.

[fewr9fkr9595]

.

[Grey Beema]

Think I'd go for the Anytime Baby markings on 103..

 

mind if if I sit to one side here?  I have beer and Jaffa cakes...

[fewr9fkr9595]

12 minutes ago, Grey Beema said:

Think I'd go for the Anytime Baby markings on 103..

 

mind if if I sit to one side here?  I have beer and Jaffa cakes...

 

Thanks for the input mate but I think its either 160 (101) or 102 (31)

 

Seen builds of the 160 reaper and 103 retro anytime but not seen a 102 tps as per the link yet... has anyone else? 

 

PS I love jaffa cakes  

 

[Cookenbacher]

My vote is for the VF-101 jet, just based on the reference photos you posted. Looking forward to this either way.

[fewr9fkr9595]

Pics of items for this build. 

 

Plastic:

 

Paint:

 

Kits that will provide the decals:

 

 

 

Thanks for looking! 

[modelling minion]

Good choice Tony, and lots of goodies for it too.

My vote goes to the dirty VF-101 bird.

[fewr9fkr9595]

41 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

Good choice Tony, and lots of goodies for it too.

My vote goes to the dirty VF-101 bird.

 

Well thats two votes for the 101. 

 

The resin/etch upgrades I had planned for either scheme would be wheels and seatbelts, the kit doesn’t really need anything else. Perhaps some ed brassin GE nozzles/tubes if the diameters match the shrouds (designed for tamiya f16 blk 50) 

 

In terms of other goodies the 31 jet is probably better because it could be loaded up with loads of delicate eduard brassin ordnance. 

 

The 101 I would build clean as in the reference pics of this final scheme or maybe it did fly with a minimal training (blue) payload at some point? 

 

 

[fewr9fkr9595]

Just out of interest here are the standard finemolds decals for CAG vf31 Birds. Will be needed for some stencils still like on the bang seats etc. 

 

For a bonus point see if you can spot the typo. Think along the ‘flied lice’ theme  

 

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

“Beware of Brast”

[trickyrich]

welcome aboard Tony and what a selection! (actually this is my second attempt to, the last one didn't post for some reason...)

 

I haven't seem one of these Finemolds beasties built before, so I'll be very interested to follow this build. They do look rather special! Plus they seem to be quite rare, probably because it looks like you have most of them in your stash!

 

My vote is for the "dirty" config with all the weapons! 

 

Good luck with the build, it's always a real pleasure to follow one of your builds and always something new to learn as well. Look forward to seeing her in the gallery.

 

 

[Col.]

10 hours ago, Tony Oliver said:

For a bonus point see if you can spot the typo. Think along the ‘flied lice’ theme  

"USS Abraham Lincoln"?

[PZRGREN]

"Beware of Brast!"

[fewr9fkr9595]

9 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

“Beware of Brast”

 

18 minutes ago, PZRGREN said:

"Beware of Brast!"

Yep to both  

 

52 minutes ago, Col. said:

"USS Abraham Lincoln"?

 

Is that spelt incorrectly too? Not too clued up on the presidents...

[Robert]

VF-31 gets my vote as it is different enough to be a tribute to be mighty Tomcat.

 

Robert

[Valkyrie]

A Tony Oliver Tomcat build....Follow: Yes ✅ No ❌ gee let me think...✅ very looking forward to this.

[fewr9fkr9595]

15 hours ago, trickyrich said:

 

My vote is for the "dirty" config with all the weapons! 

 

 

 

 

 

5 hours ago, Robert said:

VF-31 gets my vote as it is different enough to be a tribute to be mighty Tomcat.

 

Robert

 

I think it will be the vf101 bird as she will be an easier & cleaner build.

 

Although I would like to recreate the canopy open with the RIO flying a stars and stripes from the pit as they taxied back onto the apron from the last demo flight. A couple of pics of this can be found by a google image search. Also on the tomcat sunset by vf31 the cag bird did something similar. 

