1/18TH JSI F-14B Tomcat conversion

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Another small update for today, received my "01" decals for the tails the other day (thanks Brian ). Decals applied and waiting for a flat coat then, weathering followed my a final coat of flat. Another small step forward but progress, thanks for looking.

Steve

 

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OK so, after having a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner last night and helping the wife clean up the "fall decorations" around the house and getting out some of the Christmas decorations, I was able to get some time in on the Cat today. After letting the horizontal stabs dry over night ( primer and spot putty ) I wet sanded them with 400 and re-primed them. They look good and will get one more sanding with 400 before paint.

 

 

I also got the tails flat coated as well. I am a little concerned about still being able to see the edges of the decal ???? Hopefully after they are weathered and flat coated again, this will disappear ( fingers crossed ). What color wash would look better on the tails ? I use the Flory washes and have black, dark dirt and, light dirt. Ideas welcomed. Thanks for staying along for the ride and keeping me motivated.

Steve

 

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I hope everyone enjoyed their long holiday weekend. I know I sure did, good times and great food.

The weekend update, Part 1. I spent quite a few hours yesterday and today sanding the big beast. I started out by putting the finishing touches on the F-110 engine shrouds. I still need to add some panel details here and there but, the horizontal stabs line up real nice now.

 

 

 

Also spent some time re-shaping the ECM antenna on the beaver tail. I will hit the seams with some CA glue and give it another sanding prior to priming.

 

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Greetings everyone,

 

Weekend update Part 2. Since this beast is getting a total redo, every square inch will get sanded prior to priming. I chose to tackle one of the wings. There was a high spot along the entire bottom of the wing, where the flaps meet the wing area(factory seam). Thank god the plastic this thing is made out of is thick. This allowed me to block sand everything down and get the trailing edges nice and thin too.

 

 

The topside trailing edges had a lot of shallow sink holes and they got block sanded out as well.

 

 

Since the wingtip formation and slime lights have the incorrect raised detail around them, this got block sanded down as well. I cut out the cheesy formation light and will replace this will some clear red and blue plastic like I did on the tails.

 

 

 

 

Lots of work ahead but, progress being made. Hopefully things will go smoothly and I can get thru this next stage rather quickly. Thanks for following along.

Steve

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Greetings everyone, hope your week is going well. Got some time in on the Cat this week and worked on the wingtip formation lights. For this I used two old toothbrushes, one red and one clear, from the stash bin. I thought I had a green one too but, couldn't find it. Once I got the pieces sanded and fitted to the notch, I wet sanded and polished the edges that will get glued to the notch.

 

 

A chunk of the red toothbrush super glued in place. I used my rotary tool to get the basic shape then sanded with various grits of sandpaper to the final shape, I don't even have to paint this one, bonus.

 

 

 

I did the same to the starboard wing, I thought I had a blue toothbrush at one point but, couldn't find it so,  this will get some Tamiya clear blue / green when finished. I still need to sand the entire wing and address the seams. Thanks for checking in.

Steve

 

 

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Hoping everyone is doing well and finally I have some things worth posting shots of, at least I think so. The progress has been slow and steady lately. I've had to do ALOT of studying photos for all the detail work I've been adding to the Tomcat, since I am trying to be as accurate as possible. It's amazing how much time and research go into a project of this scope. This has gone way beyond what I'm use to doing for a model.

First update for tonight, since the weather has been much warmer the last couple of days, I was able to spray the topsides of the vertical stabs (FS 35237, Medium gray) and got the ends of the RWR antennas painted. Once dry I can gloss coat, decal and, weather these.

 

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Tonight's update Part 2, panel lines and "panel fastener" details added. JSI did a great job on the panel lines, for the most part they are correct. I am adding extra "details" here and there and removing the ones that should not be there. This shot shows some panel lines that SHOULD NOT be there.

 

 

Here is the same area after some filling. I also added the slime light formation panel and "panel fastener" details.

 

 

These next couple shots will show the various panels and their "panel fasteners" added as well.

 

 

 

 

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This area, on the underside of each wing, is where JSI decided to put the logo. Filled in and sanded.

 

 

Close-up of the "panel fastener" detail added to the wing fuel tank access panels.

 

 

[A-10LOADER]

Update for today,

 

Some problem areas that need attention. This is one of the reasons why I wish this model would have been released in a kit form. It would've been ALOT easier to take care of these areas before assembly.

These large voids will need to be filled in.

 

 

There is a nasty seam on both sides of the intakes that needs to be sanded smooth.

 

 

Large sink marks on the bottoms of the intakes as well.

 

 

I know this is not earth shattering progress for a lot of you out there but, progress none the less. I am not a quick builder to begin with and I'm really trying to do all the proper research before I go ahead and apply it to the aircraft and this is what takes up a lot of the time, research.

I appreciate everyone's encouraging words and kind comments during this re-build, it helps keep me motivated ( I've already passed my expected completion date ). At this point I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Steve

[A-10LOADER]

Final update for tonight. I was able to remove the leading edge fairing antennas ( large square hole above navigation light ). This will allow me to sand this area better before priming and it allows me to re-shape the antennas. They were very boxy looking, I gave them a more rounded appearance plus, I was able to get them to fit tighter to the airframe by removing some plastic on the back side. Now it will be easier to paint them off the jet.

