1/144 Fear the Bones

[stu_fishing]

Ladies and Gentlemen, let`s get started!

 

After finishing my previous project I`ll jump on the bandwaggon and start with my GB entry. As I build almost exclusively 1/144 I will build (at least) two Tomcats in this scale. Imho the Revell kit is still the best on the market as Trumpeters kit carries all the same problems as the larger offerings (intakes!) and is tricky to build in flight mode.

Also I already finished more than 10 Revell Tomcats and 53 more are in the stash.

- The first kit will be a pretty basic OOB build of the classic VF-84 Final Countdown Livery of 79-80 in flight. Revell supplies us with great decals here, so the only addition will be two pilots from Heroes Models.

- For the second kit will be a VF-103 line jet parked on the carrier deck with Fightertown Decals, open resin cockpit and multiple goodies from Mach3, GoofyResin, Heroes Models, Dragon............

 

 

We start pretty basic:

- thinning out the intakes

 

 

- getting rid of the ECM Antenna on the A

 

- And move on to more sophisticated surgery and cutting on the B to get the resin cockpit and ladder to fit

 

 

And as written above I do have some finished ones as well, so I will show one of them after each post. First is the last one finished. I used Dragon VF-213 decals and built the whole thing as gate guard at a fictious NAS. Some Preiser figures modiefied to Naval officiers and a Camaro in 144 finish this scene.

 

Anytime, Baby,

 

Thomas

 

 

 

 

 

[eraucubsfan]

Welcome aboard!! 

[Thadeus]

Very nice project. It amazes me that there are 1/144 resin sets. Nowadays You can design masters in 3d. But somebody probably mastered them the old way.

I'm pulling up a chair and watching with interest.

[stu_fishing]

Well the Goffy sets are mastered the old way, Mach 3 is 3D printed.

 

Here is the difference in the seats. I´ll use the resin one for the closed cockpit and the 3D ones for the open cockpit.

 

OOB one cannot fully sweep the wings back in the small Revell Tomcat. Therefore get rid of the mechanism and a little sanding works like a charm. Fur further sweep in the parking position a little more rough work is required....

 

 

For the VF-103 bird I used a resin cochpit. While the pit itself is similar to the plastic, the decals, dashboard and wheel well make it stand out.

 

 

 

Afterwards the next step was priming. I really love the Stynlrez/Oneshot primer. The 84 got a white primer and pre-shading, the 103 black primer and black basing with a light grey pattern using a photoetch template.

 

 

Before we close the canopy on the 84 time to work on the bang seats and pilots. Pilots are the awesome resin guys from Heroes Models in Italy. They may be molded just a tad to large but who am I to complain. The Resin seats got some handles made from wire. Hard to photograph as yes these are regular toothpicks...

 

 

 

 

And as promised a picture of another 144 scale treasure: Again Revell with decals from Dragon, VF-213 AMARC

 

 

 

 

[MA Cooke]

Good LORT! I can't imagine how many magnifier lenses I'd have to add to my headlamp doohinkie thing to do that kind of detail. Wow.

[stu_fishing]

On 3/3/2021 at 11:49 AM, MA Cooke said:

Good LORT! I can't imagine how many magnifier lenses I'd have to add to my headlamp doohinkie thing to do that kind of detail. Wow.

 Funny thing is I think it is not so different from painting a Cockpit in 72nd or 48th scale... the major difference is to "simplify" details and weigh which techniques to apply, especially in the weathering process.

 

So lately I mainly worked on the ordnance. PitRoad GBU-12 with RBF flags made from tinfoil on a 3D printed weapons cart. Nevermind the lighter...

 

 

 

On the kitties I added some transparent blue on the windshield and sanded the panel line on the nose which came from the 72 Revell Cat and is wrong.

 

Then I started to work on the LGG over white on the A model. I do love this livery but I hate masking it in 144. In the end it came out ok, following some model guide in my shelf I did the LGG first, masked the areas and only then the white which was a much easier approach than vice versa. On this picture you can see another problem of this kit, the second set of grills on the back. Their location is such a PITA however that I do not care to sand them but rather jost overpaint them with several layers of primer.

 

 

 

 

And at the end as always a blast from the past, a very early work (2010) of this kit. Revell F-14B, Decals from Triple Nuts for VF-101 Tomato with documented airshow loadout.

 

 

[stu_fishing]

The early Kitty is close to being finished...now onto the base:

 

 

 

A little artistic license for this Final Countdown bird: In the movie there where no names on the Canopy and the upper winf surfaces were already painted in LGG. Nevertheless I wanted it in full cruise color.

[stu_fishing]

The second bird also went along.

 

After applying light translucent coats of the three base colors over the black base I did a few touch ups with acrylics. Already looking not so bad....

Afterwards gloss coat, decals,  gloss coat, a dark wash for moveable parts, a lighter shade for the panel lines. Then using a stiff brush, i sprayed some droplets of buff and grey enamels over the model and blended them in. Finally oils for defined dirty areas and fresh paint touch ups with the base colors.

 

 

 

Then I started on the PE..

 

 

 

 

Another blast from the past, same kit, decals from Dragon and a crazy loadout...

 

[stu_fishing]

Starting on the bases. I used old CDs for all my bases, generally 2 or 3 glued together and then adding, prints or creating small dioramas.

 

Then I started to work on the tie down chains. These are from genereic chains from Mastertools but they are a pita to work with.

 

 

The F-14B is nearly finished. I added some RBF tags made from tinfoil, the chains, some oil weathering and the burner cans painted with Alclad pale burnt metal  with the great decals Revell provides for the petals. Now just adding some figures and I call her done.

 

 

 

 

 

[MA Cooke]

Looks great - hard to believe it's 1/144. I'd be squinting for MONTHS trying to do a 1/72 Cat.

[crackerjazz]

You're too fast for me : )   Looking great on the base!  Love that photo of the mottling in 1/44 and the nicely-weathered F-14 on the palm of your hand.   

[stu_fishing]

Thank you guys! I am really happy how the TPS turned out.

 

Now just working on some extras. the figures by Heroes Models are an absolute blast. The Zero is for the Final Countdown scene. Actually I would need to convert a T-6 into a Zero-lookalike, but that is beyond my skills at this point..also I will have to compromise in the decal choices on this one...

 

 

And As I missed out the last time today two blasts from the past, again both Revell in 1:144

 

first an A model, Vf-102 Diamondbacks (Triple Nuts Decals) with Oz-Mods Pilots, Tarps from a Dragon Kit and an Iowa in 1:2400

 

 

and another A from Vf-111 (Decals from Rose-Ridge) again with Ozmods pilots and dirty wings from Goffy Model in the pattern over CV-70 and an OHP in 1:6000

 

 

 

 

[stu_fishing]

Both finished in the completed builds and competition section... Depending on the weather in the next weeks I may start another two...

[PlasticSmith]

Stu,

 

Those are amazing! May I ask where did you get those tiny ship models?

 

mK 

[stu_fishing]

On 8/1/2021 at 5:15 AM, PlasticSmith said:

Stu,

 

Those are amazing! May I ask where did you get those tiny ship models?

 

mK 

Thx!  In 1/6000 from here https://www.magistermilitum.com/scale/1-6000.html

and 1/2400 here https://www.ghqmodels.com/

[PlasticSmith]

On 8/8/2021 at 3:24 PM, stu_fishing said:

Thx!  In 1/6000 from here https://www.magistermilitum.com/scale/1-6000.html

and 1/2400 here https://www.ghqmodels.com/

Thanks!