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F-14A, VF-41 'Black Aces', OEF, 2001. Finished 24/02.


DaveJL

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Hello all,

 

Another build for the GB, this time Tamiya's 1/48 F-14A in the markings of VF-41 'Black Aces' during their final F-14 cruise as part of Operation 'Enduring Freedom' in October 2001. BuNo 158612 is quite an interesting airframe - it was the first production F-14 delivered to the Navy in 1972, serving at Patuxent River for a number of years before being passed to VF-201 then to VF-14 and finally VF-41. It saw service during Operation 'Allied Force' , Operation 'Southern Watch' and 'Enduring Freedom.' The jet dropped 17 LGBs over Afghanistan before being scrapped in September 2003. It was also one of the few jets that, instead of the standard TPS colours, was painted overall 'Medium Grey'.

 

Kit:

 

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The necessary parts to make a late A model (minus the wing glove ECM blisters and TCS pod) are included in the Tamiya F-14D kit and Tamiya have decided to sell these sprue a individually to allow the modeller to buy the parts without forking out for a full kit. Well done Tamiya. The required sprues are below:

 

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Extras:

 

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I'll be using a Quickboost TCS pod, Quickboost Seats, Hobbydecal pitot tube, Furball walkway decals, ECM blisters cast by @Shaun, Flying Leathernecks vinyl masks  (for the intakes) and Fightertown decals. I'll be arming the model with 2x AIM-9, 1x AIM-54 and 1x GBU-24, the latter of which will be from Hasegawa weapons set D. A small number of GBU-24s were dropped during OEF, with VF-213 dropping 4 and VF-41 dropping 2 in total. Due to the size, only one was carried and they were used against caves and bunker complexes.

 

Decals:

 

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References:

 

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Dave

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Ohhhhhhh boy. I have that decal sheet and those references. I cannot wait to see what you do with this as one day, I want to do one of those VF-41 turkeys as well. I can't remember though, what were the D sprues for a late A? P and Q?

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2 hours ago, exdraken said:

Great project!

You are THE master of the Tamiya cat by nowm no? :thumbsup:

Haha, not sure about that mate! Maybe when I build the other 6 in the stash :lol:

8 hours ago, whiskey said:

Ohhhhhhh boy. I have that decal sheet and those references. I cannot wait to see what you do with this as one day, I want to do one of those VF-41 turkeys as well. I can't remember though, what were the D sprues for a late A? P and Q?

 

Thanks mate. The sprues needed to make a late A model from the D boxing are:

 

D x1 - Updated tails with reinforcement plates

L x1 - Clear parts for LANTIRN pod and PTID screen for cockpit

M x1 - Updated beaver tail, front landing gear door, GPS dome, TARPS pod etc

N x1 - Various cockpit parts

P x2 - Updated main wheels, bomb pallets, LANTIRN pod, BOL rails and bombs

 

I'd say making a B model would be easiest from a D model boxing, with only a few minor things needing adjusted for the B model.

 

 

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57 minutes ago, exdraken said:

Still quite a hazule to get to the right parts! Where did you get them from?

Will Tamiya bring outmore boxings? B, late A,  early D etc? .... I'd assume so...

 

 

I got all but sprue P from the USA, sprue P from Germany courtesy of @coneheadff

 

An early D can be made from the current D boxing, you'd just need to source the appropriate decals. I'd imagine Tamiya will release a B model at some stage as there won't be many additional parts required with the current D tooling - ECM bumps for the wing glove vanes, GRU-7 ejection seats, TCS pod and a slightly different cockpit/HUD.

 

The late model A can be achieved by the addition of the sprues I've listed in my previous post along with the few things mentioned above. Tamiya did release various blocks of the F-16 (just no 2 seater!) so it's possible they will do the entire F-14 lineup, but who knows!

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Made a start on this over the weekend. Ordnance built up:

 

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GBU-24 from Hasegawa Weapons set D. The rest from the kit. Various sub assemblies:

 

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One area that needed modification to make a late model A is the rear cockpit. In most respects, the cockpit is the same layout as provided in the kit, but the RIOs area needs work. Firstly, from the D sprues, the LANTIRN box and hand controller is required (parts N19 and M9). Secondly, the PTID screen was added to the majority of F-14s from the turn of the century, so this again needs added. It's not just a case of using the panel from the D model as it was fitted with an extra MFD off to the right of the large PTID screen. The solution is a minor bit of surgery - chop off the panel to the right of the PTID (part N26 from the D kit) and do the same with part K18 from the  A boxing:

 

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Butcher the part from K18 to the PTID and you get this:

 

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Not the cleanest but will look fine under a coat of paint. The rest of the cockpit parts ready to be painted:

 

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Front fuselage sections and upper fuselage, with wing sweep added. Note the necessary parts from the D model have been added here - GPS dome (part M22) and the NACA gun vent to the forward fuselage (part M24):

 

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Lower fuselage with intake ramps, ventral strakes and landing gear bits added:

 

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More soon.

