My fourth 1/72 F-14A Tomcat: Finemolds - VF11 Ripper 101

[Jon020]

Introduction and reflections

 

Having completed three 1/72 F-14As, the box of the first model I purchased continued to sit glaring at me on the shelf, and given that I was interested in seeing which of the current offerings could produce as close a decent representation as possible, I thought that it was about time to tackle the Finemolds model. It was an article on this model, with its posable nose cone and open panels, that I read that inspired me to have a go at building my own. I acquired one but its complexity put me off at first. Thus, my first build was the hobbyboss offering that took quite a bit of detail work to get to a point that I was happy with, but it got me used to the bits n pieces on these aircraft. The 2019 Academy tooling followed, and this one I enjoyed; not only is it quite a good and tight build, but it has a good level of detail that isn’t overly complicated to assemble. Detailing is done as with the others using resin, PE and some scratch-built bits. Shape-wise, it looks right too; the best of the bunch in this regard so far, I feel. I followed this with a GWH F-14A which has some good detail and options but is quite a complicated build; it’s certainly not one to start off with, but it came together nicely and also took a nice amount of detailing with resin, scratch built and PE bits.

These were all written up at the time and the Hobbyboss model appeared in the recent Detail & Scale F-14 book, which I was really pleased with. They were also a lockdown low-morale boost … and kept me focused on a project when distractions were needed. I admit, that this has taken root and I continue to carry on with these; that stash won’t build itself.

None of this could have been achieved without first reading through and routinely conversing with Tony Oliver who shared his original Tomcat builds on this forum and provided inspiration to many. It’s been good to keep in touch on other little projects and keep the info sharing going. Cheers Tony.

I’ve been supported throughout by another good mate that offered suggestions and assistance throughout the build, and more recently a few new little parts to try out, one of which appears in this new build. Cheer Brian.

The first three by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

 

To be honest, it seems a long time since I’ve written anything here; I’d not been idle with modelling; in fact I started the Finemolds build back in the early summer, but I’d given myself some other little projects in the form of a Verlinden deck tractor; my first full resin kit build, which turned out ok and for which I scratch built a towing arm. I made an Italieri carrier deck section, which I had to mount to some MDF as the section was warped, but that too turned out ok. As the GWH kit was modelled in “Fallon” or “Miramar” config, I made up a hard standing base from MDF faced with plasticard, with engraved concrete slab lines, all sized to fit within a Trumpeter display case. That too turned out ok. I’ll sort some photos of these all separately. So, apologies for the lengthy absence here.

 

First thoughts

 

Many have suggested that there are some shape issues with this model; some of these are more obvious than others, but realistically, I felt that the only way to identify these was to just “get on with it” and build one. There does seem to be something odd around the front end but I’ve been unable to put my finger on it; having all those open panels tends to disturb the shape anyway. My first intention had been to have all the panels open so that any shape issue was minimised. However, on looking at the detail of the boxes inside the bays, and the panel/doors themselves, I began to feel that they was all a little “toy-like” in appearance and began to wonder whether leaving them open was the right thing to do.

The open spine parts looked nice, with the exposed conduits and pipework, but where photos of the real aircraft show these open, the covering panels are usually laid alongside. They’re not in the kit. I therefore felt that it might be ok to have the panels off and stored somewhere, but only is the aircraft was totally stripped, perhaps in maintenance, and that would involve having panels open and off that are not provided for in the kit. Thus, leaving the spine covered would seem a better option.

The open panels on the nose looked interesting, but I struggled to find (m)any photos of real aircraft on the line with (just) those panels open; it seemed a bit of a random selection. I had bought a replacement brass canon barrel to display, but it seemed that again, unless on maintenance, leaving these panels open would seem incorrect, so all of these too would be closed off.

Looking at some ramp-based photos, I thought that I would open one panel (at least) although no manufacturers’ kits seemed to offer this oddly, and that's the refueling panel on the nose. That would need to be scratch built. So, with just that one panel open, this would leave the “shape” to be seen fully. Let’s see how that goes.

 

Shape correction – wings

 

This is one of the obvious shape issues which “once you see it” is difficult to un-see. I think if you’re building a lot of these kits and you’ll sit them alongside each other, the shapes will at least all be the same so less noticeable (a bit like the choice in OO gauge class 47s – for those that know… Heljan, ViTrains or Bachmann. All good on their own, but look to be Fat, thin or about right when sat alongside each other).

So, the wing. Yes it has lovely crisp and seemingly accurately placed panel lines, but it is a millimeter or so too broad in chord and the wingtip is the wrong shape. As I’d seen this, I spent some considerable time playing with options on how to fix this, from reshaping to replacing; the latter eventually winning out.

As an illustration, the photo shows the green-grey plastic of a 2019 Academy wing sat atop the Finemolds wing; the two errors being evident.

Wing comparison by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

The wings seemed a bit of a challenge to fix as narrowing the chord would mean a revision to all the panel lines that were then wrongly placed, so I decided to seek an alternative, and trawled the stash. Most models’ wings could be made to fit but some would take more work than others. I trialed Hasegawa, Fujimi, Academy, GWH and Hobbyboss. In the end, I opted for the Hobbyboss wings as their overall shape was good, and they looked to be the easiest to make reliably fit using the Finemolds fuselage wing pivots and adapting the Hobbyboss wings opening to suit. Yes, this means having a Hobbyboss kit on the stash shelf now less its wings, but I find that I tend to mix and match bits as and when so I wasn’t too worried… and I’ve enough to be getting on with.

However, the wings have the grooved lines and panel covers that seem to be more of a work of fiction than observation, so some rework would be needed filling, sanding and rescribing the wing upper and lower surfaces, and adding detail where seemingly necessary to correct them and bring the detail up to a level that matches the rest of the model.

Photo shows the port upper surfaces completed, compared to the untouched starboard wing; the gear tab is also cut off to enable post assembly fitting. Eduard PE access covers from the Hobbyboss set were used where needed to correct the placement; these were sanded almost flush to minimise any standing-proud of the wing. As well as the panel lines on the wings and flaps, the slime light covers and nav light covers were all wrong, so rescribed in the correct places. Tamiya black wash used to highlight the changes.

Wing modification by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

The underside didn’t need as much work but I did detail fasteners to each access panel. The part join lines are still to be sorted here - but this was pre-glue.

Wing underside by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Liberal application of sprue goo (first coat) on the starboard wing upper surfaces serves to show the rework that I undertook.

Starting the second wing by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

On completion and assembly, I masked off that deep seem between the two parts under the flaps and sealed it with some putty. So, that was the wings done.

Wing underside seam filling by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

 

Nose section

 

I spent some time playing around with the nose and cockpit parts, constantly looking at fit and shape and dry fitting everything over an over again. To be honest, and I know I’ll say it again, the kit’s fit is very good. The way some of the bits go together is really very very good and there are some clever means they’ve employed to aid this, but more of that to come.

