Tomcat launch dio 1/48 - DONE AFTER 4.5 YEARS!!!

[andromeda673]

damn looking good! Are you going to go with the salt weathering effect as well? or keep this one a little more on the clean side? great work on the decals and clear coat! 

[ClumsyDude]

Thanks andromeda!

 

I agonised a bit over salt weathering on this one - it's a great look and people have done some brilliant stuff with it. But I couldn't see anything that heavy on reference photos of the hi-viz VF-2 birds that I looked at - weathering seemed to be barely noticeable. So I decided against it, but would probably do it on a Lo-viz bird.

 

Cheers

Jim

[andromeda673]

good call, sometimes to me it looks over done, and sometimes it looks spot on, I think it really depends on the markings, you really hit on something there. Here are a few pictures of my first and only F-14 I have ever built, Academy's 1/72 VF-1 Wolfpack. I think I took weathering a little too far on this one, but I like your clean look alot more. 

 

 

 

 

[ClumsyDude]

Thanks Andromeda, I think your tomcat looks good. There are so many choices to make with salt weathering and I've never done it, so I was a bit nervous after all the time I've put in on this model. I've also seen that it's best done by using enamel paints over lacquer or aqueous acrylic, and I've not had any experience with airbrushing enamels. Probably shouldn't be that intimidated about it, but I am!

 

Jim

Edited July 8, 2015 by ClumsyDude

[ClumsyDude]

Ok, time for another update. This time I'm going to show the attachment of the exhausts (even though that was done in the last set), plus the exhaust shrouds and colouring on the wing sweep bags.

 

Here are the exhausts. I attached them with superglue; givens that I found the fit to be pretty dodgy, I had done a lot of work back at the primer stage to make sure that I had eliminated any steps before I added paint (didn't fancy the idea of doing touch ups on such a complicated weathering job as the exhausts). I even mounted little tabs inside and out of the exhausts to align them with the fuselage (you can see these in some of the earlier shots).

 

 

 

 

 

[ClumsyDude]

 After attaching the exhausts it was time for the exhaust shrouds. I figured they'd be easy - paint them in light ghost grey, attach to the fuselage, and then rely on legendary Hasegawa fit, right? 

 

The results were less than stellar. This was around the time my daughters started watching Peppa Pig; now if you live in the wrong country, or your kids are outside a certain age bracket, or you don't have kids, you won't have even heard of Peppa Pig. If, on the other hand, you're in my demographic, you'll know all the characters like they're your family. And every time I looked at this join, all I could hear was George Pig saying, " YYYUCK!"

 

 

 

So I had to fix it. Fortunately the Hasegawa F-14D kit (which I had in the stash, in the inimitable Idolmaster colours) has spare F-14A shrouds, given that one of the originals was irretrievably damaged. Much putty, sanding, scribing and masking later, and the result was satisfactory:

 

 

 

 

 

much better!

[ClumsyDude]

Next up were the wing sweep bags, and the staining on the wings from sweeping. You'll see above that my original colouring on the sweep bags was a consistent medium grey; reference photos show a much more varied pattern, with a grotty multi-hued blackish brown with a very prominent seam down the middle. So that's what I set out (masking, masking, masking) to emulate:

 

 

 

 

The gloss coat is very evident in these photos - it's not as smooth as I've seen some people achieve, but for my purposes it was good enough (much use of retarding thinner to get it to stay flat).

[ClumsyDude]

Then the staining on the wings. This was something I'd agonised about for MONTHS before I started; how best to achieve the effect I was looking for?

 

I started by placing the wing and flap together and masking off the area that goes into the fuselage when the wings sweep (I got the positioning of the masks by using a spare Hasegawa tomcat fuselage). Then I stuck a piece of plastic dowel in the notch in the wing, and tethered a cotton swab to it with a piece of Tamiya tape. The tape could be unrolled from around the swab to vary the length, in order to get sweep marks at different diameters. By dabbing the cotton bud in a black-green-grey mix of enamel, and then going over it with a dark grey-brown, I managed to get the sweep marks.

 

Here are the results on the first wing:

 

 

On the second wing I tried to go for an effect I saw in reference photos. What seems to have happened is that the spoiler sits slightly proud of the rest of the wing, with the result that the paint gets worn off the spoiler, leaving shiny metal underneath (but still in a circular pattern). This required masking first the sweep mark area without the spoiler, and then reversing the mask to apply titanium silver.

 

Here's the target:

 

 

And here's the effect:

 

 

Looking at this now, I realised that I should've scraped off the "no step" decal ... Oh well, live and learn!

[geedubelyer]

Hi Jim,

 

Sorry, late to the party as usual...

Glad I spotted this though. I followed the build that inspired you so recognised this idea straight away. It looks like you've got it nailed. Very nice job on the exhausts. The colours on them look perfect.

 

Even some of the high-viz birds can show a fair degree of grime so a little salt weathering in specific areas might be worth considering. The horizontal tails and aft fuselage are prime candidates if you were to give it a go but I agree with you that less is more in these cases.

