GWH F-14D Tomcat VF-213

[hugogo]

Having built both the Hasegawa and Academy F-14D's in 1:72 this year, I was very curious how these models would stand up against the Tomcat from GWH. So this is what I started with:

- GWH F-14D

- Decals from Modelkasten

- model figures from Modern Hobbies

I will make the AJ-213 during its last cruise, in a flying position right before it catches the arrestor cable on the aircraft deck.

 

Having freed the cockpit tub form the molding frame, the part looks quite good, no need for aftermarket stuff here:

Even the seats are made up of 5 parts each. No seatbelts included but that will be no problem for what I am going to do:

so an in-flight tomcat ready to touch down. Pilots from Modern Hobbies, looking very good. To my knowledge the owner of this company died just a few years ago sadly:

cockpit has good fit into the forward fuselage, all using very robust locator pins:

only the gun vent panels are missing a bit of thickness, so the insert is jus a bit too deep, this needs some work to get nicely flat..

And now the reason for using this model for this particular diorama: beautifully made wings with leading edge slats, flaps and speed brakes/spoilers:

Nice piece of molding technology, very thin stabilizer indeed!

here is the view on the air intakes. You have to be careful with the numbering of the parts else you will end up with things not fitting right:

Also the wheel bays look very convincing

 

[hugogo]

With some of the first parts assembled, I decided to put the more difficult to reach parts in primer (Tamiya laquer semi gloss black). after which I painted the wheel wells navy white from Gunze and the air inlets light gull grey

when assembled it all fits quite well:

in order to make the tail hook, by which the whole aircraft will be suspended, strong enough I bent a piece of steel wire and glued it into the fuselage with epoxy resin.

Thanks to the sturdy positioning pins, the top and bottom fuselage fit together very well and make a solid piece:

Also made progress with the cockpit, pilots'arms, legs and head have been glued and fit quite well in their seats:

After painting of the pilots, the look like this now:

Also the cockpit has been airbrushed, varnished and then received the decals. with some decal softener they conform quite well to the structure of the panels:

also the main dashboards look quite acceptable in this scale:

The landing gear is quite a detailed assembly. I made my life even more difficult by extending the shock absorbers to their maximum length. In this case because I want to shoe the aircraft as if it is still suspended in the air:

Now it is time for some more primer!

[Hook]

Lovely work!

[RMCS]

Excellent 

[SallysDad]

Very nice model. I like the control surfaces in this kit. 

Looks very detailed.

[dnl42]

Looking forward this.

 

Can't have too many Tomcats! 

[hugogo]

exactly that is my thinking too, this is my 3rd tomcat in a little over 1 year. I did the Academy tomcat and Hasegawa Tomcat last year. Even have another GWH Tomcat from VF-1 on the build stack. So never too many tomcats indeed! 

in the mean time the pilots have been mounted onto their seats, after a coat of matt varnish it is time to close the cockpit:

Also the canopy fits very well, no sanding necessary. Just some minor gaps to be filled:

After having put all sub assemblies together, it is time to put everything in a coat of primer. I use Tamiya laquer semi gloss black for that. After this coat, the fine surface detail of the kit really stands out:

This layer has settled nicely and without dust. The next step is to apply the marbling in white!

[hugogo]

Next step is to apply marbeling, basically swirling small clouds of white onto the surface, a bit more in the middle of the panels and a bit less over the panel lines. this is the result:

this way I will get some colour variation on the layer that goes on top , in this case Light gull gray, FS16440, lightened with some 20% white. after the grey, the other surfaces get their own colour. this takes quite a few meters of tape to mask off. the result is this:

after more masking...

 also the fuselage has all the right colours:

next up: a coat of closs varnish in preparation for the decals!

[hugogo]

at this moment I have finished painting and added decals:

the decals behaved fine, but the designer of the brand of Modelkasten has forgotten to design some decals (like the name of the carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, not entirely unimportant), also the manual does not provide color schemes and contains many errors. But if you want to make this scheme then there simply is no other choice!

the black stripe on the lower fins is a bit short but I am leaving it this way.

Also on the nose all decals fit quite well. Notice the orange separation line between the grey and blue:

too bad that the white of the roundel is a bit transparent:

I will design these missing details myself with Paint and print it on decal paper. What is missing is the numbers on the nose wheel doors, the text Theodore Roosevelt in a special font and the lion symbols on the fuel tanks. more news will come after the weekend!

[Hook]

11 hours ago, hugogo said:

But if you want to make this scheme then there simply is no other choice!

