Tangles' Tamiya Grumman F-14A Tomcat "Black Knights"

Post by **Tangles** » Mon Jan 12, 2015 5:41 am

G'day everyone. Haven't built anything here but liked the idea of this GB so thanks to Eightfooticeman for setting it up.
I am going to build the kit in the title, it was a xmas present from my daughter and I can't wait to get into it.
I know there are certain challenges with this kit, mainly because of it's age. But I'm going to give it my best shot.
I have not decided what AM I'm going to add to it yet (is that ok?) as I'm still a little shy on research at this juncture as to what is recommended to enhance this kit. I will certainly post details of any AM as I go.
I'm not in any hurry at all, so posts may be a little thin on the ground for a while. We'll see.
Anyway. A couple of pics. I had to lay the thing out on my dining table, it's blimmin' huge!!
Thanks again and game on! Right?

Post by **JediBoer** » Mon Jan 12, 2015 7:50 am

I almost entered the same kit before opting for the F16I Sufa. The Tamiya F-14 kit looks great so I'll be looking forward to the build.

Post by **1001kjk** » Mon Jan 12, 2015 6:43 pm

Look forward to watching this one

Post by **Tangles** » Mon Jan 12, 2015 6:56 pm

Thanks Jedi, keeping an eye on your F-16I too. Very interesting write up about the history of it and all.

Ok I got straight into the raised panel lines on part of the fuselage. I intend rescribing most or all of them out. It seemed a little daunting while I was thinking about the build, well from the moment I knew I was getting it actually. The reviews on the web were almost scathing about the mix of raised and recessed panel lines that exist in a kit of this price range. So I decided early to do the rescribing. First job.
It's actually a bit easier than I thought it would be, the existing panel lines, along with a scribing template, make it quite easy to scribe in some recessed lines. As you will see. I do recommend doing this process as I sanded a bit of the raised panel lines and in a few brushes of a sanding stick, they disappear. Anyway, here's a bit of an update.

This was the first area I did, I'm no scribing expert yet, but it gets a little better as I go. The scriber is just one of those simple PE ones, it does the job quite nicely. The Scribing template(s) are from Royal Model and have quite good shape options to complete the task.

This side hasn't been done yet, you can see how slight the panel lines are, and disappear if you wave a sanding stick anywhere near them.

This side has been scribed.

Today I intend to carry on scribing, I'll also start sorting out some weapons, I usually make a start on them early so they are pretty much ready by the time the fuselage is ready to accommodate them.

Thanks for looking.

Post by **Hillbilly** » Mon Jan 12, 2015 7:03 pm

Those panel lines came out great

Post by **Tangles** » Mon Jan 12, 2015 9:15 pm

Thanks Steve, still some ways to go, but they aren't proving to be a headache yet.

Post by **Tangles** » Mon Jan 12, 2015 9:18 pm

1001kjk wrote:Look forward to watching this one

Missed this one, thanks 1001. Happy to have you along.

Post by **Tangles** » Mon Jan 12, 2015 9:28 pm

Did some research on the aftermarket gear available. I will definitely go the Aries (B) cockpit, the kit cockpit is quite plain and they use (annoyingly) decals for the panel fascias. Not good enough really for a kit of this price.
I'll grab a bit of PE too and a few other resin bits. Like I said this is a special build for me, so I'll dress it up as much as I can without going OTT of course.

I was also looking at aftermarket decals but I think I'll stick with the Tamiya ones. Mainly to experience them as I haven't yet.
Possibly the Top Hatters version because they are physically smaller than the Black Knights and might be easier to get down. They look cool too. I have the Mr Mark range of decal solutions to help them along anyway.

I have also started on the weapons a bit. I've decided to load it option C. That might change slightly as I go and as I read up more about what others have done with this kit. If there's a possibility of loading the thing right up with extra armaments I'll look into it for sure. Selecting your external stores is the first step in the instruction manual btw. Actually I took some photos last night of all the sprues out their bags, I'll post them now.

