Lucio Martino
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Posts posted by Lucio Martino
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On 8/5/2024 at 5:57 PM, wardog said:
Hello Mr. Happy, great work you're doing on this Tomcat! I appreciate your "thinking out of the box" idea of using a toothpick to represent the antenna; however, curious as to why you chose a toothpick instead of styrene rod?
-Elmo
Hi Helmo,
Toothpicks because I would have never been able to give exactly the same conical shape to four plastic rods.
Toothpicks ends have a conical shape and their dimensions, while not perfect, are acceptable. I just hope I didn't cut them too long.
However, my Hasegawa Tomcat is far from being perfect. My goal was just to improve this kit. Up until now I have already taken many shortcuts.
By the way, let me congratulate you for your incredible A-6 Monogram. Congratulations, and congratulations again.
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On 6/13/2024 at 5:21 PM, Gwen Phoenix said:
Hi Lucio,
Never mind; having been born in South Africa made me a strong female. That MDF shelf took the worst part. 😐🤑
Oh, by the way; here's how I goofed my AMK lower right wing:
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Gwen,
For what is worth my opinion, the damage on your AMK wings is fixable.
Best would be filling up the scratches with cyano glue to be sanded down relatively soon, before dry very hard. Lost detail can be easily engraved again.
But I really don't know.
Lucio
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First of all I need to thank Gwen Phoenix for her interest.
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Improving Hasegawa 1:48 Tomcat - 11
Tails, Stabilizer, and Strakes (VI)
I must confess that this new post was something that embarrassed me that much to put it off for a long time. Why? Because in an era of stellar aftermarket items and home 3D printing I keep toying with toothpicks. However, the Hasegawa horizontal tailplanes have too thick trailing edges and inadequate representation of the warning antenna fairings (305).
No problem, it's an easy fix. In the next photo, my usual assortment of sanding sticks and pads (306).
My goal was to make the plastic near the trailing edge very thin, almost transparent. The risk here was thinning too much (307).
I couldn't use toothpicks the way they are. First, I inserted each toothpick into an electric mini drill and smoothed each of them against a sanding stick in order to eliminate surface imperfections (308).
Then, with a X-Acto blade, I longitudinally removed the half (309), always checking with a caliper that the dimensions of these four parts were the same (310).
At this point, after tracing the position (311) with a pencil, I used Tamiya X-22 gloss paint for gluing the toothpick "remains" to the horizontal tailplanes. Tamiya X-22 adhesive power is strong enough to safely stick these parts together and its grip is slow enough to give me time to find the right position.
And here the amost final product :
The almost final product because some blending is very much needed. The overall look will improve a lot after some sanding and a coat of primer, but before of that I would love your feedback.
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Gwen, I am sorry to read that you hit your forehead with the edge of the shelf. I am confident that you didn't get much hurt.
About the AMK wings, posting a photo is a good idea, both to check together a possible repair or to get a replacement. This forums has plenty of very generous modellers.
I can't believe that I started this build almost six years ago. In my partial defense I can only say that in these six years, in addition to some health issues, I have gotten married, changed jobs, and crossed the Atlantic several times.
However, when I started this project, the F-14 AMK did not exist, nor did the "late" Tamiya F-14, the one with the open wings.
The Hasegawa F-14 was the only chance to build a Tomcat with open wings and I thougth it was a good idea to take advantage of my kit.
However, along the way I discovered that the detail of the Hasegawa open wings is way lower than my expectations, and that I was unable to carry out the related modifications and scratchbuilding work.
Meanwhile, the arrival of the AMK, with its two pairs of wings, and the generousity of a great friend and modeller, gave me the chance to leave the Hasegawa wings aside.
I certainly didn't expect the AMK wings to require so much work, especially to thin down the too thick trailer edge, and to get the surface detail of the AMK wings compatible with the much finer surface detail of the Hasegawa.
Now, to continue improving this kit, I would have to detail the landing gear bays and the landing gear legs, to replace the too flat warning antennas located on the tail planes, to modify the arresting hook, and to detail the inside of the canopy (finally).
Honestly, I wouldn't want to waste any more time detailing the little visible landing gear bay, but as they are they seem way too bare to me. I don't know.
In these next days, I would like to fix on the tail planes. How do you recommend reproducing the warning antennas? Any suggestions?
