F-14B, VF-74 Be-Devilers Adversary 1/48

[JohnS]

...One question concerning the ECM vents...Looking at the pics at Prime Portal it looks like the LH side had nine louvers that were aligned angular L/H ECS vent whereas the R/H side had 10 louvers which were ...well kind of...straight compared to the panle lines R/H ECS vent...

Yes, you're right Alex. The louvers are at 90° on the 10 louver vent and angled on the 9.

Here's a photo comparing Christine's vents.

Also, here's a comparison photo I posted earlier showing the 9 and 10 louver right hand vents on various actual Tomcat aircraft.

[coneheadff]

Thanks for the confirmation, John!!!

So, back to the laboratory...let's see how I'm gonna fix this. Man, those louvers are tiny :D

[JohnS]

A short update!

I haven't been spending much time on the model recently. I just needed time to chill out after what could have been a major catastrophe for this build.

Here's what happened.

I was finishing the fuselage and adding a final coat of primer. I had masked the clear windscreen and canopy as usual with Tamiya masking tape. I've been using a generic lacquer rattlecan primer on the build. I like the lacquer because it dries relatively hard, and sands very smooth. I sprayed the fuselage as usual. For some reason, after spraying, I decided to remove the masking tape from the clear parts. I really don't know why I wanted to remove the tape, but I'm really glad I did. Much to my surprise :o I found that the primer had bled through the tape, not just around the edges, but through all the tape. I've never had this happen before, using this brand of primer. Not only did the primer bleed through the tape, but it attacked the coat of Future I had applied over the clear parts. I immediately grabbed my bottle of Windex, thinking I could remove the coat of Future along with the Primer, but no joy! The mixture of Primer, Future and Windex looked like it was eating into the clear plastic. What to do? I decided, if I was going to save the parts, my only alternative was to use paint thinner to remove the paint and then sand and polish the clear parts. Well it worked! I remasked the parts, and repainted the framework on the clear parts, using enamel this time. Although I didn't take photos of the damage (I was too busy fixing the damage), here are photos of the repaired parts. I need to finish painting the canopy & windscreen, but the photos show the successful repair.

Live and learn!

[JesniF-16]

Wow John your Tomcat sure is looking good with the primer down

Excellent save on the windscreen.... IMO the great modelers always know how to execute a good "save".... Now I'm a tad concerned about priming my windscreen (mr.surfacer and lacquer thinner)<_<

/Jesse

[JohnS]

Thanks Jesse. I wish I knew why the masking tape was porous enough to let the lacquer bleed through. The tape seems to work on the grey plastic parts just fine when spraying lacquer, as well as on the clear plastic using enamel paint. Oh well, the save worked so it's onward & upward.

As a footnote, I'm thinking that Future may be the culprit here. I'm wondering if the lacquer reacted with the Future at the edges of the masking tape and oozed under the tape from the edges in. Having said that, I've used the Tamiya tape and lacquer paint on this build earlier with no problems, as shown in the pic, below.

Edited April 3, 2012 by JohnS

[JesniF-16]

Hmmm. I am not using future so maybe it will be fine. It sounds like a logical conclusion John. Hard to believe the lacquer would bleed through the tape. I sprayed my canopy with Tamiya lacquer spray decanted and thinned with hardware store lacquer thinner without any issues and not having used future... Thanks for sharing that little tidbit. Keep up the good work

Edited April 4, 2012 by JesniF-16

[Geronimo]

Hi folks,

Johns, I just wonder to say "what an amazing marathon build !"

I am sure that this will help me a lot for my future "SU-22 killer" project !

The cockpit tub is a really good replic, but may I put one reserve about the size of ejection handles on your GRU-7 seats.

Even I am not an expert, I find it being just a little thick in comparison with these on the real seat, are not they ?

Kind regards.

From the "Ejection Site"

From Vladimir Yakubov SVSM

[JohnS]

Hi folks,

Johns, I just wonder to say "what an amazing marathon build !"

I am sure that this will help me a lot for my future "SU-22 killer" project !

The cockpit tub is a really good replic, but may I put one reserve about the size of ejection handles on your GRU-7 seats.

Even I am not an expert, I find it being just a little thick in comparison with these on the real seat, are not they ?

Kind regards ...

Thanks for the comments.

Yes, the ejection handles are a little thick. Rather than painting them, I've used yellow & black thread over copper wire, making them look a little bulky. I decided to trade off dimensional accuracy for the yellow & black stripe cosmetics.

[JohnS]

Geronimo's post got me thinking about reworking my ejection seats for a little more realism.

