Tamiya 1/48 F-14A Tomcat

[Peterpools]

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

 

 

 

 

 

[DocRob]

Very nice start of a very interesting plane , Peter. Having just received my -D, I make myself comfortable in your WIP-zone. The pit is looking great with the Quinta detail sets. The 3D effect is just more realistic than flat PE.

Cheers Rob

[Bomber_County]

Oh my Peter, stunning as ever, what did we do before Quinta etc…….I’m going to  have to look into these for my Tamiya Mossie build. The only problem is they are quite expensive over here……

[GazzaS]

VEry sharp start, Peter.

[Drifter]

Looking very good. 

[Peterpools]

Thanks Rob, Tamiya kits are amazing and rarely have any issues at all. I've now used the Quinta Sets on three kits and they are the future here now, as they offer realism that we could never achieve before with PE.  When you build your -D, it's all about enjoyment and relaxation.

I've already gone back and removed a lot of the dry brushing as I thought it was too much under the macro lens and just wanted it to help highlight the details with minimal wear and tear.

Keep 'em comin

Peter

 

[Peterpools]

Thanks Phi, much appreciated

Agreed that the Quinta sets are a bit pricey but so well worth the money and it's impossible for me to ever come close to achieving the level of detail they offer.

For most kits, the only AM I might normally would buy: interior PE detail set, decals, ejection seats with seatbelts and harnesses and maybe exhaust. Since I started using the the Quinta sets, I rarely buy anything else other then decals (maybe) and maybe exhausts. For props, just the Quinta set. See how well the Red Fox detail set looks on Kai's Tornado, their is another 3D printed option. I'm betting it's only a matter of time before kit manufacturers start including them in their kits, just as PE has found their way into almost all kits these days - has to start somewhere.

Keep 'em comin

Peter

 

[Peterpools]

Thanks Gaz

Getting there and a nice break form the Mustang as I wait for some supplies to arrive.

Keep 'em comin

Peter

[Peterpools]

Thanks Drifter

Just a pleasure to work on a Tamiya kit where all the parts fit and there never seems to be any frustration.

Keep 'em comin

Peter

 

[Bomber_County]

With 3D decals, I see Eduard have joined and a company from the UK called Kits-World…….I am definitely tempted to use these on the Tamiya Mossie…..might just start that and have it as a gap filler…….hmmmmm

[Peterpools]

Phil

Seems as quite a few AM companies are now making 3D decals and cockpit sets. I used the Kit world sets for seatbelts - worked well and have the an Eduard Look set for the Mustang but haven't used it yet. I don't think Quinta makes a set for the Tamiya Mossie in either 32nd or 48th scales.

Keep 'em comin

Peter

[mark31]

just wow on the pit

i love it this will be a master piece

Mark

[Peterpools]

Thanks Mark

Much appreciated and another awesome Tamiya kit.

Keep 'em comin

Peter

[Peterpools]

BACKWARDS AND FORWARDS

AND

OH NO

12/21/21

Backwards:

After reviewing my photographs from the last update and realizing how bad the dry brushing looked compared to how well it looked in the flesh, I decided I would need to clean up my act and focus on how the details appear in photographs, especially those shot with a macro lens.

I removed the almost all the dry rushing and, in some instances repainted the offending parts. I added some light washes to the canvas IP cowling covers, then picked out the details with a brush and did the same for the ejection seats.

Moving Forward:

I completed both the intake assemblies, whose fit was typical Tamiya, air brushed them in three sections with Tamiya LP 2Gloss White Lacquer, including the front compressor hubs and completed the compressor fans in a mix of Model Air Aluminum and Gun Metal and a Tamiya Black Panel Line Wash to highlight the details.

Using the Furball Decal – painting guide as my main color reference, the lower lip of the intake is shown as white and not polished aluminum, so I left it as is.

Assembling the wings, Tamiya has a glue line just forward of the trailing edge, so they trailing edges would be razor sharp but in doing so, created a joint/panel line. I compared the wing to the scale plans in Danny Coreman’s F-14 book and they did not exist, so it was filled in with Tamiya White Putty and removed.

After the main gear bays were with painted Tamiya LP2 Gloss White and the entire intake assembly was glued into place with no fuss at all, at the wee hours of the morning.

