The tip of the spear: Tomcats in action !

[trickyrich]

if anything it's the intakes and underside panels I find on a model like this that cause the most issues and there are pretty much always have nasty gaps/joins to sort out. I have built an F-14 for a long time but the MiG-29 is one that comes to mind....and is in the box of doom!

 

But knowing your work you'll have it all sorted and done nicely by the next update.

 

and the Tomcat is a bit of a fav of mine, I love the shape and look of her, I can't believe I haven't built one more recently......but will be towards the end of the year.

[Giorgio N]

On 5/4/2018 at 10:58 AM, spruecutter96 said:

Hi, Giorgio. 

 

The 'Cat is coming along very nicely. I hope the rest of the build is much easier for you. Whenever I encounter a "tricky" kit, I find that my interest in it tends to fall off very sharply. I wonder why?

 

Cheers.

 

Chris. 

 

On 5/4/2018 at 2:37 PM, Tony Oliver said:

Well done for your perseverance mate, finally starting to take shape! 

 

It does give me concern too as easily have double figures of these kits in the stash and not built one yet. Always meaning to start one but then keep seeing stories like this that put me off 🤔

 

On 5/4/2018 at 5:00 PM, FIGHTS ON said:

very nearly went for a Hasegawa F-14 for this GB, but you "pain" has reminded me of why I so dislike the making part of these kits (although they do look great when done!). I've got on the shelf of doom a 1/48 "a" model that having fought hard to get the intakes & nose aligned (& filled!!!), 2 x aircrew seated properly, braced for launch, only to discover that the canopy is also not-a-great-fit in the closed position (pinches "in" too much to give a smooth, snug fit...)

 

Anyway, your build is looking great and no doubt showing me (inspiring???? - mo, not yet!!) what I need to do to recover mine 

 

thanks

 

 

 

On 5/5/2018 at 1:28 AM, trickyrich said:

if anything it's the intakes and underside panels I find on a model like this that cause the most issues and there are pretty much always have nasty gaps/joins to sort out. I have built an F-14 for a long time but the MiG-29 is one that comes to mind....and is in the box of doom!

 

But knowing your work you'll have it all sorted and done nicely by the next update.

 

and the Tomcat is a bit of a fav of mine, I love the shape and look of her, I can't believe I haven't built one more recently......but will be towards the end of the year.

 

Agree with all here, whenever fit issues hit it's hard to keep going ! And this kit is really fighting me all the way. As said before not all Hasegawa Tomcats have been so bad but this one is. Would I suggest this kit to a modeller ? I probably still would because it's afterall a great kit with a lot of options. Still, I can understand why many modellers would prefer something easier to build.

 

The bad fit is one of the reasons why it took me some time to post an update. I hate the whole fill-sand-prime-fill-sand-prime process but I'm now finally at a stage where most of the structure is assembled.

 

 

 

The tails have yet to be blended in properly so some more filling and sanding and priming is waiting for me, but I will hopefully be ready to start spraying some paint on soon.

Some may notice that I used white primer on the lower surfaces, this is really only to avoid having to mask the wheel wells.

 

Not shown in the pictures are the wings that were actually assembled together the very first day... I will prime and paint these separately from the flaps and slats.

 

[Giorgio N]

Forgot one thing worth mentioning: on the spine behind the cockpit is a dome, that on the real aircraft covers the GPS antenna. This is not included in the Hasegawa kit as this was first introduced well before the addition of the GPS on the real Tomcats. This dome has to be scratchbuilt. At the same time there is a small antenna in this area on the kit that needs removing. The antenna went when the dome was installed. It's a small modification that however must be kept in mind when building a late Tomcat

[fewr9fkr9595]

11 minutes ago, Giorgio N said:

 

Forgot one thing worth mentioning: on the spine behind the cockpit is a dome, that on the real aircraft covers the GPS antenna. This is not included in the Hasegawa kit as this was first introduced well before the addition of the GPS on the real Tomcats. This dome has to be scratchbuilt

 

 

Hi mate, I have mastered the hobbyboss domes from their kit to enable me to add this detail to any ‘late spec’ hasegawa cats I may build one day. 

 

PM me you address and I’ll send you some in the post. Can have them for future builds then. 

 

Tony

[giemme]

Despite of all the trouble you're having, it looks good to me, G! 👏🏻 👏🏻

 

Ciao

[trickyrich]

it's nice to see you're beating her into submission...hmm I know that doesn't sound very PC!

 

I do like what you've done so far, proper modelling, something we forget to do sometimes.

 

I know what you can produce so I'm looking forward to seeing how you finish her off.......dam another un-PC comment, or maybe creepy comment! 

