Hasegawa F-14A WIP (Finally Completed)

PJ,

That is one impressive set of ordnance!  That will be one sweet bird!

Gary

OOOOO, that looks cool with all that ordinance hanging off of it.

BK

Another quick update. The cat has its claws on! The Aim 54s are held in place with no glue but with plastic pins made from stretched sprue.

Got the tail feathers aligned and Tenaxed in place, next will be the cans and some minor work here and there and the mighty Tomcat will be complete. The Flory Washes really help to pop the recessed details. The wheel wells got oil washes to pop the interior molded plumbing details.

Thanks jester. I wish the rear of the weapons were a bit more detailed as with the Academy Winders which have the molded plug details. One way to get around this is to punch out some very thin discs with a mini punch to add some interest in that area.

dog, be prepared for some fit and alignment issues with this kit. Otherwise is looks pretty good.

jay, thanks bud and a very Merry Christmas to you too. I guess I'll be seeing you at Jaxcon very soon?

Remarkable detail you put into your builds Ernie.  You're a never ending source of inspiration .

Took me all morning to put all the decals on the missiles. The black lines on the AIM 54s had to be measured and each cut to size. The Aim 54 had the interior of the rocket motor nozzle painted a red/brown color. I found a picture of this detail. I also found info listing  the Aim 7 and 9 having either a white or red nozzle plug so I just left them in white.

I also masked and shot the arrestor hook

The wing glove sealing plates were also masked and sprayed. The kit includes two types, I used the one for the swept back mode otherwise the other one was for the open wing setting which seals up the back gap but then you can't close the wings. Now I can display it open or swept back.

I wasn't happy with the colors I used on the cans so I used a couple of other metalizer shades to get a darker heat stained look.

Toshi, Bruce and Joe, thanks for your posting and comments.

Your Tomcat is coming along beautifully. Definitely looking sharp with the decals.

plasticjunkie

  

thanks. Yes it's included in the sheet. This particular Tomcat shot down an Iraqui helo with a   Winder.

 

That is really cool, PJ! Very nice addition to the decal sheet. 

Sitting hear and viewing your build, I'm in awe.  Very nicely done!  Learning much from you sir.

Toshi

Thanks BK

hogfanfs

Looking good, PJ! It's coming together very nicely! Was the helicopter kill mark apart of the decal set?

 

thanks. Yes it's included in the sheet. This particular Tomcat shot down an Iraqui helo with a   Winder.

Looking good, PJ! It's coming together very nicely! Was the helicopter kill mark apart of the decal set?

Got some work done on my Tomcat. Got the cans painted in MM metalizers.

got most of the large decals on. The smaller ones will be next.

El Coyote's tail markings look super cool.

Got the missiles painted and ready for their stencils.

It's beginning to look like a Tomcat.

 Notice the helicopter kill mark above the stars and bars.

Thanks so much fellas for the very nice comments! Building Tomcats is addicting cuz there are so many schemes that you just must have a bunch. I have nothing new to post since the cat has been sitting in my display case so that the Future cures.

I will hopefully start decaling tonight and maybe I will have some progress to post later on this weekend. 

I can't wait to use the Flory Washes to further enhance the surface details.

I am definately watching this come together so I can paint my modern kits and make them look good like this.

BK

I really like your pre shading and the effect you achieved with it. Nice work indeed.

PJ, the 14 is looking really good! And that is a great tip on using the tan for the pre-shade! I wish I would have seen this a few days earlier, I would have tried that on my Star Destroyer!

Great tip on the tan preshade Ernie. TY for that info and I'll file that for future referance. This one's going to be a killer I can tell.

I really do love the F-14 and can't wait to see this one done.

BK

Thanks Jim.

Prepping for decals by polishing up the paint and glossing it up.

This is going to be a nice-looking model!

Another update. Did the preshade using black and random patches of tan. The canopy exterior was sprayed black so it will show up as the interior frame color once the gull gray goes on top.

The black adds some texture to the panels and the tan gives some discoloration once the top coat goes on leaving very subtle shadows. This breaks up the monotone color scheme.

Further washes will weather up the finish once the decals are applied first.

Its funny, although I build mostly 1/72 I dont recall my 1/72 Hasegawa Cat to have had that front fuselage cross section mismatch (still, I built that mid-2000s, I think I should check my logs), but do remember that problem with the Academy kit.

Anyway, looks like you got that fixed.

Thanks Mike. Glad you like how the IPs came out.

Great to hear from you again JJ. Parking that many cars sounds like a huge udertaking. I'm certain you were more than happy to get done with that job.

This Hasegawa kit is a bit over engineered and a lot of things could have been simplified. For example, the nose gear is maded up of 12 parts, the mains are 8. The intakes is another bunch. Some parts fit good and others do not, requiring trimming and sanding. Usually Hasegawas have a good fit but this one requires a little help. None the less it's a great looking model.  

It's about ready for paint which I hope to get on by tomorrow. The tail fins did not line up either cause the mounting tabs were too long. I had to slice off a bit from each tab to make the fins properly fit on the rear fuselage.

Hasegawa does not include any weapons in the kit so their weapons set was used. The Aim54s were drilled for mounting pins made from stretched sprue. Corresponding holes were drilled on the pallets and wing pylon mounts.

I was very surprised and pleased to find the Aim54 pylon mounts included in the kit!

It looks different than the common Sparrow set up. A Sidewinder will be on the top rail.

The tanks, tail hook assembly and weapons were all assembled, sanded and polished and ready for paint. The kit includes several different chin pods ranging from early to late updated  A Tomcat.

I just need to add some small parts, mask the canopy and windscreen and it will be ready for some color.

That's coming along nicely.  I really like what you did with the radar displays.

Mike