Post by **Tangles** » Mon Jan 12, 2015 9:43 pm

Decals and manual, the smaller decal sheet is mainly for the weapons, so they're going to look simply awesome.

The lower fuselage and nose section. I put a bottle of Tamiya ET there for proportion. This is a big mutha! lol

Step 1 in the instructions. I'll load option C I reckon.

These are the 2x sprues so double what you see here. The top right sprue is one of the update ones (might be the only one, not sure yet. lol) Note the exhaust cans? I'll post a pic of some comparison close ups with the original cans. I'm not going to bother with AM exhausts, the kit ones are very good.

The upper fuselage pieces, intakes, cockpit tub and canopy. The upper fuselage pieces are also raised panel lines so I'll tackle them next. The canopy is beautiful and shiny and clear, although it does have the seam line running down the middle, Tamiya actually acknowledge that in the instructions and advise how to fix it. Nice touch Tamiya.

More bits and pieces and control surfaces. The stabilisers are those two piece ones, that are not quite two full pieces (one sits inside the other one), so there will be some cleaning up to do there.

Lol I pulled out my, recently completed, Eduard Spit for a comparison shot. Different scale I know but it's going to be totally dwarfed by this thing. The metal bar that's part of the "Operating variable geometry wing" is almost the wingspan of the Spit on it's own. lol

That's about it, plus the AM stuff when it arrives. Should be enough to keep me going for a while.
Thanks for looking in.

Post by **eightfooticeman** » Tue Jan 13, 2015 1:10 am

What a massive build you're taking on. I'm really looking forward to seeing this progress throughout the year. I recently finished a build of a plane my father bought for me, he really liked it a lot which made it all the more special! Thanks for being a part of the buddy build.

Post by **Tangles** » Tue Jan 13, 2015 3:16 am

eightfooticeman wrote:What a massive build you're taking on. I'm really looking forward to seeing this progress throughout the year. I recently finished a build of a plane my father bought for me, he really liked it a lot which made it all the more special! Thanks for being a part of the buddy build.

My pleasure mate, I think it's going to be a lot of fun. I was just sitting here researching the display base, I think that might be as much work as the model itself! lol (Knowing it's not going to have a bearing in the final judging, that's cool.)
Thanks again for putting it on.

Post by **Tangles** » Wed Jan 14, 2015 9:58 pm

I haven't made much progress on the actual kit the last couple of days. Just heaps of research on the Aircraft, and the kit. I'm not going for 100% accuracy on everything as I may have mentioned, but one area I wanted to address is the total lack of riveting where the raised lines are.
I needed to find an efficient way of introducing rivets reasonably accurately and not take 100 years doing it.
I made up some rivet jigs out of styrene in different layout configurations. Tamiya has 3 different distances between the rivets where they have them, so I copied their distancing and made the jigs.
After a bit of testing I am satisfied they will do the job. The test sheet is a bit all over the place, I didn't drill the guide holes big enough for the needle and it kept getting stuck in the jig and moving it slightly, so that will get better with use.
A couple of shots showing the jigs, and a bit of a test session on the model itself. These are only in very light so I can sand back if need be, but I think they look fine. Today I will continue on with the scribing and riveting so not a whole lot to show yet.

I did a couple of tests before I got the distance about right, hence the variation in the riveting. These panel lines have since been scribed so any rivets that are too close to them have since disappeared. It will be dressed up properly before painting.

Thanks for looking.

Post by **Tangles** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 9:55 pm

I'm progressing through the scribing very slowly. So this won't be a very interesting thread for a while. Just take it as a given I am still scribing if it goes all quiet!

There are a few recessed panel lines and rivets on the lower fuselage which I've also touched up. No point in going to all the effort and having existing lines disappear after the first prime.
It looks rough still, but after a sand and a polish I hope it will all come together.
Thanks for your patience, hopefully by years end this thing will be gathering dust on a shelf (completed!).

