Bowcat's Tamiya F-14D Tomcat 1/48
- Thread starter Mr Bowcat
- Start date
Mr Bowcat
SMF Supporter
Hi guys. 
I realised I haven't updated for a while, I've just been having too much fun with this kit. It's exquisitely engineered and practically seamless.
First up was finishing the cockpit which involved fitting some parts inside the canopy, masking the inside and painting. The front and rear canopies were the attached, handily with TET.
Next up were the intakes which needed painting. Tamiya give you masks so they are first painted white, the masked and the front end painted grey. The fans were painted in metalizer then buffed (before on the right, after on the left).
Next up the front and rear of the upper fuselage needed to be attached. Tamiya would have you glue these then attach to the lower fuselage. I chose to put the front upper on the lower and hold it in place while I added and glued the rear lower. This way everything lined up perfectly.
With that done the nose could be added and glued. I also added the undertray and front gear doors.
No this kit isn't designed to be wheels up, so there is no ledge for the gear doors. I had to hold each one with tweezers in the right position, then apply glue and hold while it gripped. Not easy.
It's far from perfect but I should be able to sort it out.
I realised I haven't updated for a while, I've just been having too much fun with this kit. It's exquisitely engineered and practically seamless.
First up was finishing the cockpit which involved fitting some parts inside the canopy, masking the inside and painting. The front and rear canopies were the attached, handily with TET.
Next up were the intakes which needed painting. Tamiya give you masks so they are first painted white, the masked and the front end painted grey. The fans were painted in metalizer then buffed (before on the right, after on the left).
Next up the front and rear of the upper fuselage needed to be attached. Tamiya would have you glue these then attach to the lower fuselage. I chose to put the front upper on the lower and hold it in place while I added and glued the rear lower. This way everything lined up perfectly.
With that done the nose could be added and glued. I also added the undertray and front gear doors.
No this kit isn't designed to be wheels up, so there is no ledge for the gear doors. I had to hold each one with tweezers in the right position, then apply glue and hold while it gripped. Not easy.
It's far from perfect but I should be able to sort it out.
Cheers Si.
Worked on the bang seats, crew and coamings today, and had a quick dry fit. I still need to weather everything.
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those guys are the bomb outstanding work Bob very convincing
boatman
SMF Supporter
HI Bob you doin a very nice job on her very skilled modeller you are
an just as a matter of intrest does this kit give you the carrier approach altitude indicator decal on the front landin gear as I see its shown on the box top but I cant see it anywhere on your decals as I was talking to another forum member who is building the hornet an he dint have it either in his kit. Or they maybe have left it to you to paint in the colours on it yourself
chris
an just as a matter of intrest does this kit give you the carrier approach altitude indicator decal on the front landin gear as I see its shown on the box top but I cant see it anywhere on your decals as I was talking to another forum member who is building the hornet an he dint have it either in his kit. Or they maybe have left it to you to paint in the colours on it yourselfchris
boatman
SMF Supporter
OK cheers Bob its not impotant but the kit being tamyia I thought they would haveCheers Chris.
I'm not sure mate, I'm building it in flight (somethign Tamiya clearly don't want you to do) so haven't looked at the gear. I'll try and remember to have a look tonight for you.
chris
Don’t know how I missed this Bob, but great work on the cockpit. Looking great.
boatman
SMF Supporter
YEA Bob that's the gadget in my hornet kit they gave me a decal strange tamyia don't as normaly they are up on everything as they make very good kits
chris
Mr Bowcat
SMF Supporter
Evening chaps.
Pushed on quite a bit today. First job was the rear landing gear doors. These are made up of 3 parts, but as I mentioned the kit isn't designed for a wheels up build, so some modifications were required.
The first two parts weren't too bad and just required thinning in order to fit.
However the problems started with the third part. Because this is designed to be open and flush against the fuselage it has two large depressions (presumably to save some plastic).
I could have filled the holes and used the kit part, but instead I decided to scratch them out of sheet styrene. It seems to have worked quite well.
With that out of the way I fitted the bomb pallets, shoulder pylons, stabilisers and tail fins.
Pushed on quite a bit today. First job was the rear landing gear doors. These are made up of 3 parts, but as I mentioned the kit isn't designed for a wheels up build, so some modifications were required.
The first two parts weren't too bad and just required thinning in order to fit.
However the problems started with the third part. Because this is designed to be open and flush against the fuselage it has two large depressions (presumably to save some plastic).
I could have filled the holes and used the kit part, but instead I decided to scratch them out of sheet styrene. It seems to have worked quite well.
With that out of the way I fitted the bomb pallets, shoulder pylons, stabilisers and tail fins.
Great work Bob. I've built a couple of kits were no provision for raised gear was catered for. The answer to hold the doors in place while fixing was, a nice lump of blu-tack in the gear well.