CVW-8 Tomcat launch

[arnobiz]

Hello,

I have just started my first entry in this GB, a diorama showing a Tomcat launch on board CVN-71 Theodore Roosevelt during the last Tomcat cruise (quite a moment in naval aviation history I think). Hopefully it will look something like this at the end:

US Navy

I am still undecided about a couple of things, all suggestions are welcome:

Which scheme will it be painted in? I have decals for these three birds:

_VF-213 AJ201 (Shown above, preferred option at the moment)

_VF-213 AJ213

US Navy

_VF-31 AJ100

US Navy

Also, I could do either the right breast catapult (as shown in the top picture, preferred option at the moment) or on of the front catapults.

I will be using the Hasegawa 1/72 F-14B "Jolly Rogers" boxing as the parts are exactly the same as for an F-14D, and use Aires NACES seats, some Eduard parts and some homemade details, in particular the exhaust nozzles and pipe. I will not use the Aires cockpit, even though I have it, as it is such a nightmare to fit in place (I had a very bad experience with the F-14A set).

Looking forward to your comments,

Arnaud

Edited March 5, 2011 by arnobiz

[arnobiz]

I started with the most exciting for me, improving the exhaust of the GE F-110 engines.

Primeportal

I used the Hasegawa parts as a start, and added two successive layers of 0.2 plasticard strips to represent the "feathers" of the open nozzle:

Before/After

Detail on the nozzle

0.2mm is definitely a bit too thick but anything thinner is too difficult for me to handle!

I then turned a seamless exhaust pipe from aluminium rod, and added the internal grooves which was quite fun:

I decided against going too far in pain and I thus will not add the small strips with triangles at the pipe/nozzle junction (See here). It's barely visible anyway and I want to finish this build before 2020

The two parts are now in silicon rubber, so I can cast them and use the result for all my F-14B/Ds :)

All constructive comments welcome,

Arnaud

[pollie]

Very nice start! (and I voted for VF-31, love that scheme).

[Wayne S]

Very nice start! (and I voted for VF-31, love that scheme).

That would be a cool subject with one wheel touching.

Edited December 18, 2010 by Wayne S

[bushande]

Go for AJ-213!

That bird has surfaced quite rarely as a model and would look cool depicted during a cat shot.

[nitevision92]

You could probably dig up a 1/350 aircraft carrier island and do a forced-perspective diorama with the VF-31 bird.

[f12aaa]

Always VF-31!

[arnobiz]

Thanks for all the suggestions, good to see some scheme have total fans! *

I did quite a bit of progress since last time I posted. I made a silicon rubber mold and cast two copies of the exhaust, more are on the way for my other B/D Tomcats

I also worked on the main fuselage, removing Hasegawa's antennae feet, adding the GPS dome and fitting the ECS grills with white Milliput. The GPS dome is made from stretched sprue as follows:

_Stretch a bit of sprue to about 1mm in diameter and keep your heat source (in my case a candle) lit.

_Cut the sprue inthe middle

_Take the middle end of the sprue near the heat source: it will retract into a half-sphere and voila!

A little trick if you have never assembled a Hasegawa Tomcat: The beavertail will not snap together if you don't cut a small chunk off the peg hole. Once cut the two halves fits perfectly together

I also worked on the bottom fuselage but I forgot to get the pictures online, I will do it this afternoon

All comments and constructive criticism welcome, I'm here to help and also to learn

Arnaud

* I don't mean to be rude but that's what the poll is for though

[Nate]

How did you put the grooves in the exhuast tube? That is awesome! (and VF-31 is the way to go...'Tomcatter's' on a Tomcat - need I say more?)

[arnobiz]

How did you put the grooves in the exhuast tube? That is awesome! (and VF-31 is the way to go...'Tomcatter's' on a Tomcat - need I say more?)

Hey Nate,

I could not decide myself to do the grooves by doing tiny increments so I cheated and turned an internal thread with a very small pitch (0.6mm), which looks very similar to parallel grooves :)

I worked a bit more on it today, I will post the details after Christmas, stay posted...

By the way if I do a VF-213 Tomcat I will be using the decals of the kit you sold me last spring :D

I hope it helps,

Arnaud

[Nate]

Very clever! I thought you were the most patient machinist on the planet ; )

I still vote for VF-31, even it means my old decals have to wait...

[arnobiz]

Hello everybody and happy New Year! I managed to spend a bit of time modelling over the past week and here are the results

When I assembled my first Tomcat I had a bad surprise: when I stuck the wings into their slots the wing root cracked (after the entire plane was painted of course). I fixed it but I decided it would never happen again!

I now strengthen significantly the bond between the two fuselage halves at the wing root by adding milliput in the bottom half. The top haf interior is protected with cling film and the two halves are clamped together while the Milliput cures. This ensures that the two halves will fit perfectly, and provides a pretty large area that I then glue with epoxy when I assemble the top and bottom halves.

As you can see I also masked the inside of the air intakes, which were previously painted white, in order to do the demarcation you can see here. Here is a result after a couple of coats of Model Master Light Gull Grey:

The last thing I did was assemble the front left fuselage. This is a fairly simple step, just make sure the little pannels are flush before you glue them permanently. To do this I apply a small amount of glue, get them well aligned, and when the glue has completely cured I fill the inner side with Araldite. This provides a very strong base for subsequent puttying and limits sanding to almost nothing.

Note that I added the reinforcement plate around the RIO's step. This is made out of 0.2mm plasticard.

Thanks for having a look, all comments welcome!

