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My First 1/48 Hasegawa F-14 Tomcat


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WOW. Thats your first one? Unreal! Couple tips, if you haven't already, sand the point at the base of the vertical tails to be shorter so they do not touch the glove sealing bags.Will take you about 30 seconds each one. Also push your wings in a bit more and they will click in place and the big gap between wing and glove will vanish. Lovely building and painting, you got the join between forward fuse and fuselage PERFECT. That is always my least favourite bit! Keep it up.

Thanks Tom, the kind words are greatly appreciated... AND THANK YOU for the wings tip. It had occurred to me that the gap there was pretty big, but I thought maybe I had made a mistake to cause that. I really had to push in kinda hard to get that "click"! Looks much better now. :cheers:

As for the for the front tips of the vertical tails, it may be too late for that. I got 'em stuck pretty hard with CA. I may try to see how much force it will take to get them off and go from there. At the very least, that is good to know for my next one! I have learned so much from this one the next one should go much smoother!

WOW, very nice job on the CAT, she looks awesome !! I also agree with what tomthegrom added.

Steve

"TOMCATS FOREVER, BABY !"

Thanks Steve, I appreciate that. I have seen your marvelous work, so I am honored you like mine!

Thank you for telling us so much info about the scheme you choose,

you did a really good job on this cat, and quite fast!!

can't wait to see you finish this bad cat!

and you make me wanna do my own one in this scheme, too LOL

No prob! I can't wait to finish, I hope to wrap this up this weekend.

You should do this scheme! Yours would only be the 2nd one I have seen (after mine, LOL).

Looking good here!

I'm not too sure if it is too late to correct but you've installed the port-side Sparrow pylon the wrong way (back to front).

Mark

Holy crap! Thanks for the heads up there, I didn't even realize the error. I thought they only went together one way. Oops, I am also not sure if it is too late. I will see if I can get them apart. Might have to live with that one. I will just chalk it up as a "First Hasegawa Tom Eff Up". LOL

that is great. I love your painting technique, you got a great result.

Thanks Dylan, I appreciate the kind words.

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Got a lot less done last night than I hoped. I seem to have a carpet monster incident every day now as I near the finish line. This time it was the ejection seat handles. They flew off into the distance as i was removing them from the casting block. Took me like an hour to find them. Pshew!

Anyway, the seats are QuickBoost and are pretty nice. They look pretty accurate, and are very detailed. Threw on some decals from the Afterburner Victory Cats sheet as well.

The plan is to finish this weekend. Gonna spend some time doing final weathering and assembly (and fixing my booboos, if possible).

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Amazing! I can't believe I've missed this build. I love the paint job, and the technique! I'm going to have to try it. You make the Hasegawa Tomcat look easy. I need to get one!

Keep your eye on the finish line and show us more!

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Now that`s a stunning background! :)/> Awesome mate! Awesome F-14 silhouette.

Thanks bud! Gotta love the lines of the F-14!

Amazing! I can't believe I've missed this build. I love the paint job, and the technique! I'm going to have to try it. You make the Hasegawa Tomcat look easy. I need to get one!

Keep your eye on the finish line and show us more!

Thanks Aaron! You should give the technique a try. It is really easy and very forgiving. I really can't mess it up. just be completely random. If you get a Has Tom (you should be able to get a good deal on one with the Tamiya and AMK Tomcats coming), I will help you out as much as I can with stuff I learned in this build.

Wicked cool build!

Thanks Aigore! It actually was quite fun too, despite it's challenges and my errors.

Amazingly lifelike cat! And those seats are gorgeous! One question -- how'd you get rid of the length-wise seamline on the top of the canopy?

Thanks again cj! I used a 4-way nail file on the canopy to get rid of the seams. Just went from coarse to buff, then a future dip. If you want it even clearer, you can get some polish and polishing cloths, but I am cool with just buffing and dipping. Also, on the Tomcat you only want to remove the front half of the seam on both the pilot and RIO areas. There is supposed to be a strip there (These are to protect the pilots from lightning strikes). If you look closely, you can actually see where the seam gets a little bigger about half way. The bigger part stays.

Building a Hase Tomcat right now, myself. Thanks for the motivation. Fantastic work.

Thanks, I am glad to hear my work can give someone else motivation. Lord knows I have found lots of motivating builds here on ARC. Feels good to know I have made one for others.

Do you have a build thread going? How far along are you on your build? You building an A,B, or D? Squadron? I would love to see it!

That is looking sweet!!

Brandon

Thanks Brandon, I appreciate the kind words!!!

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Well, tonight I am calling her done!!!

Final thoughts:

- Was able to fix the vertical tails as mentioned by tomthegrom. Thanks for the help!

- Was NOT able to fix the Sparrow pylon. It was cemented together quite well and I used enough force to almost break it and it still held firm. Thought about cutting it, but decided it didn't bother me enough to go down that road. Chalk it up as inexperience. Next time I will not make that mistake.

- Still could not find the ModelMaster AOA probe in the carpet monster. Decided to just leave it as is.

Did some final post shading and spot corrosion control simulating tonight, and assembled all the remaining bits tonight. I am glad to be done and am very happy with how she turned out, especially for my first Has Tom. Learned so much and really stepped up my building skills. Thanks to everyone for stopping by and leaving the nice comments, suggestions, and moral support, it is greatly appreciated!

Anyway, here are some pics of her finished. I will put up a Display Case thread later once I take better pics.

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jaw-dropping.gif

:cheers:

:jaw-dropping:/> :jaw-dropping:/> :jaw-dropping:/> A scruffy cat has never looked so good. Incredible stuff, man!!!

