1/32 F-14D Super Tomcat WIP

Ens. Bones, thank you for that sweet reference pic!   Someday I plan on returning to this model and this will help get the cockpit better looking.

Fly-n-hi, hearing that you went through the exact same issues gives me insight that I lacked before.

Thanks for the help!!

This technique lends itself very well to intakes that are rounded like the F-16 but on intakes that have 90 degree corners it can be difficult.  You see, the paint will draw in and pool in the sharper corners but it will look even as it moves back towards the rounded part where the fan blade is.  You may have to pour the paint more than once to get good coverage in the corners.

I recently filled some intakes on a 1/48 F-15 kit and I had the pooling problem at the front in the sharper corners.  I ended up stripping the latex paint.  Since the intakes were very straight I decided to just airbrush the white in and it looked just as good.  But I've had great success with the pour and dump method on 2 F-16s and an F-2A.

Hope this helps.  Good luck!

Gary, I honestly hadn't even thought of thinning the paint outside of the can....  d'oh!

I might give that a try tonight...

Dre, you might try thinning the paint.  Pour some into a paper cup or something disposable and gradually add a little water.  Stir it well of course.  You just might find a "ratio' that works right.  Please let us know, and good luck!

Gary

jester- from what I've read about this particular technique all ya gotta do is fill the sink holes, sand them flush and then just pour the thick latex down the innards of the trunks... gravity is supposed to even everything out and make them smooth, seamless and pristine.

The paint itself does these things as advertised- it really does fill in the seams and lays down smooth- but it also dried in runs and blobs, so that has to be fixed.

Once I figure out the procedure, I'll let everyone know so they can try it themselves.

I am very interested in the sbs for this method of painting the trunks and dealing with those seams. This thing is looking like it will be fully functional when you finish with it Dre!

Update time...   I've left the cockpit alone for now and have turned my attentions to the other innards of this kit- the intake trunks and engines.

Here's a little of the inner detail of these engines...

and the afterburner faces have been painted, washed and drybrushed...

The intake trunks have the requisite sink holes, 5 per piece so some filling and sanding was needed.

I've decided to try something new (to me) on these intake pieces..   I'll paint them with the heaviest, whitest interior latex paint I could find.   At Lowe's, I found a quart of this Valspar paint that suits my needs- superwhite, glossy and acrylic.

The theory for this is simple- literally pour the latex through the intakes and let gravity sort it out for the smoothest, most blemish-free intakes this side of resin.  To that end, I made a simple drying box and did the deeds with the parts...

Sadly, it worked too well has I have runs and heavy blobs to deal with so the parts are soaking in SimpleGreen cleaner to remove the first run paint.   I'm determined to make this work, one way or another as the paint does work well for this (when it doesn't run).

Their 1/32 F-15's and F-16's are sweet kits... I had hoped to start a Strike Eagle this year, but the Tomcat opportunity presented itself and here we are.   

Stunning work, as alway, Dre!

The big Tamiya kits are really great if they are even close to their 1/32 prop planes. Those are a dream to build and are very detailed models. I'll build one for the NMF GB and I won't use any AM stuff except some tires and decals for "Feeble Eagle".

Cheers, Clemens

I went with the Trumpeter kit for a couple of reasons- it is somewhat less spendy than the Tamiya, both it and all the aftermarket stuff for it were available at the same time (the Tamiya was out of stock at my favorite vendors) and I tend to prefer to Trumpeter over Tamiya in general.   Otherwise I have no practical knowledge to share about the Tamiya kits as I've never really looked into them...

Amazing work is right, Dre. Wow.

And thanks for sharing your thoughts on the Tamiya vs Trumpeter. You read my mind.

LOl, anything's removable if you have the right tools and a buddy with a pickup and a Warn wench...

I didnt know the cockpit tub on the Tomcat was removable?

Amazing work on that pit Dre! I realize that its 32nd scale but man that looks great!

Greg- I can't say whether the Tamiya is better than the Trumpeter in this scale, but the Trumpeter is somewhat less expensive.    I had no real interest in a Tomcat until a FSM member (Dean27) started posting pics of them and that got me thinking about getting one.   Now I wonder how I ever lived without one in my stash...