I wanted to check fit and sit of the cockpit and canopy; especially as the canopy looked quite bulbous.. but is it? I popped in some spare completed Aires seats to see how that sat inside the tub. A bit low! The kit parts looked like they’d sit similarly low. If you’re posing this with the canopy open it might not matter too much, BUT the large rear box section of the seat, behind the back cushion (parachute box?) should sit above the canopy rail in both pits; here it doesn’t. The other guide is how much space there is between the top of the seat top box and the inside of the canopy – quite a lot. My go-to comparison is that early scene in Top Gun, as Cougar and Merlin’s aircraft moves into view (actually VF213’s Black Lion 203) giving a lovely backlit nose profile where the position of the seats can be seen clearly. I know that the seats can be adjusted in height, and “Merlin’s” seat is very high, but is usually lower when the aircraft is parked… but still, the seat height would need adjusting. Danny Coleman’s DACO Tomcat book shows good photos of seat positions too.

Seat test 1 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

I played around with bits of acetate sheet to raise the seat bases a bit, two pieces under each seemingly about right by the time I’d finished.

Prepping height of Aires seats by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Which looked about right for a parked aircraft

Seats test 2 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

 

General fit – test fit

 

I took quite a few of the fuselage parts out of the box and did a few test fits, to enable wing assembly test fits too, and it was good to find that all parts went together rather nicely. I find it’s good to conduct a test like this, if for no the reason than to judge how parts fit together and how well, but to get a feel for the overall shape, and at this stage I didn’t think it looked too bad.

Main parts test fit 1 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Test fit 2 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

 

Canon

 

As with most kits in this scale, none offer a representation of the Vulcan canon's muzzle; hardly surprising really as it’s very small. In two of my previous builds, I fashioned a simple representation using plastic rod, but my friend Brian has been experimenting with some 3D printed parts and sent me a little bag of parts that included several of these. The part (shown just taped to the side of the inside of the nose) is rather small and care is needed to trial fit it. It was not sized to fit the Finemolds kit, but by thinning out the inside of the canon muzzle and opening it a little, I was able to get it to sit nicely.

Prepping the canon bay by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Once attached with some CA glue, it looked to sit nicely and it’s great to see each barrel opening in this scale.

Canon test fit by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

 

Cockpit

 

The cockpit tub will always benefit from detailing. For some reason, I elected to not make use of the kit transfers and decided instead to use a spare set of Quinta 3D resin transfers that was for a GWH kit as I liked the finish that they give. The side panels and instrument panels were therefore (almost) sanded down so that the 3D transfers could be added later. I say almost, as the texture was quite pronounced; in hindsight, I could have stuck with the transfers over these to see how that worked. One thing I have found with these kits though is that the rear bulkheads, especially of the front pit, are very bland. At least with this kit, there was some detail, just not much. The photo shows the cockpit tub and a damaged (so not used) Aires cockpit tub with it’s lovely detail, that I would use as a guide to add some details in with wire, rigging line and plasticard.

Two tubs by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

After some considerable work, the tub looks like this. The seat pistons are useful to help align the resin Aires seats once fitted, and whilst fiddly, the revised throttle quadrant was worth effort.

Reworked cockpit tub by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

I did some work on the front and central coamings adding a little PE to the central one and some wire, and quite a few little bits of plasticard to the forward coaming to represent the indicator panels, camera and document slots.

The rear “A” frame was also detailed with some wire and plasticard and rod pieces. In order to get tis to fit, I had to cut away the upper decking piece a little so that alignment improved.

Cockpit bits n pieces by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

 

Nose gear bay

 

Eduard provides a number of PE items for the nose gear bay and I managed to use most of them, although one or two seemed a little fictious; the forward bulkhead boxes looked odd, so I made only one and used some plasticard to position  the upper one. The Eduard PE set for this kit has much more to add on the sidewalls than for other kits, and I’ve often wondered why Eduard do not standardise on their parts, and why they seem to redesign each item for each kit, add some or leave lots out… bizarre! I added some lead wire to supplement the PE items, especially around the rear of the bay, making sure to leave room for the nose gear that I test fitted repeatedly but omitted to photograph

Nose gear bay looking forward by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Nose gear bay looking forward by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Nose gear bay looking aft by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

 

Cockpit ladder

 

As I was planning to have the cockpit open, I wanted to have the steps down too. The kit parts are reasonable for the scale, but do lack fidelity. The Eduard PE item is fine, albeit a bit fiddly, but once assembled with some good thick CA glue (Zap a Gap green) and any holes opened back out again, the result was felt to look good enough for the scale. The opening needed a little opening out in the kit to accept the PE part, carefully cut away by dragging with a sharp blade at the opening’s sides. I also glued a 0.5mm high, 1.5mm dia plastic rod to the back and inserted a piece of 0.6mm wire, which I would use to secure the steps to the aircraft once finished (not shown in photo).

Ladder comparison by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

 

Refueling probe

 

Yes, it’s just another detail that I didn’t need to include, but given that I was intending to open the refueling bay and photos tend to often seem to show the probe deployed when the panel is open (I wonder if it’s a system or air-lock prevention thing?) I opted to model it open. The probe itself is the nicest I’ve seen in any kit in this scale and has a level of detail that I added to for the GWH kit but didn’t feel compelled to need to add anything here, apart from thinning the covering plate a bit before fitting, the rest of it being good enough. BUT, as with the GWH kit, it's posed to sit too far forward. The photo below shows my repositioned hole made to accept the probe, about 1mm aft of the kit’s position, but far enough to close-up the gap otherwise left at the rear after assembly. The photo also just about shows the added braces and wires added in the bay…. Just enough.

Nose probe bay by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Test fits show a good alignment with little gap at the rear.

The photo also shows that I removed the slime light surrounds and scribed them back in; the kit parts are raised and shouldn’t be. I think there’s a better photo of the finished result later on.

Refueling probe test fit by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

I had to bulk up the rear of the bay, otherwise when fitted there would be a large gap to the insides of the fuselage… which was just asking for trouble later should something slip inside. The photo also shows where the original hole for the probe was and where I moved it to.

Rear of refuelling probe bay. Modified by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

 

Refueling panel

 

I wanted the refueling panel to be open so that I could depict a preparation scene once completed. I drilled and cut out the panel then carefully filed and sanded this back to a “squared” off rectangular opening.

cut out for refueling panel by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

I lined the opening with a box made of thin plasticard then started to fabricate the refueling panel from a further piece of plasticard cut to shape. and using drills and a pin vice marking it to represent the items on the panel. The refueling port is quite dominant and I had the idea of using a 1mm diameter neodymium magnet; it’s about the right shape and size and will allow me to make a fuel hose and end attachment and use a further magnet to join them temporarily when displayed.

The door was originally fabricated from some PE fret but despite the fact that it held the curve I’d made nicely, it was never going to be sufficiently workable for me to add the surface detail with the tools I have to hand. I therefore cut that back a bit to reflect the panel’s inner surface, then added a very thin outer of plasticard, which I could work the openings into. The curve of the brass section gave the plasticard something to bond to and keep its shape. Again… not perfect but probably good enough for this scale. The panel itself is just pushed in for the photos and was removed to leave an empty bay for painting etc. Afterwards, I made another panel that was a little more refined than the first.