Here's a before & after photo. Can you tell the difference?

No? Well maybe this photo will help.

That's right, I had to change those Upper Ejection Handle hoops. When I first attempted to make the hoops, I wanted to make them as realistic as possible having close to the correct number of black & yellow stripes.

I found that the it was impossible for me to paint that many stripes on these tiny 1/48 parts - old eyes & big fingers. :wacko: So, I used the thread tip to get more stripes, but I sacrificed size in the process. So here I am, a couple of years later revisiting those hoops. I still wanted to make them as realistic as possible, both in appearance and size.

As you have seen in this thread, I like to innovate, and try new approaches to modelling. So here's what I attempted to remake these parts.

I had the PE handles from the Aires cockpit. These were close to the correct size, but I found them too flimsy to work with (those old eyes & big fingers, again ). Next, I looked at the plastic parts provided in the kit. These were a little bigger, but I found I could work with them. First, I painted the hoops flat black. Once they dried, I cut small strips on Tamiya masking tape (less than a millimeter wide) and wrapped the tape around the hoops as many times as I could, spacing the tape to show the black stripes. Here's a pic.

I was a little concerned that the tape would be too thick, but I found that it didn't look too bad to the naked eye. Also, as you can see in the above photo, the real hoops are not smooth anyway, so a little roughness shouldn't really matter.

Next, I carved out the plastic where the hoops attach to the headrest, painted this area red, and then added a wash of yellow ochre and brown oils, followed by a coat of flat clear paint, to get that aged & dirty look.

Although they're not perfect, I think they look a lot closer to the real thing - at least better than the thread (or as chuck540z3 said 'knitted' ) technique.

Here's a pic of the old and new hoops for comparison. There's quite a difference in size & appearance.

Thanks Geronimo for your comments, and thanks again chuck540z3 for offering a little motivation along the way.

[chuck540z3]

MUCH better!

Man, the peanut gallery can be tough sometimes, eh? (with a Canadian accent) :D

[JesniF-16]

That looks more better... See John you have hands like a surgeon :)

/Jesse

[geedubelyer]

Hi John,

I agree with the others that your new face curtain handles look much better, good job.

One thing occured to me after looking at your pics. If you had painted the handles yellow and then wrapped the tape around them would n't you have perfect masking to apply the black stripes in paint? Or, could you still paint the current version yellow then remove the masking tape leaving the black stripes beneath to get a smoother finish?

Cheers

[JohnS]

...One thing occured to me after looking at your pics. If you had painted the handles yellow and then wrapped the tape around them would n't you have perfect masking to apply the black stripes in paint? Or, could you still paint the current version yellow then remove the masking tape leaving the black stripes beneath to get a smoother finish?

Thanks for the suggestion Guy.

Actually, painting the hoops yellow is what I tried first.

I wanted to try to keep the black stripes narrow. But, I found that either the black paint lifted when I removed the tape or I got a ragged edge (bleeding), due to the tiny size. I could have made the black stripes wider, so the paint would stick, but I wouldn't have been able to get the number of stripes I wanted. Maybe I'll be successful on my 3rd try - next year? :). The rough texture using the tape really isn't obvious, unless seen through the telephoto lens or under a magnifying glass. The coat of clear paint helps smooth out the edges.

[JohnS]

Each year I take the summer off from modelling. This has really stretched out this build since it started in 2010.

Well, it's that time of year, again. This past winter I've make some slow, but good, progress completing the large parts and finishing them in a coat of primer.

Before I put the Tomcat away for the summer, I thought I'd dry fit the finished parts, and take a few photos to share with you.

Hopefully, I can start the build again in September and finish off the smaller parts - landing gear, weapons pallets, etc., and get a final coat of paint on this puppy, er I mean kitten , during the fall and winter months.

I won't be twiddling my thumbs over the summer though, as I'll be playing with this full sized model at car shows in Canada & the U.S..

Thanks for watching and sharing your comments about my build over the past few months, and I hope you'll be back to share your thoughts & comments again when I start back up in September.

[JesniF-16]

Wow John, did you use acrylic or enamel for the Camaro paint job? Very tight ride ya got there . Your cat is looking great too. I might have to build a Hasegawa Cat soon. Looks like you're "Livin' the Dream" have a good summer

/Jesse

[JohnS]

Wow John, did you use acrylic or enamel for the Camaro paint job? Very tight ride ya got there . Your cat is looking great too. I might have to build a Hasegawa Cat soon. Looks like you're "Livin' the Dream" have a good summer

/Jesse

Thanks Jesse. The Camaro has the original 1999 factory black paint (with lots of coats of polish over the past 13 years :wacko: ). The stripes and hood scoop were painted with Camaro 35th anniversary red lacquer.