Below are two pics. First the Tamiya tail plane:
And then the unmodified Hasegawa and the Hasegawa ready for DIY:
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Improving Hasegawa 1:48 Tomcat – 21: Wings (VI)
AMK wing parts fit is average, glueing the assemblies of pic 286 to the lower wing required a small amount of brute force...
Surprisingly, the lower wings have not the same amount of rivets. Better this way, less work to delete them.
The flaps were too thick and too heavy in surface detail. I thinned them down a lot, especially in their trailer edge, and eliminated much of their surface detail.
I replicated the side lights using drops of super glue. Slime ligths will be provided by decals.
In the following photos the lower wings with the filled up rivets and the reduced panel lines by sanding them down.
Another not particularly pleasant surprise were the extractor holes present on parts A20 and A19, which I filled up using Mister Surface 500. Above all, they fit to the wings in a very flimsy manner.
And this is the modified AMK wing ready to go:
In retrospect, I would simply go with the Hasegawa wings in closed position...
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Apologies for the long break.
My eyes didn't work well enough to keep up on this project. Now, after surgery, I see even better than before.
Before going back to the real stuff, I need to thank you all for your long standing interest.
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Improving Hasegawa 1:48 Tomcat – 20: Wings (V)
Assembling the AMK wings was much more complex and laborious than I ever expected. First, the wing parts, all of them, fit together very imprecisely, requiring a lot of preparation work. Great care must be taken to prepare the gluing of the parts that replicate the wing spoilers to the upper wings to avoid unrealistic gaps, having decided to fit them closed. In this regard, see the following photos:
After long dry fitting, best was for me to first gluing the flap actuators to their base and than to the wing half (see pics 286-289).
More on the wing assembly very soon and thank you again for your attention.
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@Gwen Phoenix
I am doing well, thank you, and I am happy to read that you are getting part V3.
Your question about replacing pats J5 and J11 is a very good one...
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Improving Hasegawa 1:48 Tomcat – 19: Wings (IV)
... the best solution would have been to create a resin copy of parts J5 and J11 but I've never had an AMK Tomcat. The AMK wings that I'm using in this project are leftovers from a kit already assembled with the wings at maximum sweep by my friend Alberto Borzellino, and I haven't found the courage to ask somebody else to cut these two parts from the sprues and lend them to me for the necessary time to make the silicone moulds.
In the end, I went very old school and resorted to my much loved Evergreen plasticard. After having firmly glued the plasticard in place, using the Hasegawa wings as a template, I shaped the plasticard bits with my no less beloved sanding sticks, as shown in photos 274, 275, 276, and 277.
For what concerns the proper slime ligths, I am planning to go with the Hasegawa decals, but we will see.
Another solution that I have been evaluating for a while was to cut off the wingtips of the AMK wings and to replace them with Hasegawa wingtips, but I discarded it because it was risky.
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@GW8345
First of all I would like you thank you very much. Your help is very important for me.
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Improving Hasegawa 1:48 Tomcat - 18: Undercarriage Legs, Wheels, Seats, and Canopy (IV)
Another update, a short one. This time it is about the undercarriage doors. In my opinion, out of the box they are too bare (pic 272).
Just to make them looking a little more interesting, first I thinned them somewhat (pic 273).
Then, I enhanced their appearance with some 10X20 Evergreen stripes (pic 274).
Again, I was very, very, but very, freely inspired by the real stuff...
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14 hours ago, GW8345 said:
If I may;
For the configuration you are doing (canopy open, only rear step open, ladder closed, tail airbrake open, and wings in the "dirty" configuration) I would recommend the flaps/slats in the landing configuration and the spoilers at 55 degrees. This is the configuration the aircraft would be in for maintenance (phase) and getting a wash job.
As to the AMK kit's slats being at 17 degrees, sorry, can't help with that, don't have the kit.
hth
GW
Thank you for your prompt answer.
Nothing set in stone yet but of all early F-14A here is where I am going to:
https://www.airfighters.com/photo/184737/M/USA-Navy/Grumman-F-14A-Tomcat/161135/
Not perfectly my planned configuration, canopy is closed instead of open and I can't tell about the airbrake, but it's almost there. Can't tell either if the spoilers are shut flat or up the 5 or 15 degrees, surely they aren't at 55, that's why I was asking.
I trust you that the 55 would be the most accurate, but - honestly - I don't like it. Barring 55°, what would be your pick: flat, 5°, 15°
Thank you again, Lucio
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I have two questions regarding the F-14 wings.