Steve

 

 

[A-10LOADER]

I hope everyone is doing well today. I finally have some progress worth showing, at least I think so. I took a break from all the "panel fastener" detailing and decided to work on some of the problem areas.

The first pic shows some of the holes / gaps that needed attention around the air intakes.

 

 

The next couple of shots show the fix. I used Evergreen sheet plastic, in various thicknesses, to fill in most of the voids. Some Ambroid Pro Weld and super glue secured them in place. I then sanded everything flush and added a coat of Evercoat Metal Glaze. I like this stuff a lot, it sands easily, is very thin so you get no pinholes and, takes primer beautifully. You have to mix a hardener into it however so, you have to be careful because too much hardener causes it to set up extremely fast.

 

 

 

 

Here is the finished product all ready for some primer. The ramp on the left intake has more filler because it was too high and I needed to blend it back in with everything else.

 

 

Thanks for checking in and following along, til next time.

Steve

[A-10LOADER]

Good morning everyone, hope all is well.

Small update for today, I've been working on the joint where the forward fuselage and the main body meet. There is quite a good gap when they are mated together and the main body sat a little taller than the forward section as well. Instead of using a lot of filler, which may or may not crack later on, I decided to install some .020" plastic to the back of the forward section and fill most of the gap in that way.

 

 

Now when they are mated together, ( some pressure from both ends closes up the gap even more ) there is a very small seam that will be filled in with the CA when they are glued together. This seam should not be there on the real jet anyway so it all works out. There are also some panel lines in and around this area, that need to be filled in because they are not present on the real jet as well. Some CA will take care of this. The bottom seam fits really well and 95% of that will be covered by the forward Phoenix pallets so that's a bonus.

 

 

Time for some sanding and we'll see how everything looks. I'm not going to join the two sections together just yet. I still have to add some "panel fastener" details to the forward section and this will be easier to do before it's attached. I am also, at this point, thinking about priming these two pieces seperate just to make things easier for myself. I also want to get some color in and around the intake ramps before gluing them together.

Thanks for checking in and following along.

Steve

[A-10LOADER]

Greetings all,

 

So after some sanding, more filling and more sanding, things look really good. I will have to do some rescribing on the turtle back and, touch up some of the "panel fastener" details after both pieces are joined together permately but, all in all real happy with how it came out. That gap that you see all but disappears with a little pressure applied.

 

 

I had to remove the canopy to properly sand this area. I should have done this a long time ago, it would have made all the fixes that I did in the cockpit easier, oh well. I did nick the canopy sill area while removing the canopy ( where the masking tape pieces are ) with the knurled chuck of the dremel so, I will hit that with a little filler. Now that the canopy is removed I can sand, polish and, mask it off a lot easier however.

 

 

Up next I guess I'll glue, fill and, sand the long rectangular piece that is on the bottom of the forward nose section. On my VF-154 bird, a lighted version, this panel is removable to allow access to the battery holder. There was also a rare "Christmas version" of this Jolly Rogers jet released which also had lights.

 

 

Still alot to do but, another step forward. Thanks for staying interested in this rebuild and helping me stay motivated. Til next time.

Steve

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Hi everyone, late night tonight but, a productive one. I got the forward fuselage belly panel glued in and sanded the entire fuselage. I still have to touch up some panel lines and add a little more "panel fastener" detail but, happy with the results. Hopefully it will look good once primed.

 

 

Also got the TCS pod fitted back on but, only temporarily. I pre-drilled two holes in the pod, to accept some thin brass rod, and super glued them in then I marked their location onto the nose a drilled the corresponding holes. Now all I have to do is put it in place with a little glue when the time comes.

 

 

 

Time to call it a night, we'll see what the rest of the weekend brings. I hope you all have a great weekend and thanks for checking in.

Steve

[A-10LOADER]

Good afternoon everyone.

While working on getting the forward fuselage and the main body ready for primer, I kept looking at my reference photos and the model, something just didn't look quite right to me. The "turtle back's" ( which is the area that runs along the spine of the jet ) panel lines are incorrect on the model. This first shot shows what I now need to do to correct things. There are panel lines that need to be filled in ( marked with pencil) on both sides of the spine and I will need to rescribe the correct ones ( RED arrows) and add "panel fastener" detail, after I'm done filling the others. I also need to move the IFF/Data Link antenna ( large square hole ) more towards the middle of the spine ( BLUE arrow ).

 

 

This shot shows the "panel fastener" detail that will need to be added to the area as well, it runs from the GPS antenna up to the square area just above the BLUE arrow. I drew a line with pencil to keep the fasteners straight. The BLUE arrow indicates the new location for the TACAN/UHF antenna, it should be just inboard of the row of fasteners that run up the right side of the spine.

 

 

Many of you are probably wondering why I am worring about this but, it's how I am. If I'm going to take the time to do something I'm going to do it the right way. I'm very detail oriented and this adds to my slow building but, I know it's correct and that's how I want it.

Thanks for following and hope to have an update later this week, thanks everyone.

Steve