Tamiya F-14A I.I.A.F.

[Grunticus]

I've been doing some further cleanup and more preparations to actually getting started with this kit. The hood looks good after one dip in future.

 

 

I have these wheel sets available, and the refueling probe set arrived as well.

 

 

The Tamiya kit rims resemble the rims on IIAF Tomcats most but that means rubber tyres. Most probably I will use the Reskit ones. I will investigate using the kit rims in combination with the Reskit tyres though. Stay tuned.

 

 

The middle console. Kit vs Avionix. The kit one is not bad at all in terms of detail, but the Avionix one is slightly better.

 

 

The cockpit part have all been prepped, and fit is only so-so. If I had to do it again, I would have gotten the Aires one in 1/29 scale :o)

 

 

Most disappointingly, the refueling probe insert is too big to fit next to the cockpit tub. Too bad. I have photos of IIAF birds with the probe cover door on, so I will leave it closed after all. The resin also does not look healthy. Age?

 

 

Doors in place:

 

Now, let's hope I find some time to get started on the cockpit. Daunting to get started due to lack of instructions, so I will have to use photos as reference.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 24, 2021 by Grunticus

[Grunticus]

I had a sinking feeling the further I got on the cockpit. I just don't like it. The way it looks, the way it fits. All down to my skills and my OCD-like desire for progress sometimes I awaringly admit, but chewing away the fun nonetheless. So, let's start over. I took everything apart again and restarted with adding bits to the nose gear well. There were ejector pin marks right where the molded plumbing should be. With evergreen rod and stretched sprue I restored most of it. The joints were covered with strips of foil cut from a package of butter wrapping. Small corrections but very notable, so good.

 

 

 I also added more plumbing to the side walls (solder wire).

 

 

This is what it looks like after a pass of MRP white primer.

 

 

The nose gear got some attention. A few hydraulic lines were added for interest, loosely followed photos here. The hydraulic lines still need black paint and final affixing. The three light on the box were drilled out and filled with the appropriate color with a toothpick. A drop of clear on the lenses is to follow later on.

 

 

Lastly I started preparing the Reskit wheels and tyres and paint them prior to assembly.

 

 

For the cockpit I will settle with a hybrid form of kit parts (tub, bulkheads), Avionix parts (Seats, cockpit sides, and consoles), and the Eduard set (etched tub facings and colored IP's, & various detail parts). I will get started on that next.

[Violator1991]

This one is becoming a gorgeous cat here!!

 

[Grunticus]

Going this route was much less frustrating to me. The Eduard set is quite nice. The base is done. I repainted the grey areas on the pre-painted Eduard panels so the color matches the rest of the tub. Still bits and pieces to be added like the delicate circuit-breaker boards behind the RIO and various knobs and switches. Painting the side panels and the seats is next, and after that I will turn my attention to the aft fuselage and main wing assembly.

 

 

 

 

[Aigore]

Nice styrene carving on that alicat! Great work

[Grunticus]

Not much to show but here's a small update.

 

I have started replacing the styrene wingtip navigation lights with translucent ones. Here's the left wing.

 

 

The nose section with the cockpit went together well. If you do one seam at a time and give it time to cure there's almost no worries with the seams or any miss-alignment. Some of the panel lines howevere are miss-aligned and need correcting. Well, it's an 80-ies kit, no?

 

 

Wheels, seats, and ip consoles are getting there as well.

 

[Aigore]

Lovely an Alicat! ❤

This is a very early Tomcat, just like the 'cats during the first cruise they had the six sided reinforfement plates on the vertical stabs. They got the standard A beaver tail without the ECM blister, they lacked the blisters under the wing gloves too.

Another typical Alicat thing is the removal of the door over the IFR probe housing. Standard loadout during the Iran Iraq war was two Phoenix missiles on the forward pallets, 4 sparrows and two Sidewinders.

 

I'll be followijg this gorgeous build!

[Aigore]

5 hours ago, Aigore said:

Lovely an Alicat! ❤

This is a very early Tomcat, just like the 'cats during the first cruise they had the six sided reinforfement plates on the vertical stabs. They got the standard A beaver tail without the ECM blister, they lacked the blisters under the wing gloves too.

Another typical Alicat thing is the removal of the door over the IFR probe housing. Standard loadout during the Iran Iraq war was two Phoenix missiles on the forward pallets, 4 sparrows and two Sidewinders.

 

I'll be followijg this gorgeous build!

Sorry, I meant 3 sparrows!

[Grunticus]

6 hours ago, Aigore said:

Sorry, I meant 3 sparrows!

 

 

I was wondering where to put the fourth

 

I am still debating whether to make it clean (no armanent) and closed (cockpit), or like your's. Great finish BTW!

