David Kalosi

Thanks ;) I have removed the masks to apply the second set that is a bit smaller - creates a small line than emulates the rubber seals around the canopy glass.

Hi all, summer is not very suitable for this hobby :) as I expected I barely did some work on the tomcat. But it seems we are moving again ;) Managed to finish the main fuselage, it's still not 100% perfect but it's the best I am able to do right now. I have preshaded the panel lines and painted the exhaust. Will start to apply the main paint scheme soon hopefully :)

Thanks Rodney !!! First round of fill *& sand & scribe around the canopy :) I have already applied the second layer of mr surfacer 500 to the problem areas, looks much much better now The front phoenix rails + ventral fins are attached as well. I have also sprayed the critical areas with surfacer 1200 to see what's the situation and managed to repair most of the problems. Since the kit is really complex and there are a million parts that make up just the basic fuselage it's really tough to make the surface flawless. thanks for watching ;)

I have altered them prior to installation so they don't cause too much trouble. I had to redo the inside of the canopy - I had to remove the front part of the platic part that attaches to the canopy because otherwise I wouldn't be able to close the canopy because of the pilots. I kept only the rear portion of the part and used the PE parts + scratchbuilt the A/C hose inise the canopy. I am almost done with the filling and sanding of that are already looks much much better ;)

Adding more bits and pieces to the fuselage. I have managed to complete the canopy and windshield and attach them to the fuselage. As you can see the fit is terrible and will require a lot of work

Intakes are almost IN !!!! I glued the front of the intakes to the fuselage with huge ammounts of both CA glue and tamyia cement, will wait overnight so it will cure and then will glue the back of the intakes, I must use some force to bend them in, the fit is really poor :( Looks like I can complete the main fuselage soon, I've got the nose cone almost done, there is still some light work around the engine exhausts, the newly attached intakes will need some work as well but the most complicated will be the part where the front and rear part of the fuselage joins together. more pics so

After 2 weeks of sanding and filling he intakes are nearly done, will have to sand them smooth and shoot another layer of FS17875 and I can finally attach the intake trunks to the fuselage. I already started working on some of the seams on the main fuselage, it will require huge amount of work to smooth everything out. here are a couple of pics of the intakes and the intake ramps, the first ramps are already in their position, the second ones will be attached together with the whole intake assembly.

Hi all and thanks for the comments. I have a question for all tomcat experts - what was the intake color on the early F-14 ? I think it should be all white FS 17875 like the underside of the airframe. To my knowledge the gray / white combination was introduced with the low visibility schema so the front portion of the intake is the same color as the fuselage. Can anybody please confirm this ? thanks

Here is a little update after a long time, I have managed to join most of the parts of the fuselage and assembled and painted the interrior of the jet exhausts. Currently I am working on the intake trunks, they are already assembled and a sanding marathon is taking place at the moment to make them seamless. Once all the major holes are filled I will pour while latex paint into them that will hide all the little imperfections. Once I glued the intakes to the fuselage I will prepare the whole thing for surfacer, will be fun too ... Here are a couple of pics

Managed to squeeze everything inside the cocpkit today, it's still far from done but getting closer, will correct some problems (overspray + as I am looking at the picture the pilot's right hand needs some attention ). What I was trying to achieve is to arrange the pilots moments before launch - the pilot is showing the OK sign and the RIO is getting ready holding the top of the IP cover. the intake battle is also on, next I would like to to the intakes and the exhausts as well. and I managed to glue together the vertical stabilizers. getting the aires exhaust to work will be fun again

This is were I am at the moment, the cockpit is taking shape finally, I have finally managed to fit in both pilots. Next I'll have to clear coat the whole thing, give it a light wash and put everything together.

Thanks, I am almost done with the cocpkit just have to figure out how to squeeze the pilots inside, I will have to do some heavy limb surgery as it seems :)

The fightertown VF-1 decals have arrived yesterday I cut out the dielectric panels from the beaver tail and attached it to the fuselage. Most of the work was done in the cockpit, hopefully I will have it ready today. I have also started filling and sanding the intakes, will post some pics in the evening.

To my own surprise I did quite a lot of work from my last update :) First I have hacked in the wheel bays, I can still feel the resin dust in my nose, it was quite a sanding marathon but they are in place. I have also glued the fuselage and beavertail together. The cockpit is getting in shape, I have attached most of the PE parts in the actual cockpit but still have a sh*tload of them to add to the seats. The biggest fun will be to persuade the pilots to fit inside the cockpit. I still need to work on the pit to tone together the PE and painted stuff, and the same goes for the seats b

Finally did some work on the cockpit, pilot and bangseats ;) some basic assembly + a couple of PE. I had to heat up the pilots and strech their legs so they will fit. I want to make a closed cocpkit bird hooked to the catapult and ready to go. It's going to be fun to squeeze all that PE and pilots inside :) Next I want to finish the bangseats and pilots and prime / paint the cocpkit. After that I can move to the instrument panels and add the remaining PE.