bushande
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Posts posted by bushande
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AKAN has a ready to use paintset:
https://www.lindenhillimports.com/store/p966/AKAN46760.html#/
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28 minutes ago, Specter1075 said:
"Maybe that was supposed to be Wheel doors? "
No, I haven't misspelled - it's really "weekly door" (ref just GW8345s post just above mine. He also makes reference to it recommending to sand of the oil drains).
It's not the professional terminology by Grumman but a common reference by the maintainers. There are different access panels on the F-14s engine nacelles and according to how often you would open them for inspections/maintenance etc. the maintainers would call them "daily doors", "weekly doors", "monthly doors".
The smaller panel with the round fire access panel on it and the little cooling vent has a slightly different layout due to the different engines. It's really no big deal and as GW8345 already said, only nerds and rivet counters would realize. Most folks don't even know or care. It's basically just "choose your plaque" I guess.
You can take a late Alpha and put GE-110 burners in it and do some other little tweeks and be done and if you really want sand the weekly doors clean and rescribe them to properly reflect a weekly door suitable for a GE-110 (or just give a rat's @$$ and leave it the way it is as most people won't notice).
Or you take a Delta version and replace the cockpit and seats, add a double chin pod (IRST plus TCS), leave the little ECM bumps away.
Using a late Alpha's cockpit should do just fine. There have been very slight changes in the layout of the gauges between a Bravo and an Alpha (regardless whether early or late Block) but in 1/48 no one will ever notice.
Just for curiosity's sake: What most modellers don't realize as well is that Tamiya got some panel lines on their Delta-version wrong as well. Newly built Deltas had a slightly different panel line structure on their LEX area that once housed the glove vanes on older Versions. They put some new equipment in there instead of the then already long deleted glove vanes and that led to slight changes in the panel structure there. Most people don't even realize. In your case, there's no need to change anything though regardless which kit you eventually use.)
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deleted, double post, see below ...
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Well, I would go with the Delta variant as a base for a conversion into a Bravo. Mainly because of the slight differences in the layout of the weekly doors. TF-30 engined birds needed a slightly different weekly door. As far as I can reckon, the Tamiya Alpha kits do not contain a suitable part for a weekly door that suits the nacelles for GE-110 equipped versions. Or you just sand off the details there and rescribe it.
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The Hasegawa Kit (and btw. also the Tamiya Kit) is correct in depicting that "double bubble". The plans might be somewhat exegerrated but the kit itself has it actually rather correct.
A little background: Originally ROHR was the supplier to Grumman for some of the F-14s main fuselage parts such as the intakes etc. including the canopy. The original glass was one flat bow but it was found that the RIO and the seat needed more space and that there was some risk upon ejection so the rear canopy was further bulged out as of block 75 with ammendmends to earlier units later on. ROHR later had a major fallout with Grumman and congress over other issues and was replaced by another manufacturer.
All in all: The very faint double bubble is o.k.. (BTW: You'll find a somewhat similar effect on the Foxtrott Super Hornet canopy as well.)
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No!
The reinforcement was not present as of production on any F-14D, even the last production Tomcat 164604 had no reinforcement until her end.
It was done to the airframes as fatique set in.
hence you need to look at your serial and the time you want to build it. During the nineties you wouldn't see much of the stiffeners. as time progressed into the early 2000's the likelyhood of the reinforcement on a certain airframe would grow.
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Hmmm ... I wonder why no one so far has given the obvious a chance? It's 50 years of Tomcats and let's face is, whether we like it or not, the big fighter is still flying! ... just not for the US sadly. I know it sucks, especially for all buddies in the US and yes I know it's always a delicate issue sadly but hey politics - shmolitics! While they don't sport any fancy squadron insignia, their dresses look awesome too. If I had the time to commit, I would do one of those neat - still active after 50 whoppin' years - Persian cats. Heck, 160299 - the first Persian Tomcat, is still flying after all these years making it the longest serving Tomcat serial ever!
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Thats awesome news Arnaud! That will certainly make me go for another order with you. Great stuff.
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Good grief! Though I haven't posted here I have been continuously watching this thread now for quite a while (as many others have as well I guess). Have I been quite fascinated with the work until about page three so far, the work portrayed here on page four just blows my mind. I always thought I was anal about shape issues and the work necessary to get it fixed but this here is just absolutely crazy. Amazing work and an admirable effort put in the old gal. One can really see that it is a labor of love for you.
