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Tamiya F-14A Tomcat 1:48


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Here we go guys, first posting here on ARC. I've joined this forum for its friendliness and helpfulness and for the very high standard of models posted. I'm here to learn, change and improve my techniques so please don't hold back on the constructive criticism, just call it as you see it. I'm a big boy now and won't be offended.

 

(When I'm posting something that I think is really awful, I'll put it in the Display Case section.)  

 

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Here's something eye-catching to begin with. The Navy in the seventies and eighties was a visual delight. Great thumping aircraft with COLOUR! Hot rods of the skies. Gorgeous, and even in 1:48 (the one true scale imho), somehow still big bold and beautiful.

 

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And the Tomcat. The Shape. Mach Ten while it was parked and chained down. A complicated shape though and difficult to mould, I'd guess. Tamiya have done an excellent job of that, as expected. This is the best fitting kit I ever built. The decals are the best fitting and most comprehensive ever... The surface detail... The cockpit... But you have heard all this before from proper reviewers so let's crack on.

 

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Or should I say 'Snap off'. I strongly recommend fitting a brass pitot. The completed kit is big and heavy and the plastic pitot is doomed in the hands of such as me. I broke it when spraying the final varnish coat!

 

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While we are in the nose area, I want to show you the undercarriage. I'm pleased with the washing, even photographed this closely. I'm annoyed that I couldn't be bothered to add some cables and pipes, or even the supplied decals. That is a theme in this build. The kit is great and I could have done it much better but I didn't enjoy the build very much and It took me ages to work out why. At first I thought the kit was too good, too easy, but it wasn't that. If I'd taken my time and given max effort it could have been a contender...

 

I am delighted with the fescalised portion of the leg though. I used plumber's self-adhesive aluminium foil tape, the stuff they seal ducting with.

 

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I usually weather much more than this but decided this one was to be portrayed at the start of the 1981 cruise. (Couldn't be bothered...)

 

I like the oil leak, which is a Humbrol washing product. It's not clear on this photo but the oil is still slightly shiny which seems realistic to me. Pity I didn't weather the missiles at all though.

 

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Oh that shape, mmmmmmm! The good thing in the picture, for me, is that everything looks straight. I have a lot of difficulty with that as astigmatism makes it hard to judge angles with any precision. (You should see me try to play pool.) All credit should go to Tamiya engineering for that.

 

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More of that shape. 

 

I like the demarcations between the colours. Quite tidy. I used Tamiya paints and masking tape and suffered neither bleeding nor flaking. I think the paint finish could have shown a bit more modulation. It's a bit boring...

 

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I panel line shaded the whole thing. This isn't my usual practice but it was the easiest way to break up the large areas of colour and, you guessed it, I couldnt be bothered to filter, pre or post shade. I took no risks with such sophisticated techniques.

 

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Another large boring area with only panel lining and a tiny bit of streaking to break it up. I was certainly playing safe with this one.

 

AHA! That's the thing. That's the thing! I took no risks. The kit was a gift and the donor wanted to see it finished in short order. So it 'felt' like a commission, a job of work, and all the fun drained out of the build for me. I couldn't risk messing it up so bad that I'd throw it in the trash (Not at that price!) so it actually became boring. A superb kit of a superlative aircraft in an astonishing scheme - boring. How weird is that!

 

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I see that I actually did ease off on the panel lines as I got to the clean end. I'd forgotten that. I used MIG deep grey wash. I try never to use black on a model as it think it looks too stark. I didn't like using black on the tail and canopy area but it was easier to use the decals...

 

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Gosdarnintintarnation! There are only a few seams on the kit that Tamiya couldn't disguise. Apparently, nor could I!

 

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Attention to basic skills poor in this area. Sanding is such a drag.

 

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I did enjoy the cockpit. It's always the best part for me. Maybe I should swap all my model kits for resin cockpits and just paint those.

 

The harnesses are lead foil and plasticard and follow the real thing fairly well as the seat has quite a simple system of belts and straps. I added the drogue ropes to the headboxes too.

