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

Silentmodeler,

I would start by contacting the local Department of Veterans Affairs.  They should be in the Government listings in your phone book.  If you have personal information on your grandfather (social security number, or service number), there are web sites that will allow you to look up the status of veterans, and their service.  Good luck with your search. 

f14 tomcat freak wrote:

if its not to late you can definately count me in

It's not too late to join this happy little group.   What scale do you think you will build?

Ishthe47guy wrote:

Hey, I'm glad to see another participant.  Welcome. Just out of curiosity, when you say F-14A+, do you actually have decals that actully say F-14A+ over the Buno? Those are kind of rare.    Chris Ish

Don't know how I am painting these two birds just yet. I am toying with the possiblilty of doing a "what if" paint scheme as requested. But I really want to keep this a suprise. I do think I have some decals that say F-14A Plus on them but I am not sure. Think so.

mph34, I hear ya loud and clear.

Ish, what do you mean you forgot to fill in the actuator cutouts?

heya

im almost done with my tomcat.  need to add few more decals and put the missiles up and lock it.  boy    i think i did too much on weathering  but... it came out nicely   i did too much on the top of aircraft since im trying to show the effects from salt air and some dirt on it.  it might look like a really wore out tomcat from going on too many missions or never been washed off. 

I dont know if theres a really wore out aircrafts on the carriers with alot of dirt/salt effects.  I hope so

soon gotta to get start on my flight deck.  its all set now  just need to do weathering and lets hope i do it right

Ish,

I got curios about the F-14 A(plus) decals comment, so I checked what I have in my Hasegawa kit, and sure enough, they do have A(plus).  I know that the A+ designator was short lived, so there probably are not too many decals with that designator.

Silentmodeler,

The environment at sea really puts a beating on aircraft.  I was amazed the first time that I saw a "real" F-14 at just how dirty the plane was.  Each squadron had one plane that was relatively pristine, but the rest, with flat paint and touch-ups, were definitely well worn.  I am looking forward to seeing a photo or two.

hey guys

here is my finished tomcat.  i havent put dull cote on it yet  will do soon so u might see some shiny spots.  any comment or feedback are . and the photo might be dark cuz of lack of lights.  will show more pictures of the tomcat once the flight deck is complete.

okay  the flight deck is still on the processing for heavy weathering so its not done yet.  so it might be brand new carrier lol.  im not sure how the cats section looked like in real life   i did my best from the references that u all gave me and did some research on my own.  i have no idea where the red/white lines are since couldnt see very well from birdeye view photos cuz of all "weathering" effects covered them.  im trying to make it from the CVN-72 (or CV-72)  again any feedback/comments are

Wirraway... no need to just tag along.  As you might see, not many of us have posted progress photos.  We must all be trying to get other builds done first since this is a nice long build. 

As far as progress photos, Silentmodeler, you have some great weathering going on there.  As you may have learned, those Tomcats took a beating while on a cruise.  I realy like the detail that you put on the missles.  Might be the photo, but the white even looks a bit dirty, which from what I have seen is what tends to happen more often.  Your right, it looks like some of your decals are not setting fully onto the plastic; But that might just be the lighting in the photo though.  A dull coat should fix that just fine.  Look forward to seeing the completed deck for it.  The only thing that I'd recomend is play with the lighting some.  If you are using a digital camera, you can always delet the photo (there is no law that says you have to keep a photo that you don't like)

Silentmodeler,

The plane is looking great as far as the weathering is concerned.  As I mentioned before, the real planes take a beating from the weather, and get spot painted to cover bare metal caused by removing panels for maintenance.  I am curious about the small points that appear to be sticking out on the front of the wings though.  Aside from that, your cat looks ready to pounce!

For the flight deck, your gray is a bit light for non-skid.  The closest color that I found (back when I could look at real flight deck non-skid for comparison) was FS36081 (I have seen it labeled as "engine gray").  I do not know if you want to go through the hassle of trying to put on a darker color, but you could use heavy drybrushing (leaving more paint on the brush than with regular drybrushing), and avoid having to retouch the tie downs and white lines.  Of course this is merely a comment on my part, as the most important person to please in a build is yourself. 

Hi guys,

 I thought I would post an update on my tomcat(s) build. Even though I have only recently got into this hobby, I have aquired quite a few kits and I think I already have enough to keep me going for a couple of years at least.

 Anyway, I have my Academy 1:48 tomcat about 80% complete. I haven't progressed past the cockpit of my hasegawa 1:48 tomcat and have aquired another 1:48 academy and a 1:72 hasegawa tomcat for later. This academy tomcat will probably be the only one I do for this group build though.

 I have only built a couple of kits so far and haven't explored the aftermarket stuff you can get for these models like resin cockpits and decal sets, so this tomcat is all out of the box, but I'm sure I will be trying out some of the goodies you can get on the kits I build in the future.

I built and painted the cockpit for this tomcat using tamiya enamels. I had to do a lot of sanding and filling around the air intakes and the fron section of the plane. The front had to be pretty well completely covered with putty and the panel lines on that section were very light to start with. I read about using dymo tape as a straight edge and re-cribed some panel lines using a large needle fixed to a handle. It was my forst attempt at panel lines so I only put a few on each side just so it had some detail there. I think I did them a bit deep, but it still looks a lot better than before.

I painted it using gunze acrylic gloss, darkened with a little tamiya light greay flat. The result is still a gloss finish so I am putting the kit decals on without a clear coat. I still have some decals to go on, it will eventually be flat coated. Before flat coating it, I plan on painting things like wheel wells, the pilot's and RIO's HUD cover and the other bit that is part black part dark tan, engine exhaust cans etc. I will weather and fit details like landing gear last.