[Giorgio N]

On 5/18/2018 at 1:00 PM, Tony Oliver said:

 

Hi mate, I have mastered the hobbyboss domes from their kit to enable me to add this detail to any ‘late spec’ hasegawa cats I may build one day. 

 

PM me you address and I’ll send you some in the post. Can have them for future builds then. 

 

Tony

 

Thanks a lot Tony, it's a very kind offer ! I have the HB kit in the stash and considered doing the same... I may however take your offer ! Hopefully I can find some way to return the favour.

 

On 5/18/2018 at 4:03 PM, giemme said:

Despite of all the trouble you're having, it looks good to me, G! 👏🏻 👏🏻

 

Ciao

 

Thanks ! Mind, trouble's not over... more later !

 

On 5/19/2018 at 4:52 PM, trickyrich said:

it's nice to see you're beating her into submission...hmm I know that doesn't sound very PC!

 

I do like what you've done so far, proper modelling, something we forget to do sometimes.

 

I know what you can produce so I'm looking forward to seeing how you finish her off.......dam another un-PC comment, or maybe creepy comment! 

 

😁😁😁

Now my mind is drifting in all kind of very un-PC thoughts about submitting kitties of a certain kind... 😂

[Giorgio N]

I was expecting the weekend to be fruitful in terms of modelling and it was but not as much as expected. Several reasons here, some not related to the hobby (like going out yesterday afternoon), some kind of related to the hobby (visited the local flea market and returned with a few kits and books) and some very related not only to the hobby but to the Tomcat in particular !

To recap, I'm building an F-14B during operation Enduring Freedom using the kit of an early F-14B (or A+ as the variant was initially known). This means upgrading several details and among these is the front instrument panel.

The F-14B originally used the same panel of the A variant, however by 2002 a number of aircrafts had received a new HUD. Or should I say, they received a proper HUD, as the A and B originally used a different style that projected all images on the windscreen. This results in a new shape of the front panel coaming. I initially considered simply cloning the part from an F-14D, that looks close enough in shape, but finally decided to modify the Hasegawa part with some plasticard and filler.

The modification itself didn't take long but fitting the panels and coamings took some time! The addition of the Fujimi pilots made things quite difficult but finally I managed to get all the parts in place

 

 

Not completed yet as the HUD frame and glass are still to be put in place. Actually I still have to find a HUD but I'll come up with something

[Giorgio N]

And now for the more challenging modification... and this is not due to my decision of building a late aircraft. It's due to me being useless when it comes to finding the right compromise between realism and ease of assembly. To explain the problem I'll have to indulge in a little lesson in aerospace engineering....

 

Let's talk about flaps ! We all know here what flaps are, they are aerodynamic devices that increase lift in certain conditions. Generally they are used during landing and take-off and can be of different types, from the simpler split flaps of the Spitfire to the more complicated multiple-slotted Fowler flaps seen on most modern airliners.

On the Tomcat the flaps are simple "plain flaps", they only rotate. However they serve two purposes: they are of course used during landing and take-off but can also be used to improve manouverability. The reason for the latter use is that the Tomcat has no ailerons, the tailerons provide control on the roll axis at most speeds but in some cases the flaps (and slats) and spoilers are used in conjunction to give more roll authority, at least at low sweep angles (when the wings are fully swept it's tailerons only). The way this works is pretty simple: flaps and slats open on one wing, so increasing lift, while the spoilers deploy on the other wing, so decreasing lift, resulting in the aircraft rolling.

Fine, what does this mean in terms of plastic modelling ? Well, this means that depending on the use there are two different configurations that the flaps can have: in manouver the movement is limited while during take-off and landing the flaps are fully extended. More important, to give more lift in these situations, Grumman engineers have added a way to introduce a slot in the flap. This was not achieved by having the flap move rearward (as in Fowler flaps) but by adding hinged doors on the lower surfaces of the wing. The link below shows well how these work

 

http://www.anft.net/f-14/f14-detail-wingcontrol.htm

 

Hasegawa have moulded flaps and slats separately from the wing and these can be deployed open... or can they ? They can, but only in the manouver configuration:

 

 

This is a simple solution and as the doors are on the lower surfaces I could live with this solution. But is the Tomcat fanatic in me happy to have a simplified solution that will give me an easier assembly while not being completely accurate ?

And more, as the wings upper and lower halves are already glued together, can I really modify them to have a more accurate configuration ? Not really...

And here's where Giemme's word became relevant again:

 

On 3/31/2018 at 8:23 PM, giemme said:

A well stocked stash helps a lot, I reckon

 

 

So it was that I grabbed the same box from which I took the spare front fuselage section and grabbed the wings !

This modification will take some time and starts with a lot of sanding...

