Boozer

This is awesome. Well done!

Finally got a chance to start on the Rhino... Cockpit started, combination of paint and decals. Major assembly is complete. Had to piece the gear doors together as "in-flight" was not an option oob. A few areas required a bit of filler as well. Loadout has been selected! 2x AIM-9X, 2x AIM-120, 2x AIM-154 JSOW, 2x GBU-31 JDAM, 1x FLIR, 1x Centerline Tank

Appreciate it. The kit was really a joy to put together, especially for the price. The fact that you can build almost any variant of the F-14 is a huge plus!

Appreciate the feedback. The decals were Printscale. No idea if they are typically good or not as I’m just getting into this world. And I agree with you about the rear AIM-54’s it is definitely too heavy of a load to land back on the carrier and I haven’t found any photos depicting it, but I like to take a few creative liberties on my models for things I like to see. And I just enjoy seeing a full loadout. Thanks for the kind words!

The F/A-18F model showed up today! This will be built and mounted in-flight with the F-14D.

Flat Coat applied, final assembly, and canopy masking removed! This model will get mounted in tandem with an F/A-18F from VF-2 as well (currently being shipped). Here are some pics!

Decals are on, armament is on, and gloss coated to seal it all in. Just have a bit more weathering to do over the decals and then flat coat... almost there!

A bit more progress over the past couple days. Got the decals on the main body applied. The decals are aftermarket as I have always loved the low-vis schemes from VF-2 Bounty Hunters, but, the decals were quite hard to work with and not too happy with the color of the light grey stripe, it appears to have too much blue in it. I still love the scheme and the decals came with the "Beat Army" that VF-2 painted on, along with "Go Navy", for a two ship flyby with a special message for the Army Navy football game while they were on deployment supporting Operation Enduring Freedom and Southern Watch. Onto the pics...

It comes with two options for the beaver tail. The F-14A which just has the fuel dump and the revised tail that has the ECM antennae and fuel dump (which i believe was used on A/B/D models.

Appreciate the kind words. The kit really goes together just beautifully and yes, the new decals are from Cartograf and are very nice!

Interior of the cockpit is complete so the canopy has been fixed in place. Final prep before paint, filling in a few seams with putty. Canopy masked and ready for paint! First coat of paint, the start of panel lines and mottling with graphite and then a coat of gloss clear... ready for decals.

Appreciate it all! Am I understanding it correctly in assuming that Micro Sol/Set will help remove the silvering on decals? The decals seem to silver worse after applying my final flat clear coat.

Model: Italeri's 1/72 A-10A/C Thunderbolt II Built-as: A-10C from Indiana's Air National Guard 122nd Fighter Wing - Blacksnakes - Indiana is my home state so I was pumped that this was an option. Comments: Painted with Tamiya spray cans for Aircraft and weathered with Pencil Graphite. I wanted to display the model in-flight, but the landing gear did not have that option OOB, so I had to piece together the gear doors to show them as closed, turned out better than expected, but required a decent amount of filler and sanding. I ended up with some silvering on the decals in certain light, just received a set of Micro Sol / Set in the mail this morning... hopefully this will take care of that. This is my first attempt at modeling after a long hiatus, comments are appreciated (bring the heat)! I realize now I should have taken some photos with a white background, but the model was a gift for a friend so it has already made the trek to its new home. Cheers!

Unfortunately yes, the kit only comes with the seat backs for the GRU-7, but has most of the accessory parts for the NACES seats (i.e. seat cushions, top of the headrest, etc.) I am using some aftermarket resin seats with pilots. Here are some pics of what is included with the kit and a few of the seats and pilots that i got painted up. I will be going with the low-vis scheme from the F-14D of VF-2 Bounty Hunters, so painted up the helmets with their stripes and stars.

Howdy all, I am a new member here and just getting back into modeling after a 20 or so year hiatus. I am open to any critique, tips, tricks, etc. Cheers! On the workbench at the moment is the new 1/72 Academy F-14A Tomcat, but I will be building a (D) version as Academy has supplied all the necessary parts for almost any version you want to build. I will also be setting this one up for in-flight display. This is not an option OOB and will likely provide some challenges, but should be fun. First up is putting the cockpit together. Nice amount of detail and decided to just use paint rather than the supplied decals for the instruments. Cockpit coming together. As I am building the F-14D I utilized the alternate dash panels provided in the kit. Cockpit assembled into the nose cone. This kit really goes together beautifully with hardly any fuss. Major sub-assemblies completed. Also bought some resin pilots and bang seats as the kit does not come with pilots and this will be displayed as in-flight. Starting to come together. Most seams are non existent. The interior side of the intake trunk will need some cleanup. Now to figure out how to piece the landing gear doors closed. Gear doors in-place. Will need a bit of putty and sanding but came together better than expected considering it wasn't designed this way. Vertical Stabs and various weapon pylons are in place. And this should bring us to current. Weapons loadout - 2x 2000# external tanks, 2x AIM-9M, 3x AIM-54, 2x GBU-12, and Lantirn Pod. That is one plus to the Academy kit, they have supplied so many different parts for displaying almost any Tomcat version you would want. Including various weapons and targeting pods. Thanks for taking a look and as always, I welcome any feedback!