Peterpools

WOW, looks absolutely fantastic and the vignette/dio adds time and place. So very well done. Keep 'em comin Peter

Kev Terrific build and thanks for all the updates - some mighty nice work Keep 'em comin Peter

Kev Heading over Keep 'em comin Peter

Phil I'm feeling the same Keep 'em comin Peter

Kev Nice start on the Tiger -PE floor bracing looks perfect. Keep 'em comin Peter

Nice work on the tracks and side armor. Always an accomplished when our build models final are sitting on their own feet. Keep 'em comin Peter

TAMIYA F-14A TOMCAT ANYTIME BABY 1/48 scale Why start the Tomcat now while I’m knee deep into the painting stage of my Mustang? With an enormous amount of masking, air brushing and paint drying times, there was little to do as the paint thoroughly dried which was a good 24 -48 hours later. Of course, some frustration has joined the foray as there has been a lot of go backs and back tracking, correcting glitches that have raised their nasty little heads. I also ran into a snag about needing a clear gloss sealer coat over the NMF mainly due to the new Eduard decals and wanting to use a panel line wash, I needed to order a bottle of Alclad Aqua Clear Gloss ALC 600 and a bottle of Testor’s Metalizer Sealer and then it would be testing time. So while all this will be going on, time to start my next build and my second Tamiya 1/48 F-14A Tomcat – just loved building the first one of many to come. As my norm, it’s going to be an OOB build except for the addition of a Quinta cockpit decal set and the Furball decal sheet #4820: VF114 The Fighting Aardvarks, CAG 100, USS Kittyhawk, 1976. I’m planning on a removable but closed canopy and maybe some very slight weathering. I’m a Long Island Boy – our family moved out to Long Island in 1956 and I still live on the island to this day. Growing up in Nassau County, I could look out my bedroom window facing east and every once in a while, I would be lucky enough see an F-84 (?) or F-105 in the pattern at Republic Aviation (way too far away to be sure what I was looking at) and maybe a few times a month, right overhead, would be a Hawkeye, Mohawk, Tracker or a G1 Gulfstream landing at Grumman’s in Bethpage. Our house was about equal distant between the two, those were the days and long gone. Needless to say, I have a passion for anything Grumman and Republic. Starting with the front office and the nose gear bay, I’ve spent an easy twelve plus hours to reach the point I’m at now. Fit and detail: typical gorgeous Tamiya and as always – no surprises. The Quinta Cockpit Detail Set is amazing and adds to an already brilliant front office. I’m using the kit ejection seats this time around and they are wonderful and went with the seatbelts and harnesses in the Quinta Detail Set. I confess to screwing up the shoulder belts and I do have an extra set of harnesses and may just redo them – see what happens. Gear bays are Tamiya Gloss White Lacquer, front Office MRP Lacquers and brush painting Tamiya and Model Air acrylics. Where primer was needed: MRP Light Gray Primer. Please excuse the images as I need to get use to photographing a lot closer with my macro lens. Keep ‘em comin Peter The Quinta 3D Cockpit set in all it's glory. I quickly noticed that the dry brushing looks so much overdone in the macro photos due to the magnification. I did a triple take on the actual assemblies in in full scale, they look perfect. Go figure

Rob Got ya and completely agree - verity is the key to keep the juices flowing. My stash is two F-14A's and on F-14D. Fifteen minutes from my house is the Grumman Memorial Park in Calverton and on display (outdoors -yuk the birds have a field day) is a F-14A and an A-6E Tram and a Phoenix AIM, and there never is a lack of inspiration when needed. Did I miss your ZM F4 Kai Phantom build? Sure hope not. Keep 'em coming Peter

Martin Looking forward to your speed build 😉 Keep ‘em comin Peter

Rob Nice score on Black Friday - all interesting and Evidence of a very varied modeling diet. I have three 1/48 Tamiya F-14 Tomcats in the stash and one already built and those in the stash we’re all purchased with Quinta Decal Sets as well. I’ve started an F-14A kit as I’m now on a slight hold with my Mustang waiting for painting and finishing supplies to arrive. I’m hoping to start a build thread today for the Tomcat as I have been tinkering with the kit on and off while in the various hold periods for the P-51. The Nieuport does look tempting but my record with kits with two wings and rigging is: zero completed. Keep ‘em comin Peter

Carl Holy Cow ... looking fantastic ... and the speed that you built the model; all in eight days, just amazing. Keep ‘em comin Peter

Gaz Agreed ... still a lot of cleanup and touch up work. I’m thinking maybe a combination of Micro Mask and thin Tamiya tape. I use an Infinity East Cutting Type A 100% of the time when masking and using Tamiya tape and can cut strips as narrow as .4 mm and now only buy one width Tamiya tape and cut the exact width I need. My thought is to use the Micro Mask in the curved corners and the strips for the straight sides. Keep ‘em comin Peter