Refueling panel open by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Engine Exhausts

As with my previous builds, I’m using the Aires items but I expect the inners will be a mix of Aires and Eduard as before. Aires doesn’t do exhausts for the Finemolds kit, but the ones for the Hasegawa kit are a perfect fit (as they are for the GWH kit)… I must get some more of those. The kit comes with a rear exhaust duct piece that is part of the fuselage build, which adds extreme strength to the back end. This needs the back end cutting off, leaving enough to permit it to still do its strengthening job. To see how much needed to be removed, I cut and prepped the resin parts and dry assembled the kit exhaust cowlings; I like the fact that the cowling and rear of the elevator fairing are separate in this kit. Holding the exhaust up to the rear fuselage shows how much must be cut away.

Rear fuselage pre-cut by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

A razor saw soon makes light work of the plastic

Plastic cut by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Reassembled, the exhausts sit neatly. Yes, I know I’ve put the open and closed exhausts on the wrong engines… but I couldn’t be bothered to change them over for the photo.

Exhaust and tube test fit... by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

 

Engine intakes

 

There’s the need to assemble the intake trunking and smooth out any joining seal before painting; before that a few injection marks need dealing with. I did miss a few marks on other intake parts (ramp) but I don’t think they’ll be evident once it’s all assembled.

Prepping the intakes by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

I prepped the other intake items and assembled the TF30 Compressor fan. The kit part had a couple of “fins” or blades missing unfortunately but I was able to find one in the box and made one from microstrip – which would hopefully be good enough. Here’s everything up to this point ready for final checking and priming. This also reminds me, that I decided to not replace the ventral fins on this kit despite them lacking some details… so I added the panel markings that is on the inside face of each and I’ll improve the towing arm when it’s assembled. The Nose leg is also shown in the photo in the box with the access ladder(s), seats and there’s the refueling panel piece. The Canopy frame has also been PE’d and a couple of bits of plasticard added too. Not everything here will be primed just yet – just those items that need it at this stage. The Intakes will be primed and painted pre assembly, the fuselage halves will get some black near in the wing boxes to darken the openings and the cockpit tub and sides will of course get primed and painted… along with the seats

Layout of bits by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

And here are the bits that needed pain, now primed. Black bits are black base coat by Alclad II, sorry, HR Hobbies, sorry, Ammo A-Frame (is that the name? – I’m still buying HR hobbies) which is just beautiful; Grey is Ammo one-shot and white is Mission Models.

Bits primed by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

 

Configuration change

 

I’d opened out the holes in the lower fuselage for the pylons I’d intended to need. I quite like that the instructions tell you what diameter of hole is needed for each hole; they’re not all the same! This included the fuel tanks, wing root pylons and forward phoenix missile pallets. My intention had been for fitting the forward pallets but leaving the rear ones off – a common configuration in late 80s, early 90s to allow a 2 Phoenix, 3 sparrow, 2 sidewinder (or mix thereof) to be fitted.

I’d realised that in order to accurately compare the shape of this model with that of Academy and GWH, I’d really want a similar configuration, and given that photos of one of the two aircraft I intend to model was rarely seen with phoenix pallets (in photos I’d seen anyway) I decided to fill those holes I’d drilled – back filled with plasticard plate and then a piece of plastic rod of about the same size of the hole I’d made.

Holes filled by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

I’m erring back to another Fallon/Miramar set up with ACMI and dummy AIM-9, but with fuel tanks too… this will help the “apron” scene for refueling – so I will need to make a fueling point too! Drat!

 

Paint

 

I’ll summarise as there’s nothing really clever here. Intake parts painted white and then masked for the light gull grey areas to be sprayed. This is “another” overall light gull grey bird, so the demarcation is the same as before, angled back from the intake lower lip. Masked off, the paint went down fine with my 0.2 sparmax airbrush.

The TF30 compressor disks got a few dusting coats of HR Hobbies (I know it still says Alclad II on the bottle!) Steel, that didn’t penetrate through to the fan piece so gave some nice depth. Spinner was hand painted in a light gull grey enamel (Humbrol)

The cockpit tub and cockpit insides were given a few light coats of Light Ghost grey (Mission Models) sealed with Aqua Gloss. Details picked out on the cockpit tub using Humbrol enamels, a fine brush and two pairs of reading glasses; some coloured tape pieces added into the mix for colour and texture. The seats and coamings were airbrushed a dirty black to lighten the tone a bit (mission models) then painted with Humbrol enamels in various shades of green/brown mixed from light olive and dark earth, some yellow, white, black and blue… to give the desired shades.

The seats were treated to a few parts from Quinta (seat belts) and some PE from Eduard. I’d favoured the ejection loops from Quinta because previously the Eduard parts needed folding over and looked a bit naff as a result; with this set they didn’t and were painted on both sides, meaning that the loops were very fine. But unlike other Eduard sets, it lacked the seat top box labels (red with white writing) that lighten and add detail to the otherwise dull top box. Just to add a splash of colour, I cut little pieces of red tape and added these. Will see if these are good enough once I look back later on. The belts were a little too close to the seat cushion colour so I lightened the belts with some suitable grey/brown/green mix that was lighter than before.

Seats 1 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Seats 2 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

 

The Quinta set for the GWH kit went down ok. The tub sizes aren’t identical, but it’ll be good enough once it’s all closed up. I had to fettle some of the decals to sit in the kit's gaps but at least that’s doable with a sharp blade -  something you can’t do with coloured PE quite so easily. The control sticks are shown fitted here too after they were painted separately.

Tub 1 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Tub 2 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

 

The coamings got their paint and shown here. The rear coaming had the scant detail picked out a little; front coaming similarly with the indicator panels given a little colour and some Molotov chrome penned into to the reflector face.

Coamings by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

 

Finally

 

So, that’s it for now. I’m not getting as much building time as I’d like but it’s good to have a project on the go. I mentioned the scheme I’ve chosen but I’m still keeping my options open depending on how the shape looks further on into the build. I’d like to do this as Victory 201 with its tan radome and hi vis markings… as it’s taken me ages to find some VF84 flash/insignia markings I thought good enough (good registry and right type of yellow/orange colour) but now I have some. If the kit shape is too “off”, I’ll defer to  VF11 Rippers scheme that will sit alongside my Bandwagon 202 on a ramp somewhere… so, we’ll see.

Thanks for reading and I hope that my ramblings were of some interest.

 

Cheers… Jonathan.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 20, 2023 by Jon020
Edited title that contained a typo & wrong photo - corrected. More typos corrected

[Jon020]

Previously mentioned items.

Hardstanding display base... 

Verlinden tractor

 

 

And carrier deck section

That last image was before I weathered the deck; I'll have to find or take another photo at some point.

 

Edited December 30, 2022 by Jon020
Duplicate image removed

[James G]

Very fine work indeed! Thanks for sharing.

[Dean1700]

Where did you get the carrier deck section from? That's not Italeri's is it?

[SaminCam]

Great to see you've got a new build underway Jonathan. I whizzed through the photos and the cockpit and wheel wells look spot on to me. I'll settle down and read the whole post properly later 👍

[Jon020]

59 minutes ago, Dean1700 said:

Where did you get the carrier deck section from? That's not Italeri's is it?

It is the italieri section, mounted on MDF, faced with plasticard 

[Memphis]

Very interesting! Great Tom's cat! 

