Marcel111 Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 Welcome Andreas! You are off to a great start, and love your choice of Cat also! Marcel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andreas Tomcatter Posted September 18, 2019 Author Share Posted September 18, 2019 Greetings! Thank you all for your comments, interest in the build and the welcome! On 9/16/2019 at 10:50 PM, chuck540z3 said: Terrific work and photography Andreas! Although the Tamiya kit requires a number of corrections (I've built 2 of them), I still think it looks much more accurate when finished than the Trumpeter kit, even with the intakes corrected. Based upon what we can see of your work so far, this should turn out terrific! Cheers, Chuck I have in mind some corrections that need to take place, like panel lines on the fuselage that are wrong from what I have read. In general as the mold represents a fairly early Tomcat, things that have to do with re-enforcement plates on the vertical stabilizers and the wheels need to be changed. Also some details on the external fuel tanks panels and the shape on their backside. I have seen one of your Tomcat builds a few years ago so I think I will revisit to take a good look for informational purposes as your attention to detail always amazes me! If you could point out anything that comes in mind it would be most welcome of course and thank you for pointing it out. I believe you talk about shape accuracy and I could not agree more. Trumpeter's rendition has been analyzed quite extensively. The intakes take the spotlight and that is quite logical but the nose section feels off as well. With whatever means for the rest of the fuselage. Personally it bothers me more than I can admit to 7 hours ago, Mel said: I've always thought about it and said it, it would be nice if TAMIYA re-created from 0 this plane, next to the F-4 Phantom (J, C, D) Only if they did that! Fingers crossed! But ....I certainly can't complain though. Their 1/48 kit has been a real joy to anybody that likes this airplane. chuck540z3, Mel and Out2gtcha 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck540z3 Posted September 19, 2019 Share Posted September 19, 2019 16 hours ago, Andreas Tomcatter said: I have seen one of your Tomcat builds a few years ago so I think I will revisit to take a good look for informational purposes as your attention to detail always amazes me! If you could point out anything that comes in mind it would be most welcome of course and thank you for pointing it out. Thanks! If I could offer you only one piece of advice, it would be to use this reference site for details on the Tomcat, in this case a "D". It is exactly what you need when modifying and creating panel lines. Of note is the panel line detail at the back around the horizontal stabilizers and exhaust, which few modelers get right. F-14D "Christine" Restoration I also note that you are contemplating using the Tamiya F-16 exhaust nozzles, just like I did. I did so, because there really wasn't any other good GE F110 exhaust nozzles available at that time. You are much better off with the Aires set you already have. They are more accurate and detailed, while the Tamiya ones are a bit too small, just like the Wolfpack conversion set. The other thing that still comes to mind is all the raised panel line detail that needs to be removed and re-scribed at the rear. Although time consuming, it's not really all that hard to do. I lightly scored a panel line beside each raised one, sanded the raised one off, then deepened the scored panel line while aligning them all up. The panel lines on the horizontal stabilizers should be sanded off too, but only slightly. They are real, but barely noticeable on the real deal. Good luck. With the great aftermarket stuff you have already and what I've seen of your work so far, I just know that this will turn out terrific! Cheers, Chuck A-10LOADER, Andreas Tomcatter, Marcel111 and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A-10LOADER Posted September 19, 2019 Share Posted September 19, 2019 I totally agree with Chuck, the Prime Portal site with Christine, along with the DACO book were very helpful to me when I did my 1/18th scale F-14B conversion. I will revisit both when I start my 1/18th scale F-14D conversion as well. Steve "TOMCATS FOREVER, BABY...!" Andreas Tomcatter 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andreas Tomcatter Posted September 19, 2019 Author Share Posted September 19, 2019 (edited) 5 hours ago, chuck540z3 said: Thanks! If I could offer you only one piece of advice, it would be to use this reference site for details on the Tomcat, in this case a "D". It is exactly what you need when modifying and creating panel lines. Of note is the panel line detail at the back around the horizontal stabilizers and exhaust, which few modelers get right. F-14D "Christine" Restoration The other thing that still comes to mind is all the raised panel line detail that needs to be removed and re-scribed at the rear. Although time consuming, it's not really all that hard to do. I lightly scored a panel line beside each raised one, sanded the raised one off, then deepened the scored panel line while aligning them all up. The panel lines on the horizontal stabilizers should be sanded off too, but only slightly. They are real, but barely noticeable on the real deal. Many thanks for the information! Panel lines is the thing I am trying to get prepared most for as I will spend quite some