The first thing to do is to remove the hinged doors on the bottom half of the wing. These are easily identifiable and cutting them would be easy enough if they were not exactly where the wing plastic is thick... first step is therefore to thin the last few mm of the wing from the inside. Only after this is done I could cut them easily enough-

At the same time it's necessary to thin the upper half, again from the inside but this time for a bit more. This area in the real aircraft is where the spoilers are and these are very thin.

After a couple hours this is what I have on one wing, with the other unmodified shown on the left for comparison

 

 

The easy part is done, now it's time to rebuild some sort of structure capable of supporting the flaps while being accurate enough.

Edited May 21, 2018 by Giorgio N

[Giorgio N]

Hmmm... noticed that the drawing in the ANFT link is not totally correct. The drawing seems to show the flap moving rearward, in reality the hinge point is on the lower surface so that while the upper surface moves rearward, the lower sirface doesn't

[giemme]

   

 

Good thing I'll do mine in landing configuration ...  

 

Ciao

[fewr9fkr9595]

14 minutes ago, giemme said:

   

 

Good thing I'll do mine in landing configuration ...  

 

Ciao

 

You mean manoeuvre surely? as thats how hasegawa supplies the parts out of the box? 

 

The mods Giorgio is doing is to correctly depict the take off/landing position if I have read his posts right... 

 

Regards parts, @Giorgio N don’t worry about it. It will be payment from all that I have learnt from your builds and input on mine over the past couple years. Cheers. EDIT: Just tried to PM you but its blocked? 

 

Tony

[giemme]

9 minutes ago, Tony Oliver said:

You mean manoeuvre surely? as thats how hasegawa supplies the parts out of the box? 

No, I actually meant landing - lame attempt at being ironic, thinking of the job that awaits me, after seeing what G is doing ...  

 

Ciao

[fewr9fkr9595]

14 minutes ago, giemme said:

No, I actually meant landing - lame attempt at being ironic, thinking of the job that awaits me, after seeing what G is doing ...  

 

Ciao

 

Ah ah!

Understand you now. 

Humour does get lost in translation sometimes  

[trickyrich]

gosh theres some nice work going on here Giorgio, i'm not sure I'd be doing this in 1/48th let alone 1/72nd!

[Giorgio N]

Thanks guys !

Tony, I had forgotten my inbox was full, will PM you later.

 

In the meantime let's see some more modifications.

With the inner surfaces sanded thin as required and the lower doors removed, it was time to make some supports for the flaps. In the Tomcat these supports are of trapezoidal shape, with the lower end being flat with the wing skin. This makes reproducing them easy enough, just get some plasticard, cut the supprts roughly to shape, glue in place and then sand to the correct profile. This was quick enough, what took a bit more time was to cut the corresponding slots in the flaps. On the real Tomcat flaps these slots start with a certain width and then become narrower, personally I didn't bother. The slots I cut are slightly overscale, but better some overscale slots than having the flaps falling off...

 

 

Interestingly the Hasegawa wings have these slots reproduced as recessed lines, however there's a big problem: they are not in the right place ! The supports are right below the actuators in the real aircraft but for some reasons the slots are not aligned with the actuators in the kit. Actually the actuator fairings on the flaps and the wings don't all align, best solution is to sand the wrong ones and rebuild them. The actuators position on the wing look correct compared to pictures.

Couple of points: the supports look misaligned in the picture, strange as they look well aligned on the part... Then there's one support still missing. This is a support that for some reason does not have an actuator. I will add this as soon as I properly understand the location.

 

I should also add that I cut a couple of slots on the upper wing surface too, not too visible in the picture below but they are there:

 

 

The reason for cutting these is that the two inner actuators don't have covers like the others have and this is quite visible in pictures showing the upper surfaces of the wings. The actuator ate visible through these slots and I may add something to reproduce them.

 

Now, considering that I'm not completely done yet with this flap, was it worth the work ? IMHO it was !

 

 

 

The assembly is now way more accurate and the narrow slot between flap and wing is visible. The next step will be adding the last support, after which the doors on the lower surface of the wing will be cut in sections and glued in the correct position, trapping the flap supports between the various sections

[Giorgio N]

4 hours ago, trickyrich said:

gosh theres some nice work going on here Giorgio, i'm not sure I'd be doing this in 1/48th let alone 1/72nd!

 

Rich, IIRC the 1/48 Hasegawa kit reproduces the lower doors correctly, so this work is not necessary in this scale 😁

However Hasegawa on the bigger scale kit made the mistake of moulding the flaps slightly too long, so some cutting is still needed... oh well... 😂

[giemme]

Impressive job, G  👏

 

Very admirable attention to details - which I'm sure will makeba lot of difference in the end

 

Ciao