Jay Chladek Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 Okay, I am now armed with a kit, so I am starting work this weekend on my GB entry using the brand new Academy Bombcat. The subject is F-14A buer #158618 as flown by VF-201, a Navy Reserve squadron based out of Dallas, Texas. The decal sheet being used is Aeromast IP-2000, the IPMS Nationals 2000 sheet. I figure this subject will be a perfect one for me since it will give me a chance to practice some weathering techniques for TPS Tomcats. She may not be a flashy paintjob, but since most of my other Tomcat sheets are for brightly painted planes this will give me the opportunity to do a TPS paintjob. Hopefully this one will go quicker then a gray over white bird like my last build. I'll post pictures when I have a fair amount of work done to show. Until then, carry on men. :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ThePhantomTwo Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 My Tomcat is going in the same markings,but it probably won't see the paint shop for quite a awhile,I started the build in 1991,stored it and just pulled it back out late last year and done a little to when I find the time.Look forward to seeing your build! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 Bring it on, Jay! Looking forward to seeing. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jefropas Posted February 25, 2007 Share Posted February 25, 2007 I've never seen that Nats sheet, can you post a pic? I LOVE Texas Tomcats! Jeff Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jay Chladek Posted February 25, 2007 Author Share Posted February 25, 2007 I will see what I can do. BTW, NICE Superheats VF-202 bird there jefropas. How did you do the markings for it? Was there a sheet offered or did you go the decal kitbash and painted Texas flag tail logo route? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jefropas Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 Jay, Thanks, it was all me, piece of cake though, even found some individual #202 decals in the stash, made it easy, masked/painted the rudder. Maybe some Texan decal maker will visit both squadrons in decal form......Scott....... Jeff Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jay Chladek Posted February 27, 2007 Author Share Posted February 27, 2007 Yeah, I've been thinking about doing a Superheats scheme as well as it indeed seems to be a pretty easy one to pull off in high vis. But admittedly a decal sheet would be nice. By comparison, VF-201 has been the subject of sheets from Superscale, Repliscale and the special Aeromaster sheet I have. Here it is below: The F-14 is not the only subject as the sheet also contains markings for a USMC Cobra and an F/A-18 from VFA-83. Plus as far as F-14 paintjobs go, this isn't exactly the most colorful. But it is the only VF-201 sheet I have in 1/48 (I have a Repliscale sheet in 1/72 which features the red flashes on the tail). I would love to see more though, VF-201, 202, 301 and 302 sheets would be nice, even if 302 has the most boring tale art of the reserve F-14 units IMHO (a big red arrow). Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jefropas Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 Thanks for posting that Jay, I'll have to look for one at the next meet I go to, still can't believe I've never seen it. Jeff Quote Link to post Share on other sites
habu2 Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 Superscale did VF-201 on sheet 48-704: Repliscale did VF-201 on sheet 48-5011: I haven't seen VF-202/301/302 for Tomcats... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jay Chladek Posted March 1, 2007 Author Share Posted March 1, 2007 The Superscale 48-704 sheet was used on a Tomcat at Sunset. I believe Chorse6 was the builder. Here's the result: I have a 1/72 version of the Repliscale sheet in my stash. As for the Aeromaster sheet, it was the 2000 IPMS USA Nationals exclusive and as a result it didn't get issued outside of Dallas that year to my knowledge. Although perhaps there may have been some extra sheets available after. I know in my own club's case when they did the 1994 Nationals in Omaha, we still had some of our convention decals still available for sale after the show and I think we even have a few packets left today, 13 years later. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jay Chladek Posted March 9, 2007 Author Share Posted March 9, 2007 I went ahead and ground down the lower nose this last week to get a more accurate lower profile on the Academy kit. Step one involved back filling the nose and lower fuselage area in front of the nose gear bay with two part epoxy putty to safeguard against wearing through the plastic. Once the putty was dry, I taped the fuselage nose pieces together and then taped them to a Revell Monogram F-14 nose. The next step involved grinding down the lower fuselage area with a Dremel to more closely match the lower profile of the RM nose. Prior to the actual grinding, I taped off the details on the sides of the nose as a safeguard against wrecking the detail in those areas. Sandpaper alone would have worked just as well, but the Dremel helped turn a job that might have taken an hour's worth of sanding and streamlined the basic shaping down to about five minutes. Once that was done, I smoothed out the scuffs with finer grit sandpaper. Step two involved replacing the RM nose with the Academy one. Once that was taped into place, I used the Dremel to grind and shape the