Oh, just an aside. My shiny, new toy arrived yesterday. I can put Mr. (cheap) China away now as an emergency backup. Looking forward to giving this a good workout.

Post by **1001kjk** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 8:45 am

Tangles enjoying this interested in the scribing I'm a novice at that so a great learning lesson for me. And as I have a cheap airbrush in order to learn I wonder if you find a big difference in "stepping" up. Thanks

Post by **Tangles** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 9:21 am

1001kjk wrote:Tangles enjoying this interested in the scribing I'm a novice at that so a great learning lesson for me. And as I have a cheap airbrush in order to learn I wonder if you find a big difference in "stepping" up. Thanks

Howdy 1001, I'm a bit of a novice too mate, I've only painted two planes with an airbrush so far, and a pile of other unfinished bits. lol
But I did christen the new one today with lacquers and enamels and even a novice like me can appreciate the difference between a cheap brush to a nice one. You have far more control over how much paint is delivered. It's a lot smoother to use (the trigger that is) so you have infinite control really. My chinese one was a lot harder to keep it on the biting point which liked to move on me after longish sprays (meaning it blocked up easy).
The Iwata is much easier to clean too. A breeze actually. It's a solid investment if you are going to get serious about modelling.

Guess what? While I wasn't painting (my APC which has been waiting patiently for the new brush) today I was scribing and riveting. Believe it or not. lol
Anyway, it's coming along well. It's becoming labourious, but it's going to be worth it in the end. I took a shot of an intake I had finished, compared to one not started. I think you'll agree the difference is stark. Maybe it's a little out of scale, I don't know, but I'm thinking there's going to be so much going on when this is done it's just going to add to the overall look.

I did have a moment when I first started scribing, thinking I could make it up as I went along, wrong! Anyway, I'd scribed 3 lines that I cancelled with superglue and sanded back. I'd just got some of those Step Sanders and gave them a tryout. Not bad. Very good for the tight spots. They'll get some use for sure.

Post by **Tangles** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 12:26 pm

Sorry, not much really interesting to post as an update, But I really have done a lot .... of scribing and riveting ...
I reckon I'll have the lower fuselage done in the next couple of days. Then I tackle one of the two upper pieces. Which are far busier than the lower fuselage, so there could be another month of this yet. lol At least by then my resin cockpit and other AM goodies will have arrived and I can get on with the build.
I'll post a couple of later pics with "Simo's Rivet Template Mk.III". And it works really well. I pinned the holes not drill them, made it 100% more accurate. Anyway, it might not seem much of a big deal but it turns a nightmare job into something very satisfying. So it was worth the headspace.

The numbers are the spacing between the rivets as I made the 3 different sizes that appear on the model. That's the plastic I used, bought from a Haberdashery/Craft store.

The air intake after a good riveting.

Oh if you're thinking of replicating this, I stuck some 1500 wet and dry on the contact face for grip. A necessity I think.

Post by **Tangles** » Fri Jan 23, 2015 6:07 am

So, 11 days after joining this GB, I finally have the lower fuselage scribed and riveted. If you are thinking of undertaking this task with this kit, allow a big chunk of time. I model full-time. It took forever and I haven't done the upper halves yet. lol
It is very therapeutic once you have the process sorted and it isn't a hassle. My rivet templates were a savior in the end. They saved a big heap of time.
Anyway, I'm relieved it's done.
Here's the pics, not easy to see the detail in places. I have cleaned it all up and didn't want to get it dirty again just yet. lol

Did the wet and drying in the bathroom, seemed to make sense.

Some pics of the detail. A bit hard to see in the pics, but you'll get the gist.

Thanks for looking.

Post by **Hillbilly** » Fri Jan 23, 2015 6:47 am

That re-scribe/rivet job is amazing

.....you must have the patience of a Saint.

