Farewell F-14 Tomcat Group Build - Start now, ends 12/31/07

heres a link to some phots of the pukin dogs f-14's:

http://www.anft.net/f-14/f14-squadron-vf143.htm 

and hers some photos that are at the bottom of the page:

http://www.anft.net/f-14/f14-photo-09.htm 

I hope this helps 

Just in time to finish 2006 with one more completed kit...

On New Year's Eve I put the final touches on my Hasegawa F-14.  Here are a couple of photos for your use and abuse.  As always, let me know if you have any questions or comments on what I did.

Nice job there Scotty.  Nice painting and detailing; I can almost read the lettering you put on those Phoenix missiles.  Can't tell in the photo, how much scribing did you do?

I think you are the first to complete his Tomcat.

minihasek~

Thanks man,  it helps a lot. 

Let ya all gangs know ill be visiting to Illiniois  for belated xmas with my family.  So i shall be back to home in couple of days.  Catch ya all later.

mph34,

Thanks for the comments!

The decals were driving me nuts on this project, and are probably the weakest link.  The Hasegawa decals from the kit that I used for the majority of the markings seemed to have yellowed a bit over time, or perhaps they were that way originally.  Anyway, I actually wound up painting around the two side "Navy" decals in order to clean them up.  The markings that I used on the missile were from a set that I picked up several years ago and wanted to break as I removed them from the carrier sheet.  I also made the mistake of marking up two other missiles with leftover decals from a Fujimi tomcat that I built a few years ago, and they did not line up properly.  I will have to strip them down and start over with decals when I use them in the future. 

Enough of my tales of woe.  The only scribing that I did was to rescribe a few spots that disappeared when I was cleaning up glue joints.  Most of this was on the front fuselage assembly and the front fuselage to body joint.  In comparison, I think that the Fujimi kit was a little easier to assemble, but the Hasegawa wins out for overall detail.  It was also a tremendous advantage to be able to install the wings after everything was painted, decaled, washed, and sealed (with the Fujimi kit, the wings are workable so they must be built in early during the constructioin).

heya all 

just got in town from Illinois.  boy what a long drive and lucky no bad roads or weather out there.  and let ya know i changed from Revell 1/48 to Hasawaga 1/72 scale (F14a) and still its pukin dog.  will update you all later on   time for me to hit the sack

and More Power Scotty~  nice job on the Tomcat!  really enjoy looking at the pictures. 

Update:

Just started putting the cockpit seats together  and havent start paint/airbrush yet but i am wondering what does Khaki (H81) color looks like? since its from Hasegawa.  and boy  didnt realized how hard to build from Hasegawa since I am still clusmy with pe parts so bear with me.

silentmodeler wrote:

Update: Just started putting the cockpit seats together  and havent start paint/airbrush yet but i am wondering what does Khaki (H81) color looks like? since its from Hasegawa.  and boy  didnt realized how hard to build from Hasegawa since I am still clusmy with pe parts so bear with me.

I have found that Hasegawa's color specs are close to Tamiya's (both being from Japan).

Here is a link that I have found for the Gunze Sangyo Mr Color Map (Hasegawa numbers them in a solid black box with white numbers).  Keep in mind that when you print it out, the color won't print exact due to different printer and screen settings.

http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/colorcharts/stuff_eng_colorcharts_mrcolor_map.htm

I don't know for sure, but I think that the Creos Aqueous Hobby Color line has 'gone away' and/or got swallowed up by Tamiya.  Anyone else know for sure?

Again, the 'rule of thumb' that I use when it comes to paint; "What looks correct to me?" 

As far as the PE parts from Hasegawa, I hear you on the difficulty.  Not sure why their PE parts seem to be a challenge from other PE parts???  Then again, Hasegawa has a pretty good model even without the PE parts.

