This is one of the most awe inspiring builds I've ever seen!  WOW, WOW, and WOW!

Toshi

Oh and I forgot - the base of the holdback bar is just a couple of triangle snippets of styrene. For this build, the holdback is glued to the aircraft for when the aircraft is taken off the base.

Holdback bar was a really simple thing, actually - metal rod inserted into styrene tube. No idea what sizes they are though - they looked about the right size so I just went for it haha. Cut to approximately the correct size and voila!

I know that's probably not the best information you were hoping for but I hope it helps somewhat!

I would just go to the hobby store and find the approximate correct size rod, and find a tube that it tightly inserts into, and you have what you need. If you want to model the actual holdback connections and stuff, you're on your own there! I just snipped it to size and glued it in place.

WOW!

I think you're being a bit too humble,  that looks like a show winner to me.   Beeyoootiful job !

Dude, that is Friggin' Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!

I posted awhile ago that I couldn't find  this  newer post but I did and like the others, I say wow. I hope mine can get close to yours.  Can you please give me a little more info on the holdback bar?  Congrats on a great build.  lenny

DeafAviator

Thanks a lot for the very kind compliments guys! I truly appreciate it!

I dont get the Kenny Loggins thing though... ?

Allan, I actually really want to keep it haha but he's coming out in April for my son's birthday and is expecting to take this home with him.

Kenny Loggins was the fellow who sang "Danger Zone", the theme from Top Gun, in 1986. Probably the best song he ever did. 

Another big hit from the film was "Take My Breath Away" by Berlin, a synth-pop group from that same time-period.

Beautiful job on that diorama, by the way!

That's just WOW! Just a fantastic all around effort- love everything about her!!! 

WOW!!!

Awesome work!

Thanks a lot for the very kind compliments guys! I truly appreciate it!

I dont get the Kenny Loggins thing though... ?

Allan, I actually really want to keep it haha but he's coming out in April for my son's birthday and is expecting to take this home with him.

I wouldnt let go of this, if I were you.  Brothers understand, dont they?  Hahaha!  Mighty fine work!

Quite a display, I hope your brother will let you come visit it sometime!

Jim 

Amazing, Todd.

Excellent work, and what a great WIP thread!

My hat is off to you on this project.

Nice!  Well done!

"Call Kenny Loggins..."

Too cool!!!  That's an incredible build, and one worthy of all the effort.  Thanks for taking us on this journey!!!   Raymond

WOW!  Totally awesome.  Great job, Todd!

Simply brilliant work!

Man thats great, I had to wait till the last picture to see the bracket for the hold-back bar, I love it, brings back memories of the most fun I ever had working, up on the ROOF

Finally completed this big beast, and boy am I happy with it! I am jealous that it is going to my brother instead of being able to keep it for myself, but on the flip side, it's simply too big... I literally have no place to put it!

Here's the specs on it:

Kit: 1/48 Revell F-14D Super Tomcat

Mods: Slats & Flaps dropped; crew figures from Hasegawa Deck Crew Set A; AOA & Pitot swapped out with needles; Decals are a mix of: Generic stuff from the kit decals, self-made numbers/names, and the tail markings from an AM set generously donated to me by Al Bell; Metal rods installed in the wheels for mounting the aircraft to the base so that it can be easily removable.

Base: SkunkModels Carrier Deck w/ JBD

Mods:
Added a few crewmen from the Haswegawa Deck Crew set; Added red markings between the white ones - decals did not have the red/white but rather just white hash marks; Reinforcements made on some of the larger pieces to reduce bowing/flexing; Bass wood frame added to dress it up.

All crewmen had music wire inserted into feet/knees to brace them along with matching holes drilled into the deck to give them some strength on the carrier deck - something more than just tiny bits of epoxy & superglue.

I know this is far from a show-winner, but frankly I don't care... I love how it turned out and that's good enough for me. MANY thanks to GW8345 & Eddie M for their invaluable education during the build, especially regarding the crew and some of the other technical bits (holdback bar, etc). You guys rock!

Anyways, it was a nicely bright cloudy day which was perfect for a diffused lighting photo shoot! Right when I finished it too!

Now I just need to finish the F/A-18! :thumbs-up:

I started looking for that cat setup and is on the hard side to find. I would love to put my new Academy F4-B getting ready to be launched on it. It looks really good!

However, would that cat set up be correct for the older F-4 Phantom?

Thanks guys! The deck and plane are actually done now - I just need to finish the crew and frame the base.

I will post pics when it's done but it looks badass!!

Great work there!

Fantabuloust work overall!! . That is quite a unique theme. The old Monogram Cat makes a nice build and is fairly easy to work with except for some hard to deal joints on the fuse sides and the interior of the intakes. The cockpit has nice crisp molded detail. Fantastic job dropping the flaps, slats and chopping the gear. That deck is a killer too. If I may throw this out, I saw a couple of the figures with some gloss so they may need a shot of flat. It may just be the lighting.