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HB 1/48 F-14A Tomcat: Update: 11/25/17: MAKING PROGRESS


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The Hobby Boss 1/48 F-14A Tomcat

Yes, I know and I bought Tamiya's 48th scale Tomcat as soon as it was available but at that time, I was evolved in numerous 32nd scale projects that seemed to have no end in sight. I've been a large scale builder for what seems like forever and since returning to the hobby about 7 years ago after decades of being away, I've lived on a steady diet of 32nd scale kits on LSP. Over the past year, my interest in large scale has been steadily diminishing, as it's selection and diversity as compared to 48th scale is limited, plus the commitment of endless build time just wore me out. Along with my brother,; Joel, we decided to head back to 48th scale, looking forward to a different menu of aircraft, with new challenges.

I decided on the building the HB Tomcat over the Tamiya rendering right now, as it offered more opportunities for enhancing with AM detailing sets. Over the years, I've become very fond on bringing up the detail level of a kit by using lots of AM: resin and PE rather then slicing and dicing. I'm not a weathering guy either, as I like to concentrate on the finish as an aircraft would look at the start of a cruise and being well maintained.

Lastly if all goes well, the Big Cat will be my first contest entry in the 2018 Noreastcon this coming April (of course, it was my brother's idea) since the late 1970's!

With the F-14 being my first build thread on ARC, I thought I would post the customary indoctrination photos:

Kit: Hobby Boss F-14A Tomcat

Aires F-14A Cockpit Set

Aires F-14A Exhaust Nozzles – closed

Resin Ejection seats -I already had these in my stash and can't remember whose they are.

Eduard's Big Ed set with all the bells and whistles

Furball Decals – still undecided on the scheme

Paints: Most likely will be Akan.

I'm well underway with the front office, nose gear and nose gear wheel well and will be posting my progress in a few days.

Thank you for checking in

Peter

 

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Edited by Peterpools
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Bro,

   Welcome back to ARC and the wonderful world of 1/48 scale.  For once I was right and you were wrong. :monkeydance:

    Excellent choice for your re-entry into 1/48 scale jets. That's some assortment of AM you've assembled, and should result in an outstanding build/contest model/ & presentation in your display case.  I've seen what you can accomplish with detail painting coupled with Aires cockpits, so this should be special for sure. I'm also really looking forward to seeing how the Akan paints really preforms on a actual build. 

 

Joel

#1 Bro

 

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UPDATE: 10/6/17: UNDERWAY

Following my normal build procedure and the instructions, work was started on the front office, then the nose gear and nose gear wheel wheel. For a change of pace and looking to help insure all the assemblies would mesh together with the least amount of problems, I decided to use the kit's cockpit tub and IP's as the basis for the assembly. All the molded on details were removed and replaced with Eduard's PE from their Big ED interior set and Aires Resin parts as well. Loads of small pieces were used and all went well with nothing lost!

The base cockpit color is MPR FS36231 which looked very good.

The ejection seats were a resin set I had and just can't remember from whom. Of course, I also now have the Aires set and Quickboost sets, as I didn't use them. The seats were painted as per photos to be close as I could get but the cushions seemed to be changed quite often from wear and the colors fade faster then can be imagined. The seats were detailed with extra belts from the Eduard interior set, bringing up the interest a bit more.

I decided to use the Aires joy sticks as the kits offerings were a bit poor and lackluster. The same applied to the side wall panels; I modified the Aires resin set and they surely have a boat load of detail and will again bring up the front office detail level quite a bit.

The office still needs the HUD and a few more details added including the throttle quadrant and some touch up paint work.

The nose gear was built as per instructions. Some Eduard PE was again added to bring up the interest level and add some of the needed missing details plus I added the three lights for the ground crew.

The nose gear well comes very nicely detailed right out of the box but keeping with my enhancing formula of adding resin and PE, a small boat load of PE was used to help pop the assembly.

My brother and I always discuss the painting and colors and here is where care needs to be taken. The interior of the wheels and the gear is gloss white, for which I used Tamiya Gloss White. The external undersides of Navy aircraft are not Tamiya flat or semi flat white but should be Navy/Insignia White: FS17875 which is a warmer white – my weapons of choice when needed will be either MRP or Mr Color Paints. The oleo is Alcad Chrome.

This is my progress to date for a few weeks of work, as I am still getting use to and enjoying working in 48th scale again.

Thanks for checking in

Peter

 

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Bro,

    Great start for sure. Fro once we agreed on the way to go with the front office;   Kit tub stripped bare, and then Eduard PE, Aires, side walls, and details, plus in this case well detailed and molded seats.  It's gotta be so much easier this way then struggling to get the Aires pit to fit. I did the same with my Tamiya 1/48 Mosquito. Just can't beat the best of both worlds. 

 

     As usual, your detail painting, dry brushing, and washes all work really well together to make those details pop. 

 

Joel

#1 Bro

     

    

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lookin great - really rolling along on progress!

 

I too have gone to using the Eduard pre painted panels - I know they are "flat" and such, but I just feel (in most cases) they look significantly better than what I can paint myself.

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Looking very good. I regret selling my HB Tomcat. I did the same with an awesome Hasegawa package i had (all sorts of AM) which I regret even more. 

 

I occasionally think about switching to 1/32 but i found your comments to be a good reminder why one may not want to do that. My builds are already at a snails pace in 48, I wouldn't hold up well in 32. 

 

Looking forward to your next steps. 

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crackerjazz

So very much appreciated. As I start to feel more and more comfortable working in 48th scale, PE seems to look just about right for the panel and side console details and the lack of a 3D feel doesn't seem to hinder the overall effect. Over the past few days, I've completed the basic cockpit tub and the fuselage nose section is finally glued together. progress slow but moving along

Peter

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Janisarry

Thanks so much and as I turn 70, I lost interest in long, stretched out projects, with at times no end in sight. 48th scale has been a reprieve and mojo builder for me. The kits are awesome and a joy to build. 

Peter

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Peter

 

Loved watching your builds on LSP and totally understand the switch back to 1/48. I have tried a few times to switch back to 1/48 but just can't do it. 

 

BTW nice cockpit

 

Don

 

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Hi Don

Thanks for checking in and glad you are on board for the journey. I can fully appreciate and understand how you feel and if your enjoyment is with 32nd scale - that's the way to go and I applaud you for it. For me, I was just worn out after nearly a decade of large scale builds and have found a new direction an mojo builder with 48th scale.

Just glad I'm finding so many of my friends from LSP here on ARC as well.

Peter

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Beautiful office Peter! nice following your builds here too! I'm gonna be following this one specially since I have a couple of Hasegawa 'cats in the stash but I need to gather the will and courage to build them!!

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