[Zack]

Great Build Log!
Great pictures and very informative and explanatory text!
Thank you for sharing!

Best regards and best build wishes for 2023!

Zack

[dnl42]

Excellent fit and finish! 

[Jon020]

Time for an update but let’s start close to where we finished off with a couple of quick cockpit photos with all items tacked together loosely. The Quinta set isn’t a perfect fit for this kit, being sized for the GWH kit, but it’s easy to slice up and make fit, and should hopefully be good enough once this is all closed up. The two upper panels on the front coaming are sized such that when it’s all assembled these will be very close to the inside of the windscreen, the frame of which they hang from on the actual aircraft

Cockpit complete 1 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Cockpit complete 2 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

The Nose section joined together quite well although I found that it was slightly broad across the front (probably some paint on the cockpit tub joining pieces keeping it apart a bit. This was only really evident when test fitting the nose cone… so I added two short pieces of plasticard to help locate the nose cone and keep it all tight. The bulkhead piece had been shaped to sit around these, but I did not use the bulkhead in the end as I wanted the flexibility in the nose area to regain the right shape.

Fettling the nose area by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

The nose cone had two small bulkheads added, one in the extreme nose and one behind the 6g of liquid gravity that I use on each build. The tip of the nose had been shaped (and drilled) to take the Masters brass smart probe at the end of the build.

6g ballast all sealed in by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

The nose cone was secured with some CA glue and the sides of the nose clamped whilst it all dried. Some sanding and re engraving was needed, but not much. For the small “circular” plate on the centreline, I drilled this out and added a piece of plastic rod (about 1.5mm) but enhanced by engraving around this using a sharpened hypodermic needle. The upper deck piece (the rear of which I’d previously added some microstrip and wires to for detailing, was added to aid security of the assembly and the seats and coamings popped in for a access check.

Cockpit items test fit by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Complete nose and cockpit items by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Whilst pondering the options I had for the build, I began wondering if I could make a pair of dirty as well as clean wing and decided to look at the wings offered by Hasegawa and Fujimi again. After some comparing, and realising that the Hasegawa wings had similar fictitious panel lines to that of the Hobbyboss kit’s wings, I looked more closely at what could be achieved with the Fujimi wings given that I had a spare old kit that would probably not get built now. Some cutting, sanding and fettling later and I’d got a pair of wings that would also slot onto the Finemolds pivots that I could position with slats and flaps deployed. The wings aren’t perfect as they lack the 1/3 span crank but have a very pronounced washout at the tip – so as long as enough anhedral was achieved it should be ok.

Fujimi wings hacked about to fit finemolds kit by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

A quick layout of the main components thus far. The nose section can be seen with the additional tabs that I added to the rear to aid a tight attachment to the front of the lower main fuselage piece, giving a tight attachment.

Modules for test fitting by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Fuselage join. I assembled the intake items, which took a bit of fiddling to get the ramps to sit straight, but when joining these to the fuselage underside half, I was impressed by the way that these locked in, especially to the rear tube piece – very secure.

To aid bonding of the leading edges of the wing glove, I added a short length of plastic rod just behind the mating surfaces, This increased the bond area to give a stronger attachment that would hopefully prevent opening up along the join if the wings were a bit tight later on. The second photo shows them inside once the two halves were joined, coated in glue to give a good bond.

Rod pieces added inside leading edges by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Bonding surface increased by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

There is a small gap between the rear side nacelle piece and under the wing shoulder area. To close this up, I added a small piece of plasticard inside bridging the two parts that also served as a tight backpiece for the Tamiya thin (and a little sprue goo) to close the gap.

Packing out the rear fuselage joins by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

A quick test fit with the nose dry fitted and the Fujimi wings added was undertaken to make sure everything still looked ok.]

Fujimi "dirty" wings test fit by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

I assembled the main gear using the fuselage as a jig to get everything aligned. I did need to fettle some of the attachment in the bays to get the gear to sit straight, but that was probably because the inner wall was not sat as it should be – as a result of fitting (per the instructions) earlier in the build. But it all went in ok after that. However, when I test fitted the fuel tanks, I found that they cause the gear to splay apart; there was no way to fit the gear properly with the tanks in the pre-drilled holes. To be honest, when fitted in the kit’s holed, the tanks are very “outboard” which was presumably the problem. I therefore marked off and re-drilled new mounting holes about 1.5mm inboard of each hole; the starboard ones here shown as drilled out

Fuel tank attachment hole repositioned by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

And then I plugged the old holed with plastic rod, which I trimmed fluish once the glue had dried

Old holes plugged prior to clean up by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Pylons. I spent a bit of time browsing photos in a number of books, and online, of aircraft operating from, and at, Miramar and Fallon, paying close attention to the wing pylon configurations. Apart from a couple of photos that showed the multipurpose pylons just with the shoulder LAU-7 rail, with nothing hung underneath, the majority had the “Station B” sidewinder adapter and fairing - dual LAU-7 rail configuration, giving 4 rails in total. I’ve made these for the last two builds, so I set out again to make a further pair. I opened up my Tamiya kit that I have in the stash (as it has these in it) and measured the parts, giving myself dome 1/72 dimensions to work to for my new parts

Station B LAU7 rail adapter dimensioning by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

I fettled a pair of adapters from plasticard, cutting, filing and sanding until the right shape was arrived at

New LAU7 adapters by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Fitted to the multipurpose pylons, these provide a mounting platform that allos the lower LAU-7 to sit parallel to the shoulder one.

Fitting the adapters by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

LAU7 Adapter in close by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

The lower LAU-7s are Leatherneck decals 3D print items that needed a little sanding to remove print lines, but look neat enough. These were glued to the adapter with the necessary toe-out to again align with the shoulder pylon in plan form too. Shown here with the PE fitted kit shoulder pylon, which will not be fitted with a missile once complete. The resin piece is sufficiently detailed to not need PE.

Twin LAU7 fit test by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Antennas. The kit does not mention the antenna radomes fitted under the wing gloves that I’d need for a block 140 aircraft, but fortunately, the instructions do highlight parts not to be used, and well, that’s handy, they’re on Sprue M. With no instructions to follow, use of photos is quite important to position the smaller AN/ALQ-126 High Band Antenna and the larger AN/ALQ-126 Low Band Antenna bumps, but I’m glad I noticed them. The photo also shows the light detailing I added to the main gear bays, a little PE and some bend lead wire; the kit details being “almost” good enough for me.

Main gear bay lightly detailed by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Another part that looked quite good is at the back end. I did remove the chaff/flare PE that I’d fitted here, cut the area that it sat in so that it was recessed and put it back in so that it was “nearer” flush, but the arrester hook needed (IMHO) no detailing (a first for me in this scale), apart from a few fasteners added to the fairing and drilling out the vent piece at the front. I had to remove the rear AN/ALQ-165 ECM antenna fairing as it was fitted 90 degrees out – the kit part attachment needs to be ignored and it fitted the other way around – and sanded to a better shape.

The ventral fins had already been detailed with the additional panel engraved. However, the towing arm was represented by a poor single line on the fuselage which I cut away. I removed the towing arms from a spare set of GWH ventral fins and just glued these in place.

