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F-14+ aka F-14B Super Tomcat ***FINISHED***


PeterB

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This is another failed attempt from the Tomcat GB, link below-

And this is as far as I got, so I might as well make it my fifth and final entry in the KUTA - I may even finish it.

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Having just finished my Fujimi F-14A built, it is clear that Italeri provide only the minimum of decals as you can see below. Fortunately I have a couple of Superscale sheets that may be partially used, once I can confirm which units operated the A+/B.

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The kit decs are the small sheet on the left. I will have to watch out for the problem I had on my recent F-16 build where the decs were invisible on the shade of gray paint I used!

 

I may be a while restarting this as I have a RN Phantom and a Grumman F11F-1 in the pipeline as well.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

 

PS - if anybody needs low vis stencils/markings for their Tomcat give me a shout as I will have loads spare by the look of it.

Edited by PeterB
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A week later and I have been slowly working on this in the background. 

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I don't know if it is me being stupid, but with both the Fujimi Tomcat and this one, the "pallets" for the forward Phoenix missiles seem to fit much better when the Port and Starboard ones according to the instructions are swopped around. Put on as per the instructions they leave big gaps between them and the fuselage! I have looked at pictures and I cannot tell who is right - me or the manufacturers. I have decided to fit one of the spare Fujimi bulges under the nose - the kit one just had the ECM antenna with a bullet fairing where the IR sensor was meant to go, so I have added one with the camera, as seen in at least some of the pics I have. Could not make mind up as to the colour of the gear legs but ended up white as in pics on the Gulf War website.

 

Pete

Edited by PeterB
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Bit more done and this is now ready for decs.

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If I were to stick with the small sheet that came with the kit it would be done in a day, but I may well use some of the aftermarket decs, including stencils (reluctantly)!

 

Pete

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On 1/11/2022 at 6:15 PM, PeterB said:

Fortunately I have a couple of Superscale sheets that may be partially used, once I can confirm which units operated the A+/B.

Of these units, only VX-4 used the A+/B. VF-1 / 84 were A only. 

 

Cheers,

 

Andre 

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Thanks Andre,

 

I had decided to go with the kit markings for VF-74 anyway for sentimental reasons - I believe they were the first unit to take the F-14A+ onto a carrier, as they also were with the F-4B Phantom (then known as the F4H-1) as modelled by Airfix and which I built when it first came out. According to Jon Lake's book on the Phantom, it seems that they were so full of themselves because they were flying the first USN jet to break Mach 2, that the crews they shared a mess with changed their official nickname from "Be Devillers" to "Bed Evillers" in view of their activities on the ground!

 

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As mentioned in a previous thread I generally stopped building jets in service fom the late 1980's onwards when the camo colours started to change to grey as I found it annoying trying to keep up with the current paintwork. As a result I have not built any US planes in "Low-Vis" schemes until my recent F-15C  which was OK, and an F-16C where, in spite of using the recommended make and shade of paint, I found that the Hasegawa decs were virtually invisible on the darker gray. This and the F/A-18A Hornet I am building in another GB are my first attempts at USN Low Vis and I am having problems with the decs here as well. The Italeri ones from the kit are of the type that leaves a white scum in the water and on the kit, and as you can see from the stripe running round the fuselage at the front of the tail, the stencils are decidedly blue/green! Now I don't know what shade they should be on a Compass Gray plane, but that did not look right to me, so I have started using the stencils from my Superscale sheets. However they are probably meant for a plane in all over Light Gull Grey and may be a bit too low contrast on this scheme - whatever, they are going to have to do. At least it gives me an excuse to not use some of the very small ones, at least on the upper surfaces - they should look better on the Light Compass Gray unders though. Hopefully the decs on the Hornet will look better.

 

Pete

Edited by PeterB
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TPS schemes from the 80's through the mid-90's were very low contrast for most of their markings.  Starting in the late '90s they started adding more contrast.  This pic is from '95, you can see the kitties in the background have very low contrast markings.  The modex and tail markings were about all that really stood out.  The trapping VA-95 A-6E had been repainted just prior to cruise (farewell cruise) and had "non-standard" markings for the time.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks Chris @helios16v. On the subject of markings, Italeri show the missiles still in white but I suspect they had gone Light Compass Gray by the time of the first Gulf War? If so were the rest of the markings - nose, bands etc still there and had they changed? Can't find many pics of Sidewinders, Sparrows or Phoenix in the gray scheme at the moment, but the last two seem to have had white noses?

 

Pete

 

Later - Ok, I have found a pic of this plain in the Gulf War - rather grainy but the pics show the noses of the Sparrow and Phoenix in what appears to be white or off-white/cream - presume this is not "radome tan"? The fins on the Sparrow and the nose of the Sidewinder appear to be either black or dark grey - any thoughts? 

 

Even later - I found a copy of Gulf War weapons by D&S which seems to have answered my questions!

Edited by PeterB
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  • PeterB changed the title to F-14+ aka F-14B Super Tomcat

So, after that slight hiatus I have finished putting on the minimum stencil decs - not much pint with the rest as they will be just about invivible. I have fitted the drop tanks, wing pylons and u/c doors, and also the TARPS pod although this plane may not have used it - tough!

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The missiles are all painted and just need the stripe decs and they can go on. That will just leave the 4 small "L" shaped probes below the cockpit and the arrestor hook - still trying to decide if it had black stripes or not?

 

Pete

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  • PeterB changed the title to F-14+ aka F-14B Super Tomcat - On Finals!
8 hours ago, PeterB said:

and also the TARPS pod although this plane may not have used it - tough!

Not just this plane - VF-74 was non-TARPS.

 

Still, it's your model! 

8 hours ago, PeterB said:

still trying to decide if it had black stripes or not?

Most TPS Tomcats did not.

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

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Thanks Andre. 

 

Italeri provide two marking options - VF-74 and VF-101 and make no comment as to which if any version would have carried the TARPS pod. If 74 did not then presumably 101 did?

 

Pete

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  • PeterB changed the title to F-14+ aka F-14B Super Tomcat ***FINISHED***

The wind dropped and the sun came out so I finally got some pics.

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Somewhat less detailed than the Fujimi one I just built but rather easier to put together.

 

Pete

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