OH NO

OH NO, what have I done! All this work on the intakes and I just suffered a HUGE SENION MOMENT. Sitting smack dab on my cutting mat were the two rear interior portion of the intakes with the front compressor fans. I installed the exterior portions of the assembly and never gave it a thought that I didn’t glue the interior parts in place. The glue had already dried rock solid and there is no way on earth I could  push them in place. Has the chemo chemicals effected my brain or just a senior moment; who knows but the damage is done. These are the choices are now have:

Bin the kit – no way – failure is not an option.

Buy new parts from Tamiya – way too expensive and way too much work.

Build the kit with out the intake fans, hoping the dark interior would hide the omission – cheesy at best and no way.

Buy a set of Quickboost FOD covers meant for the Hobby Boss kit, tweak them to fit the Tamiya kit. With FOD cover being used, I’ll add the boarding ladder and steps, so everything blends and move on.

I like to work in sub assemblies and then test fit all of them and that’s how the Big Cat is at this moment; taped and being test fitted.

Thanks for checking in

Keep ‘em comin

Peter

OH NO, the interior rear intake assembly I forgot to install

The external intake assembly glued in place

Test fitting a number of sub assemblies

 

 

[DocRob]

Damn Peter, that's bad, but are you sure there is no way to use some blue tack and stick the backside of the fans to a long rod and insert them through the engine openings?
The pit looks perfect though.

Cheers Rob

[Landlubber Mike]

The cockpit looks fantastic - those Quinta packs really dress up cockpits nicely, especially on modern aircraft with all the dials, etc.

Not sure what to tell you on your intakes issue Peter - good luck with whatever you decide, sounds like you have some good options and I'm sure you'll come to a good solution.

[Peterpools]

Thanks Rob, much appreciated.

I'm finally happy with the office, both in the flesh and in the pics.hanks Still can't believe I did it but I've learned a BIG lesson, at 74 years of age and having been through chemo, sometimes I have a few m ore senior moments then in the past. From this point on, I need to double check everything before committing to glue; almost as: measure twice, cut once! I might be able to push the compressor fans in but that will still leave a large unpainted area in the rear of the intakes where the assembly would have been. I'm just thinking using the QB FOD covers will work out pretty good and then I'll add the boarding ladder and steps plates. In the end, not a bad option. Also, the bright side of my Senior moment, is I have two complete rear intake assembly for my next F-14 and there will be more to follow.

Keep 'em comin

Peter

 

[Peterpools]

Thanks Mike, much appreciated. Sometimes things work out for the best and the FOD covers and ladder with steps will be a nice look.

From now on, the motto will be: Double check and glue once.

Just love those Quinta Detail Cockpit Sets

Keep 'em comin

Peter

[kahunaminor]

Looking terrific Peter!

I must admit that I did have a guilty small chuckle at your misfortune. Forgive me! As you say that is two parts you can say “Here’s some I prepared earlier!” 
 

Regards,

Kent

[Peterpools]

Hi Kent,

Perfectly OK, just a lesson to be learned and you're so right, as I'm already ahead of the next Tamiya Tomcat build. 😉

Keep 'em comin

Peter

 

[GazzaS]

Peter,

    Don;t feel bad.  Your brain isn't rotting...  It happens to all of us.  Today I was applying decals to my 110.  The aircraft has red 'no-walk' lines inboard of the nacelles.  But this dodo...   put them outboard.  But only discovered after they were fully dried.  I had to peel them and mask up the model to fix it.

 

But the rest of your work looks spectacular.  

 

[Kaireckstadt]

Copy Gary, Peter!

Great build so far and mishaps happen to all of us! 
But as long as there is a solution, it’s not a problem in the end! 

[Peterpools]

Thanks Gaz

Misery loves company😮

Sorry to read about the decal problem and glad you were able to correct it. I’ve gone back to my old system now of checking off each step as I complete it in the instructions and double checking the instructions to help make sure I haven’t missed anything before Committing to glue. See how this goes.

Keep ‘em comin

Peter

[Peterpools]

Thanks Kai.
Took a while to figure out a plan that I would be happy with and after ordering the FOD covers, I licked my wounds, back to the bench and making progress again.

Nice to be making progress again and getting close to priming and the paint shop.

Keep ‘em comin

Peter

[harv]

Just found this super build. Looking really good ! Hope you get the fans sorted....harv