Christer A Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 Nice work Rich! I should probably treat myself to some Quinta goodies... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted November 7, 2021 Author Share Posted November 7, 2021 Ok so with the Draken to one side with the decals I decided to do a wee bit more to this…….well I actually did quite a lot and have started the painting process! There actually wasn’t too much left to do, fit both cowlings and then the front canopy. This done she’s ready for painting, a wee bit of masking and off we go. The scheme for this one is just one colour overall, FS.36440 Lt. Grey. To stop it looking plain and flat I did a bit of pre-shading, this time I used a Eduard brass mask set and various greys, all these, the white base coat and Black panel line were done using Tamiya acrylic. I find they are a perfect base from main coats of lacquer-based paints. She looks quite patchy, I don’t mind if it’s too patchy as I can blend it all down with the main colour. For the main colour I’m using AK’s Real Color Lt. Grey FS.36440, mixed quite this with there thinner. It turned out really nicely, pretty much the look I’m going for. To finish it off I’ll move to MRP paints, I would have used theirs for the main colour but I’m running very low! The camera doesn’t show the effect well at all, in natural light the finish is almost spot on for what I’m after. The one odd thing is I got big patches of white here and there, not sure what caused it. I think I may have been the AK thinners, it’s the right stuff for the paint but I found it separated really easy compared to when I normally use Tamiya thinner to thin this paint. No dramas, easy to hide and will add to the overall look. I still have a day’s worth of painting to do, just getting the finish right. Having an extra long weekend next weekend, so may even have the decaling done by the end of it! 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sierra Mike Sierra Posted November 7, 2021 Share Posted November 7, 2021 Impressive weatheing work, Rich! I still often run out pof patience in this buildung phase 😑 Do the AK colors work well with MRP's? Cheers Stefan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted November 7, 2021 Share Posted November 7, 2021 Looking smart Rich and glad to hear this one is going the way you want 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roberto Posted November 7, 2021 Share Posted November 7, 2021 Good painting, I like it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted November 7, 2021 Author Share Posted November 7, 2021 3 hours ago, Sierra Mike Sierra said: Impressive weatheing work, Rich! I still often run out pof patience in this buildung phase 😑 Do the AK colors work well with MRP's? Cheers Stefan Hi Stefan, yeah they work together really nicely. The Real Color thinned right back goes on as nicely as the MRP stuff, that said the MRP stuff is still be best paint on the market in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted November 8, 2021 Share Posted November 8, 2021 Smart paint job rich 👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted November 11, 2021 Share Posted November 11, 2021 Forgot you were building this as well as your Draken Rich. The mottling has given a very nice patchy and worn finish to the Light Gull Grey, well done mate.👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted November 12, 2021 Share Posted November 12, 2021 Lovely bit of weathering on that bird. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted November 12, 2021 Author Share Posted November 12, 2021 Thanks everyone... Right update time, this build is going together just right, everything seems to be working out as planned…..unlike the Draken….less said about that one! So pretty much all of yesterday’s work has been about getting the finish right, for this I used my precious bottle of MRP FS.36440 and a few other MRP greys as well, the leading edges of all flying surfaces were given a for Cro-Guard, Alclad Airframe Aluminium in this case. Other bits were tidied up as well, maybe a little more weathering required. The surrounds for the exhaust cans were painted… …..along with the nose cone and anti-glare panel. Then all the paint masks were removed, barring canopy ones. The intakes look really good. The degree of unevenness/weathering of the painted surfaces didn’t appear to be as great as on the later F-14D’s with their really weathered and worn 3 tone grey schemes. I haven’t managed to fine any Vf-31 aircraft in this scheme that show severe weathering at all, most look quite clear. Probably helped by the fact the finish wasn’t a flat as the later schemes. All in all I’m really pleased with how she looks, nice and uneven without being too heavy. I have decided that this will be her loadout, a “Fleet Defender” mode or "Ready 5" aircraft (and not Alert 5 as in THAT movie!!!). Other than the photo I posted earlier, all the other VF-31 F-14A photo’s I’ve found show these aircraft with the AIM-54 Phoenix pylons fitted (front ones only). I’m not sure about the 3rd fuselage mounted Sparrow though. Plus I’m not 100% happy with the colour of the Sparrows, photos of them fitted show them to have grey bodies, but there again these photos are of when they were deployed on the USS Forrestal in the late 80’s. Actually there are a couple of concerns with the decals, 1 they are quite old and 2 I only have one reference photo of a VF-31 bird from the USS John F Kennedy! VF-31 first deployed their Tomcats on the Kennedy in 1981 – 1984, and there appear to be some minor differences as well! Hopefully these decals behave as you cannot get the Hi-Vis one's for this scheme anymore. I have a set of the grey's for late in VF-31's tour with the Forrestal, they'll be going on that new release Tamiya F-14A that has the flaps and slats!! 🥰 She’s now ready for her clear coat…… and I’ll definitely be staying away from that Alcald stuff for sure!!! 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted November 13, 2021 Share Posted November 13, 2021 Looks really sharp @trickyrich. Love the mixed load out. Might do the same for mine. