Hey skii, where are you located? Have you tried looking for a used compressor? Often, you can find some smaller ones, with a 2 or 3 gallon tank, for under $100. I know that you can buy a new one for about $100 at Wal-Mart (if you're in the U.S.).

I found one on e-Bay for $50, it was a "salvage" (returned for a missing piece, strictly cosmetic).

Here's an article in FSM about powering your airbrush, if you haven't already seen it.

http://www.finescale.com/fsm/default.aspx?c=a&id=303

Good luck!

Okay boys here's the 90% complete cockpit: Lemme know what you think.

That's looking good so far (better than mine anyway, I'm thinking of buying the BlackBox cockpit after all).
The first pic isn't very sharp however.

Got a question:

Will you guys sentence me to a lifetime of ill fitting kits if I change my mind on my Tomcat entry? I said I would build the Tamiya 'Turkey but at this time I just can't get motivated to rescribe all those panel lines. I have a Hasegawa kit ( I know..... so much for variety in the GB !) that I can start on right away if you guys don't have a prob with it. Let me know what you think...or if you care

Later on...

Hey armorman! That 'pit is looking very nice. I haven't made much progress on my builds this week as I've been very busy on other matters. I'll try to post pics tomorrow on what I've accomplished on both of my projects so far.
And A68T, the GB Stormtroopers will be by to kick your door in and have a chat with you, probably in the middle of the night. You've been warned!

Hey A68Trans...sure you can change horses in the middle of the race. But you'll have to pay us all $100! (each)

What Hasegawa kit is it? A, A+, B or D ??

Oh yeah, Jon, that cockpit looks pretty good! I'm off to the 'bench to put the intake assemblies onto the main fuselage section. This will be an exercise in tenacity, craftiness, and self-restraint. All that before I even pick up the pieces!!

Hey y'all...I'm throwing in the towel! That Hasegawa kit with the 240-some pieces is just too frustrating!

Here's my submission, my 3 year-old daughter did most of the airbrushing. It's Monogram's sorry excuse for an F-14.



OK, OK, just kidding. That's my guinea pig plane.

Whoooo! That BB cockpit has got some detail, wow. The intakes on the Has 'Cat really, really don't fit well. Anyone else having trouble?

Hope you all are having fun!

You had me there for a bit MACooke !!

Jon: that cockpit looks pretty sharp.What kind of camera are you using?

I appreciate the humorous responses to my initial question.........

As for my Tomcat entry...... it is the very same A/C that is in my sig and very similiar to what a couple of you guys are working on. I have the Hasegawa ' B' Tomcat,BlackBox cockpit,along with some Eduard details and Two Bobs decals of ..........( you guessed it !! ).... VF-103 JR's. I have a camera so I will post lots of pics (mainly cuz I need to figure out how to post them on here),I have several ideas but have yet to decide how I plan on posing the finished piece. I have to admit I am regretfully starting late but at least I have a heads up on the pitfalls of what I'm about to get into.l am looking forward to finally getting started and getting involved in this GB instead of watching from the sidelines.....Sierra Hotel !!

Later on.....

Jon - You're making that Academy pit look great. It is lacking in the detail side of things a bit, but with your careful painting it looks great. I'll take a pic of mine soon and post it.

It's about time I posted some progress pics of my 'cat. It's at about the same stage as Jon's, but needs a flat coat to even it all up, and a bit of touch up here and there. All I've added is a throttle control and another lever near that. The seats still need seatbelts and some touch up and detail painting.





Hope you like it.

looks excellent !
with a bit of luck, mine will look like that

number one: Daniel, that cockpit looks fantastic!!! Great job on the painting-
I made a throttle quadrant as well but I knocked it off somewhere and I have to find it.
I am playing with this macro setting on the camera so I hope to have better pics posted this afternoon.
A68T- that Jolly Rogers bird will look fantastic. Listening to everyone else it seems that the Hasegawa is a bit of a SOB to get together but lemme tell ya the Academy isn't that far off. The Academy has a really crappy zig-zag seam where the upper fuselage and lower fuselage come together that simply looks like a nightmare for putty when I get there. I mean a nightmare. BTW it's a Cannon 3.2...
Hopefully today I'll get to the bench, but I have a lot of stuff to do. Pingtang that simply looks fantastic and can't wait to see the rest...
How's that Has 'Cat coming along Mitch?

I am sorry that I have not been giving updates lately. My progress has been very slow due to a bunch of hogwash going on at work. I am working on the 'pit and it is going along fine. The only digital camera I have is a cheap Wal Mart special. We wil see if it works well enough. I have the 1/72 Hasegawa Cat. So far OK but I do see potential problems. I have plenty of Squadron putty! All of the work posted so far looks great!!!! I hope to get some progress done today. If so, I will post something tonight.

Man that cockpit looks awesome Daniel !! I havn't looked at the contents of my kit that closely....is that right out of the box? It looks outstanding.....you guys are providing alot of inspiration on this end !!