First: I don't know what to do with the wing spoilers. According to this reference:
http://www.anft.net/f-14/f14-detail-wingcontrol.htm
I have three options: 1) down, 2) up 5°, 3) up 15°.
Which of these three possibilities is the most congruous with the following configuration: canopy open, only rear step open, ladder closed, tail airbrake open, and wings in the "dirty" configuration.
Second: According the same source, in a landing configuration slats should be down at 17°. Now that I am working on the AMK wings, I can't tell if the AMK slats are really dropping at 17°. Anybody out there in the know ? -
@Gwen,
Thank you again for your attention.
Yes, the G-Brass legs are copies of the original ones but much stronger, and that is really good !
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Improving Hasegawa 1:48 Tomcat - 18: Undercarriage Legs, Wheels, Seats, and Canopy (III)
With some plain plasticard I hided the two original holes making the side bulkhead of the main legs whells more interesting. Well, it's all "gizmology", no accuracy here. Soon after, I began the tedious job of reproducing that tangle of tubes and cables characteristic of the undercarriage wheels only to find out that I really no longer have the needed stamina... so I stopped quite early, finding comfort in the thought that not much will be visible when the model is finished (see pics 263-267).
As a consequence of my changes, parts F23 and F24 became too short but some very short pieces of the smallest Evergreen rod came to the rescue (pics 268-269).
And pics 270 and 271 show a dry fit:
Again any feedback is very welcome.
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@GW8345
I have another question for you: What about the flap actuators? Red or natural metal?
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Improving Hasegawa 1:48 Tomcat - 18: Undercarriage Legs, Wheels, Seats, and Canopy (II)
Sorry for the bad quality of the following photos.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think possible that the F-14 undercarriage legs are as angled back as in the Hasegawa offering. Something must be wrong (see pic 260).
Maybe the main legs are too short or maybe parts F78 and F79 are too long. I don't know. However, this project has already burned me out so much that honestly I haven't even tried to figure out which of these two hypotheses is correct. So, I opted for a shortcut: I did another hole a little further in which insterting the pin of piece C in order to get the undercarriage leg slightly more vertical (see pic 261).
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Improving Hasegawa 1:48 Tomcat – 17
Wings (III)When it comes to the wings I have to say that the AMK instructions are somewhat confusing, drawings are relatively small and very "crowded". However, before I venture into actually building the wing, there are a couple of things I'd like to figure out with your help.
The first is the angle of the wing spoilers when they are deployed while the flaps are extended. According to AMK they are almost vertical to the wing, but I think that is wrong for a plane sitting on the ground.
And then I have no idea about about how painting of part A7 and B7 (pic 259). The best pic of this area I saw is on pag. 31 of the Daco book, but it is far from being useful for detail painting.
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Improving Hasegawa 1:48 Tomcat – 16
Wings (II)Mating the AMK wings with the Hasegawa fuselages turned out to be much easier than I thought. Clearly, these two kits have a lot more in common than it seems at first glance.
In my opinion, the best strategy to insert the AMK wings into the Hasegawa fuselage is to adapt AMK central spar, part V3 (pic 243 and 244), to the Hasegawa upper fuselage, part A7 (pic 245).
To this exent, only three quite simple steps were required: The first was to cut off the two pins on part AMK V3; the second was to increase the diameter of the two holes on the part AMK V3; The third was to shorten the distance between the two holes removing a slice of plastic from the middle of part AMK V3.
Pic 246 shows the cutter used to remove the pins from AMK V3, the mitre box and the saw used to cut AMK V3 in two halves, and the drill bit used to increase the diameter of the AMK V3 holes to the needed five millimeters (pic 247).
Pic 248 and 249 show the original and the enlarged hole (apologies for the low quality pics).
After cutting the part AMK V3 part in two (pic 250, 251), I kept removing a little of plastic from both halves until they were barely touching each other (pic 252).
At this point, using some Evergreen stripe to give the bond greater strength, I glued together the two part AMK V3 halves (pic 253 and 254).
In the following pics (255, 256, and 257) you can see part AMK V3 inserted into the AMK wings and then all this assembly inserted into the Hasegawa fuselage. Any feedback is very welcome.
