F-14 Tomcat Group Build idea...

yep bstrump-VF-2- thanks for the heads-up! It'll be a while before I can get to it but it does look very enticing in the box. I don't do a lot of 1/72 but this one looks loaded to the gills with detail and the recessed lines look beautiful.
Mark- you'll love that kit. I haven't built mine yet- it'll be a long while. I am a little nervous about tackling the BIG stuff. But at close inspection the decal sheet looks beautiful and the lines are flawless. Cockpit will be a charm. I heat the fit is great too. I was lucky and caught out Hobby Lobby on a pricing mistake at one of their Sunday sales. Sure is a big kit, isn't it?
Sentry- How's the paint looking? After the excellent work you did on the gear we can't wait to see the fuselage!

erh frankly i cant say much on the fuselage yet still working on the paint not sure if i coat it first with varnish or not

last night bang my head adjusting the stupid canopy closed. oh well well see how then

thanks amour i will try to post some pics first. well this is it hmmm i still feel strange of the color

Your cat is looking very nice Sentry. The paint job looks great so far.

Sentry- you've been holding out on us... that looks excellent! It's almost Friday, which means more progress this weekend!
pingtang- how's it going on the Academy kit? I know I slammed it a little while back but with a little work I have corrected the faults.(that I prob created myself) Good news, the digicam is back, so hopefully I'll get some photos out.

Bstrump-excellent work on the VF-11 bird. Looks just great.
Sentry- your entry is exemplry, play on words, looks like a few are now ready for completion.
At this point being grounded on the weekends with bad weather. So no airbrushing. And looks like again this weekend more rain? Toto, looks like we are not in So. California anymore! So just worked on some sub assembly work, painted the coamings and shroud black and tan.


This Fujimi 72nd F-14 is a neat kit to build and not to fussy. Compared to the 48th scale Tomcats.


Installed the Phoenix missile pallets as this will be hauling a warshot of 2+2+2 Sidewinders,Sparrows and Phoenix's as was typical at this point of the war.

If I get the opportunity I would really like to paint the exhaust area so I can install the tails. And then paint the overall Glossy Lt Gull Grey scheme.

Meanwhile the 48th Revell F-14D is sitting tight while awaiting some material to continue that project.
more to follow

Chuck
Fly Navy

Though it is a steady work in progress as I slowly approach the stage to install the canopy and windscreen and go over the seams for the final finish.
The intakes were not much of an issue for this kit. I will try something new to create the demarcation line between the white and grey scheme in the intakes.


At this point they are still white.
The exhaust burners will need to be worked on to tone down the white. Anyone know (I'm a little sheepish since I should know this) if this scheme has the natural metal leading edges on the tail and wings? Have not been able to find any photos of this A/C or it's mates for this time period to show this.




Meanwhile I'm telling you all it is a major undertaking doing one Tomcat much less 2 in different scale and paint schemes. Nice work for those who are about to finish. The others lets keep it up as we just past the halfway mark. Happy St Patrick's day....are you wearing green?

Chuck
Fly Navy

sentry, that 'cat of yours is looking awesome! I can't wait to see it with some markings on it. Chuck, glad to see your builds coming together as well. Looking great! As for your question about the leading edges, all the photos I have show them to be natural metal, even on the TPS.

Here are two pics of my F-14





James

Looking good everyone.

I've washed the sprues and hopefully I can get some serious modelling done this weekend to catchup.

Sentry, I noticed a lot fo Tamiya paint jars in your photos. Did you use Tamiya colours and if so which numbers etc?

Everybody, how do you guys paint your kits and still keep the wings functioning?

Well guys I have the sanding out of the way (mostly I hope!) and will be moving on to a base coat soon. However, I am getting ready to go out of town for awhile and won't be able to work on the cat so I will have to just check in and watch your progress. Hopefully there will still be some of you around by the time my bird gets finished! All of the pics look great and it looks like you all have some excellent builds going, keep up the good work!

I'm afraid, my friends that will have to step out of this GB. For some reason, working on either of my two cats just doesn't give me the pleasure and satisfaction that I feel with other models.
I'm not saying that they are bad kits, not at all, but the moment they just don't give me pleasure, and that is the main reason for modeling, isn't it ?
So, for the moment those two kits will be put back into my inventory till they start calling me...

Sorry to see you go DanCooper. Modeling is for fun and is supposed to stay that way! Hope to see you back. Take your time and build some other stuff.

Take care!

bstrump, ping, amour thanks for your encouragement , for a min there i nearly feel like Dan , really tired a bit on the cat , frankly i don feel right ,the paint i see is abit strange but anyway i will continue with thanks guys.

I just manage to settle a bit on my closed canopy not so good but it will do i guess, and damn last night i try this paint wash thing , the fuel tank, with oil paint dilute with turpentine, it somehow scratch some part of the fuel tank surface when i clean it argggh. stripe the paint begin again today.

Nice work Uscusn , hope to see some again of it . U too amour since u have the cam back

Osjohn : frankly i also not sure wat color i should use for my cat. As u can see my inventory is all tamiya paints and none is compatible for cat painiting. I then refer back to a 32 scale tamiya cat. it mentioned mix XF19 with XF23 , the lighter grey the mix is 2:1 the darker grey it is mix is 1:2 something like that . wish i could find some gunze paints sighs

DanCooper- I am sad to see you go as well. I almost have drop kicked this 'Cat out of the door more times than I want to tell. Keep up with us and take care.
Sentry- I'll definitely post some pics this weekend- the paint job is awesome.
BUILD TIME BEGINS AT 0800 tomorrow!

Sorry to see you go, DanCooper. I was really looking forward to seeing your Black Knight. Take care and drop in anytime.