 

Dave

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Thanks chaps. 

On 1/16/2019 at 7:12 AM, Jabba said:

The cockpit looks very good, especially the way you went about getting the correct console for the RIO. A very easy conversion for the panel rather than forking out for a aftermarket part.

Easy fix and as you say doesn't require any aftermarket. The kit cockpit is as good as you'll get in plastic in any case.

 

Have made some more progress over the last few days. One major addition is that of the single TCS pod, which is not included in either boxing of the Tamiya kit. Luckily Quickboost do a lovely example. 

 

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Includes a clear red piece for the navigation light. Fitted:

 

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Windshield and RIOs coaming fitted:

 

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Intakes were fitted along with, what has been the trickiest of jobs, fitting the ECM blisters to the wing glove area. The resin is fine, it's just a bit of a fiddle getting the pieces to sit correctly. After much faffing, I was able to blend them in with some filler:

 

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Note the intakes have been painted. The jet was overall 'Medium Grey' FS35237, however out of the pot this looked too dark to me, so I added several drops of white to brighten it a bit. Still looks a tad too dark to me, but hey, that's the colour the Fightertown sheet lists! Fuselage halves paired:

 

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Note the slot for the defunct antenna on the upper fuselage just aft of the GPS dome has been filled in (in a non violent way!). Other dabs of filler are there just to clean up join areas; not an issue with the kit, just my modelling!

 

A few small bits to clean up then it's ready for paint.

 

More soon.

 

Dave

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Managed a bit more over the last few days, with work mainly on the sub assemblies. Pylons all painted and given a panel line wash. From the few pictures I have of these jets during OEF, it looks like the front of the forward  fuselage pylons are FS36270 (Medium grey - same as the rest of the airframe) with the rear portions and aft pylons in FS36375 (Light Ghost Grey):

 

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BOL rails also FS36375. Landing gear:

 

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Quickboost seats, with Tamiya ejection handles and decals:

 

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Exhausts:

 

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For the ordnance, once painted, I used a mixture of decals. I wanted to add some bomb 'graffiti' to the GBU-24, as a lot of bombs were adorned with various messages of goodwill and with the air and ground crews wanting to send their regards.  I have a decal sheet from an old Fightertown set:

 

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Also needed to use some Furball decals for the LANTIRN pod and GBU-24:

 

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Ordnance with decals added, panel wash and some weathering on the GBU-24:

 

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You can see a couple of the 'graffiti' decals on the bomb and here is a shot of the other side, adorned with 'special delivery' and 'FDNY' - milder than one of the messages on the reverse!

 

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That's the majority of sub assemblies done, bar the fuel tanks which should be completed tomorrow. The airframe is just about ready for paint. Earlier in the thread I was doubting that the jet was overall 'medium grey' however I found the below image of the CAG jet online, which was taken shortly after the Squadron returned home from the cruise:

 

VF-41 airframe colour

 

Looks like medium grey to me! :lol:

 

More soon.

 

Dave

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Fuel tanks done; with decals from the Fightertown sheet, Flory Models wash for the panel lines and a home made wash for the fuel stains/weathering:

 

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Will hopefully have the airframe painted and ready to decal in the next week or so.

 

Dave

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  • 2 weeks later...

So missed the deadline for the GB unfortunately, but the model isn't too far from being finished. The decals are on and sealed in with a top coat of varnish:

 

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A note on the decals; Fightertown make some excellent sheets, the research and details are second to none but one thing irks me slightly - the decals for each airframe are all over the sheet and have no number callouts. Not a disaster and it would never put me off getting more sheets, but when there's 4 different shades of grey for one type of decal it would useful to know which one is for which airframe! :lol:

 

Will add some weathering with various shades of grey and then add the panel line wash tomorrow.

 

Cheers

 

Dave

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A few hours spent at the bench today. Wash went on:

 

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Excess removed after about 30 minutes. I then added some more weathering with a mixture of home made grey washes. The landing gear, pylons and fuel tanks were then added:

 

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More soon.

 

Dave

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  • 10 months later...

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