Speaking of which with regards to the alternative vf31 option for this build , only the cag 100 and CO’s 101 birds had any colour or special markings on the last tour. (black and red tails respectively) It was only when back as NAS oceana I believe that the last time baby/last grumman fighter paint jobs were done on 102 and 103. This means I wouldn’t be able to ‘tool up’ 102 in this commemorative paint job. Well perhaps only a lantirn pod as the hasegawa sheet provides the stencils and a number ‘86’ for it. Although this may be based off of pics of the pod 102 carried when it was just a plain regular line bird on that cruise with the standard dark felix on a plain grey tail as they all had less cag and co. 

 

One could build at least 7 or 8 ‘D’ model tomcats just trying to represent all the cag and co variations of vf31 from 92-06 along with the Christmas and sunset schemes. Too many to choose from! 

 

I need to start cutting plastic as no progress yet...

 

I have however, just ordered these. 

 

https://www.modern-hobbies.com/pilots-and-aircrew/modern-usaf-us-navy-pilots-1990-present

 

Trawling the ‘bay for us flag decals next. 

[fewr9fkr9595]

Sorting out some last details,  as want to start getting paint on perhaps. 

Made a start with the intake trunking instead of the cockpit (more on why later) so wanted to go 100% first on colours. 

 

 

So above is the hasegawa marking sheet showing white undersurfaces and intakes. With grey flanks. I found this odd as thought they wouldn’t bother repainting inside intakes for this scheme and thought about doing mine with ghost grey tps remnants still inside or similar. No photos really of the undersides when on the ground, and most that show the intakes have them in shadow so can’t see up inside them. So resort to video- 

 

A couple of screen grabs from various angles (to make sure the light isn’t affecting the colors) off of the last flight demo video show it to be different to what hasegawa say and what I assumed :

 

The white was only on the belly and underside of nose, not the flying surfaces. Here the roofs of the intakes are seen to be gull grey too so more investigative work required.

 

Next screen grab of the scene I want to recreate shows several things to check off. 

1.No black glass dome on chin pod IR, some sort of cover or a dummy unit in place. (Black circle)

2. The intakes have had a full repaint in the gull grey showing the wedges inside that border the white. Not left in tps colours (blue circle) 

3. The patch on the inside of the ventral fins is red, not black like the square bits of decal hasegawa provide. 

4. Trying to paint that iridium blue on the pilots visors is going to be tough. Also a dark blue stripe going front to back on top of their helmets. Flag seems to be attached to the top of a light wood broom(?) handle as opposed to a black metal pole. Not sure if it’s attached lower down or he is holding the bottom of the flag in his hand. Its not taught and and air gap can be seen between the flag and pole. Perhaps insignificant in 1/72?

 

Any other observations from the sharp eyed Britmodeller community?

RBF tags on undercarriage legs too at this point seem odd aswell. 

 

 

Thats all for now. 

[FIGHTS ON]

gonna pitch in with some guess work!!!

 

chin pod - F-14 D has both the side by side TV camera AND the IR sensor. (modern day Superhornets use the targeting pod slewed to match/follow the radar in air-to-air mode). The IR sensor "cover" is the "expensive bit" in design & purchase - air friction (= temperature) increases with speed thus potentially causing a white out at high supersonic speeds if the material is not cleverly designed. My "guess" is that as this aircraft is being used for display purposes, then it is possible ??? that this cover has been protected by a white plastic cover maybe (saving real cover from wear & tear). remember, even the 14D was 80's technology at best, and by the late 90's early 00's the ability and range of "products" to ID a target beyond Visual Range had moved on quite a bit - therefore if that glass cover was damaged, or required on a frontline jet, then the display bird gets the white plastic cover (guess?)

 

Engine Intakes I say are White (as are most low viz jets) - white is much, much easier to spot possible FOD when doing a pre-flight walk around (esp on a carrier flight deck, at night, armed only with a torch.)

