F-14 Tomcat Group Build idea...

That looks great sentry. The panel lines look nice.

I'm working at about the same rate as you Jon. I've got a couple of builds I want to get done before the end of May, so once they're done, it should be all go for the Tomcat. I'll be late like you, but now I don't feel so bad about it. It will get finished eventually.

SENTRY!!!!
I must say that is simply the most incredible job I have seen. You are truly a gifted modeler. Did you rescribe the lines on the forward fuselage? They look fantastic! Nice job on the weathering, buddy. I am stunned- simply outstanding!
Well, no work done in the last month and a half really. My wedding is in 25 days so that is taking up all the spare that I have. However my entry will be late but it will be finished. I estimate end of June. I just got in the decals for my next project. I am trying to get the tomcat done because I'd like to take it to the IPMS Nat's in July. We'll see. How is everyone else coming along?? Again, simply fantastic work, sentry!

Looks great Sentry! I hope to get back to the bench sometime this month. I have family in visiting this week but maybe this weekend.....Saturdays out though-big airshow to go to! Yeah!! :-)

sorry been lazy latedly.

John i use pastel pencil, dark color type , break off the head of the pencil and soak it in water and diluted it. Then with the fine ( very fine) i dip into the diluted blacken pastel liquid and draws on the panel lines , sometimes it capilary through sometimes no. I use to just wet the tip of the brush enough to leaves the trail of wet pastel goes through, anything went off lines from the panel can be erase using damped cotton bud. If it dries up i use pencil eraser to shove of the excessive draws.

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Hi all

Just popping in to see whats new.
Thanks for all the encouragement regarding the seems.

Not sure how much I will get done this weekend, might assemble and glue on the intakes before dealing with seams. Figure that I can tackle all of them at once then.

Sentry - what technique and tools did you use for your panel lines?

I tot john is building revell mono bird? anyway John i think the seam is ok just use some 400 to 1000 grit sanding might do some of the roughness , my has bird do have this stretch marks too, more in the belly.
But the seams part is tough , might need scribing too i guess but still can be turn around pretty much ok .Get to it bro u be ok

osjohnm If you think those seams are ugly, you should see the ones on my Academy kit....... They aren't just seams, they are crevaces. I've gotta be careful that I don't drop anything in there, I might never find it in the bottomless gaps. I should go and slap some putty on it now, so when I come back in a week, it'll be ready to sand.

Thanks for the support guys! I will try again. I can't get Gunze paint here, I have to order it. I am going to go back to the enamel Tetsors paint. It is always a great finish. osjohnm: Those seams are very ugly! Reminds me of the Revellogram kits. At least the Hasegawa kits don't have horrible gaps, just semi-ugly!

Hi all

Here are the seams I mentioned earlier.

Hey guys!,

Well I have been gone a long time as well! I have been very busy with work and home obligations and hope to get back to the bench soon. I have been lurking in the shadows though keeping up with everyone's progress. Sentry-awsome job! I only wish I could do lines like that!! Osjohn, I feel your pain brother-my revellogram cat was the most frustrating kit I've ever done-seams from hell it has! My only hurdle at the moment is to figure out the best way to preshade and keep it from looking like squiggly lines. If any of you have a technique please let me know. Also, if any of you have a favorite brand of paint let me know. I will not use my Testors acrylic after hearing of all of the troubles others are having.

Hi all

Mark, sorry to hear about the misfortune you're having.

I have to concur that we are all having a rough time with our cats. Is there a perfect Tomcat kit.....

I glued the front fuselage to the rear and all i can say is......
The fit is attrocious!! I eventually settled on having the top more or less lined up and having to fight with the bottom half.

Will take some photos of all the seem work that flaunts itself in my face evey time I glance at the kit.

I'm not in the mood to tackle the seems at the moment, so I've started the decaling on my helo kit to keep my sanity in check.

thanks bstrump. amour and ipms for your support too, im sorry to hear of your problems mark hope u can get over it soon. frankly i don feel right still with my color ,even now, i wish i can do those weathered pattern like the real cats.
i think gunze color might be better but i don have it here so stuck with tamiya. Mark did u try with gunze paints ?

i do agree we all have problem with the cats , now im worries about the coat after the decal. im still onto it. i may use alcrylics varnish , but im still worries of the turn out.

i just ordered a jolly roger cats (has) from my LHS . hope its is ok . by way see back soon pingtang.

Hi fellas......

I haven't been around here for a few weeks, and I haven't forgotten you or my tomcat. I haven't got any work to report, but I'm gonna start work again soon. I've got two other builds that will end in a week or so, then I want to get back to my Cat. I'm actually looking forward to working on it again.

Looks like some great progress going on around here lately, everyones builds look awesome. Hope mine turns out as nice as some of your builds.

See you again in a week or so......

I never liked the Testor's Acrylic either. Even using Testor's own thinner, I just couldn't get it to work. The gloss would come out grainy and the flat had to be thinned so much that it wouldn't cover or it would...run, drip or sag! I'll be using enamels until they are no longer available.

