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Tamiya 1/48 F-14A


Eaglecash867

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I've heard nothing but praise for this new Tomcat! Yours is coming along very nicely. Are the bright green instrument panel markings kit decals, or did you source them from elsewhere? Looking forward to seeing this one done!

 

GIL :smiley16:

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So far its been a great build. I guess you really can't go wrong with Tamiya kits. The intake tunnels were a little problematic getting clamped so the cement would do its job properly. I finally found the solution with two really heavy, hard cover books on the B-1B and the A-10. Stacked those right on top of the tunnels with the bottom part of the fuselage upside-down...worked like a champ. I slowly lowered the books onto it, listening for creaking and groaning...didn't want to smash it. The bright green markings are all kit decals. The radar indicator in the RIO position was a transparent decal to go on the clear lens. I painted that with transparent green, and backed it with aluminum foil.

 

Thanks for the welcome and the comments!

 

Eagle

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  • 2 weeks later...

A little more progress...been taking care of a sick cat. Got the vertical stabs painted and decaled. I cut out the molded-in tail beacons...planning on using some red-tinted epoxy to build new lenses. I just didn't think red paint was gonna cut it for beacons. I'll be spraying the Alclad Aluminum on the leading edges when I get the horizontal stabs and wings painted and decaled...want to do the plating all at once.

 

https://www.amazon.c...RZ07zjUSbFcC9CK

 

Eagle

Edited by Eaglecash867
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  • 3 weeks later...

Got the forward fuselage done...did a little preliminary "weight and balance check" with it pushed together with the rear fuselage and wings. I think the tungsten weight I epoxied up front is going to give it just the right amount of forward CG so it doesn't end up being a tail-sitter.

 

https://www.amazon.com/photos/album/Hx68E6ptR1eIXc4xR_Fm1w?pageIndex=0

 

Eagle

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John: your Amazon account is asking for a "sign in" to view your pics. Might I suggest you post the pics here (as most of us do) instead of supplying a link to your account?

 

You can use the little "picture" icon in the blue border above to post pics. Click onto it and an empty URL box will appear. Open you Amazon pics in a separate tab and see if the pic you want to post has a "direct" URL to copy. Copy the pic's URL and the paste it into the empty URL box on this page, click OK and it will post in your open response box immediately. If the pic doesn't post here, try another URL choice on your Amazon page (I use Photo Bucket and each pic has at least 4-5 choices, but "direct" is the one that works from there).

 

I'm following your build with interest because I've picked up the kit and plan to build it before spring. Hope this helps!

 

GIL :smiley16:

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Gil,

 

Thanks for the heads-up on that. I had been using the Amazon album thing because I didn't know how to post directly...now I know. Thanks! :D

 

Let's see if I did it right.

 

Edit: I ended up getting an error message trying to use the Amazon URL for the image feature. I'll try photobucket and see if I can post some thumbnails.

 

Edit 2: Looks like it worked! :D

 

 

f8WcAa.jpg

 

Eagle

Edited by Eaglecash867
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  • 2 months later...

Back to building again after a difficult few months. Got the rest of the decals put on the rear fuselage, weathered it, joined the forward and rear fuselage. I got the wings done enough to paint,finally...after several attempts...the wings on this thing are kind of a PITA. I used the Furball mask set for the flaps. Also got the burner cans mostly done...pretty happy with the effect I got with the wear and weathering on the feathers.

 

https://www.amazon.com/photos/share/wqiNSaU29XnYYYWQBELX9UjtovZGrQkM8coM3xoQaKP

Edited by Eaglecash867
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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

Almost there...FINALLY! Just have to get the canopy done, and the colored epoxy tail beacons. Removing the molding line on the canopy was kind of a pain, because the molding lines were on the outside and inside of the canopy. Thank god for MicroMesh sanding sheets. Still have to do a final polish and sealing, then I can get it painted and put on. Here's the almost complete Tomcat...along with its real-life grandchild that showed up on our ramp this morning.

 

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Thanks Gil!

 

Ran into a major problem with the canopy today. The strange alignment problems I experienced earlier in the project with the forward fuselage have come back to haunt me again. The surfaces that the canopy and windscreen are supposed to mate with somehow ended up slightly wider than the canopy and windscreen. I have a Steinel heat gun coming, which I needed for work anyway, so hopefully I can use that to make those pieces just pliable enough to widen a little bit. I tried gradually warming them in the oven today. Bad idea...I forgot these old 80s technology ovens don't control their temp very precisely...melted them both. Really glad I have a whole kit of spare parts. I needed it anyway...turns out the "molding line" I removed on the inside of the canopy was actually the front and rear visual reference lines that the real thing has on the inside of its canopy.

 

Has anybody ever tried reshaping a canopy with a heat gun? The one I have coming has a digital temperature control on it that can go as low as 130 degrees in 5 degree increments. Really don't want to screw this last step up after all this time, so I'm wondering if anybody has had any success reshaping a canopy like this. Its a fraction of a milimeter off, so it doesn't need to be widened much. If not...I guess I'm gonna be the reluctant "pioneer" of the technique. LOL

Edited by Eaglecash867
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  • 2 weeks later...

I was able to successfully reshape the canopy with a heat gun after a lot of experimentation on scrap canopies. I pressed the canopy frame edges of the two pieces down onto a couple of pieces of double-sided mounting tape to hold them at the correct width, then gently heated them up to 230 degrees. Remove the heat, let them cool, pull them off the tape...and they now hold their shape at the correct width. 230 degrees was the magic number. Anything lower doesn't do anything...anything higher causes crazing to start. Got the join line removed from the canopy, and just dipped in Future...just waiting for the Future to cure. Finally gonna be able to put the last couple of pieces on this thing and call it done! :D

 

In the mean time, I'm starting a build on 2 1/32 scale F-16s. I have an old Hasegawa F-16A+/C kit that I partially built...stopped when I was 16 (I think)...still have it after all these years. I'm making that one an F-16A CAS aircraft with the Charcoal Lizard paint scheme. Have to make my own tail code and serial number decals, which should be interesting. The second one is the Tamiya F-16CJ that I just got. I'll post the final Tomcat pics when its done.

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  • 2 weeks later...

FINALLY DONE!

 

Probably not gonna win any trophies or anything...I'm still getting my techniques worked out, so I made a lot of mistakes.

 

They're all thumbnails, so just click to make them full-size. :)

 

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Edited by Eaglecash867
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