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJL Posted November 14, 2021 Share Posted November 14, 2021 Looks great mate, lovely scheme and load out! Where the intake roof panels more white on this jet? Normally the grey runs right to the inner intake ramp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ale85 Posted November 16, 2021 Share Posted November 16, 2021 Looks nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted November 21, 2021 Author Share Posted November 21, 2021 On 11/15/2021 at 4:37 AM, DaveJL said: Looks great mate, lovely scheme and load out! Where the intake roof panels more white on this jet? Normally the grey runs right to the inner intake ramp. Ummm.... I really not sure why I did it now, I know I spent ages trying to figure it out.... if it's wrong no one will notice.....unless they're very tiny.... like Tom! Ok on with the update… … and WOW I do seem to be making lots of progress on her, which is nice for a change. She was given a clear coat with Gunze’s Clear Lacquer, gee it’s nice paint, it goes on super smooth! I finally may have found a decent clear! I left her overnight to cure, then with a bit of trepidation decaling time! The decals I’m using are from Microscale, I saw them on evilBay and had to snap them up, have never seen them since. Actually any decals for a VF-31 F-14A’s are as rare as 🦄 ! I do also have a set from Eagle Strike for a LoVis VF-31 F-14A, equally as rare! I’m not sure how old these decals were, my first worry, plus they would have been made for the Hasegawa model, my second worry! So to kill 2 worries I decided to do the rudders first…gosh knows what I’d do if the decals flopped!!! So first worry…OK!!! 2nd…well not so, as can be seen they don’t line up correctly with the panel lines and their overall shape is wrong, Hasegawa got the tail shape slightly wrong. Some scary cutting with the scalpel and all is right again. A few hours later and she’s done! She really looks nice, there were some stencilling supplied with the Microscale decals, but it was pretty poor, so I used the Tamiya ones. The Microscale decals actually went on really well, they are super thin and work perfectly. Those scoops on the underside fins caused some headaches, but off cuts from the rudder decals and lots of softening fixed that. I so love this scheme, they were only on the USS John F Kennedy for a little over 2 years and as far as I know this was the initial scheme they used, as far as I know this was the scheme they had when they moved over to F-14’s. I only have one photo of this scheme, when they moved to the USS Forrestal the scheme varied, then later they went to the grey LoVis version. Ok this is not a 100% correct either, looking at photo's of the USS John F Kennedy in 1982, shows the VF-31 aircraft in this colour scheme but with the tail codes AC which were for CVW-3, the same carrier wing as they operated off on the USS Saratoga. The AE codes are for CVW-6 which was when they were on the USS Forrestal, so this scheme (and there is the photo of it earlier in the thread, must have been for a very short period. Arrr the joys of modelling and research! I’ll be a couple of weeks till I get back to her, have the EOY Club Comp next weekend plus heading out west for work straight after. Don’t have too much to go on her, so am hoping to have her done in time…will be close! Oh and one final with her older sibling….. 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted November 21, 2021 Share Posted November 21, 2021 Looking rather nice indeed Rich Glad to see the decals performed well despite their age and you're finding a suitable clear lacquer at last - all good. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJL Posted November 21, 2021 Share Posted November 21, 2021 Looks great Rich! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted November 24, 2021 Share Posted November 24, 2021 Fine looking feline! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted November 25, 2021 Share Posted November 25, 2021 Looking very good with the markings on. The Red tail shows a real splash of colour when compared to the overall Grey. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dermo245 Posted November 25, 2021 Share Posted November 25, 2021 Looks terrific. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ale85 Posted November 25, 2021 Share Posted November 25, 2021 Lovely build! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted November 26, 2021 Author Share Posted November 26, 2021 I'm hoping to get the flat clear coat on tomorrow (have club EOY Comp on today, got 11 builds up), no dramas with the gloss clear and panel wash thank god/Enzo! I won't go too hard on the final weathering as VF-31 only had this variation of this scheme for a short time. While on the USS John F Kennedy they were part of CVW-3 which wore the "AC" tail code, they next moved to the USS Forrestal and CVW-6 which has the code "AE". So I am now think this scheme and tail code/Carrier name combo was during the transition between carrier wings, between April 1984 and July 1985. Plus a lot of phots of them on the Forrestal show the aircraft to be quite clean..... well compared to later, probably due to the paint finish. But wow trying to find photos VF-31 on the USS John F Kennedy are proving to be near impossible, I've only managed to find that one of the 2 of them together with the "AE" tail, none seem to exist with the "AC" tail! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roberto Posted November 27, 2021 Share Posted November 27, 2021 Looks great! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted December 6, 2021 Author Share Posted December 6, 2021 ..and it’s finally here… the final update!! I had though I may have struggled to complete her in time but got lots done of the weekend, now just the final bits to complete. After what seems forever the stores are done, they just need a clear coat and panel lines work. So many decals! The boarding ladder is the PE from Eduard, I wasn’t game enough to attempt the stainless Steel one from the Amur Reaver set, building the Eduard one was bad enough! The bang seats are just about done, Legend resin ones with extra Quinta Studio handles. Wheels and U/c doors are mostly on. Control surfaces looking good with the clear, just need to grubby them up a little bit. The ResKit exhaust cans are about ½ way done and in their typical TF-30 config, one open (last engine to stop, no hydraulic power to close petals) and one closed (1st engine stopped RH one)……. The instruction say they are for the Tamiya F-14A, so you’d think they’d fit……. nuh they must have someone for Aires working for them!! As can be seen they need a large section removed and the foul on the lower wing fold section! Looks pretty cool with the store sitting there. Actually very happy with the overall look, just some minor weathering to do and a final clear coat and that’s it….. should be done next weekend. 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roberto Posted December 7, 2021 Share Posted December 7, 2021 Wow. Super! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 Looking really smart Rich, great work. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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