daryl_five_zero Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 Good evening, all! For my (first ever groupbuild!) entry, I've decided to model my Tamiya F-14a as Maverick & Goose's mount from that certain film that ignited my love of Grumman's big 'cat. I've built Tamiya's superlative Tomcat - albeit in its - D guide) previously, and it has firmly cemented itself as my favourite kit of all time. So I'm very happy to have the opportunity to add another to my shelf. I know quite a few in the STGB are also building the same kit, so I won't go into detail about it. It's a stunner and we'll leave it at that. I have Fightertown's best of the best decal set, which provides a lot of very attractive liveries. I've also got the Eduard Big 'Sin set to enhance the cockpit, burner cans and wheels. Although the OOB offerings from Tamiya are very commendable, Eduard's resin alternatives are unbeaten in my opinion. I also have Quickboost' s chin pod and tail stiffeners to update Tamiya's kit to the correct block for the movie jet. I have the Eduard' external PE set on the way as this adds a lot of fidelity to the look of the kit. And here is the livery I'll be working on depicting. I'm anxiously excited about the weathering that will take place on this build. Those movie jets were rather grubby to say the least! I have the Sabre resin crew kit on order to go with this build, and I'm looking forward to putting the helmet decals that come with the Fightertown sheet to good use! I'm very excited to start this build, and equally looking forward to seeing everybody else's builds and what we all come up with! Gentlemen; I feel the need - the need, for lots of re-runs of my favourite movie! Daryl 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 Welcome to the GB area Daryl, I am looking forward to watching this one progress. I hope that you don't mind me sharing my attempt to recreate a scene from Topgun in 1/144 scale from 2014, which I titled as ... 'The data on the MiG is inaccurate'. by John L, on Flickr Good luck with your build bud. John 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted September 16, 2021 Share Posted September 16, 2021 Welcome to the GBs Daryl and with a fine subject. I'm sure your project thread will prove to be a popular one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daryl_five_zero Posted September 16, 2021 Author Share Posted September 16, 2021 9 hours ago, nimrod54 said: Welcome to the GB area Daryl, I am looking forward to watching this one progress. I hope that you don't mind me sharing my attempt to recreate a scene from Topgun in 1/144 scale from 2014, which I titled as ... 'The data on the MiG is inaccurate'. by John L, on Flickr Good luck with your build bud. John Thanks, John. That is a stunner! Really eye catching. I have the same Tomcat decals in 1:144... The Mig-28 is particularly appealing though, what kits did you work from? 3 hours ago, Col. said: Welcome to the GBs Daryl and with a fine subject. I'm sure your project thread will prove to be a popular one Thanks for having me, Col. 😬 I was torn between a few liveries, but I figured it'd be a crime to have a Tomcat GB and not see anything from the film. Hope I don't disappoint! 😅 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted September 16, 2021 Share Posted September 16, 2021 28 minutes ago, daryl_five_zero said: Thanks, John. That is a stunner! Really eye catching. I have the same Tomcat decals in 1:144... The Mig-28 is particularly appealing though, what kits did you work from? Hi Daryl, I used Revell kits for both builds with the MiG coming from their F-5E, the decals are home printed using standard Office software to create the circles and stars. The F-14's decals were scaled to fit from a file supplied by a fellow Britmodeller. Regards. John 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daryl_five_zero Posted September 20, 2021 Author Share Posted September 20, 2021 Afternoon, all! Managed to get a little time this morning to get this build off the starting line. Started with the GRU-7(A) seats supplied in the Big 'Sin set. Exemplary as always. I have a couple of good shots in my resource books, but there's no shortage of pics on Google either. I prefer to mix colours by eye with things like seats - especially with so many shades of green and khaki being present - so Eduard's colour call-outs weren't adhered to. Now on to the resin pit! If Eduard's pit for the - A is anything like their offering for the - D, I'm not anticipating any issues. Cheers, Daryl 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted September 20, 2021 Share Posted September 20, 2021 That's a pair of nice looking seats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ale85 Posted September 20, 2021 Share Posted September 20, 2021 Nice looking seats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arfa1983 Posted September 20, 2021 Share Posted September 20, 2021 Yeah they look the part! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daryl_five_zero Posted October 3, 2021 Author Share Posted October 3, 2021 Evening, all. Just a quick update so it doesn't look like I've forgotten about this build! Time at the desk has been hard to come by recently so I've been making the most of any opportunity. I've managed to make progress in the pit, and have it looking about how I want it. Sorry about the shoddy phone pics; i didn't get much chance to get the camera out during assembly, and got the cockpit buttoned up before I could take any worthwhile shots! That's as far as I am so far. The Eduard set is as nice as I remember it being for my - D build. Lovely crisp detail. Still waiting on the external PE set so I can crack on with the nose wheel well, then I can button the forward fuselage up and crack on with the rest! Cheers Daryl 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daryl_five_zero Posted October 4, 2021 Author Share Posted October 4, 2021 Hi all! Managed to get a little more time in this morning. One thing I've done on all of my Tomcat builds to date is try to improve the covers on the IP covers in the pit. Although the Eduard resin does represent these quite nicely, I've found that all offerings are devoid of any texture to the canvas covers. Here's where a little tissue and PVA come into play. There's a whole multitude of colours to choose from as the factory black covers sun-bleach over time (I've seen burgundy, brown, tan, khaki, olive etc...) but I settled on a tan/brown for mine - purely for aesthetic, and to add a little variation to the cockpit. A quick wash brings out the folds and texture a little. Postman was here bright and early bringing goodies. Now I can crack on without deviating from the build order I'd like. Onto the main wheel well so I can get the forward fuse sealed up. Also got myself a set of these: No fictitious VF-1 patch from the movie present, but I'm sure I'll have more than enough options to adorn the flightsuits of my crew when they arrive! Thanks for looking! Daryl 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 Superb progress Daryl, the seats and cockpits look fantastic. The patches will be a neat addition to the crew suits too. John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daryl_five_zero Posted October 7, 2021 Author Share Posted October 7, 2021 Evening, all. Found time to get a little work done over the last couple of days. Even managed to get the camera out so I can upload some non-camera phone pics that don't show any detail! Got the cockpit sitting where i am happy with it, and now have the fore section all zipped up. Happy with how the bulkheads look, although most of that will be hidden by the bangseats. That age old modellers' mantra springs to mind... "at least I know it's there, at least I know it's there!" Pilot and RIO IP's in place (although not fixed yet) a few touch ups around the coaming needed. Only bits missing are yellow canopy jettison handles. Those will be added later as they're so prone to being knocked off and lost. The cockpit surround isn't attached yet; this will be painted separately and added after the main body has been painted to avoid unnecessary masking. NLG bay finished off. The PE that eduard supply really makes a world of difference here. Chin pod added a little hastily; I just couldn't help myself. The aircraft spared to film Top Gun had the bullet fairing type, as TCS pods were still very much in demand for fleet deployed Tomcats. The quickboost offering is a nice rendition of this. Now started work on the intakes, MLG bays, and the pancake. The intakes in particular are another one of Tamiya's triumphs with this kit. The engineering is sublime. Although the kit can only be built with one ramp option, the construction is so hassle free. Despite AMK having multiple options here, I feel they overcomplicated things and this was one of the major shortcomings of that kit in my opinion. Eduard supply some plumbing for the MLG bays, but they still seem a little sparse despite this. I am tempted to greeble a little more in these areas... Depends how adventurous I'm feeling when the time comes! Thanks for stopping by! Daryl 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted October 14, 2021 Share Posted October 14, 2021 That is once nice and busy gear well! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dansk Posted October 16, 2021 Share Posted October 16, 2021 Superb work. Very nice 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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