Fighting Eighty-Four Posted November 28, 2016 Share Posted November 28, 2016 (edited) Hi all! So what has not been said about the new Tamiya 1/48 Tomcat? It fits incredible. Yep. The engineering is ingenious. Yep. It is all true. I must say I enjoyed every minute of this build, and completed it in about 2.5 weeks. Of the 16 completed kits I have built, this one is FAR AND AWAY the best fitting. I did not use a single drop of putty. This was built OOB with the exception of the exceptional new Furball F-14 sheet, "Colors and Markings of US Navy Tomcats, Part III". I chose to use the VF-41 Black Aces from 1976. As usual these decals performed flawlessly. Now on to the bad. At some point after applying the future coat and decals, I got some hairline spider cracks in the future and or paint. SInce the decals were applied by the time these were evident, it was too late to go back. They are not too noticeable at a distance, but up close you can see them at certain angles in the light. Because of this this will never be a show build, but that's ok, she looks just fine on my shelf in my office. :-) I just have to make sure that this doesn't happen again. Has never happened to me before, and I am using my normal Gunze/Future combo, with the same cure time and application technique as I have done in the past. *shrugs* Here is what I used on this build: Kit: 1/48 Tamiya F-14A Tomcat Decals: Furball Aero Design "Colors and Markings of US Navy Tomcats, Part III" and OOB (stencils) Aftermarket: None Paints: Gunze Mr. Surfacer Black 1500 (primer base), Tamiya White Liquid Primer (for pre-shade stippling), Gunze Aqueous H315 FS16440 Light Gull Gray, H316 FS17875 Insignia White, Tamiya smoke and Rubber Black, and Alclad II Gloss Black Primer, Airframe Aluminum, Aluminum, Hot Metal BlueJet Exhaust, and Burnt Iron. Future Gloss coat for decals and Future+Tamiya XF-21 Flat Base 6:1 ratio for final matte coat. MIG US Navy weathering set for panel washes. On to the pics! I hope you enjoy! Edited December 1, 2016 by Fighting Eighty-Four Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fighting Eighty-Four Posted November 28, 2016 Author Share Posted November 28, 2016 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
phantom Posted November 28, 2016 Share Posted November 28, 2016 Beauty! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
my favs are F`s Posted November 28, 2016 Share Posted November 28, 2016 Classical awesomeness! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Darren Roberts Posted November 28, 2016 Share Posted November 28, 2016 NOICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Stephen Posted November 28, 2016 Share Posted November 28, 2016 Fantastic work. Your finish is superb. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Geoff M Posted November 29, 2016 Share Posted November 29, 2016 top notch work. thanks for showing it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tomthegrom Posted November 29, 2016 Share Posted November 29, 2016 No idea how you got so good in 16 models but geeee this is amazing! Can not imagine the quality you will deliver in another 16! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
A-10 LOADER Posted November 29, 2016 Share Posted November 29, 2016 Very well done. Steve Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fighting Eighty-Four Posted November 29, 2016 Author Share Posted November 29, 2016 17 hours ago, phantom said: Beauty! 17 hours ago, my favs are F`s said: Classical awesomeness! Thanks bud! I appreciate the kind words. 17 hours ago, Darren Roberts said: NOICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks Darren! Always love to see a "Noice" show up in my Display Case thread. :-) 16 hours ago, Stephen said: Fantastic work. Your finish is superb. Thanks so much! I only wish I didn't have the spidering cracks that showed up after decaling. Sigh... 13 hours ago, Geoff M said: top notch work. thanks for showing it. Thanks Geoff, and thanks for stopping by to look and take the time to leave a nice compliment. 8 hours ago, tomthegrom said: No idea how you got so good in 16 models but geeee this is amazing! Can not imagine the quality you will deliver in another 16! Thanks Tom! I have really been happy with my progress over the last year and a half. Every build I learn something new, develop a new technique, or try something new. It has been a fun journey so far! 22 minutes ago, A-10 LOADER said: Very well done. Steve Thanks Steve! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Modelmkr Posted November 29, 2016 Share Posted November 29, 2016 That very same subject is on my to do list (Tamiya+ Furball). You did a fantastic job; just love the treatment on the exhausts, really catches the eye. Marc B. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Stinger16 Posted November 29, 2016 Share Posted November 29, 2016 Wow Mike, that turned out very nice !!! Your f-14 looks incredible. I have mine started, can't wait to get into it some more, hopefully it turns out as nice as yours Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Falconxlvi Posted November 30, 2016 Share Posted November 30, 2016 (edited) I love that scheme! What an absolutely striking model - well done! Edited November 30, 2016 by Falconxlvi Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Adam1818 Posted November 30, 2016 Share Posted November 30, 2016 Another beauty! The finish you have is so smooth and the white looks just right on the tail 👍🏻 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bigasshammm Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 That was fast. Id love to get one but not paying that price. Maybe they'll get cheaper? Take some pics of my sub with your fancy new photo setup! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