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@Mr. Happy
@RichB63
@Sernak
Thank you all. It is because of your interest that my Hasegawa Tomcat is again on the workbench.@Storm
About the Aires stuff I do agree with you. Every time it is always the same, an exercise in cutting and sanding. Check this thread to see how much I had to work on the Aires cockpit to get a fit. That's why I didn't go for the Aires wheell wells. Nice to know that I am not the only one loosing interest in a build.@A-10 Loader
Thank you for your offer that I decline. Back in the days, I had five Hasegawa Tomcats in my stash: an early A, two A, a B, and a D. As soon as I got the rumor that Tamiya was realesing a new 1:48 Tomcat I sold them all with the only exception of the A now on my workbench.@Gwen phoenix
Thank you very much for your interest. I have to say that 2021 and 2022 weren't good years for me in general, and for my hobby in particular. But now is getting much better and I'm curious to see how far this build will go. Stay tuned.@Thadeus
I know, it is strange, but for me finishing a model is not so important. What is important for me is spending enjoyable time working on that model. And yes, you're rigth, I shouldn't focus so much on the wheel wells.
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Improving Hasegawa 1:48 Tomcat – 15
Wings (I)In the end, I shouldn't have forgotten that my goal was to improve this kit, not to build a "perfect" replica. Otherwise, the Tamiya Tomcat 1:48, or the one in 1:32 from the same company, would have been a much better choice. With that in mind, I've just retrieved my Hasegawa Tomcat off the shelf of doom.
Let's start from the Hasegawa wings (pic 233).
Dimensionally, and shapewise, the Hasegawa wings in the "clean" configuration are fine (pic 234).
Unfortunately, the same is not true about the "dirty" configuration. As David W. Aungst explained twenty years ago on Hyperscale (1), Hasegawa's flaps are too long in their chord (pic 235).
To increase their accuracy they should be shortened by something like three millimeters. In my opinion, the best way to do it would be cutting away the slice of plastic between the two panel lines running near the leading edge of the flap (pic 236).
In addition to the inaccurate flaps, each Hasegawa wing is lacking four of the six hinges/actuators that connect the wing to the flap (pic 237).
Not to mention that these two "hinges/actuators", generously made available by Hasegawa, are ridiculously basic, being nothing more than a strip of plastic. As a result, I strongly suggest anyone who dares to build this kit to go for the "clean" wing configuration.
Instead of getting my razor blades and giving to my "neurosurgeon" skills a chance, just to engage soon after into a scratchbuilding effort aimed at duplicating the six hinges/actuators for each wing, my lazy solution was to take advantage of my friend Alberto Borzellino offer and to discard the Hasegawa wings altogether for the AMK ones, whose flaps are of the rigth dimensions out of the box, not to mention the level of detail shown by the AMK hinges/actuators. By the way, AMK is giving not two hinge/actuators but all twelve of them... (pics 238, 239).
Pic 240 shows the AMK on top of the Hasegawa wing.
Dimensionally they are quite much the same. The most important difference is a step running all along the leading edge area. A step rightly missing on the AMK wing, as you can see on pic 241. Rightly because there is no step there on a Grumman Tomcat wing.
About the AMK wings, my only real criticism concerns the heavily engraved panels, but it is an easy fix (pic 242).
By the way, the dimensions of the AMK flaps are very, but very, close to the dimensions of the flaps of that Tamiya Tomcat famous for being the most accurate replica of this aircraft released so far.
So, the problem now is how to get the AMK wings mating the Hasegawa fuselage.
(1) https://www.hyperscale.com/features/2001/f14constructiondwa_3.htm
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When the Tamiya Tomcat hit the shelves, it quickly became clear that the Hasegawa Tomcat was obsolete. However, at least in my opinion, it wasn't such a despicable kit to send it to the trash can. No, it was time to build it, taking advantage of the two areas in which it had something more to offer than the Tamiya Tomcat: the wings deployed with flaps and slats down and the open airbrakes.
What surprised me much was to find how poorly detailed and difficult to assemble the deployed wings were. Furthermore, flaps are visibly of the wrong dimension, while their actuators are greatly simplified when not missing. If the Hasegawa wings in "dirty" configuration are a problem, the same cannot be said in case you choose the clean configuration, but this was not really in my plans. As a result, I lost my mojo.
Back in Italy from South Carolina, when I thought I would never get my hands on this kit again, my old friend Alberto Borzellino came to the rescue by offering me the "dirty" wings of the AMK Tomcat. Alberto is a great model maker, a sincere enthusiast of our hobby, whose work, mostly focused on the US Navy, can be admired on ARC and I do encourage you to look out for him.
