ClumsyDude

Neat!

Thanks for checking in Harv - appreciate the support!

Oliver, this is phenomenal ... you capture a sense of 3D scale with your weathering that's incredibly convincing. I suspect this is layers and layers of airbrushing and drybrushing - however you do it the result is terrific. Cheers Jim

Of course, you can't really see the cockpit side walls on an F-14 with the canopy closed. Suspect that's why Hasegawa didn't pay a lot of attention to them. But I figured I'd give it a shot. First attempt (with epoxy putty and some Evergreen scratch work) just didn't look right. So I scraped it off and tried again. The technique was, mix up some epoxy putty, then try for a fabric look by stretching some cling wrap over the top, and pushing the cockpit against it to make sure it lined up with the edges of the cockpit. Results are here: Here's the next step with a bit of styrene and lead wire scratch: And here with a bit of paint and a wash:

Ok, so next up was the cockpit. The aim was to try to replicate a more detailed cockpit (using photos of the aires resin set as a guide), using my dodgy scratch building skills. First up was the main instrument panel. It's certainly detailed enough out of the box for a dio where the canopy will be closed. I put white primer underneath Tamiya black, and then scraped off the dial faces with a toothpick. Here's the first cut: And here it is with some future on the dials, and clear green drying on the CRTs: Same technique was used on the main pit: Then I added a bit of colour, a wash and some dry brushing etc. And here you can see my scratch efforts at plumbing on the rear wall: Side walls to come!

Sean, that's amazing. Would love to know how you achieved the weathering effect - there's some staining on the canvas, and some creeping up the bottom of the vertical timber panels which really looks the business. Cheers Jim

That's great scratch work, they'll look great under primer. Cheers Jim

Thanks!

Next up was the cockpit. I decided against a resin cockpit, as the canopy would be closed, and I figured it would probably be distorted anyway through the canopy. Then, for reasons I didn't fully understand, I figured I'd try to replicate something like a resin cockpit by scratch building stuff. I started with the seats. Cushions out of the box had some detail but didn't really look the part: [/url] So I fashioned a sort of sideways scriber out of an old blade and some scrap plastic. This would allow me to carve a line at the side of the seat, to replicate the look of the seat cover, and maintain a constant distance from the front of the cushion: And here it is against the side of the cushion: One cushion, now with padded cover, and foil and tamiya tape for a bit of extra detail: And with a bit of paint slopped on: Seat frames together with a bit of scratch, and the face curtain handles thinned a bit more to scale (they would subsequently snap, of course, and need to be replaced by wire): And with a bit more paint - you can sort of see where I've tried for tire black on the headrest to contrast with the metallic black on the frame: I didn't then get any WIP pics until after the cockpit was complete, including washing, dry brushing and teeny tiny decals ... For which I'm now kicking myself! A LOT more hours went into the seats from this point forward, but you'll have to wait until they're in the cockpit and installed! Cheers Jim

That's awesome - how did you get the holes lined up so precisely around the outside of the circle? Cheers Jim

Jaw-dropping scratch work. Do you use a magnifier? And how do you manage to glue such tiny bits of styrene accurately consistently without making a mess? I find Tamiya extra thin is a bit much for this kind of application, but CA (even the thick stuff) doesn't leave enough time to position. Cheers Jim

Great wood grain effect Whitey!

Awe-inspiring scratch work Joe!

No idea how you build so cleanly and quickly - this would've taken me the best part of a year!

Next step was preparing the base. I got myself a piece of MDF cut to the right size, and likewise a piece of black acrylic sheet from Bunnings. I even bought some framing dowel and a right-angle clamp to put the frame together - not pretty, necessarily, but adequate. Once it's properly done I may get a professional to make a frame for me (or better yet a display cover to keep the dust off). I then laid some styrene foam inside the frame as a base for the acrylic (the JBD required a gap in the foam): Acrylic was then grafted to the Skunkmodels JBD. Pretty messy and not as flat as I'd have liked, but got the job done: And with the Italeri tomcat posed on top: Comments, criticisms etc all welcome!

Awesome work Kent, it looks the business!

Awesome scratch building skills Kev!

Looks great!

This build rocks! Watching with interest.

Go the demonstrator ... don't see it every day! Jim

Y'know, Wolf, I've watched your work for a long time now ... when I grow up I want to be able to model like you. Your painting and photography skills are nothing short of amazing.

Hi all, been watching the forums for years now and marvelling at the amazing skills here. I have been meaning to start on a proper LSP WIP, but given that I've been working on my current project for over three years now - with no end in sight - I figure I might as well start posting photos of that. I've always been a tragic Tomcat fan. So, when I first came across Masa Narita's tomcat launch dio (see www.naritafamily.com) I knew that I wanted to build it. Did a couple of other tough 1/48 kits first (Academy F-111C, Hasegawa F-4E) to boost my painting and scratch building skills before I tackled the dream project. I finally kicked it off around Feb 2012, by which time Skunkmodels had released their 1/48 carrier deck and JBD. I also collected a Hasegawa F-14, a bunch of paint masks, a Skunkmodels tractor, and some figures. Of course the Skunkmodels deck kit is way off scale - the base is too small for a Tomcat, for starters, and the distances between the JBD and catapult are out of whack. Also, the surface texture is terrible and the spacing for the pad eyes is pretty random. So I figured I'd start with a big acrylic sheet from Bunnings and take it from there. First was the planning stage: I slapped together an Italeri Tomcat which I was planning new to use as a paint mule and scale estimator (wasteful, maybe, but it was only $20 and I figured for a four or five year project I could tolerate that). I also used blu-tack to put together some figures and printed off a catapult from a CAD drawing I found on line. Results are here: More to follow!