Anyhow..  here's my latest update-  using the "Uncovering the Grumman F-14 A/B/D" as my primary resource I've been putting lotsa little dots of paint on the cockpit switch gear.   I've tried to stay as accurate as possible in here as it's the place that will get the most eyeballs in real life.   The paints I've been using are closest in color match to what I see in the book- light grey, a dark grey, white, red and dull aluminum.

As you can see, I still have a ton of work to do in the rear bulkheads before I can consider doing any washes and weathering.

I've tried to make the soft cowling covers look like old, weathered and replaced cloth ...  pretty close I think, but they need a heavy dulling before I can call them 'done'.

I'm not sure that the seat cushions are the right color- if anyone knows for sure, please let me know.

More than passes, Dre. At this point it's all I wanted to know.

I even tried lugging the stool to the laundry sink, had to hunch over too much, still hurt. But all that is behind me now, since you have endorsed bringing the water to the wet sanding, as opposed to the other way round. I could over-complicate a two-car funeral.

Thanks again!

Very interested in this build of yours, a 1/32nd F-14 is on my wishlist one day, so please keep those posts coming.

Thank you very much for the tutorial, Dre! I'll start on my Hasegawa Thunderbolt soon (after the Wildcat for the Carrier GB is finished) and i think this will come in handy! Your build looks gorgeous BTW!

Cheers, Clemens

Thanks, Trey.    It's getting there, slowly.

Wow just caught up on this Dre and you're doing an excellent job of it! Absolutely stunning detail going on,looking forward to seeing more! I dig it Man!

Cheers!  I hope that passes for an quick, informal informative tute...  

Anyhow, why stand if you can sit?  

That helps immensely, Dre. Thank you!

PS: my back thanks you as well.

LOL, Greg.   You just figured it out!!    That's pretty much what I do- fill a container with water, get a cold beverage and then begin to shape/flatten the dried puttied with sharp edge (#11 blade) so that there is very little material to actually sand/polish.   One I remove the bulk of the dried putty with the knife edge, I use ever finer grades of sandpapers (starting at 600) until I wind up polishing the plastic with 2000-grit Tamiya polishing paper.       Dip the paper and work, rinse the clogged crud out of the paper and repeat as necessary, always keeping the work wet.

I don't spend too much time with any one grade unless the problem really requires a heavy grinding (for which I'd use a Dremel) but rather work through the series in fairly quick order.

The real trick is make the parts align as best as possible and then mask off the seam so that I wind up leaving as thin a line of putty as I can get away with so that cleanup is minimal.   (if you look back a few pages you'll see this on the leading edge seam of the main wings)

Also, as I get into the fine grades, I use a circular motion instead of back-n-forth motion where possible as I'm not sanding the surface anymore but trying to polish out the scratches from the coarser grits.

Once all that's done, I follow up with a super-soft cotton cloth (worn out Tshirt) and vigorously polish the bejeebus out of the plastic until it shines.

it sounds like a lot of work (and it can be on a large 1/32 model) but it actually gets done fairly quickly once you get the hang of it.  

hope this helps!

This is looking great, Dre! Never tried resin, can see the detail is superb, as are your detailing skills.

Digressing a page or two back, as I wait with bated breath for your wet-sanding tute, I have a dumb question. I took my first stab at it a couple days ago, working with running water in a laundry tub/sink. Darned near killed my back. Tried a margarine cup with water on my bench, dipping the sanding medium frequently. Seemed to work. Can you whet our appetites with your method of bringing the 'wet' to the wet sanding?

Thanks guys, it's slow going but worth it.   I'm working in the cockpit these days and putting dark grey points of paint on flat black switches is deadly boring stuff.    

Hopefully I'll get these parts painted soon and get back to massaging the plastic parts.

Man there is some impressive detailing going on here,those wheel wells are going to be outstanding

Tamiya Smoke is an excellent wash for landing gear, wheels, and wheel bays. I love it! I've never been a fan of the stark, black washes on the landing gear. You are so correct about Smoke having a nice warm tone to it.

Dre, Looking fantastic. You are getting me itchy to pull out mine.....