Post by **1001kjk** » Fri Jan 23, 2015 8:26 am

Love the riveting wish I had that patience for a build

Post by **Tangles** » Fri Jan 23, 2015 12:14 pm

Thanks a lot for your comments fellas, to be honest I'm not that patient. I'm trying to teach myself to be. And enjoy the experience. Without trying to sound like some transcendental guru. If you don't make the job a pleasure, it's a nightmare. That's why I took the time to engineer the most mundane parts of the job to get much quicker results. The more I riveted the better it looked, and so on. The big test will be to back it up for the much busier upper fuselage. lol
In the background I am doing some scratchbuilding on the landing gear bays, and a bit on the weapons. Which I usually start early with these modern jets. De-seaming weapons is boring, I'm thinking of devising a mini-linishing machine to speed that process up. lol I'll have some pics when that all becomes a little more interesting.

Anyway, thanks again for your comments, much appreciated.

Post by **eightfooticeman** » Fri Jan 23, 2015 3:23 pm

This is what it's all about! A fabulous display of skill and dedication.

Post by **Tangles** » Fri Jan 23, 2015 7:28 pm

eightfooticeman wrote:This is what it's all about! A fabulous display of skill and dedication.

thanks mate.

Post by **Tangles** » Thu Jan 29, 2015 11:17 pm

I had a few days away from this to complete another GB I'm involved with but I'm back on this in earnest. I have started the top fuselage pieces with, yep more riveting and scribing, and I won't post endless photos on it, I just wanted to show a blank area near the exhausts that needed attention.
I just drew some lines with my square using the exhaust "splats" as a reference. My rivet template did the rest. The top is going along a lot quicker now all the R&D is done too. So that's good.
My AM gear for this will be ordered first week of Feb, so when that arrives, I'll be able to get on with the actual build.

You can see the blank areas just forward of the exhaust covers.

Drew in a quick set of lines using a square.

Riveted. Took no time at all.

Thanks for looking.

Post by **UKguyInUSA** » Thu Jan 29, 2015 11:46 pm

Wooahh!! That's going to be a monster of a bird! Great skills being implemented with your scribing and riveting. All that laborious effort will pay off in the end results, making a huge difference to its overall appearance. Looking forward to seeing this one come together

Cheers,

Martin

Post by **Tangles** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 12:12 am

Thanks Martin,

I certainly hope so! lol I'm flying through it now (I hop on the laptop in my smoke breaks) I have already scribed the back half of the top piece, just have to deepen all the rivets a bit more, give it a sand and clean up and that part will be done. Light at the end of the tunnel now!

Post by **Tangles** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 8:10 am

I've had a big day on the bench today, if I get the same time in tomorrow I will finish the scribing and riveting. Can't tell you what a relief it is. I have managed to streamline both the riveting and, after a little discovery today, the scribing as well. It's made the job a lot quicker, easier, with a better result IMHO.
Anyway, I've been disappointed that I haven't been able to capture the detail properly yet for you guys to see, but I think this pic shows it up a little clearer. I took it before I gave it a light sand with 800/1500 wet and dry to take some of the bumps off.

Thanks for looking.

Post by **1001kjk** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 10:22 am

Awesome looking forward to seeing the finished job

Post by **Tangles** » Sun Feb 01, 2015 8:17 am

Nearly finished the S&Ring. But I decided I needed a big kid fix and dry fitted the thing together just to see what it looked like.
It looks friggin' huge! That's about all I can say about it at this point. lol

Post by **JediBoer** » Sun Feb 01, 2015 1:01 pm

Looking good mate! Can't wait to see how the build unfolds now that the rescribing is almost done!

