Speedman Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 I thought I'd cover all bases by doing the F-14 in A, B & D variants. The kits I've chosen are Revell's F-14A and Ace Corporation's (Revell mould) B & D. I bought a set of Super Scale decals ages ago and I'm going to use the Bicentennial markings of VF-124 for the A. The B comes with markings for VF-103's 1996 "Santa Cat" and the D has markings for VF-2's "Last Cruise" bird. So I should have three colourful Tomcats when I'm finished. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazzio Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Very nice, I have a funny feeling there will be a few 1/144 Tomcats in this build Looking forward to this also. Kind Regards Dazz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RNoAF Aerobatic Team Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Always great to see Tomcats in different scales. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Good choice(s) looking forward to watching it all progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedman Posted March 29, 2014 Author Share Posted March 29, 2014 And we're off! I've had a cockpit painting production line in full swing today. I've finished painting them and I've added top ejection handles for the A & B seats, tomorrow I'll be adding the instrument panels and some weathering. I've also detached some of the main components from the sprue and cleaned them up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parabat Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 Looking good, amazing how quickly they come together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 This is a good and quick start ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 Nice, quick start there Speedman. I'll look forward to watching these come together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedman Posted March 30, 2014 Author Share Posted March 30, 2014 Cheers guys I scanned the instrument decals from the Revell kit today and printed some off for the B & D. I even changed the D pilot & RIO panels to represent the upgraded avionics, you can't really see them but I know they're there I've also decided to swap the A & B kits as I'm going to have to use white primer on the A and trying to cover an all black kit with white would be a nightmare! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedman Posted April 5, 2014 Author Share Posted April 5, 2014 Unfortunatly my PC died on Monday morning and I decided to build myself a new one, (Fun learning curve ) so I haven't had access to Photoshop to crop or resize my images until now. I've made some progress over the last few days. I've weighted the noses and assembled all three front ends and thinned the wing seals so the wings can be fully swept. Masking tape discs over acrylic anthracite. Once the intakes are painted and the discs removed, I'm hoping they will look like the engine compressor fans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 Good work, see what you've done makes me think I should've painted the nose bay white before closing it up, doh! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedman Posted April 13, 2014 Author Share Posted April 13, 2014 I've made a bit more progress on the builds in the last few days... I used some scrap card to brace the upper and lower fuselages on all three kits as they were a little "springy" in the middle. The B (black) & A. The A will be clean, no racks, rails or pylons so I've filled all the holes and fitted the nose sensor & beaver tail. As I've still not found any photos of "Santa Cat" carrying ordnance, my plan is to fit the two forward Phoenix rails with bomb racks and the wing glove pylons set up for LANTIRN and AIM-54 but with no stores. Like the A, I've fitted the sensor and beaver tail. During the 1996 cruise, VF-103's typical loadout was LANTIRN, 1x MK,82, 1x AIM-7, 1x AIM-54 & 2x AIM-9. If information comes to light that she did fly with a loadout I can always add it at a later date. The D has been fitted with the double nose sensor and the beaver tail. I will be fitting LANTIRN and arming it with 4x GBU-12, 1x AIM-54 & 2x AIM-9. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 Coming in nicely, I'll be interested to see how you go with ground ordnance changes. Where are the GBU's from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedman Posted April 13, 2014 Author Share Posted April 13, 2014 The GBUs are from Dragon's Tornado GR.4 set, there are a number of GBU-10 & GBU-12 bombs included in the kit that aren't used and the LANTIRN is from Revell's AV-8B Harrier II Plus. I'm doing the Spanish markings so it was going spare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedman Posted April 27, 2014 Author Share Posted April 27, 2014 I've been concentrating on builds for the "Less than a Tenner" group for the last couple of weeks but I made some progress on these yesterday. I've fitted the wings and fins, and after boxing in the rear space in the nose sections I filled them with Liquid Gravity and CA. To prevent any of the tiny pellets coming loose and rattling around inside, I gave it a coating of Mr. Surfacer to seal it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-32 Posted April 27, 2014 Share Posted April 27, 2014 Coming along nicely! If you don't need the Pukin Dogs decals please let me know how much you'd like for them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedman Posted April 27, 2014 Author Share Posted April 27, 2014 If you don't need the Pukin Dogs decals please let me know how much you'd like for them Sorry, I've already got them earmarked for my Dragon F-14. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-32 Posted April 27, 2014 Share Posted April 27, 2014 No problem, I look forward to seeing it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedman Posted April 27, 2014 Author Share Posted April 27, 2014 If I get time I'll squeeze it into this group, it just depends how busy I get with the other groups I'm in (or about to start). Tomcats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted April 27, 2014 Share Posted April 27, 2014 They're all coming on nicely Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedman Posted May 30, 2014 Author Share Posted May 30, 2014 It's been a while... I've been very busy completing builds for another group. I've fitted the gear doors and Phoenix rails today, I've also separated and cleaned up all the other bit's I need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedman Posted June 3, 2014 Author Share Posted June 3, 2014 The seats are in and the canopies are fitted. They still need some Maskol but I wanted a photo before it hides the cockpit detail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 All 3 look very good. Neat job on masking the canopies, you're doing better in 1/144 than I am in 1/72... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedman Posted June 5, 2014 Author Share Posted June 5, 2014 All 3 look very good. Neat job on masking the canopies, you're doing better in 1/144 than I am in 1/72... Thank you. It helped that the front frame is quite pronounced and a good guide to cut against, although the rest of the canopy is just engraved lines so I had to do it in little strips. I've finally got some primer on, just a couple of little bits to touch up but nothing 2 minutes of sanding won't cure. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazzio Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 Looking good there Kind Regards, Dazz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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