Grumman Iron Works Group Build

Progress tonight - I've put down a splotchy black paint job on the Tigercat to hopefully replicate a hasty night fighter conversion.  What you see is intentional (the insignia blue undercoat still shows through the flat black overcoat) but I may soften it up a bit with a final misting of flat black.  I could conceivably complete this build over the upcoming holiday weekend (if life lets me).

Great job aggie, I like the paint job. By the look of the pics the seam went by by.

Looks good, Steven. Nice intentional "splotchy" paint job.

Here is my second entry to this group build, the F7F 3N Tigercat in 1/48th by Italeri (from am AMT/ERTL mold).  This kit was a good kit for the most part.  It went together easily.  Instruction booklet left something to be desired in terms of accurate painting guide and did not include any "gotcha's" like Accurate Miniatures instruction booklets do.  More on that in a bit.

My biggest complaint about the kit was the main canopy.  It was not shaped properly and did not align itself well to the surrounding fuselage.  I had intended to install it in the open position but there was simply no way that piece was going to look good if installed open.  So I closed it up.

The biggest "gotcha" I encountered was with the rockets.  The rockets were the first parts I put together, which is a departure for me in that I usually put parts like that together last.  In any event, the instructions are pictures only with no verbiage to guide one in the proper construction.  I probably should have spent more time researching these rockets, but I did not and now have only 2 rockets attached to the wings.  The reason is that the separate pieces for the fins should have been installed as an "X" rather than a "+" at the end of the rocket body, and then there would have been room to fasten each rocket.  Because the fins were in the "+" orientation, each horizontal fin overlapped.  Really ticked at myself about this, but I'll get over it.

I hand-painted the canopy framing and I'm generally pleased with that work although the pictures show that the blue could stand to be re-touched.  Will do that later tonight.  As I've mentioned in earlier posts, I started out by painting the entire structure insignia blue and then followed that with a "splotchy" flat black coating.  The idea was to replicate a hastily re-painted aircraft that had been transferred from a Navy to a Marines squadron.  I don't know if that's the true history of this particular aircraft but it sounded good.

I put a ton of weight in the nose and all of my testing indicated that I had enough weight to keep this from being a tail sitter.  The real Tigercat had a propensity for tail sitting, so I guess I wasn't surprised once I got everything put together, painted, and the landing gear installed that even though the center of gravity leaned toward the nose, it plopped right onto its tail the moment I put it on its LG.  So I constructed and painted the barrel/box combination that comes with the kit and is intended to prop up this aircraft.

I photographed this kit on an Eduard PSP display base that I have not painted as of this moment.  Eventually I'll get that base painted and get some fake railroad grass "planted" in the cracks, but that's not something I want to tackle today.

This is a US Marines bird attached to VMF (N) 513 operating out of Pyontaek (K-6) air base in Korea in 1952.

Wow!

That looks awesome Aggie!

I love the built up mud on the tires...great touch!

Aggie,

Nice job on the Tigercat!   The paint scheme looks nicely done, and I also like the muddying of the tires.

As promised, here are my completion photos of the Panther from the movie "The Bridges at Toko-Ri" in Harry Brubaker's markings.  I hope that you all enjoy them, and please feel free to provide me with any feedback.

I used Model Master Acryl for the Dark Sea Blue, Metalizer non-buffing Aluminum, and finish coated the plane with Metalizer sealant after the decals were in place.

Very nice Scott!

What kit is that?

I have just completed my first of three 1:32nd scale Revell F-14A Tomcat

This was built completely out of box using CAM Decals VF-111 Sundowners sheet to depict the "Super CAG" from 1985. I used tissue paper painted with Tamiya brown on the instrument panel cowlings to provide a more "Canvas" like appearance. The model was then sprayed with an overall gloss gull grey finish using my Testors Multi Purpose Sprayer. I applied two coats of future using the sprayer before decaling and then another coat of future to protect the markings from the weathering process. I used the Micro system on the decals. The CAM decals work wonderfully with the Micro products, and fell into the deep panel lines on the surface very nicely. Weathering was completed using a pastel stick that I turned to powder. I mixed a teaspoon if powder with a tablespoon of water and then added some liquid soap.

Here is a size comparison between the 1:32nd Tomcat and a 1:48th Tomcat

Here is the obligitory "Use a penny for scale" shot....

As you can see, the penny is just a tad bigger than the nose wheel.

Here is another scale shot.....and yes, that is the 2 foot mark on the tape measure....

Well its finished thanks for looking!