[Aigore]

18 hours ago, Grunticus said:

 

I was wondering where to put the fourth

 

I am still debating whether to make it clean (no armanent) and closed (cockpit), or like your's. Great finish BTW!

Not closed, you have to show off that gorgeous office work you've put in.

 

Thanks it's a really old Hasegawa I built some 10 years ago.... I used German yellow for the FS30400, thought it had that mustardy yellowy quality

 

[Grunticus]

On 11/19/2021 at 4:09 AM, Aigore said:

Not closed, you have to show off that gorgeous office work you've put in.

 

Thanks it's a really old Hasegawa I built some 10 years ago.... I used German yellow for the FS30400, thought it had that mustardy yellowy quality

 

 

Thanks for your kind words! I really want to see the sleek lines of the Tomcat when done, so I'm inclined to close it up. You did a great job on that one!

 

In the mean time some more work was done. After testing the colors I decided to substitute MRP 36 for MRP 233, as the first choice was way too dark.

 

 

I then proceeded to paint the wings. Perhaps an odd choice in terms of work order, but I figured it better since the wings disappear in to the superstructure when assembled. I will sandwich paper between the wing and fuselage joints that can be simply pulled out after painting the main body.

 

 

The radome was glued to the nose, fit is not bad at all. After one sanding round, using sandpaper and also a flex-i-file. The shape looks spot on as well.

 

 

When dry fitting the main parts some (expected) problem areas arise. It's a pretty complex parts break-down.

 

The bottom is okay.

 

 

The top is less so. There's a marked difference in radius. I still have to study photos to decide to add putty or remove plastic. Either way it is not something that will stand out when equalized.

 

 

An extra lip might help below.

 

 

Since the model will move in to behemoth-stage after attaching the front section I decided to give the latter a coat of Surfacer 1500 now that it's easier to man-handle, the wizard we all love, hate, dread and trust for exposing flaws.

 

Masking off the cockpit is first.

 

 

I see now I must not forget to drill open the gun nozzle.

 

 

Some corrections are to be made. Unbelievable that my naked eye didn't catch this below on the unpainted surface yet Surfacer makes it stand out like a sore thumb. It surfaced all-right

 

 

Looking at that engraving I wish they had carried that level of quality over to the main fuselage (which has raised panel lines).

 

I must do something about that recessed refueling probe door, for some reason they recessed the complete area. I have some very thin stock. I will try to cut a precise fitting piece, using the scanner and Silhouette software to make a template.

 

 

Cheers!

 

[Grunticus]

Since the finished model would look...I don't know...awkward with grey upper wings and camoed underside I am going to strip the wings and repaint them. Good thing MRP can be wiped off with ethanol, even when totally dry.

[Aigore]

5 hours ago, Grunticus said:

Since the finished model would look...I don't know...awkward with grey upper wings and camoed underside I am going to strip the wings and repaint them. Good thing MRP can be wiped off with ethanol, even when totally dry.

Awww man.....a lil brain fart there, ey?

How unentertaing model building would be if we didn't make mistakes!

 

 

A really old kit that...perhaps Tamyia could be persuaded to up scale their brilliant 1/48 kit?

[Grunticus]

8 hours ago, Aigore said:

Awww man.....a lil brain fart there, ey?

How unentertaing model building would be if we didn't make mistakes!

 

 

A really old kit that...perhaps Tamyia could be persuaded to up scale their brilliant 1/48 kit?

 

Yes quite the fart of the year! The Tamiya may be old but I think it looks better than Trumpeter's, which reminds me of their 1/48 C-47/Li-2 hybrid contraption. It just "resembles" something. The existance of the 1/32 Trumpeter Tomcat unfortunately most probably precludes anyone else making a new one. I *personally* would donate my left kidney for an ICM 1/32 F-14A. If they stay on their track they may become the biggest in the industry.

 

Now, back to masking and painting the new upper surfaces. The most irritating thing is that I even missed a good clue when I started masking the first time around: The red navigation light was suddenly on the right where I was certain I had glued it to the left wing. I didn't pick that up very well though...

[Grunticus]

Now...where was I? Oh, yes...painting the wings (again).

 

 

My preferred method of masking camouflage, many thanks to @Tolga ULGUR for sharing the perks of this great material with me (UHU Patafix).

 

 

Now that this screw-up is out of the way, I'll turn my attention to joining the nose section to the fuselage. I am thinking about attaching the nose to the upper mid section first, and then attaching that to the lower fuselage assembly. I think this will greatly easy getting the top seam to fit in the best way, to avoid having to fill and sand the complex top side-curvature with the indent as much as possible. I've already glued a small polystyrene lip to the aft upper fuselage curvature to act as a rough attachment point that will somewhat help with / force an even seam. Oh, the wings will of course be detached again for this to ease handling. I have also already masked and painted the nose light-oak for the same reason. Pics will follow.

 

Cheers!