1/48 Academy F-14

[ElCapitan]

Over the long weekend I decided to open up the box of this 1/48 Academy F-14, and couldn't resist getting started on it!



This kit comes with the "Sundowners" markings, and the box art promises me that it'll look pretty cool once complete!



Also for this kit I've got the Aires resin cockpit set, which is a first for me.

Photos of progress to follow shortly...

[bfrd]

I will be starting my F-14 after the first for the feline fever build. I have the Tamiya 1/48 kit, hopefully we will both have a good build.

[aur0ra145]

Looks like a fun kit!

[ElCapitan]

So I got started on the Aires resin cockpit. Not much fun to get all the blocks off, but I wanted to try it out anyway...



Bit of paint on there too:



My one concern is that the kit cockpit has the landing gear attachment points moulded onto it, along with a decent amount of detail for the wheel bay. Hopefully I can chop that off the bottom and attach it to the resin part without creating too bad a fit with the lower fuselage.

[xSCAR45]

Looks to be a promising kit. Will follow.

[Lysus]

Oooh...

Never attempted resin AM, I'll be watching and biting nails along with you...

[ElCapitan]

The cockpit is getting there, and the PE panels have now been painted and glued on, with the plastic film behind for the dials. I've dry-brushed all the instrument panels and control sticks using a light grey colour, and then painted in some detail based on the images of the real thing. The resin cockpit seems to have everything in the right place, which is impressive!

Also put some PVA glue on the screens and dials to simulate glass.









Next thing to do is to finish the seatbelts and seats, and a few PE handles for the cockpit.

[xSCAR45]

So far, so good. I'm looking forward to the completion of the cockpit. I think those seats will really make it pop.

[Lysus]

Great work on that!

[ElCapitan]

Making slow progress on this, as the Aires cockpit is shorter than the kit one for some reason, leaving a huge gap at the front end of it.





Pretty disappointed with that to be honest, but I'll do something with some plasticard underneath in an attempt to make it less obvious. Also the frame of the canopy, once painted, should hide it a bit.

[Lysus]

Oooh...that stings. Does the canopy cover that if closed?

Though I guess if you get a detailed cockpit you'd want it open.

[ElCapitan]

Oooh...that stings. Does the canopy cover that if closed?

Though I guess if you get a detailed cockpit you'd want it open.

I considered leaving it open, but I prefer closing them up.I don't find them any easier to see into either way if I'm honest!

I've put together a blanking plate as recommended by a few of you, and I'm pleased with how it looks.





Also put the wings together, which was basically top and bottom pieces for each wing, with interlocking teeth for the swing-wing mechanism. After that it's a simple case of joining the fuselage halves together, which didn't cause me any problems.

...........it's pretty big.



I'll probably attached the engine intakes next, which require a bit of paint on the inside first.

[bfrd]

I seriously doubt anyone would ever notice the gap when you are finished. Your fill looks great and should disappear once the canopy goes on. Great fix!

[ElCapitan]

I seriously doubt anyone would ever notice the gap when you are finished. Your fill looks great and should disappear once the canopy goes on. Great fix!

Thanks, my first time using sheet styrene so I'm pleased with it! As you say, the canopy frame will pretty much cover it when painted.

Work has been continuing steadily on this build, mostly just sanding the seams so I haven't bothered with any photos. I'll hopefully get something more interesting done at the weekend!

[ElCapitan]

Next thing I've done is painted the seat detail. I really enjoy doing this bit, I find it quite relaxing, even though it takes so much concentration! I used some online reference photos as a guide. On these zoomed in photos I can see they're a bit messy in places, but to the naked eye they look pretty decent







First time painting ejection handles too. I initially painted them yellow, then added the black stripes using a cocktail stick. I'm quite pleased with them for a first attempt!

[Tomcat64]

Just saw the seats on the "This Week" thread and came looking - this looks great Rob!

[ElCapitan]

Just saw the seats on the "This Week" thread and came looking - this looks great Rob!

Thanks Neil, I hope to get them finished over the weekend, but no doubt something will come up to prevent that from happening!