Thanks cj, I am looking forward to seeing your amazing project progress!

That is really, really, really, reeeeeeealllllly GOOD! That would be front and center on my shelf.

Thanks tom! This is easily the best model I have built in the year I have been building so far. I think I will put this one in my office. I also might even enter this into a contest or something.

Sweet Lookin Cat !! Fantastic job on the paintwork /weathering, she looks real. Nice fix on the tails as well. You should be very proud of this build.

Steve

Thanks so much Steve, I really appreciate it. I am indeed very proud, especially considering how much afraid I was to even start a Has Tom. Makes me feel like I can take on ANY kit now. And THAT is a good feeling to have.

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Thanks, I am glad to hear my work can give someone else motivation. Lord knows I have found lots of motivating builds here on ARC. Feels good to know I have made one for others.

Do you have a build thread going? How far along are you on your build? You building an A,B, or D? Squadron? I would love to see it!

Yes, your work is seriously motivating me! I got a few of the Hasegawa VX-9 Black Tomcat boxings really cheap a couple years ago (the reason they were really cheap? It's molded all in black and a royal pain to work with as far as seeing seams and such), and they've been sitting there in the stash ever since. It's a Delta out of the box, but I'm backdating it to a Bravo. Everything I need is there, and I didn't feel like springing for a Bravo boxing. I haven't done a build thread on it, because in the past build threads have been bad mojo. Every time I start an in-progress thread, I never finish the project, but if I don't do one, that's when I do end up finishing...LOL. I have been taking photos to document my progress, and will do a mini-build thread when all is said and done, though. Right now, I've got as far as mating the fuselage parts together. I'm doing a bit of scratchbuilding on it (adding a few antennas and such), so that's slowing the project down a little. I have a diorama scene planned for it...it's going to be in a hangar, undergoing some maintenance, with everything (pitot tubes, sensors, intakes, exhausts) all covered and buttoned up and the canopy will be closed and have a protective screen/tarp over it. The squadron I'm doing? Well, I've narrowed it down to VF-101 (their VF-142 "memorial" scheme) or a VF-74 Bedevilers scheme from Desert Storm.

You really nailed the paint and weathering on this thing. I mean, it's absolutely perfect. Even the weathering on the black tails is noticeable, but doesn't jump out and bite you.

Edited by TomcatFanatic123
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Yes, your work is seriously motivating me! I got a few of the Hasegawa VX-9 Black Tomcat boxings really cheap a couple years ago (the reason they were really cheap? It's molded all in black and a royal pain to work with as far as seeing seams and such), and they've been sitting there in the stash ever since. It's a Delta out of the box, but I'm backdating it to a Bravo. Everything I need is there, and I didn't feel like springing for a Bravo boxing. I haven't done a build thread on it, because in the past build threads have been bad mojo. Every time I start an in-progress thread, I never finish the project, but if I don't do one, that's when I do end up finishing...LOL. I have been taking photos to document my progress, and will do a mini-build thread when all is said and done, though. Right now, I've got as far as mating the fuselage parts together. I'm doing a bit of scratchbuilding on it (adding a few antennas and such), so that's slowing the project down a little. I have a diorama scene planned for it...it's going to be in a hangar, undergoing some maintenance, with everything (pitot tubes, sensors, intakes, exhausts) all covered and buttoned up and the canopy will be closed and have a protective screen/tarp over it. The squadron I'm doing? Well, I've narrowed it down to VF-101 (their VF-142 "memorial" scheme) or a VF-74 Bedevilers scheme from Desert Storm.

You really nailed the paint and weathering on this thing. I mean, it's absolutely perfect. Even the weathering on the black tails is noticeable, but doesn't jump out and bite you.

That sounds like it's gonna be an awesome diorama! I can understand the build thread thing. This one is like yours, kinda a truncated build thread condensed and begun near the end of the build. It's funny, my very first build ever I tried to do a build thread, it was a Revell F-14D. After assembling the fuselage, I managed to sand away ALL of the forward fuselage detail, and tried to re-scribe. That. Did. Not. Go. Well. LOL so I trashed the kit, and didn't start another build for over 6 months after that. And this is my first build thread since, 12 models and a year later!

Thanks for the kind words on the weathering, and I am glad you noticed the tails. I didn't want them to be just black. I tried to add a little subtle fading, dirt, and the spot paint covering up the previous "AJ" markings.

Hmm, what squadron to do... I like both options, but if I had to pick one I would do the VF-101 "VF-142 Memorial scheme". But of course that is up to you...

I really look forward to seeing your work! I will be keeping an eye out for it.

great work

Thank you pervis for the kind words!

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That sounds like it's gonna be an awesome diorama! I can understand the build thread thing. This one is like yours, kinda a truncated build thread condensed and begun near the end of the build. It's funny, my very first build ever I tried to do a build thread, it was a Revell F-14D. After assembling the fuselage, I managed to sand away ALL of the forward fuselage detail, and tried to re-scribe. That. Did. Not. Go. Well. LOL so I trashed the kit, and didn't start another build for over 6 months after that. And this is my first build thread since, 12 models and a year later!

Thanks for the kind words on the weathering, and I am glad you noticed the tails. I didn't want them to be just black. I tried to add a little subtle fading, dirt, and the spot paint covering up the previous "AJ" markings.

Hmm, what squadron to do... I like both options, but if I had to pick one I would do the VF-101 "VF-142 Memorial scheme". But of course that is up to you...

I really look forward to seeing your work! I will be keeping an eye out for it.

Yeah, I'm leaning toward the Grim Reapers VF-142 tribute scheme. That airframe was painted in overall medium gray rather than the traditional TPS, and I thought was kind of unique.

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