1/32 F-14D Super Tomcat WIP

Oddly enough, there's no detail at all for the  trailing edges or spoilers; I guess that both Trumpeter and Eduard figured that the wings would be built swept back and closed up.  It is really tempting to try and do this with the wings opened up, if only to show off the red warning paint.   I've still got to go back and lightly sand off the CA ooze from the access panels.

(FYI, I looked more closely at the Tomcatters decals and the big, distinctive tail emblems could be a lot better printed- there's a white backing layer under the yellow that isn't the same diameter as the yellow, so there's a noticeable 'ring' around the edge.  The other optional set isn't much better.   The low-vis decals are the best in the box because they're only 1 layer!)

I love following your builds Dre, you do really great work. Following this thread makes me wanna get started on one of my Trumpy Tomcats. One thing though, do you think you could give me a quick lesson in wet sanding?

I second that, I wanna know how.

OK, wet sanding lessons?   Can y'all give me a day or so to write that out?   I'll have to organize my thought..

No problem man, I will use them on my tomcat:-)

Yeah, make some wet-sanding lessons, Dre!

It is really great for sanding basically everything, but I can't get it perfectly right. A tutorial (especially from you) would help a lot!

Cheers, Clemens

Guys, sorry I haven't yet written up a wet-sanding toot, I've been a little busy with work the past week..

But I did have some time over the weekend to throw some paint at the resin bits.

Added a little color (almost entirely inaccurate, mind you) to the nose gear bay and main gear bays.   Although the bays are almost entirely white, there is some subtle staining and discoloration on hoses and insulating wraps that  breaks up the blandness...  which is all I was trying to recreate through various shades of light colors.   these still have to be dirtied up with a heavy wash.   It is really tempting to paint all of the wires a light grey just for contrast, but I'll refrain from that.

and I spent a little time making the wheel hubs look used and dirty... I haven't begun to age the tires.        I might have gone just a little too far on the backs of the main hubs...

Just gorgeous! I love your work on this bird! I won't comment on every update here though, although I'll do that in the actual GB!

And now the wheel bays have been washed with a mixture of Future and Tamiya Clear Smoke to simulate oily buildup and residue.   I may go back in and swab some windex-soaked ear buds around to show "cleaning".

After all the years of looking for a good, easy to use wash I have to say that Future mixed with clear Smoke is the best solution to recreate oily aircraft interiors.   It has a slight warm tone when dried that looks a lot like petroleum by-products.

Hi Dre, Great job... love following this build.  

Dumb question from a newbie...how do you obtain the color on the hoses, wires, etc??? fine brush / steady hand?

Todd- that isn't a dumb question, but yes I use a #00 or #000 brush and a very steady hand to paint that stuff after priming them in flat black and a base coat of gloss white.   Luckily the resin is molded so well that the littlest details have just enough edge definition to make the painting very easy.  

What makes these wheel wells so easy is that they're essentially gloss white through out and a good wash makes the details pop without the need to add much additional painting.

I've made a small start in the cockpit with a little painting over the last few nights...

the side wall canvas is various drybrushed shades of lightened greys to simulate both age, sunfading and wear.   I'm slowly working on the fuse panels...  I wish I had decals for these.

the seats are slowly getting there- just a little PE and paint, all that's really left on them is to add the belts and grab handles.

the IP clusters haven't yet been painted beyond the basic black, but I did work on the display screens a little...  I need to tone those down a little so they don't look like deep aquariums.

just a lot of slow, busy work that gets hidden deep within the closed cockpit.

Incredible work!  As they said in the 70's(?), "I am impressed"!

Ya dig it?   Right on, man!

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

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.

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

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.

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?

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!

That helps immensely, Dre. Thank you!

PS: my back thanks you as well.

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

Anyhow, why stand if you can sit?  

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!

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

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

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.

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.

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!

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

Amazing work is right, Dre. Wow.

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