PNW_Modeler Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 (edited) I am converting an Academy F-14A into a F-14B. I will be using the Bombcat boxing, as it already had many of the updated bits. The conversion will be done without resin...only sheet plastic and spare parts from the box of a Revell F-14A. The aircraft I will be modeling is the VF-103 Jolly Rogers "Santa Cat". First off, I need to make some simple mods to the cockpit for bring it up to "code". The conversion in the rear is pretty simple. I just took my rotory tool and grinded off the circular screen in the center. I now have an empty space in the center. Then, I made a square screen using a lid from a sour cream container. Once I paint all the details on the panel, I will attach the new PTID screen and add some detail to it. Edited May 13, 2009 by paul.nortness Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PNW_Modeler Posted January 7, 2009 Author Share Posted January 7, 2009 Here is the panel after some paint with the new PTID screen in place. I still need to do some detail painting and then dry brush to bring all the detail out. Once that is done, I am going to paint the inside of the new screen with black and then a top coat of Tamiya clear green. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PNW_Modeler Posted January 8, 2009 Author Share Posted January 8, 2009 I have just finished the cockpit..... Here is the front seat. The throttle was taken from a Revellogram F/A-18C And here is the RIO station. You can see the square PTID screen installed. I could have added a bit more detail to it (knobs, etc), but considering it is 48th scale and it's pretty hard to see the cockpit anyway I didn't bother. If this were 32nd scale, I definitely would have added some more detail to it. The LANTIRN stick on the left side was taken from the same donor F/A-18C kit. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TaiidanTomcat Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 Nice Cockpit! That LANTIRN stick is a nice addition. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PNW_Modeler Posted January 9, 2009 Author Share Posted January 9, 2009 wow. closing in on 175 views and only one response. Thanks for the encouragement guys Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Adam Baker Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Haha. Ive looked at this one a few times while at work, but not much time to respond. Its looking really good. What did you use to color the PTID screen? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
VFA-103guy Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Paul- May I ask what color you are using to dry brush your pits with? If you are using silver, you may want to tone it down a notch and switch over to lt ghost grey. Also, you got the pilot's control stick installed backwards.. Nice scratch job on the PTID! Consider yourself lucky, I suck at scratch building.. :( Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PNW_Modeler Posted January 10, 2009 Author Share Posted January 10, 2009 Paul-May I ask what color you are using to dry brush your pits with? If you are using silver, you may want to tone it down a notch and switch over to lt ghost grey. Also, you got the pilot's control stick installed backwards.. :) Nice scratch job on the PTID! Consider yourself lucky, I suck at scratch building.. :( Are you F'in kidding me? Well....That's what I got for being cocky and not looking at the instructions! I don't think it was silver....I think that came out of the aluminum bottle....I can easily go back over it with lt ghost though....thanks for the heads up Adam....the screen was painted with flat black and then went over it with tamiya clear green. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PNW_Modeler Posted January 13, 2009 Author Share Posted January 13, 2009 I fixed the stick issue. I am going to re-install the stick when I drop the seats in. I got the wings cut. gears removed and little notches made for the mounting pin. Also, the instructions tell you to attach, but not glue the glove vanes. This is so they can open. Because this is being converted into a F-14B, these should be glued. I used medium CA. This will fill the gaps between the fuselage and the vane, making these a little easier in paint prep. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Adam Baker Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Not sure if you can answer this question, but I figure I'll ask, since you have the pic's for the glove vanes. On the -A, do you have any suggestions on how to fill the leading & trailing gaps to make it look more realistic? The gap at the aft end of the vane isnt too bad, but I'd imagine the gap at the pivot point isnt nearly that large on the real thing. This is something Im trying to figure out, since Im doing an -A. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PNW_Modeler Posted January 13, 2009 Author Share Posted January 13, 2009 (edited) On the previous Academy Tomcats I have done, I just filled em with putty and sanded em smooth. I know exactly where you are talking about and it is a crappy gap. That is why I used CA glue to attach them. It fills up the holes really well It doesn't take much time at all to end up with this.... Edited January 13, 2009 by paul.nortness Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Adam Baker Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 How prominent should those vanes be, when retracted? Would it be better to fill them in, and then go back & scribe the line in? It just seems to be that the hole would be big enough to stick your arm in, if the hole were that large on a real plane. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PNW_Modeler Posted January 13, 2009 Author Share Posted January 13, 2009 when retracted, the vanes should be completely flush with the rest of the wing glove. Yeah, that is the best way to do it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Adam Baker Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Ok, I'll go ahead & give it a try. If it doesnt work, I'll just sand it smooth & not worry about it. It looks like the decals Im going w/, cover that area up anyway. Might be just be easier to not worry about scribing it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PNW_Modeler Posted January 16, 2009 Author Share Posted January 16, 2009 Got a little work done this week that merits an update..... After removing the BACKWARDS FLIGHTSTICK (thanks Bryan), and reapplying my dry brushing with light ghost, I got the cockpit and the forward wheel well installed. For some reason, the wheel well is a little higher than it should be and causes a very tight fit when the fuselage is sealed. I cure this by trimming a bit off the top of each piece before I bother doing anything else. I also make sure and attach the panel for the gunvent to the lower nose section before attaching it. It gives the piece greater holding surface to the top half. The gap between the fuselage bottom and nose bottom look alot worse than it really is in that pic. I filled the gap with some medium CA glue. Once that gets hard, I am going to hit it with the rotory tool and smooth it out. Once I get it smooth, the gap is filled in with some Mr. Surfacer Here is a closer look. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Adam Baker Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 Awesome job Paul. Im hoping I might be able to proceed to that point tonight, on my build. I plan on spending as much time as possible working on my builds tonight & this weekend. I'd love to get to the point of laying down some paint this weekend. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PNW_Modeler Posted January 16, 2009 Author Share Posted January 16, 2009 Hey Adam.....another trick I did this time..... On my previous Academy builds, I noticed that as I was sanding the joint between the lower nose and fuselage, the nose piece with actually move around, causing the putty to crack. On this build, I added to small strips of stryrene on the fuselage bottom...one on each side of the wheel well. Then, when I glued the nose bottom on, I added a little CA to the parts of the strips that was exposed. The result is a super hard bond.....That piece is not going anywhere now. The red lines indicate where the strips were placed....hope this helps a little. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Adam Baker Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 I noticed on mine last night, that the joint between those 2 parts could be a weak point. I was thinking about trying something similar, but Im glad to know now that it does work, so I'll definitely be doing that. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PNW_Modeler Posted January 16, 2009 Author Share Posted January 16, 2009 In terms of the conversion from a F-14A to F-14B, you can see a good deal of the mods needed are already molded on. You can see the GPS dome on the spine and the tail stiffener plates. The kit also includes the ECM bumps on the forward section of the wing gloves...you need to cut out a section to mount them, hence them not being pictured up. Why they didn't just add them to the fuselage mold when they were adding the other stuff is another question entirely. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PNW_Modeler Posted March 13, 2009 Author Share Posted March 13, 2009 progress report time...... I have finally gotten back to work on this little project. I recently finished squaring off the engine fairings, filled and sanded the seams in the nose, added the ECM bumps on the glove vanes and just need to blend them in. The battery in the camera needed a charge so I wasn't able to get pics before I left for work....I'll try to get them up tonight Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PNW_Modeler Posted March 26, 2009 Author Share Posted March 26, 2009 (edited) Pics! Here are the fairings... And the glove vane ECM bumps.... and finally a overall shot I am hoping to begin painting in the very near future. I have also begun prep work for my second Academy conversion to a F-14D. Revell was kind enough to mold the front instrument panel for a F-14D in their recent F-14B release. I ordered the part through Revell's site (which they sent completely free....not even shipping!). I am going to be modifying the rear panel of the Academy kit in the same way I did the F-14B to give it the square PTID. That, along with some other parts from the Revell F-14D should make for a decent looking Delta Tomcat. I'll start posting pics of that one when work starts. Edited March 26, 2009 by paul.nortness Quote Link to post Share on other sites
VFA-103guy Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 Were the glove vane ECM blisters in the Academy bombcat kit? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PNW_Modeler Posted March 27, 2009 Author Share Posted March 27, 2009 (edited) Yup, they are included in the Bombcat boxing. You have to notch the front of the glove vane to mount them. I'm not sure I notched mine far enough down....they seem a tad too forward The kit comes with just about everything to make a decent Bravo....really the only things missing are the GE engines and fairings (nozzles borrowed from Revell kit, fairings made with putty) and some mods in the cockpit which I detailed in earlier posts. Edited March 27, 2009 by paul.nortness Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PNW_Modeler Posted April 29, 2009 Author Share Posted April 29, 2009 finished up airbrushing today. Had to throw the tails into the superclean bath....the black ran on the tails for some reason. I need to paint the airbags, IP coamings, and engine fairings and then base painting is done. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
catfan Posted May 1, 2009 Share Posted May 1, 2009 this sounds cool did you fix the nose on the bombcat??? my tomcat will be the revell because i can get them for a good price i cant wait to see it finshed Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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