time on them. I've used Prime Portal in the past however I do not remember the particular F-14D which has quite a lot of interesting photos. I was thinking to work on the panel lines based on Tamiya's 1:48 scale model as I presume it has higher level of accuracy in comparison to older kits and I do not have access to any good scale drawings of the aircraft but since there are quite a few close ups on Prime Portal they will certainly be of great help! 5 hours ago, chuck540z3 said: I also note that you are contemplating using the Tamiya F-16 exhaust nozzles, just like I did. I did so, because there really wasn't any other good GE F110 exhaust nozzles available at that time. You are much better off with the Aires set you already have. They are more accurate and detailed, while the Tamiya ones are a bit too small, just like the Wolfpack conversion set. Regarding the exhausts....I bought the Aires set but I have an issue with it although I was aware of it: The rivets on the exhaust feathers. In real life they are there, however they are very subtle while Aires has them quite pronounced. I can't say I like them very much and it messes a bit the image of the exhaust feathers as I prefer them flat. So one choice I had was to sand them down. I began with it, cautiously, but I realized that I will probably irreversibly change the shape of the exhaust during the process or lose more detail than I wanted to, as sanding resin in such a restricted way proved more difficult than I expected, not to mention the fragility of the feathers which can be damaged easily. Even when I used CA glue I had to do multiple passes so I stopped all together. That is why, again I remembered Kai's build where he used the Tamiya F-16 ring and exhausts. As in your case, back then there was no Aires set and I guess that was logical. So I started searching for a set and since then I have acquired one from a fellow modeller in our local club. And this is where I compared both cans (Aires is dark grey while Tamiya is light grey): My initial concern was if and how well the Tamiya exhaust will fit to the Aires ring... I will not comment on the coincidences ...... That is why I want to use Tamiya's exhausts -if i find a second one. I will have the best I guess of both worlds: The fuselage ring and the seamless afterburner section from Aires while I get to enjoy the Tamiya non-riveted feathers. Anyhow if somebody where to get the whole exhaust set from the Tamiya F-16 kit, ordering the separate sprue trees, I guess it would be quite expensive so Aires should be an excellent choice. Andreas Edited September 19, 2019 by Andreas Tomcatter Starfighter, Greg W and A-10LOADER 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durangokid Posted September 20, 2019 Share Posted September 20, 2019 I'm really looking forward to this! I've been wanting to to build this kit with those exact decals for a long time now. The only thing that has stopped me is knowing how much work I would have to put in, so I have to be in the right frame of mind to start a project like this. Plus with my luck, Tamiya will release a new mold kit when I'm about half way through! Great work so far and I can't wait to see more! Bryan Andreas Tomcatter 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starfighter Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 Excellent work so far, I am doing something similar using a heavily modified Revell kit. I'm going for Modex 102. Have you made any progress since your last post? I'd love to see more! Andreas Tomcatter 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andreas Tomcatter Posted July 14, 2020 Author Share Posted July 14, 2020 (edited) On 9/20/2019 at 6:56 AM, Durangokid said: I'm really looking forward to this! I've been wanting to to build this kit with those exact decals for a long time now. The only thing that has stopped me is knowing how much work I would have to put in, so I have to be in the right frame of mind to start a project like this. Plus with my luck, Tamiya will release a new mold kit when I'm about half way through! Great work so far and I can't wait to see more! Bryan Many thanks Bryan! That is what I was always concerned about apart from the required space to work with and display this thing. As you say you have to be in the right frame of mind if you want to correct its many flaws while keeping a constant rate of involvement otherwise you will get into prolonged pauses like the current one. Quote Excellent work so far, I am doing something similar using a heavily modified Revell kit. I'm going for Modex 102. Have you made any progress since your last post? I'd love to see more! Ben thank you and I appreciate your comments! I've been following your outstanding work and I remember the Tomcat, especially the nose correction. Unfortunately I haven't worked on the big Cat for some time now but I hope to get on to it again, soon. Have a great day! Andreas Edited July 14, 2020 by Andreas Tomcatter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushande Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 (edited) Absolutely outstanding craftmanship! That's some great work! Edited September 9, 2020 by bushande Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crew Dog Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 Another kitty! Superb workmanship there, sir, and as said previously, welcome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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