[Twokidsnosleep]

Hey that is a great looking recliner
Awesome work so far, glad to see you posted it into the live show thread
Good save on the gap space...just a little modification that makes all the difference

[ElCapitan]

Hey that is a great looking recliner
Awesome work so far, glad to see you posted it into the live show thread
Good save on the gap space...just a little modification that makes all the difference

Thanks Scott. I'm really proud of how this is turning out so far!

Today I managed to achieve my weekend goal of finishing the seats by adding the PE harnesses and ejection handles. Here they are now (pictures taken in my new photobooth!)





And I couldn't resist seeing how they look in the cockpit!





I'm probably going to deal with the last of the joins on the rest of the model before I work on the canopy.

[bfrd]

Cockpit looks awesome! I am a little jealous mine didn't turn out that well. I think if I saw yours first I may still be working on mine trying to get them as nice as yours.

[Twokidsnosleep]

Seats indeed finished out spectacular, like looking at the real thing!!!

[ElCapitan]

Cockpit looks awesome! I am a little jealous mine didn't turn out that well. I think if I saw yours first I may still be working on mine trying to get them as nice as yours.

Seats indeed finished out spectacular, like looking at the real thing!!!

Thanks guys, I'm really trying my hardest to take my time with this build!

[Tomcat64]

Stunning work Rob - the seats look fantastic by themselves and go up another level when dropped into the cockpit.

[ElCapitan]

Stunning work Rob - the seats look fantastic by themselves and go up another level when dropped into the cockpit.

Cheers Neil, sorry it took me so long to acknowledge your comment, I must have missed it at the time! Here's to another productive weekend

[ElCapitan]

This is still ticking along slowly, but last night I managed to get the canopy PE mirrors done, then the canopy on using PVA glue. There are gaps round the edges due to the plastic I had to remove to get the cockpit to fit, so I've filled that with some more PVA. Once that's fully dry I'll add more. I also added some of the external PE detailing - slime lights, rolled PE fuel dump pipe, fittings for pitot probes.

I think I may need to get the pre-cut masks for this canopy, as the edges are so flat it would be almost impossible to cut my own in my usual method of covering the whole thing in masking tape and cutting around the raised edge. I'm also thinking of getting the resin exhausts, as the kit nozzles are horrible with detail only on the outside.

Anyway, here's how it looks just now...

[Lysus]

Still more progress than I've made in the last month.

Canopies are my kryptonite during a build...days or weeks can go by until I decide on how to do them.

[ElCapitan]

Canopies are my kryptonite during a build...days or weeks can go by until I decide on how to do them.

I was worried that might happen with this one and I would subsequently lose interest in it, so I made the snap decision to do my best with some masking tape and a sharp scalpel. I also held it in front of a bright light to help me see where the edges were supposed to be. It helped a bit, but not much...

Turned out better than I expected. I went over the rest of it with Revell Color Stop liquid mask. Nearly ready for primer once all the putty has fully set around the stabiliser roots etc.

[matto21]

Great painting in the cockpit, shame about the gap but I'm sure you'll find a way around it.

[DrSprue]

Cool, came in late but looking really cool so far.
Never attempted resin myself so all new for me as well...

[ElCapitan]

Cool, came in late but looking really cool so far.
Never attempted resin myself so all new for me as well...

Thanks Doc. The resin cockpit was a bit of a pain at times, but overall I enjoyed it and I'm happy with how it came out.

[ElCapitan]

Hello, old friend! Finally primed in Ultimate black primer. You can see a bit of the paint came off the front of the wing when I swept the wings back for the photo. Silly mistake! I'll sort that later, I'm happy overall just to get something done on it!

[ElCapitan]

Started a mottle coat today - very time consuming but worth it. This amount took me about 40 mins. Will hopefully get the rest of the mottle coat finished tonight. My wife is in hospital having given birth to our second child yesterday by C-section, so I'm getting a lot of time at the bench due to having to stay at home with our little boy in the evenings.

[sheppsea]

Congratulations and good luck to your wife , our second child (another daughter) is due in under a month's time as well

[Tomcat64]

Congratulations Rob! And best wishes to all of you!

