Aurora Mark Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 Right on. Thanks for getting back to me on that. Synthetic makes sense... might be easier than having a group of cables and electrical wires glued to my fingers... always a fun sight... a bunch of white tassels sticking to my fingers as I'm airbrushing... Cheers! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dnl42 Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 Wow. Just Wow... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 Your landing gear detailing is most impressive. Is the NMF wire lead as it seems to bend easily to complex curves. Same for your wheel wells. The amount of wiring with thread really is more then one usually sees. I've tried thread at times, but like everyone else found that cotton thread fuzzes consistently. Nylon thread would seem like a better option. I bought a spool years ago, but just never got a round to trying it. Seeing your efforts has changed my mind on its merits. And your fabric shroud really is quite convincing. A nice solution to a issue to make it look more like fabric then plastic. Joel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Christian Theodotou Posted December 11, 2014 Author Share Posted December 11, 2014 Joel - I don't think it's lead but it doesn't say on the spool, it doesn't seem as soft as lead. I pre-bent most of the curvature before installation. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted December 14, 2014 Share Posted December 14, 2014 (edited) I've been thinking of trying Milliput for some wiring applications after seeing a few videos. It's a little fiddly to work with, but you can get it to do things that wire just can't do without a lot of extra trial and error fitting. Of course what one sees on a video always looks rather easy. I'm sure that there is a learning curve to it. Joel Edited December 14, 2014 by Joel_W Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Christian Theodotou Posted January 25, 2015 Author Share Posted January 25, 2015 Been busy lately so not much progress. I was able to get the hardware I needed for the stand. I found a threaded steel rod and just looked around the nuts and bolts section until I found parts that fit. There are two 0.5" nuts in this contraption. On the far end is a bolt with washer to serve as a stop for the rod. The majority of the construct was built outside the plane while the nuts were threaded onto the rod. The small white plastic rods were fixed with CA glue to the nuts to hold their positions and then additional plastic rod was attached with CA glue/cement. The large hollow rod is good for this because it has a lot of strength but is still fairly light. You can also see the beginnings of the internal frame I like to build. This is mainly to distribute the stress from the stand but I realized I will have to re-engineer the wings and this will also serve as an anchor point. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Christian Theodotou Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 Can someone confirm this information is correct about the intake ramps? I'm trying to position them for low speed. Just want to be sure they're in the right place since they may require modification from stock. Thanks! http://www.anft.net/f-14/f14-detail-airintake.htm Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Christian Theodotou Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 Just a quick update: I finally started working on the cockpit. Made the initial cuts and started working on my figures. On another note, I'm looking for some pilot helmets. Anyone want to sell or trade? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Christian Theodotou Posted February 14, 2015 Author Share Posted February 14, 2015 (edited) Finally got around to doing some major renovations to the Tomcat. The first was the intake bleed vents. The top hatch on the kit ones is too thick around the edges so I just built new ones. The opening wasnt wide enough and the angle was wrong. The exit ramps are also not rounded off enough so I just cut them out for replacement later. It's definitely subtle, but I'm taking all this time to improve everything else so I thought, why not. You can see the difference below. The other issue that popped up was with the intake ramps. The kit is made to place them in the down position. If you raise them to the up position, there is a large gap in the intake which is normally not visible. I searched for any part that is supposed to go there later and fill it but couldn't find anything so I filled it with sheet styrene. Before and after is below---inboard side of the left intake. And now for the final comitted step to the cutaway...the canopy. I placed it on the mocked up cockpit and marked with tape where I wanted the cuts, then taped everything else to protect it. I opted for a micro saw because I was worried the canopy might crack. The downside of that being a little bit of collateral damage on the back-seat canopy, but that is easily fixable. Thanks for looking. I'm still looking for pilot helmets if anyone wants to sell or trade. :sign_spam:/> Edited February 14, 2015 by Christian Theodotou Quote Link to post Share on other sites
crackerjazz Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 You get a 10 for being brave. It takes a lot of guts to attempt something like that on the canopy. Awesome job! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
miguelgala Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 So sorry, i`ve steal some of your pìctures, the engine work is fantastic, i have an F-14B of HB waiting on my stash, but then i saw the part when you`ve cut the canopy and i felt lost...can you give me an idea of what are you going to do men?...by the way....gret work...!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Christian Theodotou Posted March 8, 2015 Author Share Posted March 8, 2015 Just cutaways so you can see into the cockpit like the bay for the cannon below it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Christian Theodotou Posted April 18, 2015 Author Share Posted April 18, 2015 Was very busy the past few months. Finally got to work on the tomcat this weekend. The intakes, engine bay, and rear gear bays are painted and the engine components from intakes to nozzles are installed. The inside of the fuselage is a bit of a mess because of the reinforcement that was needed to hold the parts in place and to be suspended later. Thanks for looking, comments/questions welcome. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Christian Theodotou Posted April 18, 2015 Author Share Posted April 18, 2015 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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