Parabat

Absolutely! I think it says on the instruction sheet that the Stbd insignia is on the lower wing, but thanks, based of my previous faux pas already, it was not inconceivable that I'd blindly follow that!

Would also maybe more attractive if the GB had a duration of 6-8 months. Just building a straightforward Tamiya Tomcat in amongst 'normal life', I'm already starting to be conscious of the time allocation closing in.

Nice, Hobby Boss definitely do some good work in ensuring that stuff fits pretty well (in my experience) and is easy to construct, sometimes let down by details or shapes.

Great model and good information. When I first read about this aircraft in the early 90s, I was amazed that it was a 50s plane, actually designed in the 40s. Good work with a nice result, will certainly be a talking point in your collection.

As Ronnie Coleman would say, "Ain't nothing to it but to do it!" Back on track with skunk stripe correct now.

Perhaps a requirement is that four or more seperate items of aftermarket are used, including a significant part/s. Something like resin cockpit, AM decals, metal pitots, resin seamless intakes and 3D printed weapons would qualify. If it is just 3D cockpit decals, a metal pitot, AM decals and resin wheels then maybe that isn't eligible as it isn't a significant change.

Of course...

When you're on a roll, roll out the masking tape and spray! Skunk stripe and tails painted with Mr Color 339 (FS36081). I decided to mask and spray the thin black edge around the ventral fins, rather than try and wrestle with the decals.

While the MicroSol is doing its thing with the Sidewinders, LANTIRN and gear placards, I cracked on with the painting of the mighty Cat. I filled in the forward fuselage with Mr Color 307 (FS 36320) and then did some subtle weathering with Mr Color 308 (FS 36357) and importantly, to get some of the grubbiness on the port side, Mr Color 336 (BS4800 hemp). I basically used some very thin paint and mottled about, including the bottom of fuel tanks, engine bay areas etc. The picture is a bit over exposed, so you can't quite see it, but any more would be too much. I toned the top down with some misted on Mr Color 337 (FS 35237) to reduce the sharpness of the light greys and hemp. Just need to mask the skunk stripe and tails, then get them.painted with Mr Color 339, Engine Grey. You can see there is some research material for some VERY patchy VF-24 Renegades Tomcats, a future project for another Tamiya F-14A.

What the... Started to decal up the weapons and pods, when I noticed that the decal sheet provides only one set of markings for the four GBU-12s! I have checked all the decal sheets in the box, but nope, just the ONE set for four bombs! Pretty annoying as they provide the full suite for the Mk.82s (which weren't really carried much at all). And I wouldn't bother using their AIM-9 explosive and rocket motor bands (yellow and brown bands) as they are in poor register and badly pixellated respectively.

Cool idea, I look forward to seeing it progress 🫡

That's very good indeed, lovely work. Well done for persisting and achieving this result.

Looking good, nice and patchy, I really like this.

Looks very smart, any more pictures?