I wonder what you would do to "fix" the Enterprise-D?! (I confess that Enterprise-version is the one that I like the most (well ... along the the more sporty E I think)).
Awesome work. Keep it up!
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Sorry for my late reply.
Thanks for the effort of clearing the images habu. I wouldn't have noticed. Much appreciated.
@Sernak: As said, life has it at the moment that I can only very sporadicly access the forum. I have to check my ressources for 115. I'll need a little time for that until I get back home. I have about 70 original slides all just on first cruise VF-1 birds. It might take a while.
@ Andrew: Which image do you mean? The one of NK-110 with the oversized red cheat stripe with black outlines or the B/W image of NK-101 with the VF-1 roundel insignia on the tail? Both images stem from either an original slide or paper photograph from the 70s. Should you refer to the straight NK-tailcode in the B/W image of 158627, that is the first of three design versions of the NK-tailcode that VF-1 apparently tried. It's a black bolt lettered styliced tailcode that indeed has been straight on the tail. Shortly after they set the N and K apart from each other with different heights, still keeping the black letter color but turning the letters thinner and keeping them straight. Eventually (and fortunately) they turned the letters red, bold and tilted. But these images show what was actually there when they tried several designs.
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On 3/17/2021 at 10:22 PM, ChesshireCat said:
while the other cool jets just keep plugging away. The F15 will do another twenty years while the Tomcat now carries a PBR label. Even the F16 and A10 are still rolling right along like gang busters. Face it, it was just another piece of aluminum lost in time. Even the F18 started out in that same time frame, and is still moving right along.
gary
Yeah but that has nothing to do with the design and the plane itself. That is just timing and politics. You don't see all that many F-22 either and also not getting the "love" it would deserve by the USAF (one of the reasons why there is an F-15EX at all?!), the F-117 has not lasted that long either and the only reason those other "cool" jets are still around seems to be affordability, simplicity of the system itself, that the envisioned replacements are not produced in sufficient numbers or are not coming along quickly enough or still show teething problems that leads decision makers to cling to the old stuff and that there were other customers who paid for further development (hence affordability).
If times in the early 90s would have been anything like they are today, if the Navy had the money and the backing things might look different today. But in any case, the F-14 was a Navy plane and the Navy is just that ... a Navy that just so happens to have aircraft because of the need for them and not the other way around. Most naval branches in the world don't have any significant air arms. A lot of missions that the F-14 was supposed to carry out were taken over by ship based systems or just given up. If there is a way to cover a mission and an ability by anything other than an aircraft, the Navy will most likely prefer that route.
It's not as easy as you are trying to make it and let's be honest, you know that.
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Sorry that it took a while. Life has me caught up in a lot of stuff at the moment without much time for the hobby or to sort out images out of the mess I call an archive but here are at least some refs that give proof that 158979 had the ENTERPRISE designation twice on her at some point ....
[img]https://up.picr.de/40820076mm.jpg[/img]
[img]https://up.picr.de/40820075oj.jpg[/img]I have a ton of images of the early VF-1 birds showcasing all the funny design variations they did at some point, however I just don't have the time to sort them all out, sorry.
One I came across accidently rummaging through my files was this one ... (Not the nicest one in my eyes, but enough to maybe make for an interesting build).
[img]https://up.picr.de/40820070ru.jpg[/img]
Another one is this of 158627 ... yuk bahh - not my stile but interesting enough to be of note ...
[img]https://up.picr.de/40820067db.jpg[/img] -
On 12/23/2020 at 7:49 PM, Waco said:
“Probably the coolest jet aircraft ever, turns 50 today. First flight 21 December 1970.”
That’s a ridiculously subjective comment. Counter-argument: “one of the most overrated jet aircraft ever—propped up by a mid-80s US Navy propaganda film—would’ve turned 50 today, had it not been retired from front line service over 14 years ago.”
And yes, I know the IRGC still flies them.
It's not the IRGC that flies them, it's the IRIAF. That's a huge difference there. Those two services despice each other like a pest and the IRIAF hates having to lend some of their Tomcats to the IRGC guys .... As rarely as this happens though.