Ventral fins with tow arms and arrestor hook by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

After gluing the nose to the main body, which went on quiet well, I added the bypass doors, PE for the ECS vents (as the kit parts were a bit lost in the panel lines) and the turtledeck’s two blade antennas that come in the kit. The larger forward one of these is the UHF2/JTIDS antenna, the smaller aft one, UHF1/IFF transponder antennas. Its difficult to find exactly what it’s for but on lots of A models there is a smaller blade antenna located in between these two; on later models this was a small GPS dome, but I’ve been unable to find what the blade was for; and it’s not on all A models. My first build was of VF111 161621 (Miss Molly) which did not have it – so I had to cut off the kit part moulded onto the Hobbyboss kit. My last two had this (new tool Academy and GWH), but the Finemolds kit doesn’t… so I added one suing plasticard.

Bypass doors, vents and antennas by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Having added a few more pieces including the vertical fins, I took a few photos and shared these with a friend who pointed out that shape wise there was something odd going on around the front of the wing gloves. Yes, they are the wrong shape – tapering in too soon and leaving too much of the forward section sticking forward of the glove, and the upper surface does not level off, leaving a pronounced ridge to the walkway.

Main assemblies joined by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Whilst it’d be quite a challenge to reshape the wing gloves, reprofiling the upper surface was easy enough with some 320, 400 and 1000 grade papers, and re engraving afterwards. Still not perfect, but better, so that the upper surface now curves and levels off before reaching the flattened recessed walkway

Upper surface shape correction by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

The refuel panel that I’d made was added with a touch of Tamiya thin. At this stage, I was also battling to get the Quickboost TCS pod to sit straight and in the end having tried three times, I gave up and removed it. Although not shown (yet), I assembled the kit part, shortened the front piece by just under 1mm, drilled out the opening with a 2mm drill, and then a bit more, and added fastener details with a pin vice. I removed the small blade antenna for the Automatic Carrier Landing System as this would likely break off anyway, drilled a 0.4mm hole and inserted a length of 0.4mm wire that I had filed to a flat (on both sides) for a stronger antenna. I’ll fir the TCS pod later in assembly.

Nose starboard details by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

And here it is un to now… beginning to look F--14 like, but I’ll keep a careful watch on any more shape issues as I progress.

Port upper front quarter by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Thanks for reading.

Jonathan

[Thom216]

Nice heads on the FM wings. Looking great.

[KingTiger435]

Stunning cockpit! I would have never guessed it was 1:72!

[Jon020]

Evening all, just a brief update as not too much progress has been made over that last week or two, but I focused on a few of those jobs that need to be finished off before the airbrush is prepped for some use.

To start, I was less than satisfied with the position of the Quickboost TCS pod, as it didn’t look quite straight, so I removed it. Instead, I took a closer look at the kit part and decided that I’d use that instead with a little refining. This included shortening the TV housing by about 0.6mm, adding a little rivet/fastener detail and panel lines, and removing the plastic blade antenna and replacing with a flattened piece of 0.4mm wire. I’ll leave this off until later in the build, which should make getting a more uniform paint finish under the nose a bit easier. I hope.

The windscreen needed its armoured panel colouring; whilst I could have used some Alclad II armoured glass colour, I opted for the lazy option and applied some Humbrol clear green by brush. Whilst this is not a truly accurate colour for the glass panel, it is at least the same as my other three Tomcats and still adds that nice splash of colour that I like. The forward cockpit coaming was applied, followed by the windscreen, using some Tamiya thin. This all settled nicely.

The canopy. Well, I used my normal technique of removing the central seam that runs across the top, buy careful scraping, a little local sanding and then polishing with Tamiya’s Coarse, Fine and Finish compounds. This should have worked, but I had some issues. Close examination was showing that no matter how many times I reverted to the fine to polish out remaining marks and then the Finish compound, there remained some crazing-hazing in both sections. It was also apparent that whilst the canopy isn’t too bad, it’s not the purest material and has a few impurities causing distortion; not much, but they’re there. Nowhere near as bad as Fujimi’s A7 canopy and probably no worse than the Academy Tomcat canopy, but not as good at the GWH tomcat canopy.

Canopy finish problems by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

I persevered and tried to polish the inside of the canopy, and found that this was where the problem lay. Not sure why, but by following the usual process with both the Fine and Finish compounds, and with several cycles, I eventually managed to get a reasonably clear finish. Not sure why the inside wasn’t as smooth as it should have been … but it was sorted in the end.

Canopy polishing complete by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

A friend checked the canopy in his FM kit and it seemed fine; I was possibly just unlucky.

The exhaust cans are detailed with the TF30 reheat rings. I would usually use the Aires PE inside the Aires tube… but one day I’ll work out why their PE is to wide to fin inside the exhaust tube. A different law of physics clearly applies. I dabbled with a refined version, with added detail from the Eduard PE set for this kit, but in the end decided to work with the Eduard PE set in full, adding it to the kit rear fan assembly and, as this is of a smaller OD than the Aires resin fan, glue the kit part to the Aires part – so that the Iares part can still be used to secure it to the exhaust tube. Assembled it looks ok… and will probably paint up ok with some Alclads … and of course be barely visible once inside the tube, that it fits inside…. Just! All a bit fragile, so they’re stuck here to some mountboard wrapped in masking tape – for priming and painting

Reheat rings on kit TF30 rear fan by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

So, finally, having mentioned priming, the rest of the kit parts were all prepared by being cleaned up and mounted to bits of 0.4 or 0.6mm wire, stuck to bits of board and tape or clamped. These are now all set aside for a few days whilst other life priorities take my time, but I thought I'd just take an hour to provide this brief update and hopefully, I’ll get around to breaking out the airbrush and some primer … just to see what needs tidying, next week.

Prepared for priming by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Thanks for reading.

Jonathan

[Dr. Quack]

Masterful.

 

Q

[Jon020]

Another short update as although it’s taken a while, it’s not been a series of steps always in the forward direction. I started off with some HR Hobbies (Alclad 2) black primer over the canopy and cockpit area and much of the upper surfaces, but then went over with some Ammo one shot because I could not see whether the panel lines I’d engraved over the nose were there sufficiently. Let’s say that they weren’t, and let’s leave it by saying that some sanding, marking, engraving, filling, re-engraving, re priming, swearing, sanding, filling, re-engraving and re priming took place. The lines over the top of the nose and the nose cone upper seams were the worst.

Sorting out a few issues by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

But, with the swear jar now topped up, we got there in the end. To get a smoother and less-filling finish I’d reverted to some Mission Models primer (I have black and white) so I ended up with a slightly different shade each time.. so I also used this for some primer pre-shading at the same time.

Primed top sides by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Primed undersides by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Having not had the foresight to paint the undercarriage bays earlier, I set about some masking of these and the other “white” panels that needed attending to

Masking the bays by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Once finished, these were given a light coat of HR Hobbies Aqua Gloss and unmasked.

Bays whitened by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

… and some lining in with tamiya black panel liner and some selective colours using a mix of acrylics and enamels, plus a little molotow where needed

Bay lined and a little colour by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

In hindsight, now having made these where the nose gear bay was painted before assembly and after, I think that earlier in the build is easiest as access is best… one to remember for next time.