Well, there's a Hase boxing with Cartograf decals:

 

https://www.scalemates.com/nl/kits/hasegawa-00811-grumman-f-14d-tomcat--104585

 

Nice progress!

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

[hugogo]

Hi Andre, indeed Hasegawa is the only manufacturer I know that would have the complete kit with this particular model. However the Hasegawa plastic is not nearly as good as GWH, and to buy the kit just for the decals is a bit an overpriced solution I think. in the mean time I have nearly finished making the decals that are missing so in hte end I will make it work. more to follow!

[Shalako]

Just the level and quantity of details on this kit makes you wanna buy it!!!

 

Beautiful work so far!

[hugogo]

hi Shalako, indeed the quality of this kit is very good, fits well overall and has all moving surfaces to be positioned open, in which it is unique in this scale. Sometimes a bit overcomplicated like e.g. the air intakes and decals are not printed as sharply as could be, but for the rest a really good kit.

for the missing decals I have looked up some pictures from the internet and pasted them into Paint, then scaled them back to fit my model:

Now at least the name of the carrier is mentioned on the aircraft:

And modex numbers on the wheel doors:

Next step: another layer of gloss and then it's time for a panel line wash!

[ZHOU Kun]

Very nice build so far!  The landing gears without ground load would surely make your model look dynamic! I am following this thread!

[Shalako]

On 1/4/2022 at 3:44 PM, hugogo said:

 

You know this is one of those builds that you wait with anticipation to see how it will turn out!!! Now, that I see the LGs backing up your idea of having the Tomcat catching that No.2 wire I can't wait to see how it will turn out!!!

 

So, you need a base, the appropriate figures and equipment (arresting wire, etc.) to turn your diorama into a reality!!!

 

DEFINITELY, a must-watch build and one that I'm looking forward to see it completed!!!

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

 

P.S.: You probably also have to extent the main-gear oleo.

Edited January 25, 2022 by Shalako

[hugogo]

5 hours ago, ZHOU Kun said:

Very nice build so far!  The landing gears without ground load would surely make your model look dynamic! I am following this thread!

Hi Zhou, thanks for your support! indeed I am planning to have the aircraft suspended on the arrestor hook that I will stick into the base plate. So the wheels will be right off the deck. I am not sure myself what the effect will be in the end!

[hugogo]

Hi 

5 hours ago, Shalako said:

DEFINITELY, a must-watch build and one that I'm looking forward to see it completed!!!

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

 

P.S.: You probably also have to extent the main-gear oleo.

Hi Bill, thank you for your encouragement, I am very curious myself, not the least to see if the arrestor hook is going to carry all the load in the end.

Good eye for detail by the way, you noticed that I have not extended the nose gear! I concluded that extending it would be too risky considering the small parts, and looking at the nearly extended oleo, it would only make a difference of maybe 0.5 mm anyway. So I decided to use my artistic license here and gamble on the hope that it will not be visible. It's all a bit of an experiment!

[ZHOU Kun]

3 hours ago, hugogo said:

Hi Zhou, thanks for your support! indeed I am planning to have the aircraft suspended on the arrestor hook that I will stick into the base plate. So the wheels will be right off the deck. I am not sure myself what the effect will be in the end!

 

I am also obsessed with unloaded landing gear legs and have also built some aircraft in similar configuration.  The nose gear of F-14 is already at maximum extension when on ground, you don't have to lengthen it.

 

If you want to support the airframe with arrestor hook, this post by Red Dog models may help:

https://reddogsmodels.wordpress.com/2013/11/07/132-fa-18c-golden-dragon-landing/

[hugogo]

hi Zhou, I have read your thread with a lot of interest when you were doing doth the AMK and Tamiya build. Wow those builds are spectacular!

The fact that nowadays we have kits also in 1:72 with flaps and slats and speed brakes as separate parts, creates a whole new opportunity to build them with everything hanging out!

 

I have also discovered that the mass of the amount of plastic needed for an aircraft on twice the scale, will increase around 8 times (length x width x height, 2x2x2). so making the arrestor hook carry the model in 1:72 is a nice challenge, but nearly impossible to do on scale in 1:48 or 1:32. 

 

hugo

[Jon020]

Great to sit and read through another GWH build. This scheme is definitely my favourite for a D ... hope to do one at some point. I may have missed it, but what colour did you use for the blue around the nose. Looks lovely.

The figures look good; I've a few reedoak figures for mine ... and ground crew to pose with a shut down jet.

Looking forward to seeing the end result.

