Neal Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 (edited) Here's my entry, not quite what I had planned but a tomcat never the less. Got this as an absolute bargin on eBay, only when I opened it up last night did I realise that these are a different and much earlier moulding than the other 1/144 kits that are being completed here, which was a real disappointment having seen the great detail Revell have crammed into the new kits. Initially i I wasn't going to build this one but I've decided to use it as an opportunity to be brave take a saw to the kit an do something a bit more adventurous, if it doesn't come off I've not really lost anything. So the kit; it's moulded in metallic grey, raised panel lines and plenty of flash, the the stores consist of 4 sparrows on the underbody and theres no cockpit, the intake shape looks a bit strange too. The plan; do a little diorama, on finals at the back of the carrier (don't know how I'm going to do the carrier that at the moment, but probably use one of Andys superb printouts: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.p...10498&st=0) gear down, no stores, flaps down, hook down, possibly slats, possibly airbrakes out. A bit like these: http://www.compilots.com/downloads/data/me.../F14-Tomcat.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm...omcat_VF-24.jpg Big plans, small plane - bound to fail. Edited March 16, 2012 by Neal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dermo245 Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 Nice one Neal and am sure you can work your magic on it! Will look very cool on finals - go for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted January 29, 2012 Author Share Posted January 29, 2012 (edited) Not a good start, I managed to crack off a chunk of the lower fuselage whilst taking it off the sprue, repairable but annoying. The upper and lower parts look like a reasonable fit once I'd taken off one of the the alignment pins that was in the wrong place. The cockpit halves are going to take some sanding & filling to get a nice fit though. Onto the wings; Let the butchery begin! Flaps came off easily. Slats are well, small so I think I'll be remaking them in plasticard. After sawing, cutting and sanding (with on slip of the knife to fill and sand on the right hand one) this is what I have: The airbrakes aren't marked on the kit so I think I'll abandon that idea. Edited January 29, 2012 by Neal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted January 29, 2012 Author Share Posted January 29, 2012 (edited) Slats done, layered up some 0.1mm plasticard and sanded a curve onto the LE. Hopefully it'll look better on the photos with some paint. Wasn't going to do anything with the cockpit..... but seem to have made some seats. They just needs some filling and painting also going to open up the cockpit a bit and make an IP. Should've just bought the newer revell moulding! Not looking forward to cleaning up the UC, tyres are a bit balloon like. Edited January 29, 2012 by Neal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted January 30, 2012 Author Share Posted January 30, 2012 Quick summary and thoughts so far: Pleased with chopping up the wings, I never normally manage to get a really smooth finish once I've started sanding, this time looks better but a coat of paint will be the proof. It's difficult to tell how well the flaps a slats are going to fi,t again paint will show up the flaws I was going to leave the wings off until the body was painted but I can't quite see how to slot the wings and still end up with a secure attachment so I'll get them painted next. Bit of work on the ejector seats and IP and the cockpit might look respectable. I was going to do the early white & grey scheme but having read Giorgio's great piece in this thread: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.p...topic=234910260 And finding this pic: http://flitetime.net/f14vf1.jpg I think I'll go for the overall grey scheme, the only problem I have is the colour. There isn't a direct tamiya colour match, and as this is just a bit of practice I'll probably just use either XF60 "light grey" or XF80 "royal light grey" that are left over from my snowspeeder, although I think the XF80 should be a pretty close match. I've seen some pictures where the LE of the stabilisers is an aluminium finish and some where it's painted does anyone know what the definitive situation is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev1n Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 your doing fine so far Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 Neal, that is indeed an old mould, I believe it's the Ace mould and it must be some 30 years old... however you're doing a great job with this ! I've seen some pictures where the LE of the stabilisers is an aluminium finish and some where it's painted does anyone know what the definitive situation is? Good question !!! The answer is "depends". Generally speaking in the early grey over white scheme this part as in aluminum but with the later overall grey they were painted grey, although not on all aircrafts so there are exceptions. If you go with stabilisers in overall grey you are quite safe though. The picture you linked is very interesting as it shows a VF-1 aircraft just after the overall scheme was first introduced on VF-1 aircrafts. Notice that the VF-211 aircraft just behind it is still in the old scheme, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted January 30, 2012 Author Share Posted January 30, 2012 Giorgio, Thanks for the info, that's a great summary and the thread on the colour schemes is excellent. I'll go for painted & save a bit of masking. Personally I always liked the ferris scheme, maybe I'll do that one day. Feels like an old kit, but didn't realise it was that old, good fun though. Rooting through the Internet for reference pics I came on this image of a VF-1 aircraft with the sparrow configuration that's depicted in the kit, I've never seen this layout before has anyone else? http://dmn.