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1/72 Fujimi Grumman F-14A Tomcat


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I added a couple of wires for the front cockpit. The loose ends will be covered by the seat. The dirty gray canvas cover on the left side of the front pit was made from aluminium tape.

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The Aires resin seats still lack the belts and the ejection handles but are otherwise quite ready.

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The instrument panel canvas covers tend to differ in colour since the left one usually isn't an original factory part but a replacement one added later due to wear that the left-side cover has to bear more than the right one. Also visible are the cooling vents on the sides of the glare shield that were scratched from fine metallic mesh I salvaged from an old ear phone.

f-14A010.jpg

I still haven't decided whether I'll close up the ladder or use it in extended position. Nevertheless, I drilled some lightening holes for it and thinned the part a bit.

f-14A013.jpg

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Great job! :worship:

BTW, I don't think its too late yet to do what this chap mentioned in his post;

Be aware that the cockpit tub in that kit is mounted about a quarter of an inch too far forward, which is very visible if you look at it in side view with the seats in place. On my ones I simply remove the areas behind the rear bulkhead and locate the tub back against the rear fuselage deck part. Also means removing the plinth the RIO's panel locates on and moving it similarly. Five minute job and huge improvement.

Still a better model than Hasegawa's kit!

I tried it last night on mine and it improves the cockpit look alot. As otherwise the front pilots panel just is not visable when installed.

cheers

EDIT; sorry, just saw you have added sidewall detail which kinda de-rails the plan a little lol

Edited by alrite
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Great work so far! :worship:

The instrument panel canvas covers tend to differ in colour since the left one usually isn't an original factory part but a replacement one added later due to wear that the left-side cover has to bear more than the right one. Also visible are the cooling vents on the sides of the glare shield that were scratched from fine metallic mesh I salvaged from an old ear phone.

Is that because the crew enter/exit on the left or something?

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Great work so far! :worship:

Is that because the crew enter/exit on the left or something?

That's the reason or at least so I've understood.

BTW, I don't think its too late yet to do what this chap mentioned in his post;

Too late! :worship:

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Hi Janman,

Great progress so far.

i know you didn't ask for this but, one thing i need to mention- if i haven 't already- is that the undercarriage requires some re-enforcement to bear the weight properly. i suggest adding a vertical post on the top of the retraction/drag strut on the nosewheel strut.

i also recommend a tiny locator pin on the top of the main landing gear drag strut, and a lateral re-enforcement post coming out of the side of the strut and plugging into the side of the intake trunk.

These will do WONDERS for the rigidity of the gear and it will travel to the shows much more reliably.

Hope these comments help. Lemme know if ye need to see pictures of how i did it.

FLY NAVY!!

Cheers,

D

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Also visible are the cooling vents on the sides of the glare shield that were scratched from fine metallic mesh I salvaged from an old ear phone.

What tool do you use to cut small pieces like these? I always struggle with them.

Needless to say, the kitty looks great. Have you decided what scheme you´ll do yet......... :pray: wolfpack.........wolfpack :pray: ..... ;)

:coolio:

Emil

Edited by nr1forme
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What tool do you use to cut small pieces like these? I always struggle with them.

Needless to say, the kitty looks great. Have you decided what scheme you´ll do yet......... :worship: wolfpack.........wolfpack :pray: ..... ;)

:lol:

Emil

I used PE scissors. The mesh, although pretty fine, was quite hard to cut. Now that I think of it, I Probably should have used fine plastic mesh from Lipton's triangular tea bags.

Scheme? Hmm, still can't say! :) I've got three sets of markings (all from Fujimi kits) and I might receive a fourth one (aftermarket set) soon. Hopefully!

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I used PE scissors

I´ve been thinking of getting a pair of those too. They seem useful. :)

and I might receive a fourth one (aftermarket set) soon. Hopefully!

Not making it easier to choose. :lol: I´m sure It will turn out nice whatever you choose.

Cheers!

Emil

Edited by nr1forme
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The beaver tail aligned well with the rest of the fuselage only after some Mr.Surfacer and sanding. I added (and will be adding even more) some panel lines and access hatches that were missing from the kit.

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The cockpit part had a rather lousy fit but that was mainly due to my own mistake of squeezing the halves too close to each other especially at the bottom. It can happen quite easily since the cockpit part is fairly open there (the halves meet only at the front). I'll try to achieve as perfect fit as possible by doing a lot of dry-fitting before attaching the parts together.

f-14A023.jpg

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The cat is getting her shape... niiice!

Thanks, my friend!

Some further progress: the landing gears.

Though nicely moulded, some details are a bit simplistic or left out completely, which strangely reminds me of Fujimi's A-6. Basically, that's not so strange since the basic configuration is closely related to Intruder's gear.

Some basic wiring and scratched rods linked to the launch bar on the both sides of the nose gear strut.

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The main landing gear struts with the most visible hydraulic lines added.

f-14A018.jpg

f-14A020.jpg

f-14A019.jpg

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Janman, you are giving me an inferiority complex :( How can I ever get my 1/72 kits to look as good as yours now? Can you please stop upping the ante?

Well, our baby is due in two or three weeks so I guess my modelling time will be in short supply. :thumbsup:

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Thanks for your comments, fellas!

Excuse the bad photos. They are just way too yellow and really dont't make the wells look good at all. The flash made the photos appear too bright so I had to use a table lamp.

I scratched the anti-skid control/power brake module boxes at the front of the bay and the pressure bottle on the left side. Some hydralic and electric lines were also added since the sides were completely empty of any detail. The roof on the other hand looks quite nice even OOB. Now the bay just needs some detail painting for the different parts.

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In order to get a good fit between the fuselage and the cockpit part I added some plastic between the front gear well and the cockpit sides to act as wedges. This way I got the sides a bit more further away from each other and more aligned with the main fuselage.

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And voila! Not much sanding needed anymore.

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