I’d played with a little colour on the refuel panel to see how this came out… Blimey, just noticed the "muck" on the inside of the rear section of that bay - something to clean up later!

Original refuel panel painted. Could do better by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

But I wasn’t really satisfied with it… it was a little crude and the poor painting wasn’t helping.

So… out it came

An ex refuel panel by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

More monies into the swear jar of course.

The bay didn’t look too bad. The top surface was melted a little on assembly (my mistake) but that’d be hidden by the installed panel, so it didn’t matter. Some clean up would be needed, but it should do.

Bay cleaned up by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

I set about making a new panel, using dimensions based on the original panel and the size of the bay, retaining the use of a neodymium magnet, and some stretched sprue for the switches. I was able to make (and manipulate) thinner pieces on the one on the right, and whilst still not exactly perfect, I thought it’s probably do for this scale.

Refuel panels remade x2 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

A test fit showed that it should be ok

Refuel panel test fit by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

These were “white” primed and glossed, lined and then a little colour added; the magnets painted separately… but I forgot to photograph all of that. It’ll appear later.

Nothing much to add exact some fiddly masking of the bays and panels and then some masking around the airbrake bays so that these could get some colour. The airbrakes were also painted red and set aside for later.

The upper airbrake was then masked and the actuators sprayed white… at the same time I sprayed the wheels white and the undercarriage legs. The legs had had their oleos masked off, and I’d drilled out the taxi light on the nose leg and coloured that with a molotow pen.. and masked with a big dollop of maskol. Once finished, I’ll add a drop of glue n glaze to fill it.

Masked undercarriage bays and panels by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Airbrake bays painted... ready for masking by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

And then these were masked off to start to receive a mottling layer… which hopefully I’ll start at the end of this week.

Fully masked uppers by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Fully masked underside by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Hopefully, the variations in initial layer may help the final mottling variations... we'll see

That’s all for now.

Thanks for reading

Jonathan.

[Jon020]

Ok. So, it’s been almost two months since my last post; that’s a bit slack of me. I have been getting some work in on the build, but not as much as I’d have liked… but there are plenty of demands on my time (I’m sure that this applies to the majority of us) … so I’ll write a catch up here but let the photos do most of the talking.

Colour build up followed my usual method of slowly applying the main colour to the panels bit by bit to retain some variation in final finish. For some reason, this didn’t work so well for me and it took me quite a few goes going over with paler and richer mixes of light ghost grey, mixing a bit of white into 16440 for the paler mixes and using 36440 neat for the richer ones, and I found a few times that the colours just looked wrong. I think the main trouble was that I was spraying these in the evenings after dark, and using my new workbench light that’s quite bright giving a different appearance. I applied some lighter shades at the end with some selective maskol masking, just for the sake of experimenting, just to get some variation. But get there in the end I did.

 

Building the tonal values by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Tonal values from the side by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Colour saturation continues by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Maskol ready for lighter coat by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

A lighter shade of grey by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

 

I had a change of heart in terms of subject aircraft and decided to abandon the VF84 Victory 201 and go for something else. I finally opted for another block 130 aircraft BuNo 161855 (just three earlier than my last build) of VF11. I’ll be using the DXM sheet, but not the ugly radome tusk markings that I could not find any actual photos of. This is Ripper 101 and unusually, the wing modexs are only shown as 01.

This will allow me to pose the aircraft alongside my VF31 aircraft and it’ll be set up similarly, with a ACMI and 9L dummy round (neither of which I’ve started yet). VF84 will come, but I’ll do a canopy closed with crew in as I now have decals for crew patches and bone domes.

So, colour. Simply put, there isn’t too much on this aircraft apart from anti glare panel and fin tops and a few little other bits… but they need doing.

I masked the antiglare panel and sprayed a slightly-lightened mix of black and white – just enough white to take it away from deep black… I don’t’ like painting with pure black in this scale as it’ll low wrong… that scale effect needs capturing so a slight lightening is sufficient. A matt finish at the end will help too. The panel just catches the corner of the refueling probe door, so I added a little to that too

 

Antiglare masking by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Unmasked 1 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Unmasked 2 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Unmasked 3 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Refuel probe door by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

 

The wing glove root bags were then tackled using a mix of the colours shown, with a lighter shade on the upper facing pieces and deeper to emphasise the shadows. Similar shades were applied for the antislip panels that are on both sides on this aircraft.

 

Masking by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Wing root bags and anti slip panels airbrushed by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

 

The fin tops were masked off carefully and a few light coats of FS31136 insignia red applied. After unmasking and holding my breath as I did so, all looked ok.

 

Insignia Red fin tops unmasked by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

 

The dirty wing leading edges (and slats separately) were masked and painted the same red

 

A general view of the fuselage and with the dirty wings alongside

 

Slat inners done by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Fuselage sorted by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

 

I needed to work on the probes that sit alongside the nose. I think on the last kits they were attached to the sprues quite sympathetically, but on this one, they’re attached at their head so need removing and cleaning up before painting… and the working out how to hold them.

 

Finemolds probes by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

 

I decided to opt for a careful cutting off of the mounting pin (very small anyway) and drilling out a 0.3mm hole in each base, into which I could insert a 33 swg wire piece. This would allow the probes t be held for paint and give a more secure fit at the end. The fuselage mounting shallow holes were also drilled out (carefully)

 

Probes mounted by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

 

I then tackled the exhaust cans with a mic of HR hobbies (actually mine are still Alclad 2) metals, varying the shades to give a difference to each part, using steel, magnesium, hot metal sepia, and several other shades. I then used some blue tack worms to allow application of transparent red and blue to give heat staining to the main cowling on the upper surfaces.

 

Exhaust cans by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Exhaust cans colours by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Exhaust cans heat shade prep by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

heat shades done by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

 

The slats on this model (fujimi wings) are not too precise, so I masked the leading edges and applied some dark ghost grey to imitate a further-back fitment.

 

Wing slat track colouring by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Slat tracks done by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

 

So finally, as I had no further photos to share, I test fitted the exhausts once the tubes and rear fan had been glued in just to check the look. I think that with a little more weathering and soot staining in the right places, these will be fine.

Exhaust cans test fit by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

inside the exhausts by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

That's it for now. I need to get a secure gloss coat down to seal everything and then decals and panel lining... another gloss coat and then a flatter coat to start some weathering... but not too much. We'll see how that goes.

 

In addition - landing gear legs are all done; corroguard leading edges also all applied, as well as the heat panel around the canon muzzle... but I still need to paint the tyres. Plenty to do still.

Thanks for reading.

Jonathan.

 

[Roel_D]

Wonderful job on the kit and the build log, @Jon020!

Been watching all your previous builds with great interest and learned quite a bit in the process . Thank you!

 

[Jon020]

Final push

Well, it’s been quite a while since my last posting on here; I’d intended to keep this tread active with all stages of this build including this, which turns out to include everything up to the final assemble, but I seem to have failed to keep the build properly captured. So, I will see what my memory retains based on the in-progress photos grabbed along the way. In part this will be due to my desire to get away from the pc at the end of the work-day (and week) and when time allows, spend some time on the model; writing this up would hardly be a break from the pc… so I’ve let it lapse… the other reason would be laziness…. But at least the build itself is sorted apart from a few final additional details I’d like to include.

