1/32 F-14D Super Tomcat WIP

What does wet sanding do that normal does not?

Last night's work consisted of doing some simple seam work on all the wing assemblies that I built up last week.

Since the fit of the parts is so good and clean, there's actually very little clean-up to be done, but I do like to be thorough...   A mix of white and green putties thinned with MEK was lightly brushed onto all the seams and join lines that needed it.  Once fully cured (say about 2 days, given the humidity) I can go back and begin wet sanding and polishing these areas.

this shows the seam filling on the leading edge of the wings- this will be hidden by the flaps but I thought the area needed that extra effort.   I used strips of masking tape to mark off the area I wanted to fill and then added the putty mix.

I also began a rough seam sanding and putty spotting on the 2 drop tanks as well as some putty work on 2 AIM-54's.   I chose the two missiles  (out of 6 total) that had the cleanest join seams to be used on the model..   A little wet sanding and polishing and these will be ready to paint and use.

Slow and thorough is the way to go...

Actually, you don't want a lot of color in there.  "Skydraul" (a brand name now as generic as Kleenex) is tinted red so that leaks will "show"

Which is also why the panel rabbets on naval a/c are red, so that the open doors/panels would be visible in a white on white on white work environment.

Or, so I've been told --brownshoes have been known to pull a blackshoe's leg when they think they can get away with it.  (ABM occasionally forgetting that the Deck Department has a bunch of layabouts who can be put to work with needleguns to chip paint . . . berthing compartment paint, for instance <G>)

Really? I would have thought there would be a multitude of wires to paint various colours?

In 1/32, I'd say the choice is obvious, even over PE...  shame that 90% of the wells are just variations of white.  

I've gotta say the comparison between the resin and plastic is like night and day, that detail is incredible.

And today's work consisted of airbrushing the cockpit tub, sidewalls and RIO center console dark gull grey, followed by a casual shading of higher wear areas and highlights with a lightened mix of the grey.

The IP clusters, rear deck and canopy frame were painted flat black and then a list misting of panzer grey was added to highlight areas to break up the black.  I usually don't use extreme shading percentages when I paint, so some of the effects are barely discernible now and will be most likely gone by the time I start weathering.

I'm going to let these parts and the wheel wells cure for a few days before I start getting in there and painting the details.  

Dean, all the resin used in this kit will be from Aires.   Brilliant stuff and highly recommended.  

So far the fit is tight, possibly too tight, and just a little off.   The cockpit tub rests directly on top of the nose wheel well and both are used to locate and place the other.   I think that I've done the major trimming and grinding to get them both inside the fuselage halves, but some plastic thinning may be needed.

The NACES seats don't really fit as well they ought to- they're just 'in there'.

Dre I have always wanted since I really got into model building, to use a resin cockpit let us know hpw the fit is, and also who makes that resin cockpit you are using?

looking relly good so far. great start!

I got a little work done the last few hours...  mostly just basic painting.

Last night I hand painted the resin wheels and wells with MM panzer grey as primer (it was conveniently on hand) and shadow base and then let them dry so I could paint them gloss white today.   I wasn't too concerned with good painting technique so much as filling in the dark voids so the white paint would stand out better...

Early this morning I airbrushed the wheels flat black and the wells flat white and later this afternoon I used gloss white to finish off the wells and hubs.   I'm going to let these cure for a few days before I start detail painting.   Looking at the reference pics, theres a ton of detail and not a lot of color to these areas.

And finally I hand painted the main cockpit pieces flat black so I can throw some grey on them tomorrow.

I think from a head on approach those three Flanker, Fulcrum and Tomcat do have a very aggressive look, I never got that from any other aircraft. F-16, Mirage 2000, Tornado, F-15, etc.... Those first three are like the alpha male versions of aircraft, an unforgiving look.