coneheadff Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 That's a beauty! Great job!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fighting Eighty-Four Posted December 1, 2016 Author Share Posted December 1, 2016 On 11/29/2016 at 6:07 PM, Modelmkr said: That very same subject is on my to do list (Tamiya+ Furball). You did a fantastic job; just love the treatment on the exhausts, really catches the eye. Marc B. Thanks Marc! I look forward to seeing your Tamiya Tomcat project... On 11/29/2016 at 6:28 PM, Stinger16 said: Wow Mike, that turned out very nice !!! Your f-14 looks incredible. I have mine started, can't wait to get into it some more, hopefully it turns out as nice as yours Thanks Jeff! I am sure yours will be every bit as nice as mine, probably better since you won't have the paint issue I do. I forget if you told me, but did you decide on a scheme? On 11/29/2016 at 9:56 PM, Falconxlvi said: I love that scheme! What an absolutely striking model - well done! Thanks Bud! It really is a scheme that really stands out. I was super pumped when I saw Furball put it on their Tamiya Tomcat sheet. On 11/30/2016 at 9:37 AM, Adam1818 said: Another beauty! The finish you have is so smooth and the white looks just right on the tail 👍🏻 Thanks Adam! I appreciate the kind words! 15 hours ago, Bigasshammm said: That was fast. Id love to get one but not paying that price. Maybe they'll get cheaper? Take some pics of my sub with your fancy new photo setup! Yeah, I don't mess around. LOL They may get cheaper eventually, I think the Tamiya F-16s have come down a lot from when they were released. Yeah, I can do that, although "fancy" is a pretty generous categorization of my set-up. LOL 8 hours ago, coneheadff said: That's a beauty! Great job!!! Thanks conehead! I appreciate the compliment :-) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Janissary Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 Looking very good. For LGG, did you mean H315? For the paint cracks, did it only happen on the white paint or both gray and white? I had a similar thing happen with my F-18 build (not sure if visible in the pics but they are there). I have been wondering why it happened, does it happen on white only, etc. Since my build is all white, I cannot single out white paint as the culprit. My theories are: - I applied the future coat too soon after applying the last coat of acrylic white (Tamiya or Gunze, I cannot remember). It was almost as if I was done with white, cleaned up the AB, and then applied future. The two shrink/cure at different rates, hence the crack. - Before acrylic white, I had applied enamel silver and enamel white. I wonder whether my oil wash penetrated future and acrylic wash and got to the enamel layers. - I applied several coats of future, one after the other. Did this cause an issue with curing rates? Did you do something similar to any of these? Perhaps we may find out the reason if we find the commonalities between our models. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
okthree Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 Simply eye watering. I need to to clean off my workbench so I can start mine. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fighting Eighty-Four Posted December 1, 2016 Author Share Posted December 1, 2016 14 minutes ago, Janissary said: Looking very good. For LGG, did you mean H315? For the paint cracks, did it only happen on the white paint or both gray and white? I had a similar thing happen with my F-18 build (not sure if visible in the pics but they are there). I have been wondering why it happened, does it happen on white only, etc. Since my build is all white, I cannot single out white paint as the culprit. My theories are: - I applied the future coat too soon after applying the last coat of acrylic white (Tamiya or Gunze, I cannot remember). It was almost as if I was done with white, cleaned up the AB, and then applied future. The two shrink/cure at different rates, hence the crack. - Before acrylic white, I had applied enamel silver and enamel white. I wonder whether my oil wash penetrated future and acrylic wash and got to the enamel layers. - I applied several coats of future, one after the other. Did this cause an issue with curing rates? Did you do something similar to any of these? Perhaps we may find out the reason if we find the commonalities between our models. Oops, my bad on the typo. Yes, H315 LGG. I will edit that, thanks for the heads up! It is actually visible in both the Gray and White, but it is MUCH more prevalent in the white. Here is my comments on your theories: - I applied the future coat too soon after applying the last coat of acrylic white (Tamiya or Gunze, I cannot remember). It was almost as if I was done with white, cleaned up the AB, and then applied future. The two shrink/cure at different rates, hence the crack. This is the most likely culprit. But here is the rub, I did not do anything different than I had done in the past. I waited 24 hours after painting to apply the future. I think I may try 2 to be safe next time. So I am wondering if the change in the season (and humidity) played a role. I also think I may have laid down the future a bit heavier than usual, as I used a new larger size brush than in the past. - Before acrylic white, I had applied enamel silver and enamel white. I wonder whether my oil wash penetrated future and acrylic wash and got to the enamel layers. I just put it down after pre-shaded black primer, no silver. Also, I had the cracks before adding the wash, but after applying the decals. So about a day and a half in between those two. - I applied several coats of future, one after the other. Did this cause an issue with curing rates? I am thinking this might have also contributed. I used a larger brush=more future, albeit only one coat. I always only do one coat, brushed on. So after going through your theories, I am of the belief it most certainly had to do with curing, whether it has to do with more future, less time to dry, or the ambient temperature or humdity level is the question. Or it could just be we had the right mix of all of these to cause this. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fighting Eighty-Four Posted December 1, 2016 Author Share Posted December 1, 2016 18 minutes ago, okthree said: Simply eye watering. I need to to clean off my workbench so I can start mine. Thanks OK3! You are REALLY going to enjoy building it. I can't tell you how many times I just sat there in disbelief, and giggled as I put a panel in somewhere that fit perfectly. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dylan Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 fantastic job on that. I have 114 from the same cruise on the bench right now. I had the same problem with clear cracking over Gunze on a few models years ago. it only happened with the gloss paints, the semi gloss stuff was fine. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
janman Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 Looks very nice! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mr.Happy Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 Very nicely done. Great job on the burner cans👍 Cheers Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bravosierra001 Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 SWEET!!! Love that scheme! Brandon Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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