Post by **Tangles** » Mon Feb 02, 2015 8:22 am

Thanks again Jedi, well it's done! There will be a bit more scribing etc during the build as I noticed the fuselage parts may need to be matched (will need to be) with the rest of the plane. It's not accurate, I know Tamiya didn't put the panel lines in the right place, but it doesn't bother me in the slightest. I just want it to look cool. I just hope it's not overdone. Anyway. I have to put this build on the number 2 burner now as I'm starting a GB elsewhere and that's only 6 months. It's a 1:32 as well and I'm happy to share it here too if I'm able. Any ruling on being in 2 GB's at once with the same build?

Anyway, the last piece officially finished, thanks for being so patient as I plowed through this. Hope you'll see it was all worth it.

Post by **Tangles** » Wed Feb 04, 2015 9:52 pm

Thanks Rube, I'll be getting back to this build in between the Stuka, it's more of a long-termer now.
But I can't wait until it's built, same with the Stuka for that matter.

Post by **eightfooticeman** » Fri Feb 06, 2015 3:27 am

Your off to a great start that's for sure.

Post by **Tangles** » Wed Apr 08, 2015 12:20 am

Ok I am back on this one for now, until I can restock of some items to continue the Stuka. The Aries cockpit arrived a couple of weeks ago to much fanfare in the cave. I've never done one before so new territory for me. I'll post the obligatory pics of the 'pit OOB then I'll proceed by adding a copy of a post from my other WIP, which will show where I am at now. It's a bit of an extensive read so I apologise in advance, but maybe someone here has experienced the same and can enlighten me as to the problem. Yes, there is a problem, Houston!

The pit and all it's lovely detail.

The update:
Ok, a ... minor (no really, it's a major) setback after some brainstorming of how I wanted to paint this cockpit, the decision(s) I made turned to disaster and now I have to get back to square one.
Starting from the start I gave all the resin pieces a good wash and scrub and did what I always do, let it air dry. I then primed with my new revelation the Mr Primer Surfacer 1000. After the success on the Stuka it was a no-brainer. As I was about to spray it I noticed a couple of drops of water in the cockpit tub so I gave that an extensive blast of air to rid it of my presence. And on I went.

As the primer was drying I had decided to spray the side and IP's black, then mask them out and spray the rest of the cockpit Light Gull Grey. So I gave the primer sufficient time to dry and started with the black, I thought about what paint to use and decided on my favourite black at the moment, Alclad's Black Primer. Being a lacquer I thought it would conform to the fine detail of the IP's nicely.
As I was spraying the black the primer started flying off in flakes in parts. Mainly, but quite extensively in the bottom of the tub. I looked at it, it was in places that were not going to be seen so I carried on, thinking some moisture must've been on the surface and the primer hadn't adhered. There was no peel where I was going to paint the black .... or so I thought.

Anyway I got the black on, oh I hadn't been terribly pleased with my painting effort either (the primer and the black), I don't know if my eyesight is failing or what, but anyway I was no overly happy with it. But I proceeded anyway.
I then used liquid mask to mask out the panels, I'm running at about 70:30 success rate with this stuff so I thought it was worth a try. The biggest problem with it is the paint adheres to itself more than it adheres to the latex masking stuff, so when you pull it off you get flaking at the edges. A stiff brush normally takes care of it but it is a little annoying.

Anyway I finished masking and allowed it to dry before applying a coat or two of the Light Gull Grey. All good so far.
After giving that time to dry I started peeling the mask off. And well, the peeling problem turned out to be everywhere. I'll let the photos do the talking and discuss my prognosis and repair procedure after ....

I thought I took photos of it in its primed state, but didn't. Anyway, it just looked grey. This is after the black went on. Ok so far.

The mask applied, sorry the photo is sideways, it just looked clearer (bigger) that way.

Light Gull Grey applied, still ok so far.

All is revealed. Unusable.

During the process this happened, so a third of a bottle of liquid mask is now a funny shaped rubber mat (I didn't even bother trying to wipe it up, just let it set and peeled it up in one piece this morning. lol Funny.)