I must confess that I immediately found the idea of inserting the wings of the AMK Tomcat into the fuselage of the Hasegawa Tomcat attractive. So, I took the wings and the challenge despite knowing that although a compatibility between the wings of the AMK Tomcat and the fuselage of the Tamiya Tomcat had already been shown I had no evidences that the same was true about the AMK wings and the Hasegawa Tomcat.
But then I lost my mojo again when dealing with the main wheel wells. The problem is that I no longer have the skill and patience to replicate that clutter of cables and hoses typical of this aircraft's gearwells, if I ever had it. Actually, I started this detailing work, but soon I got so tired to ship this kit to the shelve of doom, where it lays now.
One possible solution was getting the Aires wheel wells set, but given that it is famous for being almost impossible to fit, I never really considered it. Instead, I have engaged myself to few other projects, such as this Hasegawa 1/72 F-15J of which I am posting a pic of its cockpit while still under construction. However, lately I began to feel that it is a pity to drop my Hasegawa Tomcat just because I can't detail its wheel wells as I would like... and this means more from me soon !
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... is looking for a new home.
Private messages if interested.
Lucio
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Hi from Columbia, South Carolina.- ESCI 1:72 F-100D Super Sabre (8557)- Academy 1:72 F-4J Phantom (12529)- Xtrakit 1:72 FA.2 Sea Harrier (XK72006)- Platz 1:144 A-4E Skyhawk (PD-20)- Badger 350 Airbrush (never used, as new but not in the original box. A spare needle is included)Contact me via PM if interested.
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To those who have followed this thread, I feel the need to say that I have not given up on this project. The reason I haven't published anything new is that last spring I had to drop off my Hasegawa Tomcat in Rome, Italy on my way back here to the United States.
Unfortunately, I had other priorities in packing.
I still don't know when I'll be back, but as soon as I get this kit in my hands, I'll work on it again and keep you updated on my progress.Cheers, Lucio
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Very, but very inaccurate.
However, take a look here:
https://www.kitshow.net/int/MDL_25_Su15-Flagon.php
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Hi,
As you can see in this picture, the propellers of the Tamiya and the Hasegawa 1:48 BF 109E look different. Which one of them is shapwewise the most accurate?
The Hasegawa propeller is the one on the rigth.
Lucio
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Hi,
According to Reskit, their 1:48 F-111 exhaust nozzles are supposed for the Hobby Boss kit. I wonder how they match the Academy 1:48 F-111.
Cheers
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After another long break, time has come to resume once again this project.
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Improving Hasegawa 1:48 Tomcat - 14
Tails, Stabilizers, and Strakes (V)
Months ago, in a private message, Thadeus noticed that the ventral strakes on the Tamiya Tomcat are glued in recess and I asked me if I accounted for that in my mod.
The short answer was and is yes, but now I am finally able to show you a couple of photos in which the Tamiya and the Hasegawa modified strakes are compared side by side. Pic 231 shows the Tamiya strake dry fitted into the under fuselage. The following two pics show how the Tamiya strake compare with the unmodified and modified Hasegawa strake. Looking carefully, the pencil line I traced when taking pic 231 is visible on the Tamiya strake.
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The Revell F-15E is a "real" E and it is not a B/D with some additional parts.
The Hasegawa F-15E is a B/D with some additional parts.
In my opinion you should by the Revell F-15E both for accuracy and price. If you don't find it elsewhere else, just search eBay. Eventually, look for the Pro Modeler release because is giving some more weapons:
http://www.internetmodeler.com/2001/september/first-looks/rm_f-15e.htm
With the money you save buying the Revell F-15E instead of the GWH F-15E (about 60USD given that you can get the Revell F-15E for about 30USD, even less if you find one at Michaels), you can buy a lot of aftermarket items like pods, cockpit, decals, weapons, etc.
Just to give you an example of how good is the Revell F-15E jus follow this link:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/633448746733188/permalink/3448511158560252/
Improving Hasegawa 1:48 Tomcat – 21: Wings (VI)
in In-Progress Pics
Posted · Edited by Lucio Martino
Gwen,
You should sand cyano glue very soon, long before it becomes rock hard.
If you're not very experienced with cyano glue maybe better to go with Milliput, even if would be more difficult to restore the panel lines.
Milliput has the advantadge to be easier to blend, before it dries you can smoothed it down just with your fingers and some water.
Keep me posted.
Regarding my Hasegawa Tomcat build going very slow, I have to say that I really cannot go faster in this moment of my life.
I would like to thank Thadeus, Mr. Happy, Elmo, and especially Gwen for their persistent interest in this build.
Lucio