Friendly?   Hell, son; that's the sound of freedom!   (sorry, I had to get that out- its an American thing)

It certainly has a more organic shape and flow than it's F-15/F-18 brethren.   I think it has a slightly bulkier shape and more predatory character than the Flanker.  

Lol, I think so too, I think the Tomcat is the only western jet to have the menacing presence of the Flanker or Fulcrum, other western fighters to me always looked somewhat friendly, do you know what I mean? Perhaps it's because I grew up with western aircraft around when my dad was in the army. Who knows?

I know, right?   .

That's why I want to do the lo-vis decals- there's just acres of surface area to paint in an unappealing grey monotone and then weather.   The only color I want to see peeking is the red warning paint.

Using some of what I did to that Su-25's camo, I ought to enjoy painting this beast.  

We joked about weathering Russian aircraft, I think, judging from a quick look at photos, that an operational Tomcat may even exceed Ivan for dirtiest aircraft awards.

Fair enough, I will be doing the Tomcatters, I like the Felix picture holding the cannon ball, the funny thing is, to me the F-14 has always been a grimy, dirty airplane and all grey, it never suited any other colour to me.

I appreciate that, but this one is going to be all grey with lo-vis markings...  but the Tomcatter's decals are nice.

You know there are decals for some really colourful Tomcats, I remember seeing years ago in a magazine a picture of and F-14B or D I think D and it was in an immaculate 3 tone desert sand camouflage with a white belly. It looked superb, I think it was a splinter camouflage. If I see a picture I'll send it to this thread.

As of right now, I plan on doing flaps up and swept for display and storage...   let me dig through some photos to see if I can leave a little leading-edge flap drop.  I would like to leave just a hint of that red showing through the acres of grey paint.

I don't know if I have the weathering chops to show one that has been at sea...  wow, they're just filthy.

Is it gonna be wings forward, flaps down? Or flaps up so you can sweep the wings?

I built the Revell 1/32 tomcat years ago and it was huge, but I did mine in a 3 tone grey camouflage pattern as I thought it looked great but where to put such a model lol. I guess if we cared about such things we wouldn't buy them.

If only I had such a display space...  

Jester75

This should be awesome! Where do you put such a beast??

In the hangar bay of course!

Awesome project. Looking forward to see this build

Thanks, I'm just trying to keep my fingers out of glue-softened plastic.

I'm looking forward to this one Dre, can't wait to see what your skills can do.

Tates, I'll be using "Uncovering the Grumman F-14 A/B/D Tomcat" unless it proves unsatisfactory.

Loving your build so far. I have this model in my stash as well as the f-14b. Just wondering what reference book you're planning on using?

Since I'm waiting on a reference book to arrive, I didn't start this build in the cockpit, but with the wings and other easy to glue assemblies...  so, last night's work.

main wings and flaps.   Still a lot of cleanup and seam work to do.   Really nicely molded parts and the leading edge flaps are molded in one piece, so no nasty seam work there.

rear stabs and tail fins, cleanup to still do..

AIM-54's and fuel tanks...  the molding on the weapons is just fantastic (I have no idea if accurate, though).

Trumpeter has done some really nice engineering on this kit- well above their usual efforts- and most of wing seams fall along natural panel lines and are on the underside of the wing!   Very little cleanup to do here.

Based on the little bit of work I've done, this is a fantastic kit and possibly the best effort by Trumpeter that I have in my stash.  

ik how you feel been down that road myself. just finished my Tamiya 1/32 f-15c I sprayed the fuselage with tamiya grey fine primer and the resin exhaust nozzles were primed using alclad white primer. I used my Tamiya tapes on both areas after the mm metalizer and alclad was used with no problems.. metal finishes are very thin and have very little bite to them. since I have been using primer I havnt had any issues.

Lol, every time I try to use post-its for masking I just end up blowing them away...   I've never had Tamiya tape do this to paint and I laid on the masking tape after a full 2 weeks of curing the base colors.  Oh, it was a grand plan to include the Alclad clear colors too...