I'm impressed by the effect you've achieved on the canvas inflatable bags. That works nicely.

 

The streaking on the wing roots is as good as I've seen. Top job mate. However, one thing that I wondered about is the bare metal spoiler where the paint has rubbed off. I've never noticed that on any of the pics that I've studied. Was it a common occurance?

I can't help thinking that a squadron bird would have had that repaired immeadiately it began to show but, I'm probably wrong........

 

Nice save on the exhaust shrouds. They look spot on after your hard work. Good job.

 

I'll try to remember to keep popping in to see how this build is progressing. It might inspire me to pick up my Turkey again.

 

Cheers.

 

Edit: Oh yes, forgot to add, your multi-hued wash treatment is superb. I'm a big fan. Great stuff.

Edited July 9, 2015 by geedubelyer

[Lothar]

Hats off, that's gonna be a stunner once finished. Fantastic progress so far 

 

Lothar

[ClumsyDude]

Hi Jim,

 

Sorry, late to the party as usual...

Glad I spotted this though. I followed the build that inspired you so recognised this idea straight away. It looks like you've got it nailed. Very nice job on the exhausts. The colours on them look perfect.

 

Even some of the high-viz birds can show a fair degree of grime so a little salt weathering in specific areas might be worth considering. The horizontal tails and aft fuselage are prime candidates if you were to give it a go but I agree with you that less is more in these cases.

I'm impressed by the effect you've achieved on the canvas inflatable bags. That works nicely.

 

The streaking on the wing roots is as good as I've seen. Top job mate. However, one thing that I wondered about is the bare metal spoiler where the paint has rubbed off. I've never noticed that on any of the pics that I've studied. Was it a common occurance?

I can't help thinking that a squadron bird would have had that repaired immeadiately it began to show but, I'm probably wrong........

 

Nice save on the exhaust shrouds. They look spot on after your hard work. Good job.

 

I'll try to remember to keep popping in to see how this build is progressing. It might inspire me to pick up my Turkey again.

 

Cheers.

 

Edit: Oh yes, forgot to add, your multi-hued wash treatment is superb. I'm a big fan. Great stuff.

Thanks geedubelyer! I really appreciate not only that you took the time to read the thread, but also to post such a thoughtful reply. It's the sort of thing that really doubles one's inspiration, I very much appreciate it!

 

As for the shiny spoiler issue: on reflection, you're probably right that any exposed metal would have been quickly painted. I guess on that front there's good news and bad news ... the bad news is, the wings are now well and truly attached, which means I won't be able to mask the area off without rogering with the fuselage, and I also will struggle to set up a pivot around which to draw the circles. BUT - I'd rather be lucky than good any day - the good news is, once covered with a flat coat, the titanium silver really looks like grey. So I guess I dodged that bullet!

 

As for the exhaust shrouds, the only thing that I'm nervous about is that I used Tamiya white putty ... Had a few experiences with nasty shrinkage, so keep the fingers crossed it doesn't show on the shrouds in six months!

 

Cheers

Jim

 

Edit - of all the tomcat builds I watched over the years - and there were many I looked at while I psyched myself up to tackle this one - yours was one of the most inspirational. Whenever the motivation reappears I'll be watching closely!!

Edited July 9, 2015 by ClumsyDude

[ClumsyDude]

Hats off, that's gonna be a stunner once finished. Fantastic progress so far 

 

Lothar

 

 

Thanks Lothar! Appreciate you checking in, getting feedback like this is really motivational.

 

 

Jim,

 

EXEMPLARY workmanship...

 

It ROCKS ! :punk:

Thanks for following Maru, I always get a kick out of your comments.

[ClumsyDude]

Ok, managed to get some time for another update. This time, it's the clear coat.

 

Looking at reference pics, it appeared to me that the glossiness of the paint on hi-viz tomcats isn't necessarily consistent across the bird. In places where there is little weathering, there's a semi-gloss sheen. In other spots, it's flatter. So, I tried to duplicate this on my model.

 

I used Mr Super Clear, both semi gloss and flat (the flat was diluted a bit with semi gloss as it's pretty brutal on its own). The flat went on the turtle deck, wing sweep marks, horizontal tails and on some of the vertical panels behind the cockpit. The effect is subtle in real life, and very hard to detect in the photos. I THINK I got it about right, but maybe it should've been a little more flat. Would love to get everyone's thoughts on that.

 

Here goes:

 

 

And the wings:

 

 

Here you can see the effect of the flat coat on the Tamiya silver, on the "off" spoiler. It looks more like grey than metallic.

 

 

And then ... the moment we all hang out for on a build ... unmasking the canopy after three months!

 

 

 

And some glamour shots:

 

 

 

 

Too much sheen on the semi gloss? What do you all think?

 

Cheers

Jim

[ClumsyDude]

Then on with the horizontal tails. You can see the sheen differently in these pics:

 

 

 

 

[Vitali]

I'm liking it! I like the Bounty Hunters markings! A little to much sheen for me but that's just my opinion.