Well, as promised, here are some progress pics. I will be away from my modeling bench for awhile but I will be keeping up with the forum. I can understand putting away your cat for awhile Dan Cooper, I sure contemplated it myself! This Revell cat needs lots of filler to take care of the ugly seams and I'm sure I won't get all the detail scribed back in but I'll finish her one way or another. You guys have a great and productive weekend!






Here is a shot of the decals:



I will do some fine finish sanding followed by the preshading when I get back.

Sorry to see you go DanCooper. We've all been in that situation

Sentry, HobbyLinkJapan stocks some Gunze paint and ship internationally.
Here is the site, www.hlj.com

As stated by a few others, Dan, remember this GB is through June, so if the urge should kick ya into gear. You can always try to finish one of your Cats.

Roejn-your at about the same stage I am at with my Revell F-14D, except you have installed the Phoenix launch pallets. I will do so this weekend and get the seams cleaned up before I preshade the rest of the airframe.

Another weekend is upon us. Have fun!!

Chuck
Fly Navy

Thanks osjohn., (sorry a bit out of line here ) i see u have a attack heli GB badge are u doing some heli ? what type?
prior to this cat i was fiddling with a 500MD defender , at that time im tired of cat, but when i met this GB i continue with it . thanks guys! Dan pls come back u always welcome here.

i try the site u mentioned john thanks , looking forward for your cat too amour and uscusn too. i just respray my fuel tank will only be up to it again tomorrow . nice weekends guys

nice work reojn . not easy to tackle all those areas , now i think it be smoother when the with the paints .

allrighty, since 8am I have deduced that the forward lower fuselage didn't sit right and the gap would require more filler than I wanted to commit. Solution: nail-polish remover.
Since I only used a wee bit of the thick glue I was able to remove it and the nose. I sanded down the plastic a little bit and glued down a little strip styrene to even up the gap. The good news is that the forward fuselage is re scribed. The other good news is after dry fitting the fit is a million times better and the only thing to sand down carefully is the strip styrene edge that will peek out of the seam. Without the strip styrene there would have been a 1/32 difference and a hell of a lot of putty. I am glad I hadn't got to applying the putty yet. NOW... When it's dry I'll re-glue the pieces together and move on to priming and pre-shading. The ugly part of this kit is now over. I am proud of the fact that I nailed that zig-zag seam aft of the cockpit. It is a as smooth as well... Also here is a pick of the Tamiya P-47D Bubbletop 1/48 cockpit that I finished painting this morning as well. This is a brilliant kit. Soooo... after a little drying time I'll post the pre-shade pics.
Later Fellas!

PS... tell me what you think

Hey uscusn- FANTASIC! your Tomact is coming along nicely- I'm looking forward to seeing more pics when the rains quit.

Greetings everyone

Been out all day so no modelling today but I did purchase most of the paint I need for the cat. Hopefully start painting and assembling the cockpit area tomorrow.
Will post pics as soon as there is something to photograph unless you guys want sprue pics

Sentry, I'm building an Italeri 1/48 RAH-66 Comanche. About 80% done.
If you want you can check out my album at photobucket,
http://photobucket.com/albums/y43/jmacpherson/RAH-66/

Not many progress pics as I only bought my camera last week.

Sentry you mentioned that Tamiya supplied the paint numbers and mixing ratios, did they mention any FS numbers?

Good thing I took the nose apart- I royally screwed up the front gear well. Progress is slow but sure.

another group of progress photos: the nose is back together. I don't know if what I did really solved anything. I still had to apply putty and sand and I will have to rescribe the front fuselage again. It feels better though. I can't feel the seams like I did before. It'll do. I feel like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders and I can proceed to the paint stage.
Nifty trick: I wasn't satisfied with the intake trunks so I tried something new: I went to the LHS and picked up some large sheets of sheet styrene and measured the width, height and depth of the intake trunks and cut a square out of the styrene. Using the measurements I scored lines into the styrene representing the walls of the trunk. Using a straight edge I 'built' the trunk and then slid it inside the model. Needles to say with some tweaking (better measurements) this is my permanent fix to seams inside of intake trunks. Next time I try I'll cut out enough to finish the intake rather than stopping 3/4 of the way and eliminate some visible seam towards the front of the intake. This can be sone VERY easily and with a light sanding you can blend the edge of the styrene right into the kit. For me this is a very sweet solution to a problem that has frustrated me since I began the kit!
And now to the pics...

Looking good everyone! I am jealous that I can't be working too! I did manage to find a hotel with bradband and wireless, so I can at least touch base. Thanks Sentry, I appreciate the good words! I was rushing to get the pics out before I left so I didn't get her cleaned up as good as I will before I paint her. Armorman, looking real good so far, love the P-47 cockpit as well. I plan to build one of those next. It shoulod be a piece of cake compared to this project! USCUSN since you and I are working on the same model I will be real interested in seeing your pics and learning how you dealt with the fit challenges on this one. You guys have a great one and I will check in on your progress tommorrow night.

roejn- lookin' good! looks like we are about at the same place. You'll love the P-47- it fits like a dream. Back to the bench...

roejn, armorman, looking good so far! That Academy 48 scale looks like a dog of a kit but you guys are really bringing them together nicely. I can't wait to see them in war paint. BTW, roejn, which markings are you actually doing? Armorman?

I knew you'd ask, bstrump! So here is the photo and the latest update:
Primer coat is on and I can see some work still is to be done around the forward fuselage. You aren't kidding bstrump- this kit is a bear.
Here are the markings- she's gonna be gorgeous!

You're doing the VF-21 bird, right? How'd you know I'd ask? You know, I must admit, it is kinda nice to sit back now and watch you guys sweat it out!

yeah- VF-21, and bstrump- you are a funny guy. 'Sweating it out'- Because of Academy I have no sweat left.