Fighting Eighty-Four Posted August 27, 2017 Share Posted August 27, 2017 (edited) Hi all! Here is my latest completed project, the Hasegawa F-14A Tomcat in NSAWC "Flanker" adversary scheme, NAS Fallon 1999. As you know, this is the notorious Hasegawa Tomcat. This is my second one, and I learned quite a bit from my first try. I deviated from the directions in three key places: 1. Intake Assembly 2. Fuselage Join 3. Beaver Tail Attachment Basically what I did was to install the intake trunking BEFORE putting the inner ducting in. This allowed me to get a fantastic join of the intake trunking, which gave me fits last time. For the fuselage join, I cut out the rear bulkhead of the forward fuselage, and attached the completed forward fuselage to only the upper portion of the rear fusleage pancake. Also gave me a much better fit than last time. Third, attach the upper portion of the beaver tail to the upper portion of the fuselage pancake, and attach the lower beaver tail to the lower fuselage pancake. This was a HUGE improvement from the last time. The fit was almost perfect doing it this way. I used quite a mix of paints on this. Both grays are Gunze Aqueous, the light blue and white are Mr Paint, and the dark blue is Model Master. I am a bit disappointed as I used too light of a light blue, but I think it still looks pretty cool. Just a bit too light. :-) Decals are Fightertown Decals, and they are really fantastic. The fact that this aircraft is devoid of almost all stencils was a nice plus. LOL Other aftermarket additions are the Verlinden Cockpit Set, Steel Beach Naca Vent, and Master Pitot, and the Hasegawa Weapons Sets C and D for the probe and sidewinder. Anyway, I hope you like! Kit: 1/48 Hasegawa F-14A Tomcat PT46 Decals: Fightertown Decals "Top Gun, Best of the Best" 48077 Aftermarket: Master Model Pitot, Verlinden Cockpit Set, Steel Beach NACA Vent, Hasegawa Weapons Set C and D Paints: Gunze Mr. Surfacer Black 1500 (primer base), Tamiya Liquid White Primer (for marble coat), Gunze Aqueous FS 36375 Light Ghost Gray, and FS 36320 Dark Ghost Gray , Mr Paint FS 35450 Air Superiority Blue and FS 17875 Insignia White, ModelMaster FS 35109 Aggressor Blue, Tamiya Rubber Black, Clear Red, Clear Green, Clear Yellow, and Smoke, and Alclad II Gloss Black Primer, Hot Metal Violet, Hot Metal Blue, Airframe Aluminum, and Burnt Iron. Future Gloss coat for decals and Future+Tamiya XF-21 Flat Base 6:1 ratio for final matte coat. Mig Ammo Deep Gray panel wash. Edited August 27, 2017 by Fighting Eighty-Four Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aigore Posted August 27, 2017 Share Posted August 27, 2017 Absolutely stunning! The gawa is a really good kit with good fit as long as you think a head:) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tom G Posted August 27, 2017 Share Posted August 27, 2017 Super nice, Michael. You nailed it again. What a great job on the camo work! Tom Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Falconxlvi Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 She's beautiful! Well done sir. I love this scheme on a Tomcat! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
speedlimit Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 I love splinter scheme and this one was done very well. Congrats! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bravosierra001 Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 Great looking Tomcat!! Good job on the finish. Brandon Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fighting Eighty-Four Posted August 29, 2017 Author Share Posted August 29, 2017 On 8/27/2017 at 3:09 AM, Aigore said: Absolutely stunning! The gawa is a really good kit with good fit as long as you think a head:) Thanks Janne, I always appreciate your feedback. I am glad you like it! On 8/27/2017 at 11:12 AM, Tom G said: Super nice, Michael. You nailed it again. What a great job on the camo work! Tom Thanks Tom! I appreciate the kind words. So how is Canada treating ya? When is the next meeting you will be able to attend? 13 hours ago, Falconxlvi said: She's beautiful! Well done sir. I love this scheme on a Tomcat! Thanks Falcon!!! 9 hours ago, speedlimit said: I love splinter scheme and this one was done very well. Congrats! Thanks mate, I appreciate the kind words my friend! 20 minutes ago, Bravosierra001 said: Great looking Tomcat!! Good job on the finish. Brandon Thanks Brandon! I appreciate the complment. :-) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mr.Happy Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 You pulled it off beautifully 🏆 Some me the Hasegawa jets can drive me mad but I know that in the end I will fight threw it and finish it. Your an amazing modeler and it's great to see your work on the Tomcat 👀😺 Great job Fighting Eightyfour , Mr.Happy(In name only) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DBB69 Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 Stunning paint job. Must have been some serious work. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mstor Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 Beautiful model. I love that scheme. I've always wanted to try to do that one, but don't think I could do it justice, certainly nowhere near what you have done. Well done sir. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fighting Eighty-Four Posted August 30, 2017 Author Share Posted August 30, 2017 On 8/28/2017 at 11:44 PM, Mr.Happy said: You pulled it off beautifully 🏆 Some me the Hasegawa jets can drive me mad but I know that in the end I will fight threw it and finish it. Your an amazing modeler and it's great to see your work on the Tomcat 👀😺 Great job Fighting Eightyfour , Mr.Happy(In name only) Thanks Mr. Happy! I really appreciate the kind words and wonderful compliment, it really made my day! On 8/28/2017 at 11:52 PM, DBB69 said: Stunning paint job. Must have been some serious work. Thanks DB! Actually, it wasn't too bad. What I did was spray the light ghost gray on the undersides and about half way up the forward fuselage, and all the way up the sides on the rear fuselage. Then I masked the straight line for the forward fuselage and the side part of the rear fuselage, and sprayed the entire AC top Dark Ghost Gray. Then masked for the light blue areas, and painted those, then masked inside the light blue for where the dark blue goes. Everywhere the dark blue is the light blue totally surrounds it, so that made things much easier. I had it all done in a weekend actually. On 8/29/2017 at 0:07 AM, Mstor said: Beautiful model. I love that scheme. I've always wanted to try to do that one, but don't think I could do it justice, certainly nowhere near what you have done. Well done sir. Thanks man! This is also one of my favorite schemes for any aircraft, and was excited to give it a try. I am pretty pleased with how it turned out! You should give it a shot, I would love to see what you come up with! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
A-10 LOADER Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 She's gorgeous !! Extremely well done. Steve Quote Link to post Share on other sites
R Spreckley Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 Love the scheme Quote Link to post Share on other sites
phantom Posted August 31, 2017 Share Posted August 31, 2017 Wonderful, makes me want to do that scheme again. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Petrov27 Posted August 31, 2017 Share Posted August 31, 2017 totally awesome build and the job you did on that scheme is fantastic! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
crackerjazz Posted August 31, 2017 Share Posted August 31, 2017 (edited) Hi, Fighting Eighty-Four, this is beautiful work!!! I don't think I'll ever be able to keep up with you guys : ( And thanks for sharing your assembly techniques -- brilliant idea about the forward fuselage and beaver tail! The intakes, though --- you mention "install the intake trunking before putting the inner ducting in" -- this I couldn't quite follow. Can you elaborate on that, please? And I'm really curious as to why you decided to build a Hasegawa versus a Tamiya one, in spite of these known fit issues. Oh, and one last thing, I'm looking at images of Fightertown 48077 and don't see the decals on your ejection seats -- are those actually included? Edited August 31, 2017 by crackerjazz Quote Link to post Share on other sites
a4s4eva Posted August 31, 2017 Share Posted August 31, 2017 Excellent work Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fighting Eighty-Four Posted August 31, 2017 Author Share Posted August 31, 2017 8 hours ago, A-10 LOADER said: She's gorgeous !! Extremely well done. Steve Thanks Steve! I really appreciate your kind words! 5 hours ago, R Spreckley said: Love the scheme Thanks Richard! 3 hours ago, phantom said: Wonderful, makes me want to do that scheme again. Thanks phantom! This is one of my favorite schemes for any aircraft, and being that the Tomcat is my favorite aircraft, that makes it even better! 2 hours ago, Petrov27 said: totally awesome build and the job you did on that scheme is fantastic! Thanks Petrov, I really appreciate the kind words! 49 minutes ago, a4s4eva said: Excellent work Thank you Calum, I always appreciate hearing your thoughts on my builds! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fighting Eighty-Four Posted August 31, 2017 Author Share Posted August 31, 2017 (edited) 1 hour ago, crackerjazz said: Hi, Fighting Eighty-Four, this is beautiful work!!! I don't think I'll ever be able to keep up with you guys : ( And thanks for sharing your assembly techniques -- brilliant idea about the forward fuselage and beaver tail! The intakes, though --- you mention "install the intake trunking before putting the inner ducting in" -- this I couldn't quite follow. Can you elaborate on that, please? And I'm really curious as to why you decided to build a Hasegawa versus a Tamiya one, in spite of these known fit issues. Oh, and one last thing, I'm looking at images of Fightertown 48077 and don't see the decals on your ejection seats -- are those actually included? Thanks so much CJ! Yeah, I build pretty fast. I must admit, I do cut some corners here and there because I enjoy finishing each project and moving on to the next one as soon as I can. I used the Hasegawa kit mostly because I have several of them in my stash, and to be honest, I really think they look great built. The Tamiya cat is awesome, no doubt, but something about the nose bothers me a little, almost like it is a bit too pointy. But I think that might just be my imagination. As for the seat decals, I forgot to mention that they are from the Fightertown Tomcat data and stencil sheet. There are none on the Top Gun sheet. On to your questions. Here are some pics to show what I mean about each technique: 1. Fuselage mating... Here you see I cut out the forward fuselage bulkhead. This gives it a little more "give" to conform to the contour of the rear fuselage hump. 2. Beavertail assembly- Intakes- Here are my steps for what I was talking about... The above pics are without the intake ducting installed. After the trunking is assembled, I put the intake ducts in from above, like this... The instructions have you put the ducts into the trunks, then attach that to the fuselage. I just changed the order so that I got a better fit outside. On my last build this area was a mess. Some dry fitting, sanding, and cleaning of the duct mating point to the trunk is needed to make sure the fit inside is good, but I was able to get the seam to be very unnoticeable. Hope this helps show what I mean... Edited August 31, 2017 by Fighting Eighty-Four Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brian P: Fightertown Decals Posted August 31, 2017 Share Posted August 31, 2017 Wow. Simply stunning build!! I love it. A note on the lighter blue color - as you mentioned, it's too light. NSAWC 20 never used 35450. It was only ever painted 35190. I know there's material out there suggesting otherwise, but the actual color was 35190. NSAWC 10/30 were only ever painted 35450. Photobucket doesn't work on here for me otherwise, I'd post some pictures showing the difference and a copy of the instructions. -brian Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Darren Roberts Posted August 31, 2017 Share Posted August 31, 2017 NOICE!!!!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
crackerjazz Posted September 2, 2017 Share Posted September 2, 2017 Thanks for those instruction photos -- appreciate it! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fighting Eighty-Four Posted September 3, 2017 Author Share Posted September 3, 2017 (edited) On 8/31/2017 at 11:55 AM, Brian P: Fightertown Decals said: Wow. Simply stunning build!! I love it. A note on the lighter blue color - as you mentioned, it's too light. NSAWC 20 never used 35450. It was only ever painted 35190. I know there's material out there suggesting otherwise, but the actual color was 35190. NSAWC 10/30 were only ever painted 35450. Photobucket doesn't work on here for me otherwise, I'd post some pictures showing the difference and a copy of the instructions. -brian Thanks Brian, it is an honor to have you comment on my build! Your decals were fantastic, as usual. Yeah, I wish I would have gone back and fixed it after I painted it, but I didn't realize my mistake until I already painted the dark blue and just didn't have the desire to re-mask all of that. So does Fightertown Decals have anything new coming out soon? I haven't seen any new releases from you since Spring I believe, if not earlier. Still hoping to see the VF-84 history sheet I heard rumors of! ;-) On 8/31/2017 at 3:37 PM, Darren Roberts said: NOICE!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks Darren, I'm always happy to get the "noice" approval! Edited September 3, 2017 by Fighting Eighty-Four Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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