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


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Thanks Steve

You’re right on the money and at least I’m

moving forward again. Somehow building in sub assemblies the work doesn’t seem as much but then when it all comes together: presto - magical progress. I’ll be doing one more small update by Thanksgiving with a bunch of sub-assembly work now finished and then progress should pick with everything starting to coming together

Peter

 

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Thanks JN

Much appreciated but my vote would be to build the Tamiya Tomcat - it’s lightyears ahead of the HB kit in fit and fuss. I have the Tamiya kit and surely will be building it this coming year. Now if only if someone would present us 48th scale Grumman Guys with state of the art, I surely would be a happy camper:

F11F1 Tiger

F9F-5 Panther

F7F-3 Tigercat 

Peter

 

 

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4 hours ago, Peterpools said:

Thanks JN

Much appreciated but my vote would be to build the Tamiya Tomcat - it’s lightyears ahead of the HB kit in fit and fuss. I have the Tamiya kit and surely will be building it this coming year. Now if only if someone would present us 48th scale Grumman Guys with state of the art, I surely would be a happy camper:

F11F1 Tiger

F9F-5 Panther

F7F-3 Tigercat 

Peter

 

 

Bro,

   you already know how much I like the work your doing, the HB kit certainly has it's challenges. That's why I said I'm going with the Tamiya kit for a -A. 

 

  As for your list, I really don't think we'll ever see a new F7F offering, just the Italeri kit, and hopefully a little more AM to kick it up a notch or two.  I also can't see why no one does an F11F1 Tiger as there are numerous examples of just about every 1st generation Naval jet out there that's been molded in the last 10 years or so.  As for the Panther and Cougar, we've got enough new kits, to bad almost all of them are really lacking, with the Kitty Hawk Cougar coming so close, yet it has major issues. I do remember seeing Darrel Roberts Cougar build here, so it's more then doable. 

Joel

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JA

We can only hope but the Italeri F7F-3 Tigercat, it looks like the it's going to be the only game in town. Of course, my great want is a F11F1 Super Tiger  and except for the resin offering, nothing around at all. never could understand it.

Bro

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UPDATE: 11/25/17: PROGRESS FOR SURE

Finally enough done for an update.

I spent a lot of time working on the Aires exhausts and painting them as well. Fitting them into the Tomcats tail resulted in two problems:

  1. The engine would need to be cut to make room for the exhausts - expected.

  2. The Aires exhausts wouldn't fit at all. So I needed to remove the rib/cradle that would hold the engine in place, making room for the Aires exhaust.

After figuring out how to work the exhausts into place, they were first glued into the external kit exhaust, being very care to both center the resin exhaust and at the same time making sure it was dead flat/even with the kit part, so the external resin exhaust cone would fit. I left the CCA glue dry a good 24 plus hours and then to add insurance (strength to the assemble) the interior was filled with White Milliput. Again, everything was left to dry for 24 hours and the assembly seems to be rock solid. I still plan on making a cradle to add support to the exhausts in the lower rear fuselage where the original supports were out of Milliput, again for extra added insurance.

The lower portion of the fuselage with the intakes are all in place, seams filled with either Bondo or Tamiya Filler and any semi large gaps were first treated with CCA. So far all the sanding with 320 and 400 wet and dry is done with additional sanding and polishing to come: 600-12,000 after the fuselage has been assembled.

The engines were also built up and only the front compressor assemble was painted and finished, as it will be seen when looking into the intakes. Both the front and rear intake ducting required a good bit of sanding to remove any seams becoming virtually seamless. I'm far from a fan of the Latex Gloss White method and spend a good many hours airbrushing the intakes front to back with Tamiya Gloss White paint; smooth as silk - thank goodness.

The Aires exhausts were built up and painted using Danny's Coreman's F-14 Tomcat magnificent book as my guide. All the internal components were primed with Mr Color Gloss Black and then various shades of AK and Alclad exhaust and burnt metal were air brushed on for effect. My apologies for the poor images of the exhausts interior.

Both the exhausts and fthe engine front compressor assemblies were detailed with Eduard and Aires PE - what a difference.

I also decided to paint the machine gun and the refueling housing Tamiya Gloss White. Care needs to be taken as the exterior fuselage white is not the same white.

Wheel wells have had all the details picked highlighted with Tamiya Black Panel Wash

Finally getting back to the main wings and getting ready to finish them up, less the slats and flaps to be added after painting.

Test fitting all the assemblies, I fell right off the chair – everything actually fits.

Thanks for checking in

Peter

 

The Big cat - test fitting most of the assemblies together and for the first time, she looks like a Tomcat

 

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Edited by Peterpools
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Bro,

  About time you posted an update. That's a ton of work.

 

  Love the exhausts as they look spectacular with all the PE added.  Intake fans really look good to. Glad you left out those pesky engines as no one will ever see them, and they most likely would cause fit issues.   The Tamiya wash really makes those compartments pop. I do have one question about the refueling probe. Since you're doing a parked aircraft, shouldn't it be in the stowed position?

 

Joel

The Other Bro

   

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JA

Glad you checked out my progress ... just seems like I've been grinding away and not making any progress, then PRESTO: a lot was done. Loads of PE in the AM sets and they make a huge difference everywhere. The refuleing probe and compartment can be open on the ground for servicing and my plan has been all along, to open up as much of the kit as HB provides plus drop the slats and flaps. All the kit detailing makes it a different type of kit then Tamiya.

The front compressor blade assembly is actually on the engine but prior to installation, I'll cut the engines in half allowing everything to fit together smoothly.

Bro

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Hey Peter,

 

I think most of us can relate. You spend hours working on this and that but nothing shows.
The parts are still all over the place. Then you get to the stage when you can stick subassemblies together and viola! Satisfaction.
 

The intake and especially the exhausts look great!

All that hard work is paying off.

 


 

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Capt. Obvious,

   Pete and I are brothers, so I get a progress report or reports daily. He works his butt off, and sometimes like you said there's just nothing yet to show for it. But when he does reach that stage, his work sure shows it.

 

  The same can be said for a lot of the stages of model building. I'm stenciling now into my 2nd week on the F6F-3 and I'm still not done. It's not like I'm not working, but don't have the full decaling done for an update.

Joel

Edited by Joel_W
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