Thanks Mark Moving forward at a slow pace and trying to correct any mistakes as I go. So far, so good. Keep 'em comin Peter

Jeroen Fantastic detail work ... I'm completely blown away Keep 'em comin Peter

John Nice progress on the front office and the replacement joystick and seat do look good. I've done a bit more reading on the Wildcat's interior colors and those coming off the production line at Bethpage -3 and -4's, had Bronze Green front offices. Some references point out that aircraft produced by Eastern Aircraft, Interior Green was used - way too complicated. My money is riding with your choice as the way to go. Thank goodness, we're not throwing Grumman Gray into the mix🙃 Keep 'em comin Peter

Gaz Great idea - going to give it a try. Keep 'em comin Peter

Jeroen Sitting right next to Harv ... Brilliant! Keep 'em comin Peter

Pete Just glad that as long as all is well and everything worked out for you. Keep 'em comin Peter

Thanks Phil Tamiya XF3 is surely a bear and paint to use. I was thinking of using a white undercoat, total forgot as I was in a rush and then after reading Rob's comments, realized it was the right way to go. next time around, I'll be using either MRP or Mr Color Yellow and hopefully one less issue to deal with. Loads of backtracking and sometimes it felt more like two steps backwards and just one step forward, as I redid so much of the painting and building stages. Back in the old days (just have to stop saying that), we use to say: just keep on trucking! Keep 'em comin Peter

Rob Much appreciated and thank you for the tips - next time I'm using yellow, a white undercoat is a must. I still have some more masking and paint work to do before reaching the decals stage and for the first time, I'm tossing around the possibility of actually using a clear glosscoat, sealing every thing in, then decaling and acrylic or oil washes. I can't use any enamel washes without a clearcoat as the AK Aluminum is enamel based and the Alclad is lacquer. I'm thinking of a pure lacquer base gloss coat and then using either enamel or oil washes. My second concern is killing the NMF with the clearcoat. Still always trying to solve issues I never thought about before starting. Keep 'em comin Peter

Much appreciated Gaz Masking has consumed untold amounts of both Tamiya masking tape and nearly as much time as actual build time. I do take a few days break in between masking session as it simply wears me out and then the stress of very carefully removing the Tamiya masking tape with fingers crossed that none of the NMF peels off ... so far, so good. 🤞 Keep 'em comin Peter

Thanks Kev That she is .. one gorgeous looking gal for sure. Keep 'em comin Peter

Thanks Kai Finally things are coming together and I've had to do a lot of backtracking, redo's light buffing and polishing. The yellow has been a bear at best and I've now done the tail twice and what it is , it is. Next up, I need to add some of the various assorted colored NMF panels and install the gear. Keep 'em comin Peter

Thanks Harv Getting there slowly but surely Keep 'em comin Peter

ADDING COLOR 12/16/21 Pushing ahead with adding all the various colors and that means a boat load of masking needs to be done for each color. Yellow: what a bear and it didn’t go as well as expected, as the yellow: Tamiya XF3 Flat Yellow that was shot over the tail feathers just looked bleached out after I masked and shot on the ID Wing Bands. The yellow is very translucent and the under-color base greatly effects the color hue. The yellow on the tail surfaces was over AK Aluminum and the yellow ID wing bands were over Alcald Semi Matte Aluminum and that alone effected the final color so much more then I expected. Nothing else to do but re-mask the tail, a light polish sanding with 8,000 and then 12,000 micro mesh and re-shoot the tail. The results are much better but still too translucent. What I should have done was re-prime with white and then the yellow but the Mustang is starting to wear me out abit. Red: having seen how the base coat color would affect the final paint color, I wanted the prop hub and red nose area on the tip of the fuselage to be exactly the same shade, as they are smack dab next to each other, so I first air brushed the two piece hub AK Aluminum and then followed up with MRP Red and it’s was a perfect match to the fuselage red; thank goodness something went right. The prop still needed a bit more polishing as I was able to see some very slight scratches after the first priming (a definite drawback to Revell’s soft plastic) and I spent some time stripping the paint off, re-polishing each of the four prop blades and then the gray primer was applied once again. Finally finished off the prop with Tamiya LP1 Gloss Black, which will eliminate the need to gloss the prop prior to decaling. Still need to paint the tips yellow – my favorite color. The OD Glare Panel was tackled next. I struggled to mask off the antiglare panel evenly on both sides as there were no panel lines to use for a masking guide. I needed to fuss a bit masking the front of the wind screen but all should be OK, or so I thought. My plan all along was to pop of the front windscreen off and reposition it before painting and guess who didn’t follow the plan? Hopefully I won’t need to pop it off now but we’ll see how it goes. The antiglare panel was painted with Hataka CO65 OD thinned with their own lacquer thinner – excellent results, smooth and no issues. Next up: All the gear and getting the Mustang on her feet. Thanks for checking in Keep ‘em comin Peter