1/18 JSI F-14A to F-14D Tomcat conversion - VF-2 Bounty Hunters

[Out2gtcha]

This looks wonderful!   Great paint work for sure

 

 

Mirko Opitz from Pitzmodels made some incredible F110 nozzles in 1/32 and 1/18th scale which I had the pleasure to see with my own eyes last year, but he sadly didn't make them available for sale. An utter shame as they are true works of art. 

 

 

Indeed, Ive talked with Mirko several times as I used his Pitz models cans on my SU-30. They are indeed little works of art!  Hard as the dickens to assemble, but look great. IIRC Mirko said he was getting out of the PE/model business, as I had talked with him several times about his F-14 cans, (they were on his site for a bit) but they never materialized for sale after that.

 

If they were anything at all like the SU cans they surely would have made any model they were on

 

 

 

[Starfighter]

Do you happen to have any pictures of those nozzles Ben ??

 

Steve

 

I sadly forgot to take photos, but they are scaled up versions of his magnificent 1/32nd scale nozzles which he sadly never offered for sale either. Here are two pics of the 32nd scale versions, built by Stephan Ortmann aka Tomcatfreak. As already mentioned, Mirko's 1/18 scale nozzles are identical but 177% bigger.

 

 

[A-10LOADER]

Ben,

Those are GORGEOUS !! It's a real shame these are not available in 18th scale.

 

Steve

 

"TOMCATS FOREVER, BABY!"

[Starfighter]

Totally agree, Steve. Mirkos stuff was among the very best on the market, it's a real shame it's not available anymore. 

[Skydancer]

Some updates... I formed the airbags and started with the weathering of the wings

 

After this step, the oiled and dirty parts of the wing will be sanded just a bit. After this, a clear coat will come over it and the job will be done again with a darker color to get the right effect.

[A-10LOADER]

Looking good Skydancer, keep up the great work.

 

Steve

 

"TOMCATS FOREVER, BABY!"

[Skydancer]

Well, the stencil I made for positioning the dirt was wrong, so I am correcting it yet. Also the Airbags needed correction. At first I tried the easy way with milliput putty, but this was to soft and hardened out bad. So I also removed the formed airbags to do it again with industrial car putty. So all you saw before was for dump. Keeping you up to date with the new way At the moment I stoped sanding the airbags after 6 hours doing this job... around 6 more to go tomorrow, but it is Sunday

[Skydancer]

Redesigned Tomcat Airbags. Formed with regular car putty, sanded over hours, painted 3 times with a sponge and sanded down the color again and again to get this effect. Washed with Vallejo dark gray and finished with Tamiya weathering master soot  (Dont look at the rest of the bird, its full of sanding dust)

[TorbenD]

Mighty fine work going on here Skydancer. Loving the attention to detail.

 

Torben

[A-10LOADER]

Very nice work Skydancer, beautifully done.

 

Steve

 

"TOMCATS FOREVER, BABY!"

[Skydancer]

Some updates

The fins are painted and the Antenna is attached on the right outside fin. 



Also I overworked the bottom of the cat with a thin airbrush coloring.



and I decided to work with stencils for the bigger parts, I plotted out instead of decals.

[A-10LOADER]

Looking good pal. That's quite the spray booth you have there.

 

Steve

 

"TOMCATS FOREVER, BABY...!"

[A-10LOADER]

For those of you on here who do Facebook, you should check out more of Volker's work on the page,

1:18 scale Aircraft / bbi / 21st Century Toys

Really something special happening here from a very talented guy.

 

Steve

 

"TOMCATS FOREVER, BABY...!"

[Empire]

Hey Volker,

 

your D looks awesome! I had the 1:18 scale Cat too...but sold it a few years ago .

This huge Cat needs a loooot of work and I spent so many years on my 1:32 scale Cat...I couldn`t handle it again.

 

But if I see your D, I think I made the wrong decision. Ok, now it`s too late. But it is great to see that big bird coming together after several modifications.

Too bad, I never catched the VF-2 D`s in action. When I was on Cruise with the Bounty Hunters, the Tomcat was gone and VF-2 had converted to VFA-2 and received the F/A-18F.

I love the Super Hornet, but she can`t beat the Tomcat.

I was lucky enough to catch the last Tomcats (VF-31 / 213) onboard the CVN-71 during the last Tomcat Cruise.

I will never forget the sound of the Tomcats on the catapult. Damn...I miss that birds.

 

Can`t wait to see your bird 100% complete.

 

As I said, I never catched the VF-2 Tomcats on a Carrier, but I catched that birds during a unique weather situation at the AMARG.

If you need something special for your Cat, let me know.

 

 

Viele Grüße aus Frankfurt, Kai

 

 

 

[Anthony in NZ]

Loving this build...these look to be HUGE kits!  I always felt really large scale stuff looked a bit 'toy-like' but with the efforts going to the builds on here, I have changed my mind....Shame they didnt do an A-4

Edited June 28, 2018 by Anthony in NZ