And that mottling looks stunning too!

[DrSprue]

To Rob and sheppsea too.

[ElCapitan]

Thanks guys!

And good luck Sheppsea!

[Twokidsnosleep]

If you guys had stuck to just modelling, none of those baby things would be happening...

[Fridgy]

Looking awesome!

How do you do this mottling you speak of??

[Twokidsnosleep]

Looking awesome!

How do you do this mottling you speak of??

Whew, I thought you were going to ask about making the baby things

[ElCapitan]

I suspect I won't have much time for modelling at all soon!!

Looking awesome!

How do you do this mottling you speak of??

It's basically a slightly lightened and we'll thinned base colour , sprayed at about 10psi from only about 5mm from the surface. Tiny random patterns - that's why it takes so long I guess. It takes a careful touch with the trigger otherwise the paint can spider outwards quite quickly. Practise first!

Then afterwards just thin coats of base colour until you get the effect you want!

[Fridgy]

Looking awesome!

How do you do this mottling you speak of??

Whew, I thought you were going to ask about making the baby things

Lol.... considering im a newly minted grandpa.... i think i might have figured that part out

[Fridgy]

I suspect I won't have much time for modelling at all soon!!

Looking awesome!

How do you do this mottling you speak of??

It's basically a slightly lightened and we'll thinned base colour , sprayed at about 10psi from only about 5mm from the surface. Tiny random patterns - that's why it takes so long I guess. It takes a careful touch with the trigger otherwise the paint can spider outwards quite quickly. Practise first!

Then afterwards just thin coats of base colour until you get the effect you want!

Ok... that sounds easy enough.... but what about white?
My tomcat has a white underside.... i would assume you would use a darker colour to make it look dirty???

[ElCapitan]

I suspect I won't have much time for modelling at all soon!!

Looking awesome!

How do you do this mottling you speak of??

It's basically a slightly lightened and we'll thinned base colour , sprayed at about 10psi from only about 5mm from the surface. Tiny random patterns - that's why it takes so long I guess. It takes a careful touch with the trigger otherwise the paint can spider outwards quite quickly. Practise first!

Then afterwards just thin coats of base colour until you get the effect you want!

Ok... that sounds easy enough.... but what about white?
My tomcat has a white underside.... i would assume you would use a darker colour to make it look dirty???

Possibly, I've never really thought about it. I suppose even mottling in white will still add variations in tone. You should try it and let us all know

[ElCapitan]

On the verge of resurrecting this one - ordered more paint for it as I ran out ages ago, but I'll post some photos later of where I left things.

[ElCapitan]

As promised, here are some photos of how this currently looks. As you can see, I ran out of paint when I probably just needed one more thin coat on the underside A new full jar it is, then.





The next photo shows 3 things -

• The paint did not go down smooth. Instead it's got a dusty, rough kind of texture. I tried thinning more, changing the pressure, still the same.

• Academy just put panel lines wherever.

• My scribing skills are non-existent, despite watching tons of videos and following countless tips.

I mentioned previously that I was tempted by some aftermarket exhausts, so this happened:



They're all painted up and look really good to me.




So once the new paint arrives I'll be able to finish the base colour and do the pylons and wheel bay doors etc and move onto detail painting like the wing leading edges.

[Tomcat64]

Nice to see you resurrect this one Rob

I'm with you on rescribing - it doesn't seem to matter how careful I am the tool just takes on a mind of its own eventually!

[ElCapitan]

Nice to see you resurrect this one Rob

I'm with you on rescribing - it doesn't seem to matter how careful I am the tool just takes on a mind of its own eventually!

I'm hoping the ultra-detailed cockpit will draw the eye away from the poorly scribed lines!

The truth is, the thought of unmasking that canopy is one of the main things that excites me about getting this finished

[Chandru]

Such fine detail!

[ElCapitan]

Started decals on this yesterday. Mixed results... Some of them have gone like crazy paving despite several applications of various decal setting solutions. Any ideas if it'll get any better with more coats?

[digger303]

Never seen this before, almost like the paint under the decal has misbehaved after the decal was applied.