rotaliscia Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 (edited) Hi all When last summer was launched the idea of a 2.0 release for the Tomcat G.B., I discovered a spur child istinct in me and I was unable to wait for the start day, Jan 01 '09. And now my Cat is too far away to join the Group. Shame on me ! But I strongly wish to join the Group in the future, with another F-14; an Hi Viz VF-1's on their First Cruise, with large beaver tail, and hoping to have available a new decal sheet realised for the GB, not to be obliged to use the old Microscale release. ...do you read me, Brian ? First of all, I want take this opportunity to salute all the Tomcat Group Build guys, wishing them all the best results. I'm with you all! :) That's a small WIP of my job. The red screwdriver is a sort of goliardic trademark of my group of friends! Just to start from the end, that's my Cat as today: Works started in Sept and my intention was to use this stuff: Aires 'pit, Shawn Hull's exhausts and GBU-38, VF Decal and stencil. Later on, thanks to the Brian Plescia kindness, I've gathered some information on the VF-31 Black Tail jet, and on her differences in painting and stenciling, on cruise or during NAS Oceana deployement for last flight days, choosing for a mix of Hasegawa/Cartograph and VF-Decals sheets. Cross checks with real photos of the plane shows the Hasegawa decal to be really accurate. Fitting the Aires cockpit into the fuselage was an easy and not too hard task. Just a little time consuming was the painting. But Aires details are so nice that every minute spent is an investment! ...even if Aires seats seems to be a little underscaled for the tub, about me. Edited January 27, 2009 by rotaliscia Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rotaliscia Posted January 27, 2009 Author Share Posted January 27, 2009 As already well known, the Hasegawa Tomcat is a really tricky kit to build. But thanks to Dave Angust's articles edited on Hyperscale some years ago, is possible to shortcut almost all of issues. Some others seems are due to the age of the molds (or to my fault!) Just one example of the troubles, I found this big gap on the bottom of the fuselage, once aligned and glued the cockpit. Nothing impossible to fix, with a lot of tests and dry fit, before to glue the parts. So take your time, canditate Hasegawa Tomcat builder! Patience pays! Painting was done following usual Modern Modeling Int.l Painting Laws, with preshading postshading, and many retouches in various shades of greys and smoke, using Gunze acrilyc paints. To put down the TPS scheme has been the most fun part of the game, since now. With three greys, so similar each other, is possible to play with the airbrush and spent some nice evenings at the table without boring. All decals are placed, now. Both sheets are of the best quality and worths every penny of their price. I'm painting ordnance and landing gear (really boring task, I admit) My Cat will be painted as to his Final Cruise days, in Feb. '06, "adorned" with standard VF-31's operative last loadout: one GBU-12, one GBU-38 and an AIM-9. Plus usual Lantirn Pod. I hope you like my model, even if I choose a most seen aircraft. Any comments and suggestion welcome. Cheers from Italy! Paolo Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TaiidanTomcat Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Wow nice job! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rom Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 wouah!!!!! awesome skills!! can you explain your weathering methoc? please!! i find the rendering ultra tealistic on your first pictures! bye! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
limyc Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 yea im also interested in the weathering method u used, very realistic. also, how did u take care of those super problematic gaps? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChernayaAkula Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 Maybe too far along for the GB, but highly interesting nonetheless! The paintjob is simply breath-taking. Absolutely amazing. :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
babyduck5 Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 Great build! Your cockpit looks amazing. But what I would love to see more of is that partially built pilot lurking in the background. That looks very COOL! And where can I get one? Jim B. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brian P: Fightertown Decals Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 (edited) Wow - that's an amazing looking Tomcat. I'm glad it all came together for you! A few pointers before finishing - and I'm sure that you've got them covered - I'm guessing you haven't painted the metal leading edge of the wings and the vents on top of the fuselage, right?... The felix and flag on the drop tank were added with the Sunset markings but they look cool! You also might want to take a look at the VFdecals sheet for the last cruise - the data is different than what you have there. The ejection seat triangles had black text, the Rescue arrows were 'off' in the Hasegawa boxing. Their data was generic compared to the exactness of the VF sheet. You definitely got it right with the gray 100's on the flaps. Great to see a last cruise CAG. Seeing yours is making me re-think my VF-31 build list and I may have to include this one afterall! -brian Edited January 28, 2009 by Brian P: Fightertown Decals Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rotaliscia Posted January 28, 2009 Author Share Posted January 28, 2009 (edited) Thanks for your words, dudes! I'm glad you like my Cat. To Brian: thanks for your suggestions; I will try to repair the errors where possible. Yes, the metal leading edge will be painted at last, after having matted the plane, in order to have them in a semi-shine finish. To Babyduck5: nice pilot, true? Is a 120 mm Verlinden kit, released a lot of years ago. A really good figure, with two heads option. With garrison cap or helmet. I don't know where to find one today, but I don't believe will be too hard, searching in specialized shops or asking directly to VLS. I do not have the catalogue number right now, but I can let you know, if needed. As you can see, my intention is to reproduce a VF-114 Tomcat pilot, of orange-suite '80s. To rom and lymic: weathering was realized mainly by pre and post-shading. Unfortunately I did not take photos of the completed pre-shaded model, anyway, seeing the photo from above, you can see the black thru the greys. After the standard TPS scheme went on, I gave a lot of retouches in various shades of greys, using my immagination and photos of real aircraft. The key, in my opinion, is to check MANY photos of real planes. As you can see, I tried to reproduce the different color shades of some panels or entire zones of the aircraft. On some areas on the back, a small drop of azure blue was added to 35237 and shaded over the base color, using a post-it to separate the panels. Overthin the paint, set a low pressure and give sprinkling layers. Later on, retouch the contour of most upper panels with others FS of the scheme, trying to reproduce real conditions, where crews repainted borders during maintenance, for anticorrosion reasons. To lymc: as said, problematic gaps of Hasegawa Tomcat can be cured with MANY tests, patience and dry fit before the glue. And having Dave Angust's articles in mind, before to start. http://www.hyperscale.com/features/2001/f1...uctiondwa_3.htm Thanks again Dave ! Hoping to having explained myself. Ciao! Paolo Edited January 28, 2009 by rotaliscia Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Spad Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 Ciao Paolo, finally I can see your Tomcat!!!! Very good finish, but I am convinced that the photos do not render justice and live your model is very much better! Best regards friend! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Spilloneforever Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 Finally you did it! You know, I'm not a fan of the preshading but I must admit that you and Piero achive great results using it. I should investigate better the tecnique, the look of the '14 is really interesting. Keep up the good work, my friend! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 Wow, that's beautiful work! Love the paint job! Marcel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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