 

ventral Fin "patch" - I am really struggling to find any pictures online that show this patch at all, but black or dark red (?) not sure there is a real difference. Possibly that "patch" is made of some composite material that is NOT metal, hence any colour is an option (guess??). or if metal, anti corrosion paint comes in that dark red (but for a display bird, would a patch like that be left untreated??)

 

Well, ALL the above is complete guess work, 

 

will be following the build with interest!

[fewr9fkr9595]

5 hours ago, FIGHTS ON said:

Engine Intakes I say are White (as are most low viz jets) - white is much, much easier to spot possible FOD when doing a pre-flight walk around (esp on a carrier flight deck, at night, armed only with a torch.)

 

Thanks mate yeah I know that the inside of the intakes are white, but the first couple of feet back on the F14 99% of the time is painted to match the camo on the outside due to the shape and size of the intakes so there isn’t a flash of white from the undersides. 

 

When they had white bellies the whole intake trunk was white. Then when they went to all gull grey the first few feet back was gull grey too making a diagonal junction/border with the white on the inside. IE what you can see in the blue circle above. This pattern/border was the same when they went to tps - the first few feet back was ghost grey. 

 

Here is a link to the standard pattern of paint inside the intake once they stopped having white bellies. Every now and then you will see a straight vertical border, perhaps a rushed repaint on a cruise. 

 

https://www.cybermodeler.com/aircraft/f-14/pages/f-14d_vf101cag_ltglove.shtml

 

 

The question I had in my mind was that seeing the plane has a white belly like a mid 70’s tomcat - was/would the whole trunk be white too like it was back then. This is what hasegawa suggests. Or I thought did they not bother and leave that part in tps as this plane would have been most of its life untill this de-commissioning paintjob.

 

The picture with the blue circle shows they went to alot of effort to repaint the first few feet of the intake from TPS greys to gull grey when they gave 160 this retro paint job. 

 

Hope this clears that up? 

 

Tony

 

ps here is a better picture showing the red ventral patch, along with the chinpod in gull grey with its dummy IR section or cover over the glass. Also the arrestor hook is still in tps grey. 

 

https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/6200674

 

[trickyrich]

I think you're right with the intakes, there is a real wedge of grey at the start of them before they ended up white as normal. Someone forgot to update the instructions...which is quite common I've noticed.

 

The best bet for the visors is to first paint them silver then a coat of clear blue, it'll sort give you the effect you're after.

[Giorgio N]

Glad to see you building this kit Tony, while a lot of people raved when it was issued, I've seen very few built before. Looking forward to it !

Regarding your notes on the various details:

1) Chin pod: yes, the front part of the IR sensor is different, I would expected just to see the lens painted on but looking carefully it can be seen that there's no variation in diameter where the loking ring is. Very easy to sort on the model of course

2) Intakes: the diagonal shaped edge was one of the variations commonly seen in Tomcats, guess the painters at VF-101 just followed what was originally on the aircraft. The scheme is sure not correct for a 1970's aircraft, but there's a lot more not correct here, like the grey undersides of wings and stabilators...

3) The patch is indeed red. How do I know ? I've seen pictures that show this detail pretty well, for example this one:

 

https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/6200674

 

There are more of 164601 on the same site, some of them can be useful in your build:

 

https://www.jetphotos.com/registration/164601

 

 

 

[Giorgio N]

I forgot to mention that 164601 survives at Castle Air Museum in the US, still in VF-101 retro scheme. There may be walkarounds on the net that could clarify other details, not sure of that as I haven't checked.

[fewr9fkr9595]

First tedious job. 

 

Inner Intake trunking! 

 

First some ejection pin marks need sanding out. They are very shallow so no filler was used, just 400 grit paper. Bottom one has been done. 

 

 

 

Then they were assembled and some mr surfacer 1200 put along the inside seams with a toothpick. (Not shown)

Some sanding sticks were cut into strips and used to smooth back the seams. 

 

 

Next after a heavy airbrushing of mr primer surfacer 1000 in lots of dry coats to build it up and fill in the sanding score marks they don’t look too bad. Still need finishing off with some smoother paper still. 