Silentmodeler,

 Thanks for the comments.  A couple of suggestions for you in the areas of paints and photoetch parts.  I agree with mph 34 in that I find a color that I like and go with it.  Testors put out a spiral bound book a few years ago for their Model Master line of paints that I use frequently.  The book has a lot of good modeling tips in the first half and then has color charts with "paint chips", and best of all a cross-reference section.  I use the back section to figure out what Model Master or Humbrol color matches the Gunze or Tamiya color shown in the kit instructions.  I have seen the book advertised in Squadron's mail order magazine a few times recently so I know that it is still available.

As far as the photoetch parts go, I thought that they were fairly simple for the F-14.  The only challenge was bending the air pipes along the inside of the canopy, but if you close the canopy, you will want to leave the part off anyway.  The PE parts for the kit are mostly instrument panels with metal switches.  Make life easy here, paint the parts black (I used Aircraft Interior black (Model Master)) then use the back of a hobby knife to scrape the paint off of the high points (switches).  Touch up any switches, dials, etc using the appropriate colors (usually yellow, red, or white).  To remove the PE parts I use a cutter made by Xuron that is designed for this purpose.  Another good option is to leave the parts in the bag, set the part with the cardboard behind it on a good flat surface (glass is what I use on my bench).  Use a curved hobby knife blade (I believe that it is a number 10) to roll over the attachment points.  Rolling over the part will help to prevent them from going airborne, as will leaving them inside the plastic bag.  If you get more comfortable working with the PE parts, you can take the parts and cardboard out of the bag to remove them, the cardboard will still help prevent losing parts though.

Good luck!

Mph34 and More Power Scotty

Thanks for ur help. as for pe parts,  i did sucessed (sp) to paint the instrument panels by paint it flat black then dry brushing on all the buttons/ gauages (sp).   and use some toothpicks on few buttons.  boy need a magnifying glass . at least i still have good eyes. 

as for the color  the reason why i ask about Khaki is because when i discovered its sort of tan like color,  I am wondering does the F14s have "tan like" pilot seats?  since i always thought it was black or gray or dark greenish. 

When im done with the pilot seats/cockpits,  will take some pictures of it before i put the body of nose together.  

 I never sat in the F14s so thats why i never know what the color of pilot seat looks like. I did saw the Tomcats parking at one of the air show back in IL.   

Silentmodeler,

Now I understand the question.  The colors are different.  If you go back and look at the close-up photos of my seats you will see the colors that match the reference books that I used.  The seat color is more of a kahki-green, the canvas covers on the instrument panels are either khaki (tan) or a dark red (again see the close-ups of my project).  I have seen both the kahaki and red covers, but I remember seeing the red ones more often.  The aircraft that I did get to sit in once is at Kalamazoo's Air Zoo museum.  I also served aboard the aircraft carriers Dwight D. Eisenhower and Abraham Lincoln, and we always deployed back then with two squadrons of F-14's (I believe there were 12 planes per squadron at that time).  One more bit of trivia, the F-14 that I built for this group build was the first fleet aircraft to land aboard the Abraham Lincoln.  I took some liberty with the aircraft serial number, but aside from that everything is as I remember it. 

scotty~

Thanks for the help.  Now i got what you mean by using color references and you too Mph34 smiles. 

Do anyone know where i can find a photo of flight deck from bird eye view, since I got a flight deck from Just plane stuff in 1/72 scale.  Doesnt matter which aircraft carrier it have to be so that i can get the ideas of what it looks like. 

I  have always dream to be in the Navy (even Coast Guard) and being on the aircraft carrier or any ships.  When I discovered that deaf people cannot join in the military branches,  I was broken heart  but, at least i can build any military models 

  whew!   heres the photo of cockpits   boy  had hard time to put the cockpit and part of nose together and had to battle to make the pe parts stay on.  keep pop off when i put the nose together.   feedback and comments are welcome

The flight decks are "painted" by using large rollers that resemble paint rollers used in painting houses, the difference being that the roller used on the flight deck are about 6 feet long.  The non-skid is applied just like paint, with several personnel applying the coating at once.  The non-skid surface is VERY rough with "bumps" that are between 1/4 and 1/2 inch high.  I knew several folks that played basketball in the hangarbay and would come back to our berthing area pretty torn up.  Anyway, paint your deck section a very dark grey, I would recommend FS 36081 if using Model Master paint, otherwise, use the darkest grey you can find.  The tie downs (star-shaped disks on modern carriers) can be painted either white or a glossy or semi-glossy dark grey (just a little lighter than the non-skid color). 