bottom of the Academy nose to match the new contour of the lower fuselage piece. I then cleaned up both areas with some additional polishing with finer grit sandpapers. Below you can see the results. Lower fuselage nose piece with the 2 part epoxy putty added (Apoxie Sculpt in this case). A second unmodified piece is shown to showcase the work done. And here it is seen from the front bottom. If you look close, you can see where the plastic wore through to the putty. Some filler putty on the outside should take care of any step problems if there are any that show up in the primer stage. And here is the putty on the inside of the nose itself. I also took this opportunity to add a little nose weight since an F-14 model with the wings swept back tends to be a bit on the nose heavy side. And finally here is the work done to the cockpit panels. This will be a canopy closed bird, so I am just using the basic instrument panels in the Academy kit. The white and gray raised areas for the most part were picked up with a Prismacolor white pencil. If the paint is nice and dry and flat, the pencil works great for popping out the details. Next time I do an Academy Tomcat, I will have a go at trying a True Details cockpit in the kit instead of the stock one. Thats all for now. The fuselage is together and work continues. Nose sanding and rescribing will begin tomorrow. More pictures to follow soon. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chorse6 Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 Jay, Looks great! Look forward to hearing about the Bombcat and seeing yours finished. Can't remember if I saw that picture of my F-14, but thanks for publishing it. Didn't know about the Reserve build. Wish I was there to participate. Modelling has been a little difficult. I'll build vicariously through you. BTW: Anyone know or is goiing to the deactiviation of VFA-201? Wouldl love to get some pictures of it. Would go if I could. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jay Chladek Posted March 13, 2007 Author Share Posted March 13, 2007 (edited) I know a VF-201/202 vet in the Dallas area that will probably be going (he works for American Airlines and is in the Texas ANG now). I don't know if he will be shooting any pics of the ceremony though. There probably won't be much to it as by my understanding they only have one F/A-18 left and who knows if it will even do a flight display during the ceremony or not. VFA-201 right now is pretty much a squadron in name only, which is a pity given their service and they were on the front lines during OIF in 2003 (I have the patch to prove it). Edited March 13, 2007 by Jay Chladek Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chorse6 Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 I heard about only having one a/c. I emailed one of their pilots before I left. Told me they pretty much were clearing out. I agree with you; a great shame. Unfortunately, they lost in the political battle between VF-204 (heard it from some of the other guys I talked with at the JRB show last year). Keep up with pics of the build! BTW: I'm sure you have a bunch of 201 pics, but if you need some more reference, I brought mine here. Let me know. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andy Mullen Posted March 24, 2007 Share Posted March 24, 2007 Just a heads up on the black tailed VF-201 scheme - looks like SS have re-issued these markings on a new sheet >> SS481175 << Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jay Chladek Posted March 28, 2007 Author Share Posted March 28, 2007 Mmmmm, thanks Andy. I may have to alter my decal plans a little, although low vis still has its appeal. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tomcat Tweeker Posted April 1, 2007 Share Posted April 1, 2007 Excellent progress so far Jay... Keep it up !! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jay Chladek Posted April 6, 2007 Author Share Posted April 6, 2007 Thanks. It looks like my plans are going to alter a little. Right now I am in a rush to get a P-39 done for a model show next weekend. So after April 14, I will have about two weeks to resume work on this. BUT, I have just taken on a commission build to do a VF-202 bird for a guy in Texas and it has to be done by May 20. Well, its reserve so that one I will be banging out in place of this one I guess. It will be a crap shoot as to if I can finish it in time, but I will try. Now I could theoretically turn this model into a 202 bird, except for the gun gas vent. The NACA vent is rather firmly attached to this model with its body and nose firmly glued together. If I rip it off, it will be a real mess (building a new Tomcat would probably take less time). Plus I don't necessarily feel like scrapping this project to turn it into a VF-202 bird anyway since I have come so far. So, starting on the 15th, I will be starting work on another Tomcat. Since this would be my third Academy build, things should go pretty smooth as I have the cockpit work down to a science and know what to do on the body. Its paintjob will be very easy to do as well since its all over gull gray with a tan radome (202 used that paintjob almost to the day they deactivated). I will probably salvage the wings and landing gear from my current build to save a little time. As to if I get done by May 1st will be a crap shoot. I might, but no guarantees until it happens. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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