So, looking back, my last post had the model painted and awaiting some gloss-coating, which all parts duly got using HR Hobbies Aqua Gloss. Here are the main components laid out prior to decal application.

Finemolds ready for decalling by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

I had some issues with this on some parts, most noticeably the horizontal stabilisers and it took me a while to bottom it. My airbrush (Iwata Revolution for the clear coats) worked fine mostly but periodically seemed to be throwing some “bits” into the mix resulting in a rough finish. I spent quite some time disassembling the airbrush components and cleaning it all out and whilst this made it better, I was still suffering when I got to the horiz stabs. Nope, no idea why. Unfortunately, repeated coating, rubbing down gently and recoating resulted in filling the recessed panel lines that would prevent lining-out later. I therefore elected to pencil-in the lines gently… and to be honest this worked ok.  All went well, and this was all sealed again ok after applying the no push no step decals.

Stabs decals and pencil lines by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

The dirty wing’s decals went on fine. These used the decals from the recent High Visibility F-14 DXM sheet No. 11-7142, but with the flaps extended, I wanted to depict the thin red line evident at the top of the flaps to add a little more interest. Looking at the Finemolds sheet, (or was it a GWH sheet?) I thinly sliced the red strips that wrap around the rear fuselage and added sections in the section just under the spoilers’ trailing edges, which I thought was sufficient.

Dirty wings decals by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

The rest of the fuselage was decaled and the “clean” wings decaled using spares from the DXM sheet and a suitable pair of 01 numbers from a spare sheet (possibly GWH).

Fuselage and clean wings decalled-up by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

The fuselage decals took quite well, with just a little settling using Daco string, especially over the strengthening rib on the fins. It’s a simple unassuming scheme, but one that just allows the model speak for itself and not as shouty as some of the wilder schemes.

One pair of decals I did leave off was the wild boar eyes and tusk that were shown as adorning the nose cone. In fact, on inspection, it was clear that this was a replacement nose cone as the anti-glare panel black paint stopped short of the nose cone. All photos I found of this aircraft did not have the eyes and tusks and had a full anti-glare panel … so I went with this; I thought the nose art looked a bit rubbish anyway.

Fuselage decalled-up by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

At this stage, whilst I’d already unmasked the airbrake bays, I then unmasked the undercarriage bays.. hoping nothing had leaked through. It hadn’t, and they still looked ok.

Main gear bay unmasked by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Underside unmasked by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

The wheels had some treatment, masking the hubs and spraying the tyres with some black enamel (to allow me to clean it up properly later). I started with a deep grey for the tyres, covering the main tread faces, then darkened the mix to apply to the sidewalls. These aircraft didn’t exactly go off-road so the tyres would never be dirty, but in depicting an on-base aircraft, I wanted to reflect a little runway/taxiway grime, and this seemed sufficient. The wheels are Armoury. In the past I used armoury mainwheels and true details nosewheels (because I liked them).. these are all armoury and whilst the wheel hub on the nosewheel was less distinct, it came out quite nicely.

Wheels by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

The refueling panel is not an often seen opened panel on kits (I’ve never seen it done) but it would be a panel more likely to be open when parked on a ramp. If refueling, judging by photos, the refuel probe is often extended too… I’m not sure why but it may be a system-related thing… but that suited my intentions. I’d beefed up the panel I’d made from nickel sheet and plasticard, with a thin plasticard hinge piece (to aid attachment) and a thin “prop” to represent the door’s stay. This was just a test fit with the door perched on the model. Seemed ok.

At this stage, the neodymium magnet can be seen fitted and painted red to represent the coupling cover.

Refueling panel door test fit by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

I undertook a few test fits including the horizontal stabilisers and was quite surprised to see that they were sitting with a slight dihedral. That can’t be right. On close inspection, I found that the pivot piece isn’t quite straight in the horizontal plane, and that these therefore need to be installed the opposite way to the way I’d fitted them. I was a little annoyed as I’d already applied the NoStep NoPush decals, so I sought some similar ones (GWH in the end) which were a little larger, and added these to the now-topside. I also relined the panel lines with pencil, and added a few fastener marks too as these are not shown in the kit piece… all with pencil. Yes, this means there are decals on the undersides too, unnecessarily, but as long as I don’t look at that face, it’ll be ok. I thought about sanding it all back or spraying over them, but decided not to bother.

Noticing the offset by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Stabs decalled-up and lined in on opposite face... by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Having finished most of the final finish, I set about masking the cockpit surround carefully, using thin flexible masking tape and post-it paper stuck down with masking tape tacked to the first tape applied. A few light layers of dark grey were built up to represent matt black… but in scale.

Masking cockpit decking by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

As with most things, unmasking didn’t quite go to plan and most of two of the ejection seat warning triangles came off on the tape (I must have not applied enough of a top coat to protect them). Drat! Or something like that. I sought through all of the decal sets that I could find but I could not locate similar dark triangles; I therefore decided to replace them with lighter versions across the set; once complete, it was fine.

Cockpit decking clean by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Panel lining then started, especially underneath where a deeper finish was sought, applying along the panel lines and wiping off afterwards. This was with Mig Ammo Panle lining dark grey (the US Navy set). The second photo shows the subtle difference with the port side (on the right) complete; the starboard side (on the left) yet to be undertaken. The upper sides were a mix of medium and light grey with just a touch of dark grey in the centre of the rear decking between the engines, and where removable panels will collect more dirt.

Panel lined uppers by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Starting weathering underside by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Underside panel lined on right, yet to do on left by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Weathering continued with the wing drag marks on the upper and lower surfaces. I added the clean wings and placed them in oversweep, then applied masking tape to capture the hidden areas; this was done to both sides of the wings.

Masking the wing sweep marks by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

And undersides by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

I apply some dabs of oil brusher pains – applied with a brush (not the brush in the bottle – some control is needed, honestly).. and these are a variety of mixes of white, black and starship filth. The colouring should be the same as the marks on the wing root bags. Whilst later in service these were quite dark due to a use of a darker power to lubricate the fittings, for these, they’re a lot lighter, so the starship filth is predominant.

Applying oil paints by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Once applied, I used and old drawing compass and flat brush to smear the paint spots in a radial pattern centred on the wing pivot. It takes a while but seems to work ok. I’d masked the dirty wings using a pattern derived from the masked clean wings and applied the same process to these.

Adding the wing sweeps by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Upper sides of wing sweeps complete by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

The antislip panels and wing root bags were treated in a similar way, but just blending with a pair of stiff brushes once the oils were applied. Once finished, I considered the initial weathering complete.

Weathering antislip and wing root bags... dots prior to blending by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Basic weathering complete by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

The next step is one that I failed to record with photographs as I went along, basically as it was new to me, but I used one of the weathering techniques covered in Diego Quijano’s encyclopedia of aircraft modelling techniques, applying oil subtly to each panel in random patterns and then blending the paint almost away completely; if working on a satin or matt finish, these will grab more that what I got with the glossier finish, but that was fine for this scheme. The underside got the grubbiest finish, mostly because this is where all the leak stains end up, giving some nice warm (dirty) tones to some of the panels

Basic weathering underside complete by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Undersides balance check by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

It’s evident here around the rear fuselage… but again, it’s subtle … and hasn’t followed the full degree of Spanish weathering seen on some models. On the upper surfaces I applied some shadowing effects by applying a darker tone to more vertical parts of panels and lighter (white) oil tones to “top” of panels to add some variation and bleach effects. This is a light gull grey aircraft after all, not a TPS bird. As you can see, the TCS pod is now installed and tidied… still needing its red light that I dropped some red pain on later, along with re-emphasizing the fin tip lights.

