HB 1/72 Freelancers' (ex Wolfpack's) F-14A

[Pierpaolo]

Good morning
I participate in this group build with a 1/72 scale F14A from the Hobby boss
The kit is halfway between a normal kit and an easy kit and I chose it among the many I have for its supposed ease of assembly.
I will make a CAG example of the VF-1 Wolfpack (BuNo 162597/NE-100) dated in 1991 returning from Desert Storm where it was boarded on the aircraft carrier USS Ranger

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will not use the kit decals because they are wrong for both the high visibility version and the later low visibility version

 

 

I will use decals from an Academy kit (old mould) instead

 

 

To improve the cockpit I will use an Eduard PE set and the True Detail resin seats

Edited November 6, 2021 by Pierpaolo
correction

[Roberto]

Must love those Wolfpack birds!

[Col.]

Delighted to see VF-1's wolf getting your attention  Being unfamiliar with this kit I don't know how much detail there is in the cockpit already but those seats will make for a nice focal point.

[Pierpaolo]

Thank you for the welcome

My passion for airplanes and more precisely for the tomcat began in the mid 80's, guess after seeing which movie?

In the group builds I participate in I like to show themed models that I have already done
In the early years since I started doing modeling (90's) , I count 3 F-14s in 1/72 scale and one in 1/48 scale, They are all unpresentable. One of these, a Hasegawa originally made with the livery of the VF-41, the restored getting this one of the VF-31

 

 

another one, a Fujimi of the VF-111 which is not recoverable I have done it again with the same kit but with Fcm decals

 

 

the last I made is the one who participated at " In the year i was born GB", a VF-1 dated in 1975 (Hasegawa 1/72) So what I'm going to do is not my first VF-1

 

 

@Col. The cockpit is not bad, it is more detailed than other more classic models (i.e. Italeri) but the use of PE instead of decals will certainly be an improvement. I use the True Detail seats (I have a good supply) because they have built-in harnesses and I find it easier to color them than to use photo-etched belts.

[Pierpaolo]

Hi!

I started from the cockpit and with the self-adhesive photoetched it was very simple

 

 

 

 

 

[Col.]

Your work in the cockpit does look good

Nice collection of previous Tomcats as well. If you want to add some photos of them in the Inspiration Gallery they'd be most welcome.

[Pierpaolo]

On 21/09/2021 at 07:54, Col. said:

Nice collection of previous Tomcats as well. If you want to add some photos of them in the Inspiration Gallery they'd be most welcome.

Thank You @Col. i will do

 

I added the seats, I had to mill a little to get them in because they are a bit wider than the ones offered by the kit. for this there is some dust in the photos, sorry

 

 

 

 

The first dry fit is not bad

 

 

 

 

[almac]

Very nice work on the cockpit. The seats are super looking, excellent painting.

 

Cheers Allan 

[Hewy]

Great job pierpaolo on your previous f-14s,it  looks like this one is heading the same way 👍

[Roberto]

Very nice seats!

[Pierpaolo]

Thank You @almac, @Hewy and @Roberto

[Col.]

I was about to say that looks great then realised you're working with the 72nd rather than 48th scale kit! Very nice work indeed

[stevej60]

Great work so far that's a beautiful cockpit!

[Pierpaolo]

Hi!

Thank You @Col. and @stevej60

 

Some little progress

I glued the fuselage shells, removed the mould seams on the canopy, polished them and dipped in the Future wax

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ale85]

Nice work so far!

CIao

Ale

[Pierpaolo]

Thanks @Ale85 , you're doing fine too

[Hook]

On 9/19/2021 at 1:48 PM, Pierpaolo said:

I will not use the kit decals because they are wrong for both the high visibility version and the later low visibility version

Oh dear, I boughty this just for the lo viz option. 

 

What's wrong with the kit markings? 

 

Edit: nevermind!, I just caught your other post. Thanks for the info! 

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

Edited October 9, 2021 by Hook

[Pierpaolo]

@Hook after buying the kit I looked for information on the proposed subjects, the high visibility one I already knew well having done it, of the low visibility one I did not find real photos, indeed, I did not find photos of other subjects who had similar gray markings

 

I joined the fuselage and nose together. luckily I had to use very little putty, the joints are good. the air vents are not glued yet

 

 

 

 

 

[Hewy]

Well on the way 👍

[Col.]

Taking shape nicely

[Pierpaolo]

Hi!

Some time has passed since the last update, in this time I have completed an armored vehicle that has been waiting for a long time

link

but I have also almost finished the tomcat!

after having mounted the air intakes without problems, I started painting

preshading :

 

 

 

 

paint job part 1

 

 

 

 

At this point I decided to change the subject because in reality I have already done a tomcat of the VF-1 and that's what I like best
I still had to choose a plane that had participated in Desert Storm and I chose this one from VF-21

 

 

So.. Paint job part 2

 

 

 

 

Decaling

 

 

 

 

 

[Roberto]

Looks great!

[Col.]

Very nice Glad you went with the VF-21 markings as they look great.

[Pierpaolo]

Thank You

[CT7567]

On 11/2/2021 at 4:12 PM, Pierpaolo said:

 

At this point I decided to change the subject because in reality I have already done a tomcat of the VF-1 and that's what I like best
I still had to choose a plane that had participated in Desert Storm and I chose this one from VF-21

 

 

 

Beautiful subject and your model is coming along wonderfully!

I hope it's just a technicality for your consideration, but felt obliged to note that VF-21 didn't actually participate in Desert Storm - they and the rest of CVW-14 aboard CV-62 USS Independence were deployed to the theater following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, in the build-up named Desert Shield, but they rotated home before the start of combat (Desert Storm) in January 1991 (Source)

 

That air wing and timeframe has always been popular for modelers since they were widely photographed during the build-up prior to combat, and they had a CAG aircraft from each squadron featuring black tails and full color artwork (otherwise exceptionally rare in that era). For anyone interested on this group build, VF-154 was the other Tomcat squadron of CVW-14 at that time.