Good job and expressions of respect for sticking with it, Raptor.  I built a few of these kits, some when they were first released, and the molds must have aged.  The fit in the days before filler seemed pretty good.  I still have a P-38 and a Corsair of that series from back then and they still look like they fit pretty well.  I guess nothing lasts forever.  The last one I built was started just before the Tamiya kit came out, and I used a bunch of Tamiya cockpit and landing gear parts to spruce it up.  I redid the wings to make it into an F4F-3, as at the time there were no kits or conversions of the -3.

Even when new the wings wouldn't stay put in the spread position, that wasn't engineed well on the Wildcat or Avenger kits.   Your next Tamiya or Hasegawa kit will show the fruits of what you learned on that good 'ol Monogram Wildcat.

 Thanks Jeaton, I have a Tamiya kit. Excited to start.

that looks great Andrew!

Great work

btp2k2,

The Panther that I built is the Revell-Monogram kit.  I used the version that was reissued a few years ago that came with a booklet on early Navy jet fighters.  I apologize for taking so long to answer, but when I tried to log in this weekend, the site was down for maintenance, and not taking postings.  Anyway, a fellow club member built the kit before me, and he did not experience the fit issues that I did.  It really is not a bad kit, and I do not know that the new Trumpeter kit is worth the price difference.

By the way, nice job on those Tomcats!

raptordriver,

Nice job on the Wildcat!  Is that the 1/32 or the 1/48 scale version?  I have both of the Revell-Monogram kits in my stash (as well as the 1/48 Tamiya and 1/32 Trumpeter kits).  Considering we went to war with those planes, their durability kept us in the fight.  Also, being a former carrier sailor, I have a soft spot for all Grumman aircraft.

Scott, thanks for the info...I have been eyeing that kit at the LHS for some time. I think I have a reason to pick it up now.

Thanks for the words on the Tomcats.

I think you don't even need to have served, if you are a naval aviation buff, how can you have anything but a soft spot for Grumman? There was a while there in the 80's where almost everything on a carrier deck was Grumman. I just wish that I had gotten my A-6 and EA-6B kits sooner, I would have loved to build them for this build.

Here is the Academy Tomcat.....

Decals are Aeromaster "Anytime Babe! Pt. VI" using the VF-14 Tophatters markings from Desert Storm. Paint was MM acrylics, dark ghost grey over light ghost grey.

Weathering is dark grey pastel chalk mixed with water and some liquid soap (1 part chalk powder to 2 parts water). As this is a Desert Storm era Tomcat, I wanted it to look like it just flew through a crap storm, so I applied the wash to it once and wiped it right away. That gave me a good base of dirtiness. Then, after a couple of days I came back. I had left the solution in the cup and let the water evaporate a bit, leaving a dark sludge of chalk powder on the bottom. I then covered the entire model with this thicker "wash" and let it dry completely. After a couple hours, I came back and wiped it off, making sure to go with the airflow.

August 31 is still a long way off....I *may* not be done yet.....=)

Paul,

Not that I need another Tomcat kit in my stash (or probably any kit according to my spouse ), but I am curious as to how well the Academy kit went together.  Your finished product looks very nice indeed!

I arrived on the Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1986 during an overhaul and the ship was just transitioning from the A-7 to the F/A-18.  At the time, I thought that the Hornet was "the" plane (probably because they were new).  That alure started to fade when I watched my first air operations.  When an F/A-18 is sitting on the catapult ready to launch, it shakes violently with the wing tips moving up and down about a foot.  When a Tomcat was in the same position, it sat as steady as a rock!  I am glad that I served when there were still so many Grumman planes onboard, and the airwing was still made up of the same aircraft when I arrived on the Abraham Lincoln.  The Hornet was a great replacement for the A-7, but it is only a partial replacement for the Intruder, Tomacat, and soon to follow Prowler.  I keep thinking of eventually building an F/A-18 with a kit-bashed E-2 radar dome on top for the future nothing but F/A-18 airwing the Navy seems to be heading towards.

More Power Scotty wrote:

Paul, Not that I need another Tomcat kit in my stash (or probably any kit according to my spouse ), but I am curious as to how well the Academy kit went together.  Your finished product looks very nice indeed! I arrived on the Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1986 during an overhaul and the ship was just transitioning from the A-7 to the F/A-18.  At the time, I thought that the Hornet was "the" plane (probably because they were new).  That alure started to fade when I watched my first air operations.  When an F/A-18 is sitting on the catapult ready to launch, it shakes violently with the wing tips moving up and down about a foot.  When a Tomcat was in the same position, it sat as steady as a rock!  I am glad that I served when there were still so many Grumman planes onboard, and the airwing was still made up of the same aircraft when I arrived on the Abraham Lincoln.  The Hornet was a great replacement for the A-7, but it is only a partial replacement for the Intruder, Tomacat, and soon to follow Prowler.  I keep thinking of eventually building an F/A-18 with a kit-bashed E-2 radar dome on top for the future nothing but F/A-18 airwing the Navy seems to be heading towards.