Ok, the prognosis. The debrief, or whatever. I have a number of theories.
1. It wasn't dry at all, and the primer, being a non-water soluble paint, repelled it. This is my least favourite theory as it was 99% dry.
2. Mr Primer Surfacer 1000 doesn't adhere to Resin. Which doesn't seem right but I haven't researched that yet.
3. By air drying the Resin parts after cleaning the liquid detergent residue, which I normally, deliberately leave to help break surface tension of water-based paints, has repelled the primer from the surface of the resin. This is my most preferred theory.

The repair procedure.
1.Well I'm going to have to soak, and/or brush lacquer thinners over the entire cockpit, including all the other pieces as they've had the same treatment. To rid it of every drop of paint I've applied so far. Using either Mr Color Thinners, or Alclads Airbrush cleaner, hoping it won't craze resin like it can plastic.
2. Bin it and use the kit cockpit.
3. Bin it and buy another Aries cockpit.
2 and 3 are not my preferred option, and only to be implemented if 1 fails.

So, there you have it. One step forward, three back.
On a positive note if I can successfully peel/dissolve everything off I will revert back to Vallego's primer and hopefully I'll be a little happier with my painting. Which seems to have gone askew lately. Not sure why, and would love an answer if anyone else has experienced this phenomenon.
Thanks for reading this rather long post. Maybe a heads up for anyone that uses a similar procedure to me. Don't use lacquer based paints over detergent, maybe.

Post by **TheWeasel** » Wed Apr 08, 2015 6:32 am

My experience with resin is limited, but I've built and painted a few bang seats and just finished my first aires tub...

IMO all paints/primers have a harder time grabbing on to resin. Guess it's just more "dense" and "smooth" than styrene, giving paint less to grab onto. And because the resin parts are so super detailed, there's always some water being blown out of the most obscure crevices after you think it's dry.. at least that always seems to happen to my ejector seats.
If your problem with peeling after masking persists, I would suggest a fourth option (which I did for my cockpit just recently): prime it, give it a grey basecoat and then proceed to painstakingly brush paint everything else. I'm no good at brushpainting, but with all the details, you can't see strokes in the paint. Takes a few days to finish the cockpit, but might be a way to salvage it

Best of luck getting that tub ready and into your tomcat!

Post by **Tangles** » Fri Apr 10, 2015 4:04 am

Thanks Mr Weasel for the advice, I agree the lacquers I used don't react (as in melt/fuse) with resin like they do with plastic. I'm going to stick to Vallego's primer next shot.
I received some handy advice on the other site re: stripping. Brake fluid apparently does the job and as I had a couple of bottles lying around the shed I proceeded with caution. Worked a treat, all pieces are all but stripped completely without any loss of detail. So I am back to square one, thankfully not having to fork out for another cockpit set.

The pieces are now drying out in the Autumn sun, beautiful day here so they can stay outside all day and dry completely.

I have nearly got the weapons ready for priming, I'm loading option C for anyone building this kit. I'll have some pics after I've primed as there's not a lot to see yet really. I prefer getting weapons out of the way early with these modern jets as it can be a real drag of a job to do late in the build.

Thanks for looking.

Post by **Tangles** » Wed May 27, 2015 10:44 pm

rubegoldberg wrote:a good lacquer primer like alcad should stick to just about anything but aluminum. maybe just shoot it on instead of starting with the mr. surf. regardless, you need some solvent to remove all traces of that brake fluid. lacquer thinner.

Cheers Will, I'm actually back on this one, as much as my mojo will allow. I'll give all the parts another good wash now that I've cleaned up any left over paint from before. Thanks for the tip.

Post by **Tangles** » Mon Oct 19, 2015 4:37 pm

Well I'm back after a few months of "other stuff"
I got stuck straight into the cockpit as well as other periphery. I've got a fair backlog of photos so I think it's best to just do the picture paints a 1000 word thing and type less.

I didn't take a whole heap of photos initially, this was everything still in pieces, primed and black applied in appropriate places.