Jon: I know what you mean about that Academy 'Cat.I built one several years back and was very pleased with the surface detail.And as I recall it went together fairly well. I can't remember what happened to it. I built it not too long before I left for basic training,and now that I think about it I don't remember seeing it when I got back home.Anyhoo.....if I ever see another one I will probably pick it up,because with the price vs. quality factor it ranks right up there with Hasegawa.

Later on...

I'managed last night to complete the decalling on my F-14A. Progress has been slow of late and there won't be any today as I'm busy with Mad Komet Day! I'm glad to see the progress everbody else is making. Looks good!

Hey everyone! Reggie, Daniel, Jon, A68TransAm, bstrump......

Here are a couple of pics of my 'Cat, I'm working on the intakes and the BB cockpit. The first pic is of my intakes before I filled in the gaps.



I used Squadron white putty thinned with denatured alcohol, applied it with an old #2 brush. Below are two more pics. The last one has blue arrows showing all the locations that I had to fill. Please note that this filling had to be done on all sides of each intake. Patience patience patience....

And all the time I was thinking that I lost my modeling skills (if I ever had those), but now that I see that all of you guys have the same problems, I feel great again.

BTW is anybody going to use the figures, I've noticed they hardly fit on AM seats.

Hey MACooke! The 1/72 kit isn't much better. there are minor gaps to fill in all the places you've said plus there are some pretty good steps where the forward fuselage mates to the rear and where the intake trunks meet up with the rear. I also had more or less the same problems with the Academy kit I'm doing. Fun! Fun! Fun!

made good progess on the cat the last few days, all i am waiting for is a warm day to paint and a new airbrush from great models.

armorman - I'm not looking forward to filling those two seams either, the intakes are just as bad though, because they are harder to reach. I think I've got one intake just about done, now it's onto the second one (why do bad things always come in pairs?).

A68T - Yep, she's all out of the box except the parts that I mentioned. With a bit of careful painting it doesn't look too bad.

Now, the only problem I have is my dwindling supply of putty, and no place near by to buy more. This kit has been eating the stuff up.

hey does the tamiya cat have raised or engraved panel lines ?

just saw this
http://www.finescale.com/fsm/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=33986

and i have found this image
http://www.anft.net/f-14/f14-photo-crew-04l.jpg

so whats the conclusion ? is there something that runs down the middle of the canopy ?

Hey Reggie,

I just checked out my Squadron F-14 'Walkaround' book.And on page 61 there is a pic of the back of the canopy.According to the book these are strips of aluminum tape,that aid in the dispersion of electrical energy in the event of a lightning strike.Now don't quote me on this,but I think I also heard them called static dischargers too.Anyway I hope this was the info you were looking for.

Later on.....

Funny I always thought those lines were primacord .

Progress report: the BB cockpit is painted w/ the dk. gull grey, and instruments are painted a couple of shades of black and very dark grey; just finished spraying a gloss coat in preparation for wash; sprayed the ejection seats a very dark grey (Testors MM "Euro I Grey" w/ black, about 2:3 ratio)

Got panel lines pre-shaded on upper surfaces of rear fuselage; looks like intake filling and sanding is DONE !! Now to do the variable inlet ramps.

OH, a great big D'OAH !! Got a bit carried away when trimming material out for the BB front instrument panel cover to go in, there's a gaping hole where material should be. Have filled w/ sheet styrene (.015" is quite flexible) and will then fill w/ putty. Look at this. Y'all can have laughs at my expense.

OUCH !!

MACooke... Dang.... I hate it when I do stuff like that !! But at least it's fixable....other times I have done that to the point where it has rendered the aftermarket part useless.That is when I really get upset.

Hey Reggie, as to the Tamiya 'Cat......it is one of Tamiya's older kits and so it has raised panel lines,and is fraught with fitting problems.Check this out and you will see what I mean.

http://www.naritafamily.com/howto/F14D/photo_frame.htm

just go to the left side of the page,he shows you step-by-step how he built his Tamiya F-14.I know I post this link alot,but I bookmarked it for future reference and,to date, it is the most thorough build article on this kit that I have seen so far.

As far as my project, I will be pulling the 'pit out of the bath of Bleche-White today,giving it a good scrub, and hopefully priming it sometime this evening.

Later on...

A68TransAm...heck with the aftermarket stuff, I don't want to trash another Hasegawa 'Cat! I've got an -A model that I started on New Year's eve, and a few days later knocked off my desk, just before stepping on it. Replacement parts will cost just a few $$ less than a new kit. Hmmm...I could salvage the front fuselage halves from the -A kit, I did compare them.

Hey, if I do that my rank should go to "kit-bashed" right? RIGHT???

QUOTE: Originally posted by MACooke Hey, if I do that my rank should go to "kit-bashed" right? RIGHT???

good one there !



dan, i think i will sand off the seam on the canopy and then add a piece of wire to simulate the foil.

Here ya go Reggie. I've gone and scanned that page of my squadron/signal walkaround book. This should give you a fair idea of what the strip looks like. Don't know how legal this is, but who cares.

[img.nr]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v161/pingtang/scan.jpg[/img.nr]

Now an update on my progress, one intake is 90% done. I've got the internal seam just about smooth, and the external one at the rear where it meets the main part is nearly done too. Now the bad news, there's two of the things. That means more filling and sanding.