 

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Putting the helmets in, especially with the masks attached, was a bit melodramatic but the general audience around here loves it.

 

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Very Top Gun. If the helmets are there, where are the maps? The RBFs? etc etc?

 

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Nearly finished ladies and gentlemen. 

 

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I'm happy with that. Strange colours up in that exhaust, ceramic I believe, but I think I got it.

 

And the tailpipe seems to be the place to end this posting. I hope you enjoyed reading. I enjoyed the writing more than the making of the model in this case!

 

(Next up will be the tiny Airfix Folland Gnat.)

 

 

Edited by Jack Here
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That's a real nice build of the new Tamiya kit! It is generally done very well but could be improved in some places.

 

1. It looks like you missed filling the seam on some parts of the wing glove. Also, you may want to try rescribing some of the panel lines lost while doing the filling in the same area. One prominent feature that may have been accidentally filled in is the glove vanes.

 

2. You may want to paint the little probes along the sides of the nose. They should be a metallic colour.

 

3. The AIM-54As that you added should have white bodies for the time period you have modelled.

 

4. Some people's opinion will differ here but an overall panel wash with a grey colour will enhance the panel lines and give a bit more depth to the model. Do it over the decals and you get the painted-on look for them.

 

Edit: Just re-read and saw that you did give the model a panel wash. Not sure why they don't look like they received one though.

 

5. Looks like there's quite a bit of stray lint from the cotton swab you used. I get this all the time as well. Checking and getting rid of them before the final clear coat will help here.

 

You've done an amazing job on this kit. I have one in the stash as well and this build will serve as an inspiration to build it.

 

Mark

Edited by gb_madcat_sl
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Hi Mark. Thanks for the feedback, especially for alerting me to where the lint is coming from. As I'm using a decal set solution, the lint is actually glued onto my models! Bizarrely, I solved this same problem a decade ago when I noticed exactly this effect and made a little mopping tool from a piece of old cloth kitchen towel wrapped around a little stick. How could I have forgotten? I must be getting senile!

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Outstanding work Jack!  The cockpit in particular is fantastic.  I only wish I could make my cockpits as nice as yours is.  Those helmets are a NICE touch, I may have to steal that some day ;-)

The inside of the burner cans is outstanding, probably one of the best executions I have seen in that area.

 

I would really only have two critiques.  One is, only because I am a huge JR nut that I know this, but the front of the black anti-glare "skunk stripe" does not go to the tip of nose on any VF-84 F-14. It wasn't until VF-103 took the bones that they were painted that way.

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The other is what was already mentioned, the weathering could be slightly less subtle.  But really you would not want to do much more though, it is quite a fine line with a GG over white scheme.  Also, the missiles would benefit a little with a wash to bring out some of the details.

 

But overall this is a fantastic build Jack, and one I would be proud to have in my display!

 

-Michael

Edited by Fighting Eighty-Four
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19 hours ago, Fighting Eighty-Four said:

Outstanding work Jack!  The cockpit in particular is fantastic.  I only wish I could make my cockpits as nice as yours is.  Those helmets are a NICE touch, I may have to steal that some day ;-)

The inside of the burner cans is outstanding, probably one of the best executions I have seen in that area.

 

I would really only have two critiques.  One is, only because I am a huge JR nut that I know this, but the front of the black anti-glare "skunk stripe" does not go to the tip of nose on any VF-84 F-14. It wasn't until VF-103 took the bones that they were painted that way.

25502-16625-68-720.jpg

 

The other is what was already mentioned, the weathering could be slightly less subtle.  But really you would not want to do much more though, it is quite a fine line with a GG over white scheme.  Also, the missiles would benefit a little with a wash to bring out some of the details.

 

But overall this is a fantastic build Jack, and one I would be proud to have in my display!

 

-Michael

 

Thanks Michael,

 

Yes, careless/lazy mistakes all. I may go back and do some corrective work in time. Thanks for the compliments too. I shall concentrate on those for the moment and use my heightened morale to produce a somewhat tighter F-4...

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