If you are recreating the hangar bay, you are done at this point, as that deck was kept very clean (they put drip pans under the planes to catch any fluid leaks).  If you are recreating the flight deck, I would recommend doing some weathering to imitate the damage due to sunlight, fluid leaks and tire marks (if your deck section is in the landing zone).  For photos, I would just perform an internet search on an aircraft carrier as there will certainly be photos of the flight deck.

I hope this helps, but let me know if I can be of any further assistance. 

Before I forget, nice job on the cockpit.

silentmodeler wrote:

whew!   heres the photo of cockpits   boy  had hard time to put the cockpit and part of nose together and had to battle to make the pe parts stay on.  keep pop off when i put the nose together.   feedback and comments are welcome

Nice work on that cockpit.  I am feeling a little inadequate with some of my detailing skills looking at that.   What glue are you using with the PE parts?  Is it CA glue?  And is it fairly new, or has it been sitting around for awhile? That might be a reason for the battle with keeping them on.

mph34 wrote:

silentmodeler wrote:   whew!   heres the photo of cockpits   boy  had hard time to put the cockpit and part of nose together and had to battle to make the pe parts stay on.  keep pop off when i put the nose together.   feedback and comments are welcome Nice work on that cockpit.  I am feeling a little inadequate with some of my detailing skills looking at that.   What glue are you using with the PE parts?  Is it CA glue?  And is it fairly new, or has it been sitting around for awhile? That might be a reason for the battle with keeping them on.

Mph34,  I use two different kind of JB Kwik from JB weld.  one is steel in blue color cover and other is hardener in dark yellow color cover.  you mix them both in same amount size then ur all set to paste it on any pe parts   recommend to leave it all night to dry up. 

Scotty~  thanks man,  appericate your help  ill look up on internet.  From what i hear from my friends that the aircraft carriers have their own website?  do you know any? 

abt weathering on flight deck   how can i do that?  do i use weathering powder or is there other way? 

silentmodeler wrote:

Scotty~  thanks man,  appericate your help  ill look up on internet.  From what i hear from my friends that the aircraft carriers have their own website?  do you know any?  abt weathering on flight deck   how can i do that?  do i use weathering powder or is there other way?

Try this link

http://dir.yahoo.com/Government/U_S__Government/Military/Navy/Fleets_and_Ships/

From here you can find alot of info on most of the Navy's ships.  In the aircraft section, there are links to all of the carriers.  You will have a few pages to go thru to get there, but WELL WORTH the effort.  You probably will end up spending hours on this site; not because you can't find stuff, but because you keep find some much stuff that you want to look at.

As far as the weathering, look at the photos first.  Then you can decide what direction you want to go.  North Atlantic weathering vs. Persian Gulf/Mederterian weathering producess different effects.  I heard of one guy taking steel wool in place of sand paper to his finished deck.  I have seen guys take some artist color pencils, and 'chip away' at the deck where you'd find aircraft landing marks (find them at Michael's or Hobby Lobby). 

Either way, looking at your cockpit photos, I am sure you are going to produce a great looking flight deck for a great looking Tomcat to sit on.  Are you thinking of showing the Tomcat ready to launch?  My vote is the Tomcat getting loaded for giving a serious "can of whop a$$" action.

thanks mph34  the website was big help   will look up for more later on. 