I'm looking forward to watching progress on your 'cat.

[chuck540z3]

Each year I take the summer off from modelling. This has really stretched out this build since it started in 2010.

How dare you have a life outside of modeling!

NICE Ride! I bet it goes, eh? (Canadian accent, of course)

Edited April 30, 2012 by chuck540z3

[JohnS]

How dare you have a life outside of modeling!

NICE Ride! I bet it goes, eh? (Canadian accent, of course)

My bad!

But, I do have a model of the car, too. Even if this is the wrong forum to post it. .

Once a modeler, always a modeler.

[JesniF-16]

Do you ever get to the Iola car show, in Iola Wisconsin?July 12-15th

http://www.iolaoldcarshow.com/

Edited April 30, 2012 by JesniF-16

[VA-115EFR]

Do you ever get to the Iola car show, in Iola Wisconsin?July 12-15th

http://www.iolaoldcarshow.com/

That's a big car show!!! Beautiful Camaro!!! I too would love to see it in person!(He'd have to bring the Tomcat along too!)

[JohnS]

Hi everyone.

Here's a brief update for a little project I completed over the summer.

As this is my first 1:48 scale build, I haven't had a lot of experience with scratch building bits and pieces in this scale. As you can see in my previous updates, I been doing a lot of trial and error, and experimentation, to get the this build just right. :unsure: One thing I've been wrestling with is the size and quality of the seat upper ejection handles.

So over the summer, and being a little anal , I took another look at the ejection handles. Initially, I wasn't happy with the Aires PE parts - they're too flat for me <_< . I tried scratch building the handles using .2mm dia. wire and yellow and black thread but, as pointed out earlier in this thread, they turned out too big . Next, I used the plastic handles supplied in the 'gawa kit. They looked better, but I still wasn't happy .

Finally, last month I found some .1mm steel wire. It was a strand from braided picture hanging wire. I wanted to make the handles close to the real thing, with the actual number of yellow and black stripes. Dimensioning the handles from photos, I formed the wire in the shape of the handles and painted the wire yellow. I cut strips of Tamiya tape in the thinnest width I could manage, laid them out on a sheet of glass, and painted them black using a permanent marker. I wound the tape strips around the wire, spacing the strips to give me the correct number of black and yellow stripes. IMHO, they turned out looking not too bad.

Here's a few pic's showing the evolution of my handles;

Wire size comparison;

The finished handles from my 3rd and final try;

The finished seats, dry mounted in the plane;

I think I'm and happy modeller now, and can start back at this build with a clear conscience. :wacko: ... and I wonder why this build is taking so long.

Hopefully, I'll be back to this build over the next few weeks and will post some more updates.

Edited October 15, 2012 by JohnS

[jimz66]

Nice looking cat and AWESOME CAR....

[JesniF-16]

3rd times a charm, John There isn't much lee-way when you're dealing with tenths of a mm, looks like you nailed it this time... The photos never lie

/Jesse

[tomthegrom]

So stoked you are back at it!

[chuck540z3]

Hi everyone.

Here's a brief update for a little project I completed over the summer.

As this is my first 1:48 scale build, I haven't had a lot of experience with scratch building bits and pieces in this scale. As you can see in my previous updates, I been doing a lot of trial and error, and experimentation, to get the this build just right. :unsure: One thing I've been wrestling with is the size and quality of the seat upper ejection handles.

So over the summer, and being a little anal , I took another look at the ejection handles. Initially, I wasn't happy with the Aires PE parts - they're too flat for me <_< . I tried scratch building the handles using .2mm dia. wire and yellow and black thread but, as pointed out earlier in this thread, they turned out too big . Next, I used the plastic handles supplied in the 'gawa kit. They looked better, but I still wasn't happy .

Finally, last month I found some .1mm steel wire. It was a strand from braided picture hanging wire. I wanted to make the handles close to the real thing, with the actual number of yellow and black stripes. Dimensioning the handles from photos, I formed the wire in the shape of the handles and painted the wire yellow. I cut strips of Tamiya tape in the thinnest width I could manage, laid them out on a sheet of glass, and painted them black using a permanent marker. I wound the tape strips around the wire, spacing the strips to give me the correct number of black and yellow stripes. IMHO, they turned out looking not too bad.

Excellent choice John! I had to switch out the handles on my F-4E build as well, so I know what was going through your head! ;)