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Tamiya F-14A Tomcat, VF-211, No update, just responding to q's


geedubelyer

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Thanks Chuck, it's good to be dabbling with the Tomcat again. These vents were a challenge but once I dived in things unfolded surprisingly quickly.

 

Hi Rich, thanks for the support mate.

 

Hi Peter, it's little and often at the moment. The larger items will make this build come to life but that's later. For now I must concentrate on these smaller units.

 

Today's update is a sort of repeat really as it deals with the port vent box. This is similar to the starboard one we've just looked at but appears to have more pipework inside it.

tn_Tomcat_bypass_vents_012.jpg

 

Here's a closer look at the pipework. I'm not sure that you can make it out but I've applied a textured effect to the wall of the box where the pipes protrude using Valejo tube filler painted grey then dry brushed with brown.

tn_Tomcat_bypass_vents_016.jpg

 

With the two posed side by side the difference is apparent.

tn_Tomcat_bypass_vents_017.jpg

 

The next job will be to scratch-build the actuator rams and attachments to the rear bypass door. These are the same for both sides and will require plumbing in once they are attached.

 

Back with more soon.

 

Cheers.

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On 8/30/2015 at 9:31 PM, ClumsyDude said:

Guy, this is terrific - amazing attention to detail, it'll look great once it's done. What's the textured effect on the 1:1 bird? Looks like some kind of heat reaction in the paint?

 

Jim

Thanks Jim, much appreciated. The textured paint looks like some kind of caulk. I got a reference photo off the net but cannot remember where I got it. If you're interested I could PM you a copy?

 

Hi Oliver, that means alot man, thanks.

 

Hi Peter, it's a slog but little and often seems to get things done. What was that about eating an elephant one bite at a time?

 

I got the actuators added so that finishes up the bypass vents. The flash has made the weathering stand out and look quite stark. In normal conditions it's less abrupt.

tn_Tomcat_bypass_vents._(3).jpg

 

Looking at the way these boxes slot into the rest of the jigsaw it looks as though I may be returning to the wheel bays next so that I can get the intake trunking glued on later.

 

Work is taking me away for a couple of days so I'll be back later in the week.

 

Cheers.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Fred, cheers buddy. No-one more surprised than me that I've finished them. In the end (as with many things in life) when I just got stuck in it all came together. They are n't perfect but they do look a bit better then the stock kit items I think.

On 9/1/2015 at 12:25 PM, Ironwing said:

Gee

 

 I worked on the 14 project. Im sure youll do her proud and look forward to more updates. How I would love to do this in 1/18nth!!

 

Cheers

 

Geoff

Hi Geoff, interesting stuff. I'd love to hear more about your time on the Tomcat if you're ever in the mood to share any stories.

Just imagine how far you could go with the detail if you'd got one of the 1/18th models. Until we lost him I think Marek was doing some fabulous stuff on his massive Tomcat which was a joy to behold.

If you ever do get one I'll be in the front row to see what you do with it.

 

Here's a quick update of something I'd done in the distant past but neglected to add for some reason.

The horizontal tails.

I've done some weathering at this point using a number of techniques.

 

tn_Painted_tailplanes_017.jpg

 

tn_Painted_tailplanes_018.jpg

 

I expect I may have to re-visit them to tie them in with the overall weathering late in the build. Time will tell.

 

Back to the present day and to give my eyes a rest I'm alternating between the main gear wells and the wings. Sticking teeny-tiny bits of wire into the main gear wells is time consuming and painstaking work. To make matters worse my memory was playing tricks on me. I thought I'd finished the left hand side forward well but in fact it's only half done......

More soon.

 

Cheers.

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Thanks Mike. For what will eventually be seen I'm relatively satisfied with them.

On 9/12/2015 at 6:02 AM, ClumsyDude said:

 Question for you: how do you stick the wires to the side walls? I've tried different glues but I struggle to do it without obvious mess.

Jim

Hi Jim. Good question. I've experimented with various glues but keep coming back to good old CA.

PVA does n't hold well enough to position the parts correctly, styrene adhesive only melts the plastic and makes a mess and clear glue (the type you might use to add glazing, lights etc.) remains sligtly tacky in my experience.

I tend to put a drop of thin CA onto a suitable dish of some kind (pringle lids are ideal) and use a thin piece of wire to apply just a tiny drop to the part I'm glueing. Occasionally I'll just dip the actual tip of the wire that I'm adding into the CA and fix it in place before adding a drop of glue at the other end. It only takes a second or two to catch and then it can be left alone. I don't use kicker/accelerator as I've rarely found a need to do that. As you're probably already aware, less is more with CA so just a tiny drop gives enough strength for these non-load bearing bits.

 

HTH

 

Cheers.

 

To begin the paintwork on the main wings I primed everything in white fromGames Workshop. This gave a smooth uniform background for the top colours.

The leading edge is bare metal and I used acrylic shades for this. I found some bottles similar to Valejo in style but with pigment much like GW paints, nice and fine. I used the three silver grey shades to get the effect I wanted.

tn_Tomcat_wings_002.jpg

 

The underside was given a coat of Valejo light grey blue then the topcoat was Valejo again, this time pale blue grey. A guy called Rraab on ARC put me on to these shades many moons ago and I liked the way they looked.

I used some Xtracrylic medium grey (supposedly the correct shade for the upper surfaces...) to add some variance before wetting the surface and sprinkling on some salt.

tn_Tomcat_wings_004.jpg

 

This is a popular technique and gives a fair representation of weathered Navy aircraft. Once the salt had dried I could lightly spray the top colour.

tn_Tomcat_wings_009.jpg

 

The net result is a typically blotchy effect that makes a good base for the remainder of the weathering.

tn_Tomcat_wings_014.jpg

 

Tomorrow I hope to add a coat of future and the decals before sealing everything up so that I can add the pastel grime and streaks. I have to admit that I've had fun today. This is probably the bit I enjoy most.

 

More soon.

 

Cheers.

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I managed to gloss and decal the wings earlier so I could get to the best bit, weathering...

 

I've made a start

tn_Tomcat_wings_(3).jpg

 

The plan is to leave it like this until I assemble everything then tweak the final look when everything is together.

 

For the slime lights I used some thin black decal to create the lines. This is the line that seperates the different airframes on a 1/72nd scale Airfix decal sheet.

tn_Tomcat_wings.jpg

 

The green light was made from shaped clear sprue painted with Humbrol clear green lacquer.

 

Back to the wheel bays next but now that I'm into the swing of painting I might have a look at the vertical tails to break things up again.

 

Cheers.

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