Scott....if you have ever built the Revellogram Tomcat, then you will feel right at home on the Academy kit. You can employ many of the same tricks, like removing the gear from the wings and notching the end so you can fit them after putting the fuselage together. I do prefer them over the R/M kits because they are well detailed, come with a good assortment of weapons and gas tanks. The "Bombcat" boxing includes new NACA stype gun vents and tail stiffener plates on the vertical tails. It also has many of the later bumps and lumps like the GPS dome and bumped nose gear door. The nice thing about the Bombcat box is it can be updated to a "B" or "D" with no resin....just some spare parts from a Revell kit and some clever putty work and you are in biz.

Plus, you can get two of them for what a Hasegawa headache...oops, meant kit, would cost you

Paul outstanding work there.  Tomcats are so cool. Can't wait to get one.

Thanks Andrew!

The Tomcat makes for an awesome model subject, and since there was so many cool schemes it is hard to run out of different markings.

To prove that....here is another 32nd Tomcat coming to a finish...

I have just attached the tissue to the instrument coamings using white glue. Once it dried, I trim it down and paint the tissue brown...this will give it a nice textured look that will look like canvas. Once I finish that, I just need to attach the windscreen, give it a good coat of future and bring out the decals.....this will be a mid 90's bird, so I am going to make this one quite a bit dirtier than the last big scale one I did.....I hope to also have another Academy 48th scale and Italeri 48th scale and maybe a Fujimi 48th scale finished in time for the GB.

Aggieman wrote:

Wow Paul, I'm thinking you should be the resident expert on F-14 kits!  Are you wanting to add all of these additional kits into the GB?  And is this latest big scale the Revell kit?

yeah, I've heard that. I am doing "The Tomcat Project" over at the ARC site...it's a 1:48th scale comparison build using 5 of the 6 manufacturers...I was unable to find the old Revell Tomcat (and from what I have heard, not being able to find it was the best thing that could happen).

I would like to add at least the latest 32nd scale and the Academy and Italeri 48th scale.....the Fujimi will be a bonus if it gets finished in time.

Just got home from work to find the wife and kid gone out for a bit of shopping...time to hit the work bench!

Here is some close ups on the finished "canvas" and cockpit....

tinted the front windscreen with Tamiya clear green....

Paul,

Again I compliment you on your fine work!

I typically stick to 1/72 when it comes to Tomcats, but I do have the "Vandy 1" Hasegawa release in 1/48 as well as both the first and second release 1/32 Tamiya kits.  I built the Monogram kit in 1/48 several years ago when it was first reissued with a small fret of photoetched parts.  Thanks for letting me know a little more about the Academy kit, and who knows, maybe one day I will add it to my ever-growing stash.

Thanks Scott. To be completely honest (I know many will take this as blasphemy...) I am not a huge fan of the Hasegawa Tomcat. It is WAY over engineered, and I have found the moldings to be horrible. They have more flash than an early 80's Revell kit, and I have actually seen places where there wasn't enough plastic to fill the mold and the plastic is so thin you can almost see through it. Not worth the 60-80 dollars they are charging for them...plus 17 to 20 just to get weapons. With a little patience and some hard work, the other guys make a damn good Tomcat.

Anyway....here are some post decals pics of the latest 1:32nd scale Tomcat...

Here is the Academy 1:48th.....This one is the "Bombcat" boxing...

It comes with BOL rails for the Phoenix pallets.

And finally....the Italeri Tomcat....

DONE!

Here is the second 1:32nd scale Revell F-14A Tomcat.

VF-21 Freelancers

Paint was done using MM flat gull grey with MM gloss black on the tails and ventral fins and MM flat black on the skunk stripe. Weathering was done with pastel chalk ground into a powder and mixed two parts water to one part powder. I left the weathering solution dry over night to make sure I got a good base. Then, with a paper towel and a few Q-tips wiped it in the direction of airflow. Then, I followed it up with Tamiya Weathering Master Set B "soot". The helmets were spares from a couple 1:32nd scale Hasegawa kits in the stash. The instrument panel cowlings were covered with kleenex tissue and then painted brown to provide a canvas appearance.