Arnaud

[arnobiz]

Today I did something quite exciting: my first photoetched parts :P I drawed a catapult using a vector graphics and etched it onto a piece of PCB. As I plan on making several "catapult launch" dioramas I designed it in sections, an initial section (top) and a "main" section (bottom). I will then make silicon rubber molds and cast one "initial" and a few "main" sections in order to make the full required length of catapult rail.

Here it is just after the etching process:

and after a few coats of Vallejo white primer:

A little zoom to check the details

There is still a bit of work on it (cutting, adding the catapult rails) before I can make a silicon rubber mold and start making sections of catapult for the diorama, but I wanted to share this with you :)

Cheers,

Arnaud

[Wolfgun33]

Looking great!! Can't wait to see the Tomcat and the deck.

[Litvyak]

Superb work so far!

I love the catapult sections, too - once you're casting them, planning on selling any? :blink:

[jose miguel]

Your work is incridible...

An in 1/72...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations

Jose Miguel

[arnobiz]

Hello,

I had a chance to try a CNC lathe recently so I thought why not try and do some pitot tubes for my Tomcat fleet? I made quite a few, they are not as perfect as those you can get in the after market industry but I 'm quite happy nonetheless :)

I mainly worked on the cockpit recently, trying to fit the Aires consoles into the Hasegwa tub. This makes the overlall job a LOT easier than trying to adapt the entire tub for the Hasegawa fuselage, for very little difference in detail once the pilots are in position and the camopy closed. The rear console almost fits into place out of the box, there is a little more work for the front console but the end result is well worth it. I will post pictures soon.

More on the catapult soon too, I changed the design to make it easier to use and hopefully I will be able to post picture of the base components soon.

I hope you all have a good week end,

Arnaud

[kurnass77]

Amazing work mate!

I am little embarrassed because one of my planned models for this GB is a Fujimi Alpha cat shot and I will stand comparison with your model ...

Gianni

[arnobiz]

Thanks Gianni, but please let us see your work. I really enjoy seeing other builds, always a good source of ideas and inspirations, and yours are not half bad :) also, you might be a bit faster than me ;)

Amazing work mate!

I am little embarrassed because one of my planned models for this GB is a Fujimi Alpha cat shot and I will stand comparison with your model ...

Gianni

[HOLMES]

I voted VF-31..and the catapult as seen in the picture...

[arnobiz]

Hello,

Some more progress this week. I corrected the external tanks position, and I thought I would explain it as clearly as possible as it might potentially interest some of you ;)

First, I assembled the tanks onto the fuselage in the position Hasegawa indicates. The tanks are not glued at this stage, they are held in position with a little bit of blue tack:

I then drilled four holes (two on each side) next to the Hasegawa holes, 2mm inside.

The position of the tanks pylons are then protected with cling film for the next step: sand the tank pylons to remove a bit of plastic, apply some Milliput at the base of the pylons (where they will be in contact with the fuselage), press them in position and hold them there with tape until the putty is cured:

Finally, clean the excess putty check if the position obtained looks better

Perspective makes it look weird :huh: but I think it's OK now..

The last step is to remove the original holes. In order to do this as cleanly as possible here is a classic technique, which might be useful if you've never seen it before (I emphasize that it's not my creation, I just want ot spread it!).

_Make some stretched sprue, cut it so that when you insert it into the hole it does not go too far behind (1-2mm is sufficient).

_Apply some liquid glue onto the bit that will go into the hole (NOT ON THE HOLE!)

_Insert it into the hole and press it HARD into it to make sure it completely fills the edges of the hole

It then look like this:

Then, cut the protruding bits of sprue and sand flush: it's as if the holes had never been there :)

Note that I would not have drilled these holes in the first place had I been aware of the tank position issue, lesson learned ;)

It does not look like much but I actually spent a LOT of time getting the dimensions right for the diorama, and here is a preview of how it is going to be:

The power hatch at the bottom left corner is not to scale, I need to find some more information about it. If you have any let me know!

All comments and suggestions welcome,

Arnaud

[SrkiRad]

I'm enjoying your "off-modelling" skills - all those details such as catapult and bits made like "aftermarket" ones are real refreshment!

Keep up good work!

Srdjan

[arnobiz]

Hello everybody, time for the weekly update! Not very much as I was out of town for half the week though ;)

The landing gear legs have been cleaned and some hydraulic pipes added with stretched sprue:

I slightly improved the Phoenix pallets bomb racks, not too much though as they will be loaded with bombs (a GBU-12 and a GBU-38). The improvement is simply to drill/file square holes at both ends to make it look as if the racks were in a recess:

Finally, I assembled the front fuselage and sanded the canopy so it would be flush with the windshield and the rear fuselage, which is not the case out of the box (about 0.5-1mm step OOB). On my previous Tomcat I did not realize this before the plane was painted and the canopy had its seam removed and dipped in Future Lesson learned!

All comments and questions welcome,

Arnaud

[Platypus]

Nice project Arnaud.

I particularly like the tips which are spot on to improve/ease the build of the Hasegawa Tomcat. ;)

[arnobiz]

Thanks Platypus :)

Here is how I improved the Hasegagwa LAU-138 rail, which will be on the right side of the Tomcat (For the left side there will be a Sidewinder so I will not do as much work as on this one )

I drilled four holes, two to represent actual holes and two to insert stretched sprue. I find the bond is much stronger if there is a hole than when the sprue is directly glued onto the surface. It also makes for much more controlled alignement (provied you get the holes in the right place of course!) In order to center the holes I mark their positions with a compass point first.

The long horizontal bits are Evergreen 0.2*0.5mm strip.

The overall result is far from perfect but better than nothing I guess:

Before/After

Next, the full fuselage assembly

Arnaud