I am wondering which weight do i use to hold down the nose of tomcat?  since the intrustion sheet says use 5 grams but im not use what to use.  any suggest?

also for ready to take off, does tomcat wings (umm i dont know what its called) spread out?

silentmodeler wrote:

thanks mph34  the website was big help   will look up for more later on.  I am wondering which weight do i use to hold down the nose of tomcat?  since the intrustion sheet says use 5 grams but im not use what to use.  any suggest? also for ready to take off, does tomcat wings (umm i dont know what its called) spread out?

I use the adjustable length weights that RC Aircraft builders use to balance their wings.  You can find it at your LHS that also sells RC Airplane parts.  Each bar is indented to a specific weight.  One side is sticky backed, so you shouldn't have to use any glue.  You can cut the metal with a normal pair of snips (I use the spru cutter).  And you can cut the peice into a specific shape as required.  I think I paid like $4 for the package (2 bars) and I have only used about 2/3 of one bar on 6 different airplanes.  The manufacturer that I got is Duro (but there are a couple of manufacturers (or one manufacturer, that packages for several dealers).

The Tomcats' wings do swing out for both Take-Off & Landing.  If you can, go rent a copy of Top Gun and/or Final Countdown.  Some great F-14 action in both movies.  Also, there was a Modern Marvels show that had the history of the F-14.  Check the History Channel as they seem to repeat everything in a cycle.

Silentmodeler,

mph 34 has given you a good reference site.  Yes, the carriers, and most other ships as well, have their own web pages now days.  As far as the weathering goes, how old/new do you want the deck to be?  I assume that you are replicating the flight deck and not the hangar bay, so after the initial dark grey I would add any lines that would be on the section of deck you are showing.  If your flight deck is the same one that I have, it will need to be a generic area of the deck as there are no weapons elevators, jet blast deflectors, or other areas being displayed. 

If you look at photos of a carriers deck you will see white, red and white, and red and yellow stripes, all of which have significance.  The landing area is bordered by the most pronounced white lines, red and white are safety lines to keep folks back from the catapults when in use, and the red and yellow lines are around the elevators (deck edge and weapons) as well as around the electrical power and launch control between catapults 1 and 2.

For weathering, I would use an oil wash that is dark enough to add depth then add some colored spots to resemble leaks.  Just for your information, the flight decks are washed down frequently with fire hoses (water at 150 psi) and heavy duty brooms for scrubbing, so stains do not last too long.  If your deck section is a parking area, the non-skid will be in relatively good shape; whereas in the landing area it will be chipped up due to tailhooks dragging across it (not every plane lands on the first attempt) and will show black skid marks from the tires.  I would use a lighter grey or two just to show high points no matter how weathered you want the deck to be.

The F-14 has three main wing positions.  Fully extended (swept forward) is for landing and takeoff, as mph34 wrote earlier.  In flight, the wings can sweep back up to 68 degrees.  To reduce space on the flight deck and hangar bay, all Navy aircraft have wings that fold or move in some way to make a smaller "footprint".  For this, the Tomcat can sweep its wings back to 72 degrees.  If you play with the fit of the wings on the Hsegawa kit you can show any of these 3 (on mine, I went with the 68 degree "oversweep" position).

Keep us posted on your progress and I may actually gert around to assembling and painting my deck section.  Also, before I forget, Verlinden put out a 1/72 catapult section several years ago.  It is made of a foam material for the base and the jet blast deflectors (also known as JBD's) and actuators are cast in resin.  Yeah, I've got one sitting on the shelf where it has been collecting dust for quite some time, but one day...

Once again, let me know if I can be of any further assistance.

mph34,

I keep checking, but I have not seen that show on the F-14 repeated yet on the History Channel.  I will continue to keep my fingers crossed though.

For weights, I have found the ones that railroaders use (whish sound very similar to what you are describing) are quite handy.  The ones that I usually buy are 1/4 ounce per piece and can be cut off as you describe.  I have also used fishing weights (the egg shaped ones) with good success as well, and they fit perfectly inside of radomes.

