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Tamiya /32nd scale F-14A Black Knights edition


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Another thing is that the strengthening on the underside of the canopy is solid. The real deal has lightening holes in the cross beams.

[

Guy,

Not sure what you are talking about concerning the lightening holes but the canopy from was solid, don't remember any holes in the canopy with the exception of the ECS pipes.

Reddog

Edited by Reddog
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Hi there Geedub

nice going so far I must ask you how you get to remove so much material without even breaking the piece :wacko: thing is you have more work because you're backdating it to an earlier version...but then agian its more fun :D

I'm really looking forward to the work you're going to at the back end cavity below the canopy hump. Do you have a verlinden book as well as IICRC there was a verry close up picture of that area in there....

Guy,

Not sure what you are talking about concerning the lightening holes but the canopy from was solid, don't remember any holes in the canopy with the exception of the ECS pipes.

Reddog

he's talking about the frame work he pointed out in this diagram...

tn_F-14Canopy003.jpg

looking at the daco book I can see them too...nice catch another thing added on the "tweak" list :cheers:

Cheers mate

Greetz STB

Frederick Jacobs

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I'm baaaack!

As I hoped, I managed a little time at the bench. This extra detail stuff takes a whole lot of time. One of these days I'm going to build a model box stock. I'm just going to glue the kit parts together without adding any extras, paint it and add the kit decals..............

Guy,

Not sure what you are talking about concerning the lightening holes but the canopy from was solid, don't remember any holes in the canopy with the exception of the ECS pipes.

Reddog

Hi Gerry, thanks for stopping by sir. I apologise for being misleading. I did n't explain what I meant very well earlier. Underneath the rear of the canopy is an arrangement of cross bracing and support beams. The Aires parts are pretty hefty and solid whereas the actual parts are relatively thin looking with holes cut out. In this scale I felt that it could look better, even though it is on the underside and will only be seen from certain (hard to reach) angles.
This is really fun to watch, because during my two attempts with the Aires canopy frame, I kept thinking, "What would Guy do?"
Hi Chuck.......sit in the corner gibbering, that's what I'd do!!

Overnight I've gone from being involved in the best part of the build to possibly the worst. How quickly fortunes change.I'm thinking "get this over with and move on"

Unfortunately, the canopy has to be one of the most noticable items on the jet, especially when it is raised. This means that the eye will be drawn to it so it's got to look reasonable. All I can do is my best and hope that's good enough. Keep your fingers crossed for me eh?

Hi there Geedub

nice going so far I must ask you how you get to remove so much material without even breaking the piece..... thing is you have more work because you're backdating it to an earlier version...but then agian its more fun

I'm really looking forward to the work you're going to at the back end cavity below the canopy hump. Do you have a verlinden book as well as IICRC there was a verry close up picture of that area in there....

Cheers mate

Greetz STB

Frederick Jacobs

Hi Frederick, good to see you bro'. Yes, I'm using the Verlinden Lock-On in conjunction with the DACO publication. I've also found a number of neat pics on the net both here and at PrimePortal so I have a bit of reference material. Nothing I have actually shows the complete assembly in clarity though. I guess I'll add some pipes, hoses, connectors and a streamer and hope that looks busy enough.

The day has been spent trying to add the de-mist pipes and complete the area under the canopy rear deck.

This is a difficult area to photograph in artifcial lighting so please excuse these dark images.

tn_F-14Canopy020.jpg

I'm using a cocktail stick to hold the canopy rail in place for the photos, eventually this will be replaced with a length of stainless steel tubing.

tn_F-14Canopy018.jpg

At least there is daylight between the canopy rail and the de-mist pipes now. I've added the wires that run back from the canopy rail and attempted to construct the twisted pipe toward the front of the canopy rail but the photos did n't come out.

I'll add a shot of that area when I can.

Thanks for your continuing interest folks, cheers.

:monkeydance:

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hello guys 'n' gals,

Good to see you all, hope everyone is well.

Here are one or two pics of the canopy now that it is 99% done.

This was a struggle!

As I explained previouly, the Aires canopy rails don't fit well with the Tamiya glazing so some patience is required not to mention a little creative thinking.

Since the resin parts are too short, some of the kit plastic was used to lengthen the canopy to allow it to sit over the fuselage in the raised position.. This short length of kit canopy was blended into the clear part and then thinned along its' rearmost edge.

tn_F-14canopy025.jpg

(Ignore the wierd refraction in the glazing...the kit clear part is very thick and makes the de-misting pipe look like it's mishapen from this angle)

After seeing Easterns' recent F-18 thread I was hesitant to show these canopy images. Alexander shows how a canopy should look. Check it out here

The glazing on this build falls a long way short of what Alexander achieved but I'd already attached too many small fragile items to be able to improve things any further. I'll take that lesson with me to future builds.

One area that gave me fits was the static electricity discharge conductor that runs along the top of the glazing over the seats.