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Bonjour de 'allemagne Arnaud. Those Exhausts and Engines are a much needed and excellent addition to the 1/48 Eurofighter. It has been a hazzle in the past for me to do that and your sets make it a lot easier. Finally the kink of the nozzle feathers is in teh right direction.
If I may suggest: One of the very prominent shortcomings of the albeit very shape accurate but only little detailed Revel Eurofighter is the canopy frame. It is not only that the canopy is positione a little to far rear but more importantly the canopy frame is far more complex than what the kits are giving us. It is feasable in in scratch work but it is an awful lot of work. I am not sure how a correction could be done in resin or 3D print but this spot on the model is definitely an issue that needs to be addressed. I don't have my archive at hand at the moment but here is the link to my recent Eurofighter build and maybe it becomes visible what I mean. The images on page 4 might show the point I am trying to make. The best would actually be to sand the clear part down and give it a completely new frame that also allows to reposition the canopy correctly.
Maybe there are also some more ideas in there for you? :
In any case great work!
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On 11/3/2020 at 7:58 PM, agelos2005 said:
Hi guys
I am about to build three iranian f-14 in 1/72
.........
Also do you have photo of a heavily weathered iranian plane?
Thank you
A few months ago I posted some shots of the three blue/grey F-14s I was able to catch when I had the chance to sneak into the country with a small group two years ago. Should be weathered enough I think. Here you go (about to the middle of each thread):
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On 9/21/2020 at 5:51 PM, andrew.deboer said:
I’ll be building my next Tamiya cat as one of the first in the fleet - VF-1 Wolfpack’s second 101 bird, which has been modeled a lot. Research is one of the things that really appeals to me in modeling, and this project has given me a lot to learn!
For instance: the first VF-1 plane to be painted as NK-101 was this one, BuNo 158627. I believe it was a Block 65 machine. Note the radome without a tan front section, long gun muzzle trough (short cover), the black skunk stripe over the canopy and spine, completely white nose gear doors, pin striping around the NACA intake on the ventral fin, and “Wolf Pack” on the tail. These are all unique to the first NK-101, which was used for early squadron training; this plane did not go on VF-1’s first cruise.
The next NK-101 was this one, BuNo 158989, a Block 80 (correction thanks to GW8345 - it was a Block 70). It can be distinguished by its long gun cover, black rectangles on the nose gear doors, radome with a tan section, no skunk stripe, different style of “NK” tail codes, and “USS Enterprise” painted on the wing glove. I could go on and on... Fightertown Decals have done both of these planes, but they kept the same BuNo for both - I think this is an error.
I am not entirely sure if this is really completely correct and I also don't necessarly think that Brian (FTD) made an error here. About ten years back I was able to talk to some of the former aircrew that served with VF-1 on the 1st F-14 cruise and also during the trials and work ups prior to the cruise and according to at least two of them 158627 did indeed go on board as NK-101 in what at that time after many changes evolved into their standard scheme until they lost the white belly after their second cruise till '77. 158627 received the shorter gun muzzle with the six grill vent too just prior to the cruise.
I do have images / slides with stamped dates of all of them often with BuNo visible and I can count so far three NK-101s between June '73 and mid '77; there is 158627 in '73- late '74 or early '75, 158989 '75-'76 and 159459 as of around mid '76. Maybe there was another change during cruise or at least the workups? I confess it is somewhat blotchy and I do have 8627 also as NJ-407 of VF-124 as of May 1975.
After 8627 eventually went through that myriad of design changes and also loosing the black skunk stripe pretty early, all three NK-101s looked absolutely identical from the gun muzzle and the grills to the boat tail down to the white belly, except for 8627 apparently having the dialectic panels still attached for some time at the beginning but had them removed as well. The IRST pod was interchangeable and there are images showing 8627 as well as 8989 with IRST straped on and wthout. 9459 apparently did not have that thing anymore. While the four NK-201s that sister squadron VF-2 had between 1973 and '77 would at least by some details of their design and/or the airframe modifications be discernable without seeing the BuNo, pretty much the only way to tell the VF-1 NK-101s apart are the crew names which also seemed to have changed. While 8627 had Sam Leeds and Frank Schumacher on the canopy rail prior to the cruise, the names changed to John Thaubald and Mike Marnane during the cruise. I do have two images (one color, one B/W) showing NK-101 on the deck of Enterprise. You can't admittedly make out the BuNo but the names on the canopy rail, which indicate it to be 8627. The images that I have of 8989 as NK-101 are from mid '75, late '75 and early '76 and have Jack Dantone and Denny Strole on the rail. (Jack Dantone apparently was on NK-107 during the first cruise.) 9459 had Howie Young and Craig Weaver on the rail.