For adding the PE parts, I use a thin super glue if placing the part on plastic, but I prefer a medium or thick CA if gluing to resin (as I did on my ejection seats).  If the glue is supposed to be thin, but moves slower than syrup, it is time for a new bottle.  I also recommend storing CA's in the refrigerator if they will not be used for a while as this tends to improve their longevity.

HI IM TOM AND I WOULD LIKE TO JOIN

THIS IS MY FIRST GB I HAVE A REVELL 1:48  F-14A TOMCAT

More Power Scotty wrote:

Silentmodeler, mph 34 has given you a good reference site.  Yes, the carriers, and most other ships as well, have their own web pages now days.  As far as the weathering goes, how old/new do you want the deck to be?  I assume that you are replicating the flight deck and not the hangar bay, so after the initial dark grey I would add any lines that would be on the section of deck you are showing.  If your flight deck is the same one that I have, it will need to be a generic area of the deck as there are no weapons elevators, jet blast deflectors, or other areas being displayed.  If you look at photos of a carriers deck you will see white, red and white, and red and yellow stripes, all of which have significance.  The landing area is bordered by the most pronounced white lines, red and white are safety lines to keep folks back from the catapults when in use, and the red and yellow lines are around the elevators (deck edge and weapons) as well as around the electrical power and launch control between catapults 1 and 2. For weathering, I would use an oil wash that is dark enough to add depth then add some colored spots to resemble leaks.  Just for your information, the flight decks are washed down frequently with fire hoses (water at 150 psi) and heavy duty brooms for scrubbing, so stains do not last too long.  If your deck section is a parking area, the non-skid will be in relatively good shape; whereas in the landing area it will be chipped up due to tailhooks dragging across it (not every plane lands on the first attempt) and will show black skid marks from the tires.  I would use a lighter grey or two just to show high points no matter how weathered you want the deck to be. The F-14 has three main wing positions.  Fully extended (swept forward) is for landing and takeoff, as mph34 wrote earlier.  In flight, the wings can sweep back up to 75 degrees.  To reduce space on the flight deck and hangar bay, all Navy aircraft have wings that fold or move in some way to make a smaller "footprint".  For this, the Tomcat can sweep its wings back to 68 degrees.  If you play with the fit of the wings on the Hsegawa kit you can show any of these 3 (on mine, I went with the 68 degree "oversweep" position). Keep us posted on your progress and I may actually gert around to assembling and painting my deck section.  Also, before I forget, Verlinden put out a 1/72 catapult section several years ago.  It is made of a foam material for the base and the jet blast deflectors (also known as JBD's) and actuators are cast in resin.  Yeah, I've got one sitting on the shelf where it has been collecting dust for quite some time, but one day... Once again, let me know if I can be of any further assistance.

Scotty~  can ya explain abt oil wash,  i have hear of it many time in the fine scale maginzes but never quite figure out what exactly it is.  is it an oil paint?  and thanks for alot of informations,  ill try my best to make a flight deck. but not sure which areas of the flight deck i wanna to put my puking dogs on.  ill figure out

and also umm  what is tarps?  since the intruction sheet gave me a opinions to choice.  i not sure what exactly is tarps on the bottom of the cats.  i m trying to find a photos on the puking dogs seem they dont have it.

sanman383 wrote:

HI IM TOM AND I WOULD LIKE TO JOIN THIS IS MY FIRST GB I HAVE A REVELL 1:48  F-14A TOMCAT

I am honored that you have chosen this Group Build as your first entry into this forum.  Don't worry, we don't bite (well, most of us) .  Look forward to seeing your work.  Feel free to ask questions about your build.  You can guarantee that someone here has faced whatever problem or stumbling block you may run into.  For the most part, there is NO stupid question here.  We are all here to share info with each other, and to show off photos of our work.

I will add you to the list.

Thanks mph34

Looks like I should be starting my build sometime next week.

                                      Tom