White Wolf Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 Hello everyone, this will be my build topic for my 1/144 Revell F-14D. I'm going to try building it as an in-flight model. For the decals, I'm going to use Fightertown's 1/144 VF-103 sheet. I'm well aware that VF-103 flew F-14Bs instead of F-14Ds, but I couldn't find a 1/144 F-14B anywhere and I really wanted to do this scheme, so this build will be about completion instead of accuracy. Reference book from my own collection, F-14 Tomcat published by Burindo. I bought this a very long time ago. Not a very good book for detailed walkaround photos (only 3 pages!), but it does have detailed histories of every F-14 squadron as well as 1/72 plans of the F-14A, B, and D. Not much progress as of now except for the cockpit. I brush painted it in Gunze H317 Dark Gull Gray, and applied the decals for the IPs. More to come later, thanks for looking. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
233monte Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 (edited) Good Job on the cockpit! I wanted to add that if you can find a Dragon 1/144 kit they come with all 3 chin pods for A, B and D. Also they have really good weapons, bombs, and missiles etc. and the targeting pod that goes on the right side glove pylon. Keep up the good work! Edited April 26, 2012 by 233monte Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brian P: Fightertown Decals Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 Sweet - I love this model! In this scale, the only thing you need to switch the D to the B is the chin pod. I've probably got a few dozen spares laying around if you need one. If you really want to fix a few things, Revell went overboard on the panel lines. Fill in the daily door panel line on the engine and fill in the second set of vents (aft) on the top. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
White Wolf Posted April 27, 2012 Author Share Posted April 27, 2012 @233monte: Thanks for the kind words! :) @Brian: Thanks for the suggestions, I was wondering what Revell was thinking when I saw the two sets of vents. :wacko: Also, I really appreciate your offer to send a chin pod my way. Just another thought: it looks like I can make a reasonable looking replica out of Evergreen, so I'm thinking of trying this first. If it works, you won't need to go through the trouble of mailing one tiny part. :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
White Wolf Posted April 29, 2012 Author Share Posted April 29, 2012 Completed cockpit tub with resin pilots from another 1/144 kit. They had to have about half of their legs chopped off to fit in the tub (ouch!). After joining the forward fuselage halves. I also filled and sanded off the old style gun vents so I can use the decals for the newer style later. Now that I'm looking at it, it looks as if the pilots might be a little on the small side, but they'll do the job of filling in the seats so that the plane can fly. Some work on the upper fuselage, filling and sanding the extra pair of vents that Revell included with the part. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
White Wolf Posted May 6, 2012 Author Share Posted May 6, 2012 Some progress, this is what she looks like now after painting and decals. Painted with Tamiya rattle cans over a black base coat. During decaling I discovered that the black portion of paint that stretches from the fuselage to the nose is skewed towards the left side by less than a millimeter or so. I'm thinking of leaving it as it's not noticeable from more than a few inches away, but I'll see how things turn out. Drilled out the hole for the in-flight stand. AIM-54s and fuel tanks done. The Phoenixes in the Revell box were A models, I modified them to Cs by sanding off the little boxes on the bodies. I also drilled out and painted the exhausts on them. I'm going to go with the "signature" F-14 load of 4 AIM-54s, 2 AIM-7s and 2 AIM-9s. Not sure if this particular bird ever carried it, but the Revell weapons are simply too gorgeous to pass up. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TomcatFanatic123 Posted May 7, 2012 Share Posted May 7, 2012 Looks GREAT!!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
White Wolf Posted May 10, 2012 Author Share Posted May 10, 2012 Remember when I said I couldn't find a F-14B in 1/144? I guess I didn't look hard enough because I found this: Since ACE also has a F-14A and F-14D under the Revell brand, I'm not sure why Revell didn't choose to release this version. I didn't have a good look at the sprues as the only decent photo shows them still in the plastic bag, but I'm guessing that this boxing includes sprues from both the A and D versions, so you can make the B with the A's chin pod and the D's engines. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChernayaAkula Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 ^ That's certainly interesting! Why didn't Revell release a B yet? Beats me! It took them years (a decade, almost) to follow-up their TF-104G with an F-104G. Almost as long to do the F/A-18D. And with the sprues laid out as they are, they probably had the moulds ready to do both from the get-go. They've only released the Rafale M so far, even though it looks like the sprues are arranged to do a B and C later as well. Probably some marketing thing. Your model's looking great so far! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
White Wolf Posted May 11, 2012 Author Share Posted May 11, 2012 (edited) ^ That's certainly interesting! Why didn't Revell release a B yet? Beats me! It took them years (a decade, almost) to follow-up their TF-104G with an F-104G. Almost as long to do the F/A-18D. And with the sprues laid out as they are, they probably had the moulds ready to do both from the get-go. They've only released the Rafale M so far, even though it looks like the sprues are arranged to do a B and C later as well. Probably some marketing thing. Your model's looking great so far! Cheers, mate. I hope Revell doesn't take too long to release the F/A-18F. I want to build one in VFA-103 markings so I can pose it alongside this F-14. :( Almost finished, only the exhausts, weapons, chin pod and arrestor hook are left. The inflight stand is a spare accessory taken from my big box of everyday stuff. Edited May 11, 2012 by White Wolf Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brian P: Fightertown Decals Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 Looks great!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
White Wolf Posted May 14, 2012 Author Share Posted May 14, 2012 Finished it! For the chinpod, I made it out of 1.6mm styrene rod and filed it to shape using references. It doesn't catch the subtle curves of the real thing but it looks good enough for me. It was a fun build of an awesome kit, and despite a few niggles here and there I'm really happy with how it turned out. Some more pictures of the finished build before I'll post it up in the Display Case with better lighting. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChippyWho Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 Excellent Cat, Sir: particularly well-defined canopy and screen frames, not easy in this scale. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
White Wolf Posted May 15, 2012 Author Share Posted May 15, 2012 Thanks Chippy. I was quite happy at the lack of bleeding under the canopy mask, something that I've been experiencing over the last few builds. :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
limyc Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 Nice build! Where did u get the display base from? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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