According to Dan Pentecost (transferred 8627 from Calverton to Miramar in June '73 and flew it also during VF-1s first live trials with AIM-54 and AIM-7 as the squadron's weapons instructor; had his name on 8993 NK-111 during the cruise) the dialectic panels went off many of their ships just during the cruise.
Not that it would all matter that much in the end but thought it to be interesting trivia.
A very interesting and intriguing project indeed. Happy modelling; I will watch with great interest.
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Well, at least for the moment I will refrain from the kit. I confess the panel lines do really look quite excessive - rather like trenches. Not really what one would expect nowadays but hey, in the end if that was the worst problem, so be it. A few layers of primer and color and it might not turn out so bad. I still do have two old Revell Tonis and the old but nice Paragorn flaps / slats. As long as I can do with these (those few missing panel lines on the intake sides and the belly are not really a huge issue to rescribe) I just don't see any reason to pay three-digit amounts for that kit. It may be quite nice. Is it three-digit-nice? ..... hmmmmmm .....
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On 10/5/2020 at 6:32 AM, wm_cheng said:
Your right, its never in both places, but unfortunately I was following the instructions and didn't check the references (just one of many instruction mistakes) and its too late now to scrape one of them off after layers of future and clear coats.
Incorrect. I have old original slides that depict 158979, i.e. this very bird as NK-100 with USS ENTERPRISE on both, the vert. stabs as well as the wing gloves. It was not the only modex that had the carrier name placed on both spots. VF-1 went through a lot of design changes in the early stages before and around the first cruise. The carrier names in both places would be correct for this particular ship along other serials for the work up phase prior to the cruise.
External tanks were very uncommon but there. It would have been the old versions that still had the fincaps on the butt end.
Reg. Wichita-101 (the one with the black skunkstripe over the spine): A few years back I did a 1/32 version of Wichita-101, i.e. 158627, the first F-14A delivered to VF-1 as of early June '73 and I talked a lot with one of the pilots who flew her on her delivery flight from Calverton to Miramar and who did the first test shots with the AIM-54 and AIM-7. Only a few days later the second operational Tomct would be delivered to the sister squadron VF-2, i.e. 158629 as NK-201.
It was AD-222 with VF-101 in '99-'00 - apparently around her lest station before she was carved up. To my knowledge there is only her cockpit section left as a museum piece.
158627 was delivered to VF-1 in June '73 with a black skunkstripe and white aircrew names written in old letters on the black canopy rail as well as missing the tan tip of the nose cone; it rather had an all grey nose with a white bottom. It resembled somewhat the early VF-84 design in that. For that popular photoshoot (of which I still have two original color slides) it wore the large red cheat stripes, however the NK-tailcode was done in thin black untilted letters. The outer side of the tails featured the wolfhead and the name "Wolfpack" in large red letters written just below. At that time it still had the short gun muzzle and only the small ALQ-pod under the nose; oh and it still had the boat tail with dialectic panels attached. Until early '74 it went through several changes; the all black skunkstripe was (sadly) removed, just as the nose was painted white with the tan tip. The IRST pod was a removable system and rather frequently changed around as it seems. That is at least as it has been reported to me by several former VF-1 personell I got in touch with. I do have images of her showing her with the IRST pod attached and also without it. Same goes for sister ships within the squadron. The short gun muzzle was very early exchanged by the longer muzzle and the six-grill vent (as Gerry already pointed out). The dialectic panels of the beaver tail would partly just be deleted during and with some examples even after the first cruise. The black and untilted NK-tailcode was also exchanged against the common red tilted NK-code very soon, even at a time when it still had the nice all black skunk stripe going over the spine. The Wolfpack writing on the tail would go pretty soon as well. Crew names were also changed just short before the '74 / '75 cruise. I only have one B/W shot of 158627 on the cat with a full weapons compliment and the ominous early drop tanks. I do have other images showing 1st cruise VF-1 and VF-2 birds with tanks strapped on but due to shortage of the things and the fincaps causing damage to the ventral strakes upon release by floating too long under the intake trunks, tanks were not seen very often.
