and will need attention. Nick

Turns out that was quite difficult then. Or more likely, I'm rubbish at metalwork. Had about 6 goes at getting this right, turns out the geometry of all the curves has to be spot on or nothing will fit. Anyway, one more to make, should be easier now I know how (-: Nick

one of the few good things about going over the top with a model is that you never have to ask yourself the question: 'is it worth doing thing X?', it invariable isn't, but seeing as you've already gone this far you do it anyway Which brings me on to:- landing gear. Here is how Tamiya think the main leg attachment on an F-14 looks. hmm. OK I'm sure they don't think that, but it's not very visible and has to be strong. So that'll have to go then. So here's the kit leg with a big square key that fits into the box moulded into the fuse So chop that off then I am going to make some bushes from brass to carry the load, so they need to extend into the leg for strength,so I roughly serrated up some ali tube to make a hole cutter and dremelled Next job drill a 1.5mm centred hole in my brass to accept the steel shaft already in the kit leg with the lathe Turned the shape of the bush down, I do like turning brass, there is something very satisfying about it Part it off and you get one of these Then start filing (cos I still haven't bought that 3 axis CNC machine I want yet ) and you get these, bit dusty, but you get the idea Next up I need to fabricate the brackets to receive these from ali, which is just filing. I'm going to be making a load more PE next as well, so stay tuned Thanks for looking Nick

That's looking really good, well done. Nick

Been working on getting the patina just right, I think it looks too gloss at the moment Hard to tell with flash really, getting there though I think Nick

Those Czech guys need to watch their backs here's MkV Nick

Well here comes MKIV. I'm calling this done now, I'm finally happy with it. 0.1mm brass is definitely the way to got, it etches quicker, therefore there is less undercut and the detail is much sharper. Here it is anyway, see what you think:- Thanks for all the kind words and support everyone Nick