There is still quite a bit of work to do on this kit but I am reasonably happy with how it is turning out. I figure if I can improve on each kit, then I am at least moving in the right direction. It can be frustrating though when you see the builds by the guys who have been going for years. Something to work towards I suppose.

Happy building, I will post the finished pics when its done.

scotty

the color i use was gunship gray,  it was the darkest gray i could find and didnt know about engine gray.  boy had difficult time to pick lol.  i can always remember it for my next project if i wanna to do flight deck again in future.

okay here is my first attempt on weathering,  i think it looks kinda of funny since its my first time lol.  i can always spray all over and do it again.   i did with different methods such as drybrushing, charcoal pastels, and oil stain powder from tamyia.

you might see the tire tracks since i wasnt sure if the aircrafts do leave a tire marks on the flight deck after the cats pull them fast. since i did see few of them on the photos but its too far up in the air to tell. 

comment or feedback is welcome and also some tips might be helpful too.

You've got some good work there scratchbuilt.  Look forward to seeing your weathering.  The tail definately stands out.

Hey jimz, no rush to get started, as we still have over 5 months to go.  I myself have not made much progress on my Tomcatts; need to get several other builds wrapped up first.

Silentmodeler, though I have never been on an aircraft carrier; what I have seen on the Discovery Channel/History Channel/Military Channel programs, your deck looks light to me.  You might want to try darkening it some.  As far as the tire marks at the catapult, all of the views that I have ever seen have them, only not as dark as you have made yours.  Then again, it just might be the photo and/or my screen settings....  But then, you are attempting something that I haven't tried myself with the carrier deck.

Silentmodeler,

The only tire tracks that I remember seeing near the catapult were from the time we launched an E-2C Hawkeye in which the pilot forgot to release his brakes.  There is normally a good amount of weathering around the catapults as they are frequently lubricated, and escaping steam is always coming out.  Tire marks are more common in the landing strip, which you will someitmes see in photos of the older carriers were given a much darker color than the rest of the flight deck.  There would also be some weathering behind the catapult from the jets running up their engines prior to take off. 

I finally got started early yesterday morning. I assembled two cockpits. I think I might try to do three so I can have one for myself. Will see I will be posting one cat here and the other in the ARC forum. I am working on a couple of armor kits right now so I have to finish that first.

I have secretly been working on my Tomcat while following the group.  I am building the 1/32 Tamiya Black Knights kit and wishing that it was a different manufacturer.  The detail and fit is good but I really wanted to work on the control surfaces fully expecting the kit to accommodate them better.  Paying close to 200 bucks I was surprised to see little in the kit that wasn’t there 15 years ago relating to super detailing.

I am posing her trapping the No 3 wire with the nose gear compressed and the main gear extended using aluminum tubing.  Not sure if that’s how it looks for real but left to the mind's eye it makes sense.

After finishing this one I think I am going to start another, but maybe the Academy 1:48 scale.

gehrys wrote:

I have secretly been working on my Tomcat while following the group.  I am building the 1/32 Tamiya Black Knights kit and wishing that it was a different manufacturer.  The detail and fit is good but I really wanted to work on the control surfaces fully expecting the kit to accommodate them better.  Paying close to 200 bucks I was surprised to see little in the kit that wasn’t there 15 years ago relating to super detailing.   I am posing her trapping the No 3 wire with the nose gear compressed and the main gear extended using aluminum tubing.  Not sure if that’s how it looks for real but left to the mind's eye it makes sense.   After finishing this one I think I am going to start another, but maybe the Academy 1:48 scale.

No need to keep secrets here!  I think we are all nice friendly people around here.   I know what you mean about the detail on the Tamiya kit.  If you are just wanting to build just OOB, then Tamiya is great.  But, then when you get to where you want SOME DETAIL, Tamiya leaves you feeling a bit cheated.  Look forward to seeing what you pull off with the kit.

Heard about this on another site (*cough*ARC*cough*); if you've got room for one more, count me in.

 I've currently got two 1/48 Hasegawas underway.  One an Alpha, being done as a Be-Deviler from VF-74's 1985/86 Achille Lauro/Line of Death cruise, and the other a Delta, which'll be a Bounty Hunter from VF-2's Last Tomcat Cruise, 2002/03. 

I'm a slow builder even under the best of circumstances, and then add to that the fact that both are Hasegawas (as difficult a 1/48 jet kit as there is), and both will have Aires cockpits, so I can't say for 100% sure that they'll be done by 9/23.  I'll sure try, tho.  :)

DanielB, I got you listed!  Look forward to seeing your finished Tomcats.  As you can see, we have some work going on, but little to show for it......

Welcome Back diggeraone!  Glad to see you not moving.  A pain in the a$$.  Hope to see your work.

I am close to getting the work bench cleared of the other GBs that I am in, so I should be close to getting to work on a Tomcat or two going. 

Well, I'm back home from a month long military course, & will be hitting the bench this weekend.  I'm still aiming for a end of May completion date.  I'd like to enter it in the local IPMS show over the Memorial Day weekend.

Ish

well its great having fellow Ny'ers (as well as everybody else in this GB) celebrate such a wonderful and beautiful plane...ive started on the cockpit of my f-14...also if anybody is wondering what my what if f-14 will look like heres the link. Essentially the paint scheme is going to be the same with a little modification...and im going to rearange the decal placement...i might go with say a anniversary scheme or maybe just a generalized corsair look...btw i was thinking of doing this sort of thing before the gb and before i found the link...the pics just helped me visualize what i wanted to do

update:  finally get started on my flight deck since my first try with weathering.  i  did some touch up to make it little darker and seem to be successful.  have to wait for the paint to get dry then will spray dull cote on flight deck and the aircrafts and last thing will shoot some photos and post it up pretty soon.

yeah  im from rochester too smiles but orignally borned in north illinois.