THX1138 Posted January 31, 2010 Author Share Posted January 31, 2010 You mean the difference in angles like this ? It thought it was because of the wide angle lens in the LSP build. But that would make the angle even more extreme. I test fit mine and looks the same, angle's too shallow. the outer wall needs to go up more, so the leading edge will get a bigger angle compared to the horizon. I checked some more resources, like Walk-arounds, and they all seem to have more angle. It's not much though, so I guess I will leave it the way it is. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mareku Posted January 31, 2010 Share Posted January 31, 2010 Looks like good start to me. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Zactoman Posted January 31, 2010 Share Posted January 31, 2010 You mean the difference in angles like this ?Yes... It looks to me like the intakes needs to be tipped out more until that lower edge is perpendicular to the upper leading edge. This would also give the sides the more proper angle. When viewed from the front they should be rectangles tipped at angles. Unfortunate if they can't be fixed by simply tipping the kit parts out more. The front view is a big parts of what makes the Tomcat a Tomcat... Nice build so far though! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Maker Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 I think I cracked it, due to Maker's excellent idea. I chopped the gear in half So now I can fit the part between the 2 sidewalls. Happy to have helped. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
THX1138 Posted February 4, 2010 Author Share Posted February 4, 2010 (edited) Small updates again. Closed up the front and fitted the nose. Radar dish remains unused. It's for sale :) Front gear well, minus the gear strut. Makes life so much easier. A bit too dirty ? Yes, but I do like the OOB detail. Sprayed the intakes white, includin the grey demarcation. And I dirtied up the far end where the fan is. Hard too see and take a picture of. Been busy with my other build, A-7E GB, so that´s it. Edited February 4, 2010 by THX1138 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JMan Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 WOW, this is looking great! Cant wait to see more! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TomcatFanatic123 Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 Looks great so far! I was going to use the radar on mine, but I decided against it. And personally, I don't think the gear bay is too dirty at all...I like it :)... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jgrease Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 Wow. How much does Kobe give you for that huge ad? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TomcatFanatic123 Posted February 6, 2010 Share Posted February 6, 2010 (edited) Wow. How much does Kobe give you for that huge ad? LOL...yeah, he could afford to send a few bucks my way. Nah, I'm just a huge Laker fan. Growing up on the Central Coast of CA and getting only Laker games on TV, I've been a Laker fan since I was about 6 or 7 years old. Anyhoo, back to your regulary scheduled topic...:D. Edited February 6, 2010 by TomcatFanatic123 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
loftycomfort Posted February 6, 2010 Share Posted February 6, 2010 Wow. How much does Kobe give you for that huge ad? LOL I was gonna ask the same thing too! Terry Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jgrease Posted February 6, 2010 Share Posted February 6, 2010 LOL...yeah, he could afford to send a few bucks my way. Nah, I'm just a huge Laker fan. Growing up on the Central Coast of CA and getting only Laker games on TV, I've been a Laker fan since I was about 6 or 7 years old.Anyhoo, back to your regulary scheduled topic...:). Sorry I just had to say it, but I know how it is to be a fanatic. Enjoy. And now back to the build... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mareku Posted February 6, 2010 Share Posted February 6, 2010 Great work so far. Keep it comeing!!!! :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HOLMES Posted February 6, 2010 Share Posted February 6, 2010 I wanna be able to model like this..BUT hey who am I kidding...THIS IS AWESOME work ... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mareku Posted February 6, 2010 Share Posted February 6, 2010 I wanna be able to model like this..BUT hey who am I kidding...THIS IS AWESOME work ... ;) :P Holmes! What tolk is that!? You are great modeler yousef. Just do thinks and show them to us, please! The Tomcat modeling is great too. No dought about it Quote Link to post Share on other sites
THX1138 Posted February 13, 2010 Author Share Posted February 13, 2010 I spent the better part of this week fitting the intake tunnels, and trying to fix the seams that this brings up. on the inside it's not too bad. Since the body is still in 2 halves you can glue from the other side, instead of the nice side. Using thin glue you can pretty much work your way along the tunnel a couple of inches at a time. Since the fit is far from perfect you need to clamp thing together using rubber bands, and wait for the glue to fully dry before moving on to the next. If you take you time, it's very doable and worth the effort. It's a main part of the kit so it needs to be fitted properly. I had the most trouble with the back of the tunnels, where the 'arch' needs to line up with the 'arch' at the rear part of the tunnels. At one point I needed to almost sand off 1mm of styrene to get a smoother line. Here the rear-tunnel had shifted outwards a bit too much when that was put in. Here's the result, not fully done yet and after priming, more defects will probably show up, so more sanding will be needed. I also fitted the wheel wells. And then there's the dreaded front view of the intakes. It's not authentic. The angle is too shallow, which partially ruins the Tomcat look. I decided not to fix it this time. But I'm axious to find out how others will fix this. If you shorten the wall on one side, it should rotate to a larger angle, but you also end up with a tip that's too short and more tension on the styrene (due to the warping), causing it to perhaps pop loose. The other option is to make a cut and bend the lip down on that side. You better make sure you do this right or you end up trashing your kit. Oh wait, I also sprayed the rubber bladder with Vallejo Air in many thin layers and it stays on perfectly. You can bend the rubber any way you want, it will not crack. I slightly sanded the rubber before hand. And it can also be slightly sanded afterwards to make it look more rough and make rotating wing patterns. No picture just yet. Until next time. Happy building (please warn me if I start to sound like Bob Ross). Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TomcatFanatic123 Posted February 14, 2010 Share Posted February 14, 2010 Your intakes turned out perfectly! I've got one side done on mine and it was a royal PITA, and, while it's not bad, it's FAR from what I was hoping for. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Shaun Naude Posted February 14, 2010 Share Posted February 14, 2010 Th great job so far on the cat I am on a leash this year so I will have to make do with the Revell one The a model.I know it sucks but Im sure I will turn it into t least something you can look at.As for your model it looks the dawgs nads dude!Just one question though:Maybe I am stupid but wouldnt it have been easier to just snip the two locator pins of the sides of the front lnding gear line it up after the tub has been assembled and then insert a pin on both sides?This coulve been done before putting into the fuselage and woulve been condusive to better strength. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
loftycomfort Posted February 14, 2010 Share Posted February 14, 2010 Great job on the intakes. I also noticed that the angle is off on my kit, but as you said, trying to fix it can ruin the build so I am sticking with the mistake. Oh well. Cheers Terry Quote Link to post Share on other sites
THX1138 Posted April 25, 2010 Author Share Posted April 25, 2010 (edited) Finally got some time to get this bird on the road again. I'm on to preshading as of now, so there's a bit of a jump in my build. Basically, it all went smooth from where I left off. The top-bottom halves fit nicely. Just move along the edges one at a time, and use lotsa rubber bands. Then you have to slide in the nose section. I first glued in the bottom-plate in the nose. Fit is ok, bit of a gap near the front gear-doors. Then I slide it into the main body. On the bottom the fit is excellent. But at the top, there's a horrible seam. However, if you just glue the bottom and sides and don't use any glue on the top seam you can once again do it in steps. I then simply did the top seam with superglue while nudging around so the seam was almost gone. A little sanding and voila, seam is totally gone and the nose is a very very nice fit with the body. So like I said, I'm preshading now. Since this bird is huge, I had to stop halfway down the road. So I'll do the bottom tomorrow. Just to remind you, you need space for this one. Trump included seperate closed geardoors which you can use to mask the wheel wells. Edited April 25, 2010 by THX1138 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
THX1138 Posted May 1, 2010 Author Share Posted May 1, 2010 (edited) Major paintjob about 95% done. Vallejo acrylics. I wasn't convinced about the TPS scheme that should be correct when using Vallejo. It's 71050 for the bottom, 71047 for the forward nose and 71049 for the top. But especially the top was much too gull-greyish to me. And when testing the colors next to each other the front-nose color also seemed way to dark. But went ahead with it anyway. And I think it turned out ok. It helps to think that not a single Cat looks the same. Post-shaded with the same colours by adding a few drops of white to get a bleached look. And then small patches of dark to get some dirt in the paintlayer. This starts to look like a pattern really quick, so I might go in and repatch some areas when the decals are done, and the dirt wash is on. I think this is by far the coolest thing of modeling. You see the thing come to life in your hands after spending weeks on just plain old plastic and filler. The gaps between the closed panels in the nose starts to pop out now. Please Trump, give us a closed nose section. I'd be willing to pay another $5 extra in the kit if you include it. The fuel-probe is ok, so it only has to be the port side. Edited May 1, 2010 by THX1138 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted May 2, 2010 Share Posted May 2, 2010 Great job on the Cat! Awesome paint job! Cheers, Marcel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TomcatFanatic123 Posted May 2, 2010 Share Posted May 2, 2010 (edited) The gaps between the closed panels in the nose starts to pop out now. Please Trump, give us a closed nose section. I'd be willing to pay another $5 extra in the kit if you include it. The fuel-probe is ok, so it only has to be the port side. I hear what you're saying about those port side panels. I had to stuff thin plasticard and some putty in mine to take care of those gaps. It took me about 3 days working each individual panel at a time to get them looking somewhat decent, and I'm still not sure how they'll look under a coat of paint . This is one of the reasons why I'm going with a filthy, dirty, nasty, beaten up, never-taken-a-bath, out-at-sea-too-long weathered look on mine, so the wash and weathering pastels will hopefully hide some of my dork-ups with the panel lines, because I'm sure there will be some. Looking phenomenal so far! Edited May 2, 2010 by TomcatFanatic123 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rube7361 Posted May 3, 2010 Share Posted May 3, 2010 Sweet job. its looking good so far! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Qian Posted May 3, 2010 Share Posted May 3, 2010 WOW! Awesome paint job! :blink: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
loftycomfort Posted May 3, 2010 Share Posted May 3, 2010 Good to see you at it again. Great paint work and shading! Keep it up. Cheers, Terry Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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