Mark, I have used the Testors Acrylics once and only once. I was working on an M1A2 and decided to give the above a try and never could get it right. I will say, however, that I think it was how close I was airbrushing it that caused the problems. I went back to the Tamiya acrylics once one of the guys here told me to thin with their brand rather than water or anything else and that cured the problems. But I have not used Testors Acrylics since.
My Academy kit was where your Has was about a month ago. I just took a step back and slowed down the progress. Problem is now I have no time to model because of a wedding and it does not look likely that I will finish by the end of the GB. I have finally gotten my Tomcat where I want it and all that is left is to decal,wash,flat coat, and attach the weps and gear. Probably be the end of June until I can get back to the bench. Plus, i have the RoG 1/32 F-14A with the Teknics D airframe and cockpit upgrades that are looking back at me, wanting some desk time once things settle down. I will say that I am way excited abou this big 'Turkey' than other kits in the closet. The quality of the Teknics sets are fantastic. The size of the cockpit tub(s) is awesome as well. This sucker will take a year easy. But this one will also be my show girl that I mentioned back in the early part of this GB. The size just makes it easier to detail up etc. Not sure of the markings yet but maybe the Afghanistan 'Lion' bird or a 'Bounty Hunter'. I'm not buying anymore kits though. I am focusing on tools. I was at the LHS last week and was experimenting with some of Gunze's Mr. Surfacer 500. What a product! The fella that runs it was using it on a Tamiya 1/32 F-4D. With about 2 hours worth of work including dry-time, he made a seamless set of intakes. I mean seamless. Granted he's used it before but still. So I ordered up some and look forward to it when time can make an appearance. I consider that stuff a tool. He had a spray can of it as well. I think it's 6.99 a spray can and 3.95 a bottle. A good deal for lessening 'intake' headaches. So, that means the 1/32 F-18C and F-16 Block 50 will have to wait. I might sell the F-16- I'm not as enthused as I thought I would be. Maybe it's just that it's not a naval a/c. The only Air Force birds that I have ever liked are the F-4, F-4G, B-1 and B-52. Anyways...
Sentry- that Tomcat is looking phenominal! Nice work on the panel lines, pal... you have that down to an art. Very nice work indeed.

I may do the Easy Off trick. I was doing the flat paint thing. It is the Testors acrylic paint. I had low pressure and at about 12 inches. Who the heck knows! One of those weeks. I am going to be really busy the next few weeks. I will do what I can when I can. Thanks for the support.

sentry, that is looking great! Keep up the good work.

Mark, sorry to hear about your problems with the paint. It sounds like you've got a bent needle and/or a damaged nozzle. Or, you are just holding the AB too close to the surface. Are you spraying a gloss paint? Why not switch to a flat and cut back on the thinner and spray lighter coats? If it was me, I'd get out the Easy Off oven cleaner and strip the paint. Don't give up at this point.

Well I give up! The paint is totally screwed up!!! Runs, drips and errors from the airbrush nozzle going haywire. The Hasegawa F-14 may hit the wall. I will try to bang out a Revelogram F-14A. Of course that will be a challenge in itself. I don't know what to do. It seems like all of use are having difficulties with our kits. If I had the cash, I would go get a Tamiya 1/32 F-14 at the LHS.

Sentry: Those panel lines look great! I have not done anything to my F-14 in a while. I may try to shoot more color on it today. Work has really been a zoo. That ending date will be here before we know it.

some pics over here this wat i done from last week only still working out the decal. Mostly is the drawn panel lines withn pastel

Hi everyone

I'm busy mating the forward fuselage to the rear part. Loads of fun
Got a nasty seem on the forward fuselage due to there being a top and bottom join.

The wing mechanism also came part, no way of getting inside now. This happened to my brothers 1/72 Italeri F-14 as well. I'll probably just glue the wings in place.

Now it starts to get interesting!

i stop mine for awhile - amour , due to problem with decals. I finish most of the plane body and the panels lines drawing . i got my decal sol n set thing may continue somewhere next week . i still got some missles to take care of too.

thanks amour

Hi fellas-

No build time for the forseeable future but I am enjoying eyeing everyone's progress. Hopefully I'll get to finish in time but work and wedding plans still keep me occupied.
osjohnm- your pit is looking great and I look forward to more pics!
sentry- how is yours coming along? Your pics looked fantastic.
Guess I should get back to work...
Later!

Nice touch john. keep em coming

i still stuck with my decals . those cartograph decal look so thick and no adhesive at all. need to order those softener . so stop for the whole week

Got some decal work done on the Fujimi kit while leaving the Revell F-14D off to the side. Most likely will hit it hard after completing the 72nd kit first which is much closer to completion. Will post images later sometime during the week.

John-Nice start on Italeri's Tom, keep the progress pic's coming!

Chuck
Fly Navy

Lookin' good, John! Keep us posted.

Hi all

As promised here are some progress pics. Actually got a lot more done than I expected.

Here is the "tub" with the black panels which were brush painted(quite noticeable) and I did some dry-brushing with flat aluminium.


I also assembled the fuselage and wings/wing mechanism.


The good news is that my other GB has been extended until the end of the year so I can spend more time on the 'Cat.

sighs i should have bid it , is the kit nice. see u next round then.

well go for it mitch for the sake of the cat , eagle , n so on

Slap? What 'fer??

Oh never mind...I forgot about that post. Seriously, the F-14 is fast approaching, and will probably take over, the F-4 as my fav all-time aircraft.

If it had a few more updates in avionics, I'd put it up against anything in the old "Soviet Bloc", shy of the Su-37 w/ vectored thrust. I think the Tomcat would whoop the F-15, F-16, Mig-29, Su-27 maybe....I'm biased, but it's a helluva plane!

Mitch,

SLAP SLAP SLAP! Didn't want you to think nobody was paying attention.