Chuck painted his on his recent F-14B build here but I'd removed the mold line and was worried about getting each strip central. The other thought was that the strips are located on the inside of the glazing on the full sized article but masking inside the canopy would have been almost impossible. I tried to use very thin strips of black decal but the decal I was using just crumbled so I had to look around for an alternative. After much humming and hawing I decided to use foil.

I cut some wine bottle foil as thinly as I could then tacked it in place using tiny drops of CA.. Lastly, I ran thin beads of white PVA glue along the very edge of each foil strip in an attempt to replicate the plastic sheathing that appears to cover the conductor. The end result is questionable. It looks ok from a distance and has a suitably metallic appearance from the outside but it is somewhat untidy in close-up.

tn_F-14canopy021.jpg

The internal canopy framing is supplied by Aires and comes with the mirrors attached ready to just fold down into the correct position. All I had to do was add some reflective foil to the mirrored glass portions of each to get a better effect.

tn_F-14canopy028.jpg

The locking hooks are nice but seem too flattened once attached to the rails. From studying reference pics I think that the inside face of the rail is not quite vertical enough. Hopefully this won't be too apparent when the canopy is fixed in the raised position.

tn_F-14canopy029.jpg

I airbrushed some grey over each of the hooks to suggest touch-ups. This is a feature I've seen in a couple of reference photos and adds some life to the black of the rails.

This all took alot of thought and time. Certainly not the easiest part of the build to date and not perfect by any means but it'll do. I'm not planning on entering any shows with this bird so I'm happy with the end result.

Next up are the sills of the cockpit and the turtle deck area toward the rear of the canopy opening.

Enjoy your weekend folks,,

Cheers,

:lol:

Edited by geedubelyer
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Hello guys 'n' gals,

Good to see you all, hope everyone is well.

Here are one or two pics of the canopy now that it is 99% done.

This was a struggle!

As I explained previouly, the Aires canopy rails don't fit well wit hthe Tamiya glazing so some patience is required not to mention a little creative thinking.

Since the resin parts are too short, some of the kit plastic was used to lengthen the canopy to allow it to sit over the fuselage in the raised position.. This short length of kit canopy was blended into the clear part and then thinned along its' rearmost edge.

tn_F-14canopy025.jpg

(Ignore the wierd refraction in the glazing...the kit clear part is very thick and makes the de-misting pipe look like it's mishapen from this angle)

After seeing Easterns' recent F-18 thread I was hesitant to show these canopy images. Alexander shows how a canopy should look. Check it out here

The glazing on this build falls a long way short of what Alexander achieved but I'd already attached too many small fragile items to be able to improve things any further. I'll take that lesson with me to future builds.

One area that gave me fits was the electricity discharge conductor that runs along the top of the glazing over the seats.

Chuck painted his on his recent F-14B build here but I'd removed the mold line and was worried about getting each strip central. The other thought was that the strips are located on the inside of the glazing on the full sized article but masking inside the canopy would have been almost impossible.

Wow excellent work...continuing to be impressed by ur work!

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Wow! Eventually! Updates!!

Guy, you've got a great deal of stunning job done on the canopy!

After seeing Easterns' recent F-18 thread I was hesitant to show these canopy images. Alexander shows how a canopy should look. Check it out here

The glazing on this build falls a long way short of what Alexander achieved but I'd already attached too many small fragile items to be able to improve things any further. I'll take that lesson with me to future builds.

Thank you much for the credit, but my canopy pales beside yours one in the light of details so neatly and deftly done and painted.

With no exaggeration, your canopy is a real masterpice as a result of great patience, craftsmanship and keen attention to details. :)

tn_F-14canopy028.jpg

tn_F-14canopy029.jpg

Cheers and happy modeling!

Alexander.

:worship:

Edited by Eastern
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Hello guys 'n' gals,

Good to see you all, hope everyone is well.

Here are one or two pics of the canopy now that it is 99% done.

This was a struggle!

As I explained previously, the Aires canopy rails don't fit well with the Tamiya glazing so some patience is required not to mention a little creative thinking.

Since the resin parts are too short, some of the kit plastic was used to lengthen the canopy to allow it to sit over the fuselage in the raised position.. This short length of kit canopy was blended into the clear part and then thinned along its' rearmost edge.

tn_F-14canopy025.jpg

(Ignore the wierd refraction in the glazing...the kit clear part is very thick and makes the de-misting pipe look like it's mishapen from this angle)

The glazing on this build falls a long way short of what Alexander achieved but I'd already attached too many small fragile items to be able to improve things any further. I'll take that lesson with me to future builds.

Looks great mate but about the last thing you said what would do if all wasn't attached sand it down/ thinner so the transparency would improve or something else, just checking for future reference

Cheers mate

Greetz STB

Frederick Jacobs

PS; I do hope you'll bring this to the UK nats this year so I can have a look at it :) :crying2: so you can take gold/ best of show with you as well mate :lol: .

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With no exaggeration, your canopy is a real masterpice as a result of great patience, craftsmanship and keen attention to details. :worship:

What Alexander (and all others of course) said!