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-cont...-break-away.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 Nice start Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted January 30, 2012 Author Share Posted January 30, 2012 (edited) Bit of progress, painted the ejector seats, fitted the flaps and painted the wing. The red marker pen I've used to differentiate the wings seems to be bleeding through the paint, hopefully another coat should fix that. Nose wheel & wheel well's not too inspiring; Better now? Just offered the front fuselage to the rear section and it would appear that one has been done in metric the other imperial measurements, it's going to take some filling. Edited January 30, 2012 by Neal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 Neal, if you're still in time try to get rid of the red marker ! A second coat of paint might not work, that kind of ink sometimes surfaces on top of the paint time after the paint above has dried. Guess how I know.... Regarding the weapons fit in that picture, it was rare enough but not unheard of. Normally when operating off a carrier Tomcats very rarely had a full weapon fit, so seeing say 2 sparrows and 2 sidewinder was more common. But it wouldn't be wrong to follow that picture...and it would look good too ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dermo245 Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 Coming along nicely Neal. Good work on those flaps & slats. Shamrock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandwagon 106 Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 Very nice work here, on a kit this small, it really is very good. Anybody who can do this kind of thing really is talented. I like the 4 x 4 load too. Joel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted January 31, 2012 Author Share Posted January 31, 2012 (edited) Neal, if you're still in time try to get rid of the red marker ! A second coat of paint might not work, that kind of ink sometimes surfaces on top of the paint time after the paint above has dried. Guess how I know.... Giorgio, this was always a bit of a practice build, so lesson #1 is don't use OHP markers on the outer surface. I did wonder about doing a coat of klear to seal it then adding a coat of paint. Coming along nicely Neal. Good work on those flaps & slats.Shamrock Shamrock, Thanks, I think the pictures make the best of it. Very nice work here, on a kit this small, it really is very good. I like the 4 x 4 load too. Joel Joel, thanks. We'll see about the sparrows there's loads of flash to clean up on them Edited January 31, 2012 by Neal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted January 31, 2012 Author Share Posted January 31, 2012 (edited) Not 100% sure what I'm going to do about the cockpit to body alignment, I think that I may space the centre joint of the forward part out with plasticard so there's less of a step, then fill & sand. I've given the wings a light sand and another coat of paint. Painted the vertical stabilisers Made some spacers for the slats and painted the underside & wing LE red. I've boxed in the main u/c now, tidied up the legs, intakes & hook Think the red pen marks have finally gone as well. If I can get the wings finished I can then close up the body and make a start on finishing the cockpit. Edited January 31, 2012 by Neal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted February 1, 2012 Author Share Posted February 1, 2012 Bit of progress, the build seems to have stagnated somewhat, doing lots of jobs for very little progress. Tidied up the damaged wing glove, and around the rear where there's a gap in the moulding with some filler. Painted the wing bags as they'll be difficult to get to once the wings are in place. Painted the interior parts as well. I've also sanded the wheels so they're a bit more upright. Added some hoses to the U/C and bays and painted it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dermo245 Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Good stuff Neal... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted February 2, 2012 Author Share Posted February 2, 2012 Good stuff Neal... Thanks Dermot. Once I've completed the UC doors I'm going to need to edge them in red, I though about using a marker pen to get a nice crisp line, but I'm worried about getting the "wrong" pen and it bleeding into the paint through the Klear. Has anyone any experience of this or any tips for doing the edging? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Thanks Dermot. Once I've completed the UC doors I'm going to need to edge them in red, I though about using a marker pen to get a nice crisp line, but I'm worried about getting the "wrong" pen and it bleeding into the paint through the Klear. Has anyone any experience of this or any tips for doing the edging? I use marker pens often for the USN aircrafts gear door edges. My suggetion is to use a paint based marker instead of a more common ink based marker. Paint based markers use, well, paint ! And it's always possible to paint over it. If you have a steady hand (and you sure have considering your god job on this one) then I'd say any pen or marker will do, just don't let it slip off the edges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted February 3, 2012 Author Share Posted February 3, 2012 (edited) Thanks Giorgio, I'll see if I can track down some red paint pens. More modelling tedium (lots of little jobs done but not a lot to show for it), second coat of paint on the wheels & UC. Second coat on the bags & masked ready for the wings. Attached the wings to the body, not trusting the gears to hold the position I braced the join with some plasticard which meant I could close up the fuselage. The actually fit of the upper and lower parts was pretty good. Started to shim up the cockpit, a single 0.1mm sheet at the front, two layers at the rear upper. Also finished off the scratch build seats with some handles and a dry brush, really pleased with these although the handles are a little big, just not sure they'll fit under the canopy. What I have noticed with this kit is that the plastic seems to be both soft (and balls up when it's sanded) and also quite brittle. Edited February 3, 2012 by Neal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savage_express87 Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 i find spres of tha sort absolutly hidious to put together... a little to much glue the whole thing gelt, the worng glue even :/ .. i however got the revell 1.144 super tomcat... a super build ... best of luck :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted February 3, 2012 Author Share Posted February 3, 2012 i find spres of tha sort absolutly hidious to put together... a little to much glue the whole thing gelt, the worng glue even :/ .. i however got the revell 1.144 super tomcat... a super build ... best of luck :) It's not been too bad so far, sanding is the worse bit with it all balling up. Think this is practice for the the newer revell tomcat moulding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted February 4, 2012 Author Share Posted February 4, 2012 (edited) Tidied up the body join with some filler, still needs sanding. Fixed the cockpit sides and sorted out that joint, looks to be a better fit to the body now, I also drilled out the cannon. Gave the UC bays another coat of white, and gave all the white parts a coat of klear and a go with the promodeller wash. I was hoping to try and make a reasonable fist of the wheels using a very light wash round the edges as I've seen described in BM but the moulding was so poor I just masked with a drop of maskol, but it's not turned out too well, ok from a distance but not brilliant. Wheels & tyres are always rubbish on my models and I was hoping they'd be better this time. Masked and painted the arrestor hook, I always thought they had red bands but the references I found for when the overall grey scheme was adopted seemed to show black (although I thought black would be too harsh so I used tamiya German grey as on the tyres) Added some instrument clusters to the cockpits. As always comments and advice for a novice is more than welcome. Edited February 4, 2012 by Neal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Small bit of advice to mask the wheels: go to your nearest DIY shop and buy a leather punching wheel, that is this thingy: http://paulssupplies.com/index.php?main_pa...products_id=231 This is a great tool to punch accurately a number of materials and I use it often to cut circles from masking tape. These circles can then be used to mask wheels and any other round shaped area. With the legs of the tomcat being white, I'd paint everything white, then select the right size on the wheel, cut a round bit of tape and use this to mask the rim. After this is masked, the tyre can be painted in black or very dark grey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted February 6, 2012 Author Share Posted February 6, 2012 Small bit of advice to mask the wheels: go to your nearest DIY shop and buy a leather punching wheel, that is this thingy:http://paulssupplies.com/index.php?main_pa...products_id=231 This is a great tool to punch accurately a number of materials and I use it often to cut circles from masking tape. These circles can then be used to mask wheels and any other round shaped area. With the legs of the tomcat being white, I'd paint everything white, then select the right size on the wheel, cut a round bit of tape and use this to mask the rim. After this is masked, the tyre can be painted in black or very dark grey Thanks, I'll keep an eye out for a punch. I was hoping to try this: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=4210 But the wheel to tyre demarcation was none existant. They might tidy up a bit with a cocktail stick and a wash on the hub. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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