Navy Bird

Hello mates, Does anyone know if these markings (that Brian has so kindly provided a picture for) are available in 1:72 scale? I have an old Microscale sheet with the black nose/red tail scheme but it's for an F-14A, not an F-14D. Plus, the tail codes are different, etc. Thanks, Bill

Very nice scratch built cockpit detail! I'm anxiously awaiting the rest of this build to see how nice you can tart up this old gal! (Is that correct? I'm still very bad with my UK expressions!) Cheers, Bill

Excellent work, Jens! I now have to figure out how to shrink all of your enhancements down to 1:72 scale for my build! Cheers, Bill

Hi Andy, Great work on a bear of a kit! I built about 10 of these guys back when they were brand new, and I don't recall them fitting any better than what you've shown here. The seam on the inboard face of the intakes and the seam down the sides of the forward fuselage were/are really nasty! I used to cover up the entire face of the inboard intake wall with a thin piece of plastic card. I did this because even after you fill the seam, the intake wall has a concave shape to it, not flat as it should be. Back then, this was the best game in town for 1:48 scale, as the Hasegawa Cats hadn't been released yet. It was either this or the really old and inaccurate Fujimi kit (which I also built and still have in my display case!). For a very short time in the late 70s or early 80s Revell USA had a 1:48 F-14 which was their own mould. It was pretty basic, more of a toy really. I don't recall it ever being released again after its first run. Cheers, Bill

True, but a few degrees off over the height of the engine nacelles is less noticeable then being a few degrees off over the length of the wing. Here is a photo of Brett's model after the wing fix that he describes: The alignment of the nacelles doesn't look too bad to me. But my case of AMS may not be as bad as others! As always, it's up to you as the modeller to decide how far you want to go. Cheers, Bill

Hi mates, I've made some progress on the cockpit. I spent quite some time filing, grinding, and sanding to make the Aires resin cockpit fit inside the Hasegawa fuselage. It's a lot of work, as was pointed out, but it can be done! I gave the pit a coat or two of Gunze H317 Dark Gull Grey, and then I hand-painted all of the detail using the smallest brush that I could find (10/0). This made my eyeballs go crossed, but they've since popped back. A quick wash of dark grey and black, and I think we have a reasonably nice start for a 1:72 Tomcat! There is just so much more detail in the resin replacement part than in the kit components! Once the bang seats and the extra photoetch gets added, it will be quite busy indeed! I think the next task will be the intake trunking and ramps. I'm torn 50/50 about whether to model the wings forward with slats and flaps down, or to model them swept back. Personally I think the F-14 looks best with the wings swept, but I don't know how well the slats and flaps will fit when I try to glue them in the "up" or retracted position. To find out, I have to trim off all of the slat actuators, which means there would be no going back! Has anyone built this kit with the wings swept? How did everything fit? Cheers for now, Bill

Thanks Brian! My original plan was to build the plane that flew the ceremonial last flight on September 22, 2006 as part of the official Tomcat Sunset ceremony at Oceana. I know that there were other, later flights, most of them to ferry the aircraft to a museum, etc. And, of course, the Iranian Tomcats that still fly occasionally. I've had a look around the web, and photos of the VF-31 F-14D that has the black nose and red tail all seem to be the same plane, "101." But since I have an F-14A in that red/black scheme I'll probably go for the CAG bird from the Revell kit for this build. It will make a nice transition to the VFA-31 Super Hornets (which are in my stash waiting for me to stop typing and start modelling! Cheers, Bill

Thanks - looks like there was quite a variety of Felix schemes on that cruise: The CAG bird, with black tail and yellow circle with Felix, the black nose/red tail, and the boring low-vis planes. Looks like they're all some variation of TPS greys, no overall gull grey birds. Gives me choices to think about! Cheers, Bill

Thanks, this makes sense, as the chord decreases as you move from the root to the tip of the wing. From a lower front viewpoint, where you can see part of the bottom of the wing, the change in dihedral will look less since the leading edge of the wing is moving away from you. Don't know if I explained that coherently, but it makes sense geometrically. I measured my Revell kit once - I came up with about 2 degrees of dihedral. The trick shown in the Hyperscale article (which is really easy to do) will increase it to about 5-6 degrees. Which is not far off from the 7 degree figure that you see quoted quite often. Cheers, Bill

