1/18th F-14B Tomcat conversion

[A-10 LOADER]

Thanks USMC6094, right now all this tedious work is taking forever. I get frustrated and have to walk away for a while. I try to at least get something accomplished on the Big Cat everyday ..... slow and steady wins the race I guess.

Steve

[A-10 LOADER]

Started laying out the panel lines I want to add to the aft end of the Cat. Once these are scribed the "panel fastener" detail will be added as well. Still contemplating about what to do about moving the vent back ????

Steve

[A-10 LOADER]

[Youngtiger1]

Dude, your doing great. I really like your rivet work. May I ask how you manage to keep them perfectly spaced? Anyway, keep up the good work.

Mike

[A-10 LOADER]

Thanks Youngtiger1. I layed them out on an edge of index card stock until I found what I liked for spacing, while consulting my reference material. Then using the edge of the index card as a straightedge I transferred the dots, with a mechanical pencil, to the jet. Once that was finished I donned my OptiVISOR, a good light source and, my pinvise. As long as I got the pencil dots straight I just needed to follow them with the pinvise, simple but, VERY time consuming.

Steve

[A-10 LOADER]

Things have been moving slow on the Big Cat recently. I decided to take a break from the "panel fastener" detailing and do some work on the AIM-9's and bomb racks. Applied some paint to the rollerons and seeker head of the AIM-9's and painted the swaybraces on the aft bombrack pallets, the front pallets are drying. Once they are dry I will paint the swaypads on them as well. Still need to paint the yellow and brown bands on the missles and install the MV lens seeker heads as well. Not a BIG update but, at least I got another step finished up.

Steve

[A-10 LOADER]

[A-10 LOADER]

Thanks to all who have shown interest in this build, I appreciate your viewing as well as your input.

Steve

[A-10 LOADER]

Almost forgot about the tailhook, got this painted as well.

Steve

[chuck540z3]

Really nice and clean looking work. You can tell that this huge beast will look amazing when done. Great pics too.

[A-10 LOADER]

Thanks Chuck. I'm gonna try and dirty her up with the paint and weathering.

Steve

[A-10 LOADER]

Small update tonight, I got alot of the smaller separate pieces gloss coated today. Once they are dry I can weather the pieces that do not require decals. Hopefully my decals will be here shortly and I can get those certain pieces decaled and weathered. Thanks for following the build / rebuild.

Steve

[JesniF-16]

Great work Steve, looks like a whole lotta fun :thumbsup:/> Nice job converting the engine faring to the "B" version!!!!! Can't wait to see how you go about painting & weathering this monster!!!!

/Jesse

[A-10 LOADER]

Thanks for the kind words Jesse. Originally I had planned on shooting the Cat with Tamiya spray cans ( just because of the sheer size of the surface to be covered ), Model Master clears and, my washes and pastels. I am considering on de-canting the spray cans and going to a touch up airbrush, one like you would use in a body shop to spray door jambs and small parts. My regular airbrush would be more work I think. I am still waiting on decals so I have some time to think about that. As for now, the Tamiya and Model Master cans are doing the trick for the time being. Thanks for following along.

Steve

[A-10 LOADER]

Today's update, got all 4 Phoenix pallets gloss coated and masked off the exhaust nozzels. Tonight after dinner I will try and get the inside of the nozzels gloss coated as well.

Steve

[billb]

Geeze this is going to be impressive when finished!

Looking beautiful

[A-10 LOADER]

Thanks billb for the kind words. I hope everything turns out well when it's all said and done. Building the wooden cases ( one for my VF-154 Cat as well ) with the Plexiglas tops will be another project in itself but, gotta keep the "dust monster" away from all the hard work. Again, thanks for following along with this re-build everyone.

Steve

[A-10 LOADER]

Today's update, weathered the exhaust nozzels with some pastels. It's been about 13 years since I did this last so it took a while to get the hang of it again. I wanted to represent engines that were recently changed so, the nozzels shouldn't be that dirty yet. Not sure if I'm happy with the results just yet. I'll give them a few days and see if I change my mind and go dirtier before I flat coat them. Suggestions welcomed, thanks for looking.

Steve

[A-10 LOADER]

I decided to give the nozzels another try so I took off all the pastel and mixed up some Polly Scale Panzer Dark Grey. I think I should have left them alone, I like the results from yesterday. I'll let the paint dry overnight and hit them with the pastels tomorrow and see how they come out.

Steve

[A-10 LOADER]

The aft pallets got a wash as well. This shot shows the BEFORE and AFTER effects of the wash. I wanted to go a little dirtier with these two because the aft underside of the Cats were usually grimier. Time to get back to my parts and use up the rest of the wash for tonight. Thanks for looking.

Steve

[A-10 LOADER]

OK last night I decided to tackle those nozzels again. Here's what I used to weather them, I also added some brown to this mix as well.

Steve

[A-10 LOADER]

I'm gonna call these done, except for the flat coat. I think once I shoot the outside with MM Titanium buffing metalizer they should look good.

Steve

[A-10 LOADER]

[A-10 LOADER]

Weathered up some of the other parts as well like the ventral fins, the TCS pod, the wing glove pylons, tailhook and, the BOL rails. All these items got the Polly Scale "wash" the night before. After a flat coat these items will be finished and ready to install after the jet gets finished. Thanks for following this build.

Steve

[A-10 LOADER]