Seats were done in .... I don't remember. lol but they were shaded nicely from the black overspray and I semi-dry-brushed the green and finished it with another colour and I have no clue what it was now. lol Never mind.

Still early stages but base colours pretty much done. I chose medium grey from my AK Navy Jets set. The canvas is painted rust, with a dry brush in flat yellow. I liked the look so kept it.

Just some seatbelt action

These are a little muddled up as I'm resizing everything in photobucket, but here's the seats... bare naked at the minute.

Oh my first attempt at soldering PE (modeling PE, that is). Went ok I'll be doing it more often.

A closeup of the tub colours before the treatment.

A bit of doodling on the panels to add some colour

I did two more shoots with the cockpit one with a clear coat (mixed semi-gloss and matt), they could load in any order, but you'll get the picture.

The cockpit as it sits now. Painting completed, seats and binnacles are still dry fit, they'll get glued later.

Something different. Yes OOB and pretty naff.

Something installed in the fuselage at last.

The front wheel well with a miniscule amount of scratch.

Took this pic to show my girlfriend the size of it .... I think this was the pic..

And obviously (or maybe not?) I have actually got everything in and glued in the front section. The tub needed a little bit of a trim here and there but not too bad. It is quite tight so I had to strengthen all the joints with styrene strip and CA glue on the inside, I'll get a pic of that and post it another time.

Thank you for getting this far, I think I'm all caught up in one hit. lol
My posts from now on will be a little less war and piss.

Post by **Tangles** » Wed Oct 28, 2015 7:32 am

ok a fair bit has happened since my last post but things are moving along ok. I should have this finished by xmas now so that will be good.

Ok the landing gear is done, some progress photos ...

The copper wire came supplied with the Aires resin wheels which was cool. I soldered some fine fuse wire on the bottom to make it look like flex line, kinda making it up as I go along...

And primed ...

And painted..

Some chrome added, Mr Metal .. (don't worry about the variation in light, that's just lens shadow from the flash)

And weathered..

Canopy next...
Seamline taken out ....

Then the varying stages of construction ...

My ladder from .... Wolfpack ,,

Weapons! ....

The rest of the stuff ....

The porcupine

The flat porcupine...

The fuselage...

A quick dry fit ... nose section is glued ...

That's about where I'm at, the weapons and gear bay doors (interior) have been weathered and clear coated (matt), so they are ready to fit when the time comes, I have to paint the exterior of the gear bay doors yet though. Just sanding the lower fuselage section now, once that's finished I'll fit the upper fuselage section, a pile more sanding then I can start painting this beast.

Oh yeah it's growing, I may have to move to my old bench as it's got a bit more space on it right now ...

Thanks for looking.

Post by **Aliktren** » Wed Oct 28, 2015 11:45 am

awesome work

Post by **Tangles** » Wed Oct 28, 2015 1:56 pm

Thanks mate, got some more done but the significant moment was screwing the top to the bottom.
It's all glued now and resting, as I am.

Post by **Tangles** » Tue Nov 10, 2015 9:22 am

Ok bit of an update so I'll get on with it.

Gave the nose a bit of a polish up. And the Intakes are sorted ... not sure what else is coming up actually, I'll comment as I go.
Not sure if this is going to make a scrap of difference in the end. lol

The intakes are actually grey on my version. lol All sorted now.

You can't see the intakes very well in this shot, but that nose sure is shiny. lol

Just trying to show that main join, which settled down ok. Bit hard to see it though, maybe that's a good thing?

Won't fit here..

So I cleared off the old modeling bench...

Plenty of room.

it's primed at this stage and I remembered I hadn't done the non=slip surface yet. So out with the Mr Surfacer and my calibrated eye (and a ruler) and off I went. First time I've done this it was rather fun.

Primed..

This is where the month spent re-scribing and riveting starts to pay off. Glad I did it now.

Preshaded...