Jonathan

[hugogo]

hi Jonathan,I got the GWH kit with VF-31 last cruise tomcats in the box. To my surprise it was considerably cheaper than the initial release with VF-2. It did not matter to me because I was going for aftermarket decals anyway, but when I saw the included decals from the box I was wondering how they wil behave. In the mean time I also got GWH's F-14A tomcat from VF-1 and was planning to use those decals but thanks for the warning about how they settle, might go for aftermarket in the end.

The blue that I used cannot be bought in any can. I used in this case the assembly instructions from Tamiya (downloadable at scalemates) because the decal and paint instructions that came with the Modelkasten decals were rubbish. Tamiya advises to mix 5 parts of medium blue with 1 part of dark blue, must say that works quite well having compared with reference photo's. Those photo's also show how impeccably clean this bird stayed during its last cruise, I guess the gloss paint was much easier to wash and keep clean than the matt paint on the other aircraft! so there will hardly any post shading or dirtying-up necessary for my build, just a panel line wash will do. I hope to get the last gloss coat on this morning in prep for the panel lines.

Edited January 29, 2022 by hugogo

[Jon020]

1 hour ago, hugogo said:

hi Jonathan,I got the GWH kit with VF-31 last cruise tomcats in the box. To my surprise it was considerably cheaper than the initial release with VF-2. It did not matter to me because I was going for aftermarket decals anyway, but when I saw the included decals from the bow I was wondering how they wil behave. In the mean time I also got GWH's F-14A tomcat from VF-1 and was planning to use those decals but thanks for the warning about how they settle, might go for aftermarket in the end.

The blue that I used cannot be bought in any can. I used in this case the assembly instructions from Tamiya (downloadable at scalemates) because the decal and paint instructions that came with the Modelkasten decals were rubbish. Tamiya advises to mix 5 parts of medium blue with 1 part of dark blue, must say that works quite well having compared with reference photo's. Those photo's also show how impeccably clean this bird stayed during its last cruise, I guess the gloss paint was much easier to wash and keep clean than the matt paint on the other aircraft! so there will hardly any post shading or dirtying-up necessary for my build, just a panel line wash will do. I hope to get the last gloss coat on this morning in prep for the panel lines.

Hi Hugo. Thanks for the pointer... I've yet to dabble with tamiya paints; still getting used to mission models, which I like, and I've some MRP paints and Mr Hobby to play with....I used the MRP insignia red for the fin tops in my last two builds, the mission models insignia red was a bit dark and probably needed some yellow adding too 

This vf213 aircraft did stay clean I agree. Good work.

I've the vf2 and vf41 kits (red box) to do; I used the wings from the red box for my current build (two wing sets) but clean wings are a challenge due to thickness of the slats.

Decal wise, my last ones were mainly furball and DXM, so I was spoilt a bit as these are very good. But we'll see how my current one goes.

I liked the academy kit.... Easier than the GWH kit and still a good result at the end... I started with hobbyboss, which is a bit simpler... and has some issues to work, but can come up ok (resin and pe used in each)

Not tacked hasegawa or fujimi yet, but they're in the stash.

Cheers

Jonathan

[hugogo]

hi Jonathan, last year I also built the F-14D from Hasegawa, and converted the Academy F-14A into an F-14D.  My Hasegawa build was not so good, the molds have been very worn out by the kazillion rereleases that they did over the years. Intake trunks do not fit so well and one of the exhausts was short-shot. The academy kit was really great, too bad that there was no open canopy nor stepladder included. added quite some aftermarket to that one! See how that went on:

cheers

[Jon020]

Those are some impressive builds... fabulous work. I like how you reworked the academy with the bays open; very neat. This will be my third A... against your third D. I intend a D or two... but haven't decided on my next build yet. As for VF2... I think I've those transfers from the GWH kit, but always liked the simple late 80s scheme with minimal marking that would sit with my gulf era vf1 build when operated off Ranger.

Cripes....mind drifting again.

Cheers

Jonathan

[hugogo]

some time  ago I read "one can never have too many Tomcats", I guess that is also the truth here.

 

In the mean time the washing has been applied, after a final layer of gloss varnish to seal the decals.
Though trial and error I have learned to eliminate any shine difference between the decal and background by an extra layer of varnish. Because the Flory Models wash sticks much better to a matt surface, it leaves so much residue on the decal behind that in the end you see exactly where the decal film is. 
 
Dark grey wash applied with a large brush over the entire model except wheel bays and speed brake housing. after some 20 mins all is dry so that I could wipe everything off with a damp kitchen towel cloth and the smaller area's with cotton buds. What is left behind is just dark grey panel lines. the Wheel bays were washed with oil paint, this works much better for the small nooks and crannies.

 

now it's time for the final semi-gloss coat and then the end assembly can start!