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


geedubelyer

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  • 1 month later...

Hello folk, many thanks for the kind words. I hope everyones' Christmas and New Year celebrations went well.

My job has been keeping me busy so I've done little to the Tomcat recently. I have, however, treated myself to a set of Aires "Wheeliant Wheels" for the F-14A.
I can recommend these to anyone building an F-14A as the detail exceeds the kit version by a large margin.
This is what you get in the set:

tn_Wheeliant_F-14_wheels_001.jpg

 

The resin is so clean, sharp, crisp and blemish free(at least on my set).
The tyres have raised writing molded on, the wheels show every conceivable nut and detail.

tn_Wheeliant_F-14_wheels_015.jpg

 

tn_Wheeliant_F-14_wheels_005a.jpg

 

tn_Wheeliant_F-14_wheels_005b.jpg

 

I used Citadel Miniatures Chaos Black spray can paint for the rubber of the tyres and Skull White for the wheels. The wheel nuts, tyre valves and various large fittings were picked out with colours from Games Workshop and Valejo acrylics.

Here's how the finished articles compare to the kit parts.

 

tn_Wheeliant_F-14_wheels_030.jpg

 

tn_Wheeliant_F-14_wheels_036.jpg

One thing that I noticed after studying reference photos was the two solid regions between spokes of the main wheel next to and directly opposite the tyre valve. I re-created those after sanding had removed all of the resin behind the spokes.

tn_Wheeliant_F-14_wheels_035.jpg

 

tn_Wheeliant_F-14_wheels_034.jpg

Hopefully this glimpse will prove useful to anyone considering this product.

Cheers for now.

Edited by geedubelyer
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GW! glad to see you back working on this! if it turns out half as well as your su-27 it will be a jaw dropper! I've been riding the fence as to whether or not to build an f-14.. i may wait till you finish this so i can use it as a build manual :D can't wait to see more! :popcorn:

 

Jerry

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  • 1 year later...

Hello folks,

It's been a while since I updated this thread so apologies for the delay. Jerry, thanks for the support, sorry I did n't get back to you earlier.
I know many of us frequent multiple forums (fora? :hmmm: ) and may have seen these updates elsewhere so again, apologies.
To those guys who have n't seen these before, here is what I've been working on for the last fifteen months or so (amongst other things :innocent: ).

With all of the additional detail on the gear leg I am forced enhance the gear well a bit too.
The Tamiya parts only show rudimentary surface detail which is completely innaccurate so I started by removing everything. In fact, it was easier to scratch build the front bulkhead of the bay and start afresh.
tn_Nose_gear_bay_001.jpg
and painted....

tn_Nose_gear_bay_002.jpg

 

I then turned my attention to the sidewalls. The right hand side was first and looks like this OOB
tn_Nose_gear_bay_details_(2).jpg

 

Here is the finished item.


tn_F-14_nose_gear_bay_rhs_wall_011.jpg


The large oval bottle was re-worked to significantly reduce the thickness of the banding.

 

I use various gauges of wire both copper and lead for the plumbing and wiring.
The cable ties are usually flattened lead wire as I find it easier to manipulate than strips of foil or Tamiya tape.

The left hand side wall looked like this


tn_F-14_nose_gear_bay_rhs_wall_014.jpg

 

And the finished item

tn_F-14_nose_gear_bay_lhs_wall_002.jpg

 

The binding on the cable bundles is thin strips of aluminium foil which give a nice scale appearance.

I'm currently working on the roof of the bay which is more complicated than I'd anticipated. The more I study reference images the more I find to add.
Once the box is constructed I hope to be able to finish the plumbing before installing it in the forward fuselage section.

Back soon with pics of the finished roof.

Cheers,

:piliot:

Edited by geedubelyer
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  • 1 month later...

Hi guys,

Phil, Marek and Mike, many thanks for your generous words fellas, much appreciated. I'm glad you like things so far. ^_^

By coincidence, the nose gear bay is complete. Once I'd got the box construction together I was able to finish the pipework and cable runs.
Here's how it looks
 

tn_F-14_nose_gear_bay_008.jpg

 

tn_F-14_nose_gear_bay_007.jpg

 

 

tn_F-14_nose_gear_bay_006.jpg

 

 

tn_F-14_nose_gear_bay_005.jpg

 

 

The gear retraction ram will be fitted at a later date as will the gear doors and their retraction links.
The next step is to close up the nose :D
In the back of my mind I have a plan to build and paint the nose section as a kind of reward for finishing the bays......

See you next time.

Cheers.

 

Edited by geedubelyer
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi guys, glad you like the progress, thanks for the kind words, much appreciated.

As a little reward to myself for getting the gear bay finished I decided to assemble the nose of the jet.
The fit was n't too bad generally but it's not up to modern Tamiya standards. The nose cone was one area where careful sanding was required to get a good fit.
I also had to remove some of the resin sidewalls on the Aires set but no more than you'd expect....casting blocks mostly I think.
With the fuselage halves together I added the windscreen and faired it in before masking it off. I also masked the gear bay and then gave the assembly a coat of Skull White primer.
The slime lights got a quick coat of light buff before being masked in readiness for the greys.

I started with the light ghost grey from both LifeColor and Xtracrylics on the underside but they were too dark. I used Valejo light grey blue to lighten it all up a tad. The Checkmates appear to use a hard demarcartion to the TPS so I masked off the lightest shade with Tamiya tape and sprayed the dark ghost grey, again using LifeColor and Xtracrylics paints but again, they looked too dark. They might work for a factory fresh machine but I'm aiming to depict an older, weathered bird so I used the light ghost greys to lighten up the dark ghost grey.
The last shade is medium grey and I used Xracrylics this time. Once again, it looked better when lightened, this time with Valejo Pale blue grey.

The airframe I'm going for is the low-viz "Nickel 103" on the Fightertown decal sheet. After a gloss coat I decalled the nose section and then applied some Valejo Matt to lose the sheen.

Here's where I'm at so far....

tn_F-14_nose_section_028.jpg

 

tn_F-14_nose_section_030.jpg

 

 

The next step should be the weathering using pastels. In some photos, the VF-211 jets looked pretty grimy so I should have fun.

Before I go, here's a closer look at the TCS pod under the nose.

 

tn_F-14_nose_section_032.jpg

 

The Tamiya parts have the red light molded in solid plastic so I cut the light out and replaced it with shaped clear sprue painted with Humbrol clear red. I also re-shaped the rear of the pod a little to better match the real deal. The lens is cut out of some scrap blue plastic packaging material.

That's all for now. I'll post up a couple of pics when I've done some weathering.

Cheers.

Edited by geedubelyer
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