Subtle in panel weathering complete by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Canopy and windscreen unmasking went well enough. The pale green transparent layer applied to the central screen was more subtle than on my previous models, but that was fine. However, I noticed that there is a small area of unpainted plastic either side of the front coaming that is visible through the side screens – just about visible in this photo. I decided not to try removing the windscreen or using a thin brush to put some black paint in there, but I did cut out a very thin slither of black pvc tape and inserted that; coverage was not perfect but it hid the worst of it. I’d been worried that the small indicator panels I’d made, that sit either side of the central part of the front coaming would have distorted on assembly of the windscreen, but they looked fine.. I loosely added the seats and central coaming to grab this shot. The rear “A” frame is not fitted here.

Cockpit unmasking and checking by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Whilst we’re on the subject of unmasking, the canopy unmasking went ok too. I’d added a little silver to frame pieces and some dry brushing to the underside of the frame before these were glued together. Evident here also is the very very thin pieces of grey PVC tape that I cut to represent the heater elements; these were thinner than I’d tried before about 1/3rd to ½ a millimeter, but they looked ok. Eduard mirror frames were primed and sprayed matt black; the mirrors given a coat of molotow for the reflective sides. Difficult to see in the second photo is that I only use the mirror for the RIO… I don’t trust shaping the whole piece, so cut the mirror and bracket, paint that, and use a piece of black PVC tape to represent the inside of the frame (easier to reposition) and glue the mirror to that.

Canopy by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Canopy underside by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

The stores for this Miramar TopGun equipped aircraft consists of a ACMI pod (Hasegawa) and Dummy AIM-9L (GWH) with thinned-down fins. These were painted a couple of shades of metals using HR Hobbies, white base for the colours, then an orange mix and blue mix added using Mission Models. Metallic details picked out with a fine brush and Humbrol metalcote, then given an aqua gloss coat or two. Transfers are from the spares box; the ACMI pod numbers are from some transfers made by my friend Brian when he made me a few sheets (spares) for BuNo 162603 (VF1 Academy)… my previous ACMI pod on the GWH build was No. 626 (easy from those decals) so I needed a different number this time; 623 seemed achievable although needed a little care and patience

Decals for the ACMI pod by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

A few other decals were needed for sensor covers and then everything was sealed.

Stores painted, decalled and clear coated by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

I needed a few Remove Before Flight tags and chose the Eduard PE ones I had in the spares box. I wanted the attachment to be a bit more subtle on this one so I used a thin 33swg wire with just a very small amount of loop to secure the tag; I applied some blackening fluid to the wire to darken it down a bit. The wire would in the cases of stores, arrestor hook and noseleg, be secured in holes I drilled out previously; the main gear would see it wrapped around the retraction jack piston

RBFs by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

The model was now ready for assembly

Ready for assembly by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Final assembly of Tomcats can be a challenge. Landing gear and gear doors (especially) can be a bit of a faff to fit well. However, whilst I’m unlikely to make another Finemolds F-14, I will admit that this stage of the build was easier than any Tomcat I’d made. The gear located positively, the gear doors sat and stayed put nicely… and all just needed a little glue (odourless CA or White glue) to hold them in place.

On her wheels for the first time by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Even some of the fiddly bits weren’t too bad. I did have to remove the paint on the pilots’ pull out step plates (pain on edge interfered with fit) but other than that, it was all easier than usual. Even the refuelling probe sat well… although I had repositioned that to a more aft and accurate position. And the fuel tanks went on well, remembering that these too are also more inboard than the kit would suggest should be used.

So here are a few more photos of this stage of assembly

Overview by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Loaded up by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Origins by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Back end by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Starboard elevation by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

Starboard side in close by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

One final piece I wanted to add was a refuel hose (as the panel door is open). I scratch built this from pieces of plastic rod that I placed in a minidrill and attacked (lathe like) with a blade and sandpaper to produce different diameters to represent the hose attachment; the length was sliced and re-joined on an angle; handles were two pieces of stretched sprue… and it was painted with Ammo acrylic metallics that I got to test out. The photo here has it sat on a 0.4mm piece of wire whilst it was painted. In the top end, there is a short length of 0.6mm dia steel rod. This is enough to work with the magnet representing the coupling in the aircraft’s panel.

Refueling hose connector by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

I stripped the two outer cotton sheaths from some shirring elastic to leave just the elastic core and added this to the hose coupling. It might be a bit thin so I might try this again, but for now, as a test I think it looks ok.

Fuel hose test fit by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr

I need to carry on researching the fuel coupling hoses and what outlets are used on airfields such as Miramar – it’s a feature that doesn’t appear all too often.

This will sit on a new display board I knocked up to sit alongside the board I made for the GWH model (had great fun [not] getting the colour of the new one to be similar to the first one) but it’s close enough. More photos will follow once I’ve stopped faffing with the final bits. Then I’ll bottom a retrospective and RFI post.

Thanks for reading… and for following this protracted build. Not the quickest of builds… it’s been a minute eh Mav?!

[cpoud117]

This is stunning! the model is incredible, the photography is top-notch 😮

And on top of that, you took the time to make it highly educational.

 

Hats off to you!

[Thom216]

That looks soooo good!

[paddesky]

Wow Thanks for everything. Is it possible to change the angle of the FineMolds F-14 wings when it's finished (Flaps up)?

[Jon020]

12 hours ago, paddesky said:

Wow Thanks for everything. Is it possible to change the angle of the FineMolds F-14 wings when it's finished (Flaps up)?

Hi.... thanks for the comment... and.... well, I think so yes. The attachment is the open slot, similar to that which I created for both sets of wings I used here. Of course, the Fujimi wings being "dirty" will only be swept forward with slats/flaps down, but being able to jiggle them a bit on fitting and removal helps. The Hobbyboss wings (see early photos) being clean can be positioned fully forwards, swept or over-swept for parking. The Finemolds ones can similarly be moved.

The only kit I'm aware of with limited positions is the Hasegawa kit, where the wings can only be positioned in "forward" or (it's either) sweep or oversweep.... I can't now recall which it is! Unfortunately, this is a bit limiting as you may want it swept for in-flight, or overswept for parked... but all others I've encountered allow all positions.... 

The GWH kit wings, as an aside, are nicely detailed, but for this kit I prefer the slat/flap deployed end result ... GWH has spoilers open too. For mine, I displayed it parked on maintenance, to justify having the spoilers open.

Hope that helps.

Jonathan

Happy New Year

[Gremlin]

amazing tomcat

[Thom216]

Your work on that paid off big time!

[Jon020]

Thought it was about time i completed a summary image... so here it is:

Finemolds 1/72 F-14A detailed by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr