Jump to content

Improving Hasegawa 1:48 Tomcat – 19 Wings (IV)


Recommended Posts

Looking good Lucio. That's a lot of work to get that beast of a cockpit to fit in there. I appreciate your concerns about the 3 Tomcats. I look at it more like I've got three more kits to use for the markings I want, and all for the price of one Tamiya or now, AMK kit. And yes you're right, in-flight is the way to go which these will be.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Lucio! :worship:

Your Hasegawa Tomcat mod thread is like following a series on Netflix; I'm really always looking forward to watching new episodes.

I agree with Zach above in that it makes it quite interesting for all of us who've got Hasegawa Tomcats in our stashes to see and try to do what you're doing with yours - I wasn't going to give up on my VF-1 Sqd kit, but now with those new-tool kits out there, and with all of the known issues with the Hasegawa kits, it did kind of put it in second or third place, I guess.

Not any more. I will even get the Aires resin cockpit for mine.

Thanks a lot for sharing your expertise.

Cheers.  

Link to post
Share on other sites
17 hours ago, Lucio Martino said:

First of all, let me thank you all for your attention and your kind words.

 

 @Fefster

I am sorry to read that my post came late. In your opinion, what is the worst problem in building this kit?

 

 

 

 

.

Great job Lucio.

I am still attentive, although I think I will not build another Hasegawa cat with the offers of Tamiya, AMK and the future of GWH.

In my experience several areas with Hasegawa are quite disappointing: air intakes, cockpit, landing gear wells, wings, landing gears doors were a headache, the angle of the landing gear and especially the seam between the front and back of the fuselage. The angle of the Lantirn Pilon, the Phoenix pallets are soo ugly and some more.
Soo many pieces in this kit are wrong but with dedication a good result can be achieved

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Again, thank you all for your attention.

 

@ Whiskey

I see your point. they are worth even only for the decals. That is even more true today that it was in the past, given that now most of 1:48 decal sheets are over US20$. 

 

@Fefster

I agree with you: I will never build another Hasegawa Tomcat.

 

@Hubbie Marsten

“Your Hasegawa Tomcat mod thread is like following a series on Netflix”… I am flattened !

I can’t tell about AMK and GWH Tomcats simply because I never held one of them in my hands. So far, the Tamiya Tomcat is way better than any other 1:48 Tomcat (nothing scientific, just my opinion).

 

 

_____________________________________________________________

 

 

Improving Hasegawa 1:48 Tomcat - 13

Main Fuselage (X)

 

These intakes are a true never-ending story. Watching again my modified parts, and the pics posted in this thread, I had the feeling that something was not looking right. In rebuilding parts F8 and F10, I made their edges as tall as much as they originally made by Hasegawa, and that is wrong as you can see in the next old pic (112). So, I slightly cut them down, about half of a mm.

 

tW9Co7.jpg

 

Pics 149 and 150 show the air intake parts after I cut their edges to a more in-scale appearance, and after that I glued them together using some Evergreen .010 polystyrene as a base. To keep a very narrow line of separation between these parts, I used a stripe of .005 Evergreen.

 

WSgDRa.jpg

 

0cFZYb.jpg

 

Given that I am planning to build this kit as a very early Tomcat, like the one parked on the Yorktown I visited months ago, pic 151 shows the two small pieces of .040X.040 Evergreen I glued to the inner top of parts F12 and F13 to make them looking closer to what I saw inside that Tomcat.

 

TiRRIX.jpg

 

In the following pics (152-155), all these further modified parts are dry fitted in position. The shortened edges look more accurate than before. Hopefully, I am not going to modify them again because at the end, my plan is to somewhat improve this kit, to make it looking better, not to build the best possible replica in 1:48 scale of this aircraft. In addition, the inside of the air intakes will barely be visible in this scale.

 

vxtkAO.jpg

 

d01Wvs.jpg

 

yryleQ.jpg

 

Q2vZgF.jpg

 

The two pieces of .060 Evergreen polystyrene shown in pics 156 and 157 are just enough to avoid any see-through the by-pass upper doors.

 

cAwntr.jpg

 

Vnd7Th.jpg

 

Pic 158 shows the main difference between a Tomcat and a very early Tomcat: the beaver tail. Unless I change my mind, and that is still quite possible, I am going to use the two parts on the right. Any suggestions about which aircraft and which markings are very welcome.

 

POHZNH.jpg

Edited by Lucio Martino
Link to post
Share on other sites
 

Very impressive work Lucio!!

 

Can't await to see your Tomcat finished. How about an early VF-1 aircraft?

 

Thank you!

 

I am thinking about one of the early Tomcat deployed aboard the USS. Enterprise in 1976. It all depends by if, and how, I will be able to fix the seven door gun panel, because I do not like the way it is out of the box. Later gun doors parts are from from perfect but better. Look at the next pics:

 

A2hnBV.jpg

 

pdGvxn.jpg

 

DOsvzn.jpg

 

If I go early, I am thinking about the VF-1 aircraft in the dark Ferris-Heather camouflage variant.

Edited by Lucio Martino
Link to post
Share on other sites
 

 

I left it for you to correct hehe...

 

Hahahahaha, so thoughtful of you, Zach! :thumbsup:

 

 

My sincere apologies !!!!!

 

It happens and it will happen again if I keep using my few inches tablet instead of my computer...

 

Oh, never mind, Lucio. I guess Zach wanted to express exactly as I did; it's only that he's much too shy. :taunt:

Besides, we all had rather you keep using your few inches tablet instead of your computer, as long as you keep posting these awesome posts in your thread.

Cheers, 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Your work on this kit is just amazing, but bordering on the point of masochism. All this work to correct this kit, but you are doing a darn good job of it.

 

As far as which scheme, I am VERY partial to the early VF-1 Wolfpack aircraft with the red trim, but the VF-1 Heater-Ferris schemes are great too.

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...
 

Your work on this kit is just amazing, but bordering on the point of masochism. All this work to correct this kit, but you are doing a darn good job of it.

 

As far as which scheme, I am VERY partial to the early VF-1 Wolfpack aircraft with the red trim, but the VF-1 Heater-Ferris schemes are great too.

 

Which one? 🙂

 

The 1977 3-Grey scheme on 158979 (F-14A-70-GR) had the 'cut back' version of the early boat tail.
The 1983 Grey/Blue 4-colour scheme on 158979 (F-14A-70-GR which had by this stage gotten the fin reinforcements and newer boat tail)), 161290 (F-14A-115-GR), 161292 (F-14A-115-GR), and 161296 (F-14A-115-GR), appear to have the later boat-tail WITH ECM bump...

Dan

Link to post
Share on other sites
 

 

Which one? 🙂

 

The 1977 3-Grey scheme on 158979 (F-14A-70-GR) had the 'cut back' version of the early boat tail.
The 1983 Grey/Blue 4-colour scheme on 158979 (F-14A-70-GR which had by this stage gotten the fin reinforcements and newer boat tail)), 161290 (F-14A-115-GR), 161292 (F-14A-115-GR), and 161296 (F-14A-115-GR), appear to have the later boat-tail WITH ECM bump...

Dan

 

So hard to decide, I like most of them. I guess the 1983 Grey/Blue 4-colour scheme on 158979.

Link to post
Share on other sites
 

If I go early, I am thinking about the VF-1 aircraft in the dark Ferris-Heather camouflage variant.

 

Lucio, if you go with one of the early VF-1 aircraft with the early boat tail and a Heater-Ferris scheme, I have some photos of them I found while doing searches in the Internet. If interested PM me.

Also, if you don't know already, Furball does a sheet of the F-14 Heater-Ferris schemes. https://www.furballaero-design.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=FDS-4815

Link to post
Share on other sites

Having some Improving Hasegawa 1/48 Tomcat thread withrawal symptoms, Lucio...

 

 

As far as which scheme, I am VERY partial to the early VF-1 Wolfpack aircraft with the red trim

 

Same here, Mark! 

 

2-BN-Ac-Tamiya-Grumman-F-14A-Tomcat-VF-2

 

It looks like the next thing to the Valkyrie Veritech on Robotech. It brings back good memories. 

Link to post
Share on other sites
 

Having some Improving Hasegawa 1/48 Tomcat thread withrawal symptoms, Lucio...

 

 

Same here, Mark! 

 

2-BN-Ac-Tamiya-Grumman-F-14A-Tomcat-VF-2

 

It looks like the next thing to the Valkyrie Veritech on Robotech. It brings back good memories. 

 

Ahhhh, beautiful to behold is she not? I have a Tamiya F-14A backdated, painted and ready for decals that are sized properly for the Tamiya kit. I fear I will just need to make do with the sets I have as Fightertown has apparently given up its plan to update the VF-1 decals to fit the Tamiya kit (sigh :crying2:).

 

Enough of this though. Let us give Lucio his thread back. Sorry for hijacking the thread Lucio.

Link to post
Share on other sites
 

Ahhhh, beautiful to behold is she not? I have a Tamiya F-14A backdated, painted and ready for decals that are sized properly for the Tamiya kit. I fear I will just need to make do with the sets I have as Fightertown has apparently given up its plan to update the VF-1 decals to fit the Tamiya kit (sigh :crying2:).

 

Yes, indeed; she is! :naughty: Fell hopelessly in love with her at first sight back in 1991. 

Well, the other Sqd that I always cherished is VF-41, and I recently got Furball ones, those ones are for the Tamiya Cat as well.

Say, Mark; when are you going to start building your AMK kit?

Cheers,

Link to post
Share on other sites
 

 

Yes, indeed; she is! :naughty: Fell hopelessly in love with her at first sight back in 1991. 

Well, the other Sqd that I always cherished is VF-41, and I recently got Furball ones, those ones are for the Tamiya Cat as well.

Say, Mark; when are you going to start building your AMK kit?

Cheers,

 

I have no idea when I might build her. I have SO many other kits waiting for me to build and have been in a slump lately. Been trying to finish a Su-33 that I've been working on for what seems like forever. Once I do finish that, I hope to take a critical look at the AMK F-14 to see if and where its problems are, do some comparisons with the Tamiya F-14, etc.

 

Anyway, let's let Lucio have his thread back. Sorry Lucio. :thumbsup:

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • Lucio Martino changed the title to Improving Hasegawa 1:48 Tomcat – 19 Wings (IV)

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...