Simply stunning work on the canopy. :worship:

What's your next step, I assume you must be getting close to mating the forward and main fuselage?

I'm looking forward to see your continued progress. :whistle:

Cheers,

Anders

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Hey Guy I lost track of this build, and for that I must "Gravel" at your feet and beg for forgiveness. HOLY _ _ _ _ _ _ ! add your own explicative! I cannot believe the level of detail you have put into such a small part of this gargantuan beast! That cockpit is to die for, and wish that my work could come out looking so good! Thanks for showing, and again as I have said before you are just making me sick and wanting to quit modelling! Cant wait for your next update, hopefully sooner than later!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello everyone, aplogies for taking so long to add an update.

Good to see you all. I hope that things are well in your neck of the woods.

Rom, Alexander, many thanks for your kind words. Always very much appreciated.

Looks great mate but about the last thing you said what would do if all wasn't attached sand it down/ thinner so the transparency would improve or something else, just checking for future reference

Cheers mate

Greetz STB

Frederick Jacobs

PS; I do hope you'll bring this to the UK nats this year........

Hi Frederick, good to see you. I'm not intending to bring this bird along to the Nats, sorry. One reason is that I'm not entirely sure it'll be finished by November and secondly, I don't belong to any clubs or hold an IPMS membership so I'd have no-where to display it....

In answer to your question, vac-forming a canopy would probably give the best results. That would be much thinner and closer to scale. The Tamiya glazing is very thick in places, particulary around the central hoop. I'm guessing the plastic is well over 2mm thick at that point :cheers: If I'd paid more attention I would have realised before I'd added the etch and had time to sand the plastic down to a sensible thickness. As it is, I'll live with it on this build but ckeck any future kit glazing for similar issues. One thing I did do was to sand the top of the glazing to reduce the "double bubble" effect either side of the central hoop. The original kit part had a pronounced bulge in front of and behind that hoop which looked too exaggerated when compared to refs.

Hi mareku, Gerry, HOLMES and camophilip, thanks for stopping by and adding your generous comments. I'm thrilled that you all like things so far. :banana:

What's your next step, I assume you must be getting close to mating the forward and main fuselage?

I'm looking forward to see your continued progress. Cheers,

Anders

Hello Anders, nice to see you again. I'd hoped to get a little closer to buttoning up the forward fuselage so that I can get some paint on it and have some fun but there is a way to go yet. Now I've got to follow what you've already done and decorate the step area plus the nose gear well.......you can bet I'll be spending alot of time studying your thread over the next weeks (months?) I'm hoping that you'll soon have time to get back to your big cat too.

Hi Marcel, Jeff and Chuck, your words of encouragement mean a great deal. Thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts guys, much appreciated. :thumbsup:

WHEN IS THIS EVER GONNA GET DONE...

Hi Infideon, I'm guessing you're not the only one asking this question. If you've followed along with any of my other builds you'll know that they're not for the faint hearted and require large quantities of stamina! My only hope is that it's worth it in the end. Thanks for sticking with me, your patience is a credit to you. :beer4:

Hi Mike, JMan and TomThe Tomcat, cheers guys. Thanks muchly for the kind words. I'm glad you like what you see.

I had every intention of adding some pipework to the turtle deck behind the RIOs' seat as my next task but I got side-tracked. Instead, I decided to tackle a little job that's been in the back of my mind for a while now.

As I was flicking through the DACO book I noticed a shot of the Phoenix pylon. I was intrigued by the hollow beak of the actual pylon and had to check out the kit part.

Tamiya have modelled the pylon with integral mounts for the kit AIM-54s and the molding is flush with the profile of the missile. Here's a shot of the kit part.

tn_Phoenixpylon002.jpg

This fairing appears to be aerodynamically shaped to wrap around the nose of the Phoenix and is a great shape when mounted on the wing glove pylon. The LAU-93 missile launcher is housed within this fairing and although it is virtually enclosed, there are one or two details visible on the underside. These last few piccies show my attempt at fabricating this assembly..........

tn_Phoenixpylon009.jpg

tn_Phoenixpylon011.jpg

tn_Phoenixpylon012.jpg

Many of the images of late F-14As show the left wing glove pylon with the AIM-7 adaptor attached but each of the Checkmate jets pictured in the "Anytime Baby" publication is equipped with the Phoenix rails so I'm thrilled to be able to add this pylon to my model.

I plan to weather the fairing alot. One pic in the previously mentioned publication shows Nickel 101 sporting a very patchy and dirty fairing which I'm using as my inspiration.

I'll try and get some paint on this thing soon.

Cheers for now all.

:nanner:

Edited by geedubelyer
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AWESOME Phoenix adapter Guy, you nailed it perfectly.

The AIM-54 was retired in Sept 04 so if you are doing a plane after that you would not put a Phoenix adapter on the plane.

We use to have half of out jets with Phoenix adapters, the other have would have a Sparrow adapter on station 1B, station 8B would have a LANTRIN Pod and the belly would have two bomb rails.

Reddog

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