The Black Stripe. Done in Tamiya semi-gloss black. I'm going to attempt to keep it naked, not sure how that will go with decals etc. We'll see.

Ok I have painted most of the Light Ghost Grey .... except I ran out. Rookie error, next time I'll have plenty of back up. I have one wing and the nose and a bit of the upper to do another coat or two yet. But the rest of it is pretty much right, for my tastes anyway. There's a few double up shots just taken in different light conditions. Now I have to sit and wait for my next order, which I can't order yet. lol

This will have a couple of light coats yet.

The vertical stabilisers are painted Tamiya German Grey with a touch of black in it. I'll get some pics of them when I unmask.
So that's where I'm up to now. Getting there.

Post by **Aliktren** » Tue Nov 10, 2015 10:44 am

looking damn fine bud, love me a good tomcat

Post by **Tangles** » Tue Nov 10, 2015 11:38 am

Thanks mate.

Post by **1001kjk** » Tue Nov 10, 2015 6:38 pm

Looking good buddy.

Post by **Tangles** » Wed Nov 11, 2015 12:53 am

Cheers.

Post by **Tangles** » Tue Dec 01, 2015 10:59 pm

ok I've been slack on updating here so I have a bit to catch up on. I have finished painting the block colours, done some postshading and bleaching. Painted the leading edges in Alclads Dull Aluminium. Non-slip painted in Tamiya's XF-63 German Grey. And I have done the panel lines in Tamiya's excellent Panel Line Accent Colours. Which I recommend if you're a fan of pin washes.
So there's a stack of pics to catch up. Let the slideshow begin.

Shades of Grey.

Post shading and bleaching. It looks a little OOT but I'm hoping that will subside with a few more layers.

Decals are on.

And I just realised I haven't put the surrounds around the formation lights on this side. That'll be sorted.

Panel line wash done. Still got some cleaning up to do and a few little jobs before sealing the lot in future, then attempting a salt wash. I'm hoping that will lighten the look of the model a bit too. If it's still a little dark for my liking I'll give the whole model a filter to try and tie everything in. We'll see how it looks though.

One errant piece of sticky tape (from the bubble wrap cushioning I was using) got caught on the jet intake decal ..... grrr. Will touch that up.

That's where I'm at. I'm looking forward to putting this thing together. Getting close now.
Thanks for looking.

Post by **Tangles** » Thu Dec 03, 2015 12:58 am

One more weathering process I wanted to try with this build is the salt technique. Never tried it before and I was a little nervous about it. But I thought about it a lot and checked out tutorials. And I have to say I'm very pleased with the results.
I deliberately kept the model "dark" so I could hit both under and over with a "faded" shade.
I think it worked. What do you think?

The pics.
With the salt on

Salt off...

The underside..

Now to finish building this thing.
Thanks for looking.

Post by **Tangles** » Thu Dec 03, 2015 9:16 am

A quick update just to finish off a good day. Underside has been put together pretty much. Just got to finish off the matte coat then check the instructions to see what's left to do under there.
A couple of shots to see where it's at. I reckon I'll be revealing this sometime over the weekend.

Just a taste. I'll have an extensive shoot for the reveal, no doubt. lol

Post by **Tangles** » Fri Dec 04, 2015 7:58 am

G'day fellas, finally finished the big Cat. I did a rough calculation and I reckon it took about six months to build the thing.
The kit was very good to put together. Not too many issues (that weren't self-inflicted) with it other than the known issues like the raised panel lines, and the age of the kit. The decals were a challenge but we got there in the end.
I'll say one thing, it's a nice looking bird once it's all together. They say this is the best representation of the F-14 in this scale, other than the panel line inaccuracies. I think it looks superb!

Thanks again to the big Iceman for letting me play in his buddy build. I enjoyed being a part of it. Here's the reveal.

Without further ado..

Well that's all folks.
I hope you've enjoyed. I certainly did.