At some point before the cruise and thankfully only for a short time 158627 had it's red cheat stripes removed and replaced by very small and short cheat stripes that just went from the nose cone to the 101 modex. Thanksfully that was traded back to the large cheat stripes rather quickly. I only have a few B/W shots of that design version.
158627 was the only ship that went through that many design changes in such a short time but other serials had several design elements as well that didn't make it eventually.
NK-110 had at some point the red cheat stripes removed altogether without any replacement.
NK-105 had a stylised black NK-code (in design similar to what VF-21 birds had early on) placed on her starboard wing.
Some ships like 158979 / NK-100 or NK-103 and NK-105 (would have to look up the BuNos in the archive, sorry) had at some time not only the USS ENTERPRISE name twice applied on the hull but also a Wolfhead that morphed into the cheat stripe. Looked pretty cool too.
I can provide proof / reference once I get back home over X-mas.
The way that NK-100 model is done is pretty correct and authentic. Again, tanks would be uncommon but not unrealistic.
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You'll need a TCS chinpod, the ECM bumps on the beaver tail and on each side of the intake walls and the Alphas of the latter days esspecially those late VF-154 birds of 2003 you are interest in definitely had a PTID and FLIR controller for the RIO. Speaking of which, you may also get ahold of a LANTIRN plus respective pylon if you want to strap A/G loads on your bird (which would be more realistic thatn pure A/A combos for that squadron in that time). hence you may also try and get the BRU-93 racks for the Phoenix pallets. You already notd the NACA gun vents. A change of the wheels has occured as well.
VF-154s birds might have been old BuNos but they went all through several upgrades and were all brought up to Block-135 standard plus post production upgrades such as PTID for instance.
When Darren was operational his Steel Beach line had everything you need as complete sets. Nowadays you have to gather it all from different providers I think.
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Thank you. Much appreciated.
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Much appreciated, many thanks.
Revell has the bird issued in 1/72 scale.
There's a WIP and display thread of it in 1/48 here on the forum and I am currently in preparations for a 1/32 rendition.
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If it is for tailart, I am pretty much "forced" to vote for this ... (after all it's mine .... with a boatload of help from the mighty big boss up above! (thanks dad!))
If it is for tail shape nothing will beat the F-14 tail in my eyes (oh my, how I wish I could do a Tiger design for a Tomcat ... oooooooh the possibilities!)
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On 8/21/2020 at 12:27 AM, F4DPhantomII said:
First off I apologize for any remarks on the 325 page of comments on this kit that I made that may have been negative. I received my kit today from Victory Models and all I can say is WOW! What a kit I looked up reviews and watched the video builds and had to have it. The kit and packaging were well executed. I love the one piece forward fuselage and how the ordnance is molded on the sprues. As far as this kit having a fat a** rear I don’t know comparing it to my Tamiya F-14A they look identical in width. I haven’t compared it with my Hasegawas.I am thinking VF-101 Grim Reapers.
You misunderstood the issue about the hips. It is not that they are too broad; that wouldn't be such a big issue to resolve. it is rather that they are wrongly angled and thus creating the impression of being too round and broad. The way it is, it is pretty much impossible or well let's say, very very circumstancial to at least halfway correct that issue. For me personally the hip-issue is just the major tun-off but what actually bothers me even more about the kit by now are the way too fat LEX areas above the intakes. In Manuel J.'s Flickr gallery is a nice side b side shot of his Tamiya VF-213 F-14D and his AMK VF-31 F-14D and the differences are very obvious.
It's a matter of personal perference. Most people just won't care and that is absolutely fine. I for one am just bothered by AMKs inaccuracies enough to be put off personally but that is to each and everyone self to decide.
Anyways, as the poster above stated, wrong forum topic. There's already a 325 long thread for this.
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many thanks once again. Much appreciated. I'm still in preparation for the 1/32 iteration.
#/media/File:F-14A_Tomcats_of_VF-1_in_flight_in_1970s.jpg){kind=link}
F-14B possible weapon loadout
in Jet Modeling
Posted · Edited by bushande
31s for the Bravo are fine, however GBU-38s ONLY for F-14Deltas, actually only for VF-31 and -213 in 2005. They received clearance just before the last '05 / 06 cruise. VF-101 GBU-38 clearance only for test AFAIK.