F-14A VF-51 Screaming Eagles - Academy 1/72

[Wings unlevel]

Hi all,

 

I'm very late to the party and have bitten off more than I can chew in having any hope of finishing in time! But I figure there's no harm in trying, and as a very recent returnee to modelling hopefully I can learn a little along the way.

 

So I've started on my (new mold) Academy 1/72 F-14A. It will be out of the box bar some Milspec decals to build a VF-51 Screaming Eagles jet, circa 1979.

 

 

I've nearly finished Academy's 1/72 F-15C and the F-14 is very obviously light years ahead in terms of detail, clarity of instructions, quality of the decals and quality of the plastic. The fit so far seems excellent too.

 

I have modest expectations, certainly by the amazing standards of everyone else here. But hopefully I can build a nice clean jet and minimise my errors while always learning!

 

I only ordered the aftermarket decals on Friday and they arrived this afternoon. They look excellent and stand up pretty well in comparison to the Cartograph sheet from the box.

 

 

Anyone have any experience and advice in using the Milspec decals?

 

Anyway, time to get a wriggle on! Any and all advice and suggestions welcome.

 

Gerard

 

 

 

[Col.]

Welcome to the GB Gerard. This really is a nice kit so that always helps the cause. No pressure to finish, enjoy it, hopefully you can pick up plemty tips and inspiration from the other Academy kits some are working on within our GB

[Thom216]

A kit buddy! I'm (on hold) building one of these with the Grim Reaper decals. Will love to see yours going, and even after the GB!

[Wings unlevel]

Hi @Thom216, I’m here to make all the newbie mistakes so others don’t have to!

 

Going to be slow going but hope to have a cockpit and some basic assembly done after the weekend. Forecast wet weather will mean I can neglect the garden guilt free!

 

Worked out tonight the correct gun exhaust for my jet and where the intake trunk paint transitions from the light hull grey to white (answer, from the diverted ramp back).

 

 

Time to get spraying…

[Thom216]

A little masking and a little spraying. When I got to the beaver tail I found it needed some plastic support added as the part is a butt-join. Same for the bottom piece.

 

Have fun!

 

Thom

[Wings unlevel]

On 12/11/2021 at 00:51, Thom216 said:

A little masking and a little spraying. When I got to the beaver tail I found it needed some plastic support added as the part is a butt-join. Same for the bottom piece.

 

Have fun!

 

Thom

Thanks Thom, am having fun, if very slowly… 😀

[Wings unlevel]

A brief update - doing what I can when I can.

 

Have painted lots of bits, in particular the intakes and engine ducts, plus the fan faces and exhausts.

 

 

The cockpit paints are largely Humbrol enamels while everything else is painted it’s acrylic lacquers. SMS white, Mr Hobby burnt iron and AK Interactive light gull grey. All sprayed beautifully. To my eye he AK light gull grey looks spot on.

 

 

Cockpit is nearly done. I really struggled with getting down many of the decals and mucked a few up, so don’t look too closely. First time using Mr Mark Setter and Softer. Took a while to get the hang of that but became more adept as I went. Happier with my first attempt at dry brushing - silver accents to the black on the crew seats and a little bit of yellow to the ejection seat handles - looks better from a distance than in this image.

 

Going away for a few days so not sure when I’ll next have an update, but the build proper beckons. Hopefully next time I’ll have something resembling a Tomcat. 🤞

 

Gerard

 

 

Edited November 17, 2021 by Wings unlevel

[Thom216]

Nice looking progress! Have fun on your trip!

[Jabba]

Like the work in the cockpit and good progress with the other parts of the build.

[PhilHoff]

Hello,

 

There are nice pictures of these VF-51 Tomcats, including detail shots, on this page : http://www.ausairpower.net/APA-CV-63-Kitty-Hawk.html

 

Have fun with this nice Academy kit.

 

Philippe

[Wings unlevel]

5 hours ago, PhilHoff said:

Hello,

 

There are nice pictures of these VF-51 Tomcats, including detail shots, on this page : http://www.ausairpower.net/APA-CV-63-Kitty-Hawk.html

 

Have fun with this nice Academy kit.

 

Philippe

Thanks Phillipe, that page is a fantastic resource and has some beautiful air-to-air images.

 

Gerard

[Wings unlevel]

I’ve made some good progress with assembly and the kit has come together beautifully.

 

 

Very little filling and sanding is going to be needed by the looks of it, a little between the forward intake trunks and the fuselage underside, but not much else.

 

 

The forward fuselage slotted together with the main fuselage beautifully.

 

 

Again, am really impressed with the quality of this kit. It’s making even me look half competent!

 

Looks like a Tomcat now. 😀

 

 

 

 

 

[Jabba]

That has gone together very well and quickly.

[Wings unlevel]

On 25/11/2021 at 00:26, Jabba said:

That has gone together very well and quickly.

Thanks Jaba, it’s all the kit though!

[Wings unlevel]

Wet here today so could spend Saturday in the house guilt free.

 

Doesn’t look like much but I felt I made some good progress today. First time today scraping, sanding and polishing the canopy to remove the seam. So you use a knife to scrape the seam and then use progressively finer grunt sanding sticks/paper to sand it smooth… say what? But it worked, and the Tamiya polishing compounds seem to have magical qualities!

 

Forgot to take a pic before I masked the canopy. First time using Eduard masks as well. Again, pretty magical stuff.

 

 

Also painted a few black bits and did the tiniest amount of putty filling.

 

Looks like sunshine tomorrow so might have to spend some of it pushing the lawn mower around, but might get to priming with luck.

[Col.]

Nice progress Gerard. Hope that lawn mower doesn't keep you too busy tomorrow.

[Thom216]

Those Eduard masks are great, and time savers! Much better than Montex IMO.

[Roberto]

Nice work!

[Jabba]

Always a good sign when paint is starting to be applied, no matter how small the amount.

[Wings unlevel]

On 28/11/2021 at 00:13, Col. said:

Nice progress Gerard. Hope that lawn mower doesn't keep you too busy tomorrow.

Had to trim the hedges too, but at least I’ve banked some more credits for more time modelling! 🤣

12 minutes ago, Jabba said:

Always a good sign when paint is starting to be applied, no matter how small the amount.

Definitely satisfying as a sign of progress 

On 28/11/2021 at 04:46, Thom216 said:

Those Eduard masks are great, and time savers! Much better than Montex IMO.

I was impressed!

[Wings unlevel]

Now primed (with SMS Surfacer …err… black).

 

 

Looks fantastic in black I have to say. Maybe I have should have gone for the VX-9 bunny scheme…

 

With minimal filling and sanding it’s been a joy to build and now looks ready to go grey.

 

How many days to go @Col.? May yet get this done.

 

Gerard

 

[Thom216]

I got to hurry up! I need to see more near completed builds to spur me on.

[Dermo245]

Nice progress on this one Gerard 👍

 

 

[Col.]

10 hours ago, Wings unlevel said:

How many days to go @Col.? May yet get this done.

14 days to go as of tomorrow Gerard. Hope you can get her done in time as she's looking good so far.

[Wings unlevel]

12 hours ago, Thom216 said:

I got to hurry up! I need to see more near completed builds to spur me on.

“Near completed” might be a stretch!

9 hours ago, Col. said:

14 days to go as of tomorrow Gerard. Hope you can get her done in time as she's looking good so far.

13 now! 😱