Hi mates, First, thanks Giorgio! Second, I just learned that my facts are wrong. Or what I thought were facts are wrong. The scheme shown in the Revell 1:72 F-14D kit is NOT the plane that flew the "official" last flight at the Tomcat Sunset ceremony. The correct plane is VF-31 AJ107 BuNo 164902. (AJ102 BuNo 164904 was supposed to fly, but it broke down.) The scheme on AJ107 is a lovely, boring grey on grey on grey. At least Felix is on the tail. Heck, even the bird on top of the Hasegawa box was never intended to make the last flight. It was there just for looks. Here is AJ102 which was supposed to make the flight: And here is AJ107: So what to do now? I can go for the boring low vis scheme and have my "official" last flight of Felix model. Or I can continue with the scheme from the Revell kit, which is more interesting. Or I could find some other, really cool F-14D scheme. Did VF-31 ever do the black nose/red tail design on the F-14D? Thoughts? I know that the official last flights are just for ceremony, and there are flights that have occurred afterwards. I also just found out about an F-14 flight towards the end of 2008, it being a ferry flight to bring a Tomcat to a museum. That was two years after the Tomcat Sunset ceremony! Cheers, Bill

Sweet! Quite a kitbash! I love seeing what you guys can do with these old kits. Very nice clean paint scheme, too. Cheers, Bill

Hi mates, I've always found this picture of the City of Lincoln to be very interesting: I started researching this problem after I bought the Revell kit. Oddly enough, the Revell kit matches this photo reasonably well. Now this next shot, of the City of Lincoln in the air, is also interesting, as it seems to show an increase in the dihedral ourboard of the kink, but only on the starboard wing. Is that where the aerodynamic forces would be greatest in a banking turn to starboard like this? It's an interesting debate. Maybe airframes sag in old age just like us! Cheers, Bill PS. Adding extra dihedral to the Revell kit is really easy. Please refer to this Hyperscale building guide to see how it's done!

Brilliant, bloody brilliant! Cheers, Bill

Bummer. Count to ten before pronouncing the naughty words - there may be children nearby. Seriously, this has happened to all of us on more than one occasion. Any setback is an opportunity to do better next time, or in this case, on the repair. I've been following this thread as I'd like to see if the HobbyBoss kit is a good value for the money. So far, it seems OK? I like the fact that the wings can oversweep - I'm not sure if any of the other 1:72 kits can do that without surgery. Do HobbyBoss give you separate wing/fuselage seals for use with forward, sweep, oversweep positions? Cheers, Bill

I have the Revell re-box of the Zvezda kit, and its panel lines and crsipness of detail are better than my ICM MiG 25. That said, the panel lines on the Zvezda are a tad heavy. However, I've never seen the ICM MiG-31, reviews on-line seem to indicate that the panel lines are too light (disappear under paint). I have no way of knowing whether one is more accurate than the other. (Flankerman, where are you? I'm sure you know the answers to these questions.) Dry fitting of the Zvezda MiG-31 indicates that it's not going to "fall together." One thing is for sure, the decal sheet in the Revell/Zvezda MiG-31 is fantastic, complete with stencils, etc. The sheet is rather large, and seems much better than the transfers that come with either the Zvezda box, or the ICM kit, if one can believe the photos in on-line reviews. Cheers, Bill Edit: Just found this on-line: "Some updated news here. If you want to build a 1/72 MiG-31, the new tooled ICM No.72151 kit is the best choice. From the sprues, it seems to be based on the Zvezda kit but with new canopies, nozzles, missiles etc. Be careful though, as the OLD mold of ICM MiG-31 is also catalogued as 72151, and I don't know a good way to recognize them from box art (they share the same box art), so DO check the contents before you buy." From this page on Hyperscale.

Great job! One can never have too many Buccs, I think! Personally, I like the FAA schemes, but it's really quite nice when you have all three of them together, each with a different scheme. Cheers, Bill

Nice Super Bug! Weathering looks just right. Cheers, Bill

Very nice - you rarely see these built. You've done a great job on the paint fading and weathering. The greenhouse is very well done, too. Cheers, Bill

Ha! ROTFL! Talk about a Freudian slip! Man, I'm getting old...either that or too much modelling. Can too much modelling fry your brain? Cheers, Bill PS. I'm not going to edit my earlier post. It's too funny. PPS. However, the lion, tiger, jaguar, and leopard are all members of the Panthera genus. So I wasn't that far off. They're family!

I love it!! The Tiger schemes can be very creative, and this one really pops out at you! Thanks for posting this, I had not seen this scheme before, it just may end up on the Jag I have in my stash. How difficult was it to apply these decals? Cheers, Bill

Keef, let us know the technique for the faded day-glo paint. I've always found that an extremely difficult color to paint and achieve any kind of realism. Your's looks spot on! Cheers, Bill

Beautiful job, Marek! I have two Harriers in my stash, and seeing your model will make me move them up the priority list! Cheers, Bill

That extremely loud noise you just heard was my jaw hitting the floor! What an amazing bit of modelling! My hat is off to you, sir! Cheers, Bill

Nice job, Andy! That kit doesn't have a good reputation - maybe the "Andy induced flaps" weren't really Andy induced. The F-82 is such a weird airplane - your model shines! Cheers, Bill

Wow, great job! I love these special liveries! Cheers, Bill