Revell F-14 conversion to F-14B: VF-103 circa 1998

[easixpedro]

OK, ok, ok.  I'll admit it.  I have a problem. My name is Peter and I'm addicted to LSPs. I'm also a serial starter. 

 

Here's part of my haul at Nationals. Apparently I was on a kick about USN Fighters...  Paid about $55 for these kits.  Pretty stoked about the Wildcat and Hellcat as the molding/plastic is super crisp!  The Corsair is a gem of a kit.  All will eventually be built in various in-flight poses, so not worrying about the lack of details.  Even scored cockpit stuff for the older kits.  But what really made me happy was the Revell Tomcat.

 

 

In my youth, I spent a lot of time in Boulder Hobbies. At some point, the owner gave me this kit asked me to build it so he could hang it from the ceiling.  Pretty heady stuff for a teenager that wasn't even driving yet.  Top Gun had just come out as well as this kit.  Scored this kit for $15 at Nats.  Here's my plan for it:  Will build it and give to a coworker of mine.  Funny story though.  He was my boss in CVW-5...I was a wet behind the ears LT and he was the CVW OpsO.  We're both retired now and oddly working in the same building. As is often the case, he was always too busy to keep an eye on all our antics. I can't even begin to count the  number of times he yelled at me for signing us up for a good deal exercise or some other seemingly innocuous event.  It got to the point that he usually greeted me with a sigh and "Booger, what have you done now?" But being a good boss, he always provided top cover when it came to others taking issue (such as when I signed the wing up for 100+ sorties a day during a 2-week exercise off Korea).  Really fun to watch him duke it out with the ship and Flag Staff about how they should support my training program. There's moments though where I see him in the building and vapor lock thinking we're back on the Kitty Hawk.  We both chuckle about it and joke about life back in the day. 

 

He was in VF-103 as a Training Officer, so it'll be a Jolly Rogers jet, circa the 1998 cruise on USS Eisenhower.  (Another funny story--my roommate at the time was in VAQ-132 and somehow he and a couple other JOs managed to steal Jack Ernie from their Ready Room and hold the bones hostage.  A whole host of antics followed as the Tomcat guys blamed the Hornet guys for it, because no one could believe that the EW nerds would be capable of such shenanigans...)

 

Won't be going hog wild to fix everything with the kit.  Will update it to a B, but that's about it.  I know there's endless debate over the best Tomcat kit etc.  Just dropped an order for some Reskit exhausts and decals for VF-103. The rest of the conversion stuff I'll scratch.

 

Perhaps the biggest drawback of the Revell kit, is the intakes.  With some careful sanding and fit-checking, they actually fit pretty well (on the outside).  I drilled the ends out and then covered the seams with a strip of paper soaked it white glue.  Once that was dry, I soaked it again with super-thin super glue.  Dries rock hard so you can sand it to feather the edges.  To me, that's a bit easier than trying to putty the gigantic seams in the intakes. A cheap and easy fix!

 

Have already glued the wings, stabs and tails. Waiting on the aftermarket goodies to arrive so I can see how it all fits.

More soon!

-Peter

[Panzerwomble]

And here we go again !( Just "minor" modification ..you're kidding no one !)

 

 

 

Your work ethic / drive is 125% admirable . I have a few LSPs ...they are up there .....gathering dust ......yup still up there ....  exhausted now . 

 

Look forward to this one Pete , we all love Tomcats. 

Edited August 2, 2022 by Panzerwomble

[Jim Barry]

I like your problem! 

[easixpedro]

1 hour ago, Panzerwomble said:

And here we go again !( Just "minor" modification ..you're kidding no one !)

 

1 hour ago, Jim Barry said:

I like your problem! 

 

Ha!  I love it, except that this place is a bunch of enablers! 

Seriously though, for some reason I find great joy in taking kits from my youth and giving them another go.  And, yes...I'm only kidding myself about the "Minor Modifications"  It's already started in the cockpit.  Just using the kit tub and already making mods to make it look better. One thing leads to another and then the next thing you know, you've chopped up a perfectly good Intruder to make a Prowler...

[Oldbaldguy]

Hmmmm.  This might be a good one for your previously mentioned low level hauling ass stand/base, assuming Tomcat drivers ever did such a thing.  You know, with a shock wave on the water and all.

[easixpedro]

I plan on doing it over a small base with a small Niimitz class carrier. Hook will be down like it is when the a/c are in the stack overhead the ship prior to landing.  At least that's how I'm envisioning it right now. 

[JeepsGunsTanks]

You could go all Final Countdown on it, and throw in a Zero!

[easixpedro]

Finally had a moments to mess around on the kit. The Reskit exhausts arrived from Spruebrothers on Wednesday, and I was anxious to see how they fit. They’re exquisite…felt bad paying 3x what I spent on the kit, but such is life sometimes!

 

Here it is just sitting there. A bit of pressure and the fit quite well. Will need to finagle the side a bit, but all seems reasonable thus far.

 

 

 

 

Before I started gluing up the fuselage halves, I needed to address the crappy heat exchanger vents. Drilled ‘em out and made my own. Star fighter has some available in his Shapeways store if you’re interested.

 You can see it versus the kit representation… needs fixing.

Here’s another view after I added the edging.

 

Have both exhaust shrouds on and am working on getting the horizontal stabs situated before I finish gluing the fuselage together.

 

More soon

-Peter

[Rockie Yarwood]

Great start, Peter!

[blackbetty]

looks very cool! reminds me of my acient revell B conversion with the CE parts

[Oldbaldguy]

I believe Revell cut those panel lines with a ditch witch.

[easixpedro]

5 hours ago, blackbetty said:

looks very cool! reminds me of my acient revell B conversion with the CE parts

Yes, I was perusing your build after I bought it actually! 

1 hour ago, Oldbaldguy said:

I believe Revell cut those panel lines with a ditch witch.

Hahahahahaha! In some places, yes. In other’s they’re decidedly perfect for a 1960s era Grumman product… I have always joked that Grumman’s A-Team was working on the Lunar Module for Apollo. Every other program got the scraps. No Tomcat guy will ever admit it, but the Tomcat program was a debacle and the TF-30 engine fiasco essentially put Grumman on the edge of bankruptcy, hence Northrop buying them. My opinion of course, and sure to cause angst with those associated with her…

[jeroen_R90S]

Nostalgia -my local shop in the village I grew up in when I was in my early teens) had the Revell F-14 with a big discount since it had been there for ages, and nobody wanted it apparently...

It was a Revell Germany box from the era when they showed built-up models on the top, and it had VF-1 markings.

So I scraped my money together an bought it, and remember it was huge -when finally slapped together and painted the decals desintegrated but I did not mind that much then -some red and black and all fixed up it was!

Then had nowhere to put it -so asked my parents if I could put it on the TV -on the old ones that was still possible

It fell off when my mom was dusting the room, though I tried to repair it later (I still have a new clear sprue RoG sent me) and would put Superscale decals for the VF-41 Su-22 shootdown the plastic had become so brittle there was no sense repairing it...

 

Anyway, sorry for the ramble, but this model was what got my to do 1/32 in the first place and after many 1/72 builds I'm now occasionally back in 1/32

 

Jeroen