 

Roofs

 

 

Floors 

 

 

Sharp eyes may notice 4 trunks in the pics. Going to try and build two. Alot of work with these pieces so have decided to master them as I have several other finemolds D & A cats in the stash so future builds should be a breeze. Out of silicone currently, some is inbound. 

PM me if you would be interested in a set. 

In terms of making masters I am making some uber exhausts for these combining the best of AM resin available, as nothing specific for this kit yet.

Working with the tomcat bible. 

 

 

Other bits: 

Messing about with the nose panels, fit like a dream. This retro 101 bird is going to be all closed up so thats why I want to try and do a second build, a drab & dirty tps with all the panels and airbrakes open so lots of red and white interior bits on display. 

 

 

That’s all for now. 

[fewr9fkr9595]

Some OCD ramblings if you can be bothered to read them.

 

So the first build is definitely going to be the retro vf101 bird, all closed up apart from the canopy (a sin with these finemolds kits and all their interior goodies lol) and clean with no pallets, tanks or pylons as per the last tactical demo this bird performed. 

 

Seeing as I like to try and match builds to photos (don’t we all)

I have found some things that clash with how I want to portray the second build. The first idea was to do 102 from vf31 all tooled up. But this would mean no open panels because maintenance wouldn’t be carried out on a plane with live ordnance. Plus this sunset scheme for 102 was done after the cruise so wouldn’t be loaded up anyways. 

So its either build another kit closed up to have weapons or have it empty at least with pylons and tanks so I can have open panels. 

To build vf31 102 as the decals are provided by hasegawa will be too similar in spec to the reapers bird, as in completey clean with no pallets tanks or pylons. 

 

Here are a few pictures in chronological order of 102 from its last cruise to the sunset scheme. 

 

First all marked up as a regular bird spec’d as a bombcat with pod and bomb racks etc.

Quite dirty and patchy, note brownish ifr door cover 

 

https://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iglu-one-one.net%2Fwp-content%2Fgallery%2Ftomcats-last-cruise%2FCVN71060221-F-14D-163904-AJ-102-VF-31-03.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iglu-one-one.net%2Ftomcats-last-cruise-photo-gallery%2F&docid=ZzD7W4Y_H6EE9M&tbnid=CD2JMNGIXuYPYM%3A&vet=1&w=1024&h=683&hl=en-gb&source=sh%2Fx%2Fim

 

Then what appears to be homecoming. Note Felix flying the flag on the drop tank. These little decals can be found in the revell last flight boxing. 

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/elferrito/32893202751

 

Next its had some fresh paint in most places or a good wash as looks cleaner, also repainting of the tails, with the new artwork and the inner AJ removed. The tanks and pallets are off now and I can't find any pics of her with this tail art but still with tanks etc. Note the crew names are still on the canopy and the seats have been removed too. 

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/themekon/16334059549

 

Last is one what seems to be one from the final flight day/sunset parade. Notice now the crew names are gone because the canopy has had fresh non matching paint. This is how I would have to depict the build as no crew names on the decal sheet. 

 

https://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pacificaviationmuseum.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F10%2F4.png&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pacificaviationmuseum.org%2Fpearl-harbor-blog%2Fp40%2F&docid=k5uHnHhOYL8N9M&tbnid=t6aP25hz55hGlM%3A&vet=1&w=914&h=608&hl=en-gb&source=sh%2Fx%2Fim

 

 

So in a nutshell I need to find decals for a late, line, tps D on a cruise so I can depict it having maintenance but still with tanks and pylons on etc. Preferably not a sqn I’ve already done during my hobbyboss tomcat saga. 

 

Thinking a kopfgeldjäger line bird from their last cruise with the three shades of grey langley stripes on the nose and tail. Like on this decal sheet below, but 72nd scale obvs. 

 

http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/Rev2/1101-1200/Rev1148-TwoBobs48112/00.shtm

 

 

Peace out. 

 

[trickyrich]

is it me? or did all the photo's just disappear?