Si B’s- Revell 1/72 F-14D Super Tomcat

[Deleted member 4539]

Coming along well .

 

[Si Benson]

A good finish is all in the prep

I normally leave off all the stores, flaps, doors, wheels etc off until last thing, to make decaling and finishing easier.

Thanks Chris, I thought that might be the case

 

[Jakko]

Quick question....Now I notice in the next few assembly steps is the wheels and stuff. Is it better to leave these off until the rest of paintwork is done?

I would. I’d probably build the undercarriage but leave it loose and paint it separately from the rest of the model. Only once the plane is painted, decalled, etc. do I normally fit the undercarriage, weapons, and other breakables.

 

[Dave Ward]

Once we got bounced by one of these! Proceeding north(ish) to Japan in the South China Sea at an economical 15 knots - this was the time of the Vietnamese Boat people, late 70's. He came down to take a look at us & take pictures - he was at our bridge wing level ( 32 feet ). After a few passes, it looked like he did a practice bomb run on us, and departed nearly vertically, afterburners on, rolling all the way until he disappeared! Over 40 years ago!
Dave

 

[colin m]

Nice progress. As Dave points out above, it's easy to forget how old this aircraft is. I think only the Iranian's still use a version.

 

[Wouter]

Since I grew up with Maverick and Goose as a kid I sure like the F14. Good to see you build one Si. Great stuff so far!

 

[Fernando N]

Neat looking office SI.
Smart to check to alignment before gluing too.

Like the guys have said its best to keep as much of the landing gears and stores off as possible for ease of painting, weathering etc.
Sometimes its handy to blu-tack the landing gear struts on, so it can stay up when painting a single colour all-over or varnishing the plane.

HTH.
Ps. Avid Tomcat fan here so very interested to see what you can make of this one.

 

[Si Benson]

Oh blimey,
The audience is getting bigger Thanks for the interest folks and thanks for the advice.



Been a busy weekend here at Casa los Benson...my son turned 13 on Friday and my wallet took a beating !
Somehow the Mrs pinched the kitchen table on Saturday night so I got next to nothing done
I did however get about 3 hours solid on the PlayStation with beer! Get in

So.....still filling and sanding but I’m winning now! Noticed sink marks on the wings from the pivot for the swing wings.
Once I get a coat of primer I’ll see how it looks. I got some Mr primer surfacer that I plan on using as it can be sanded.







I’ve started preparing the underneath bits and guess what.....more filling and sanding!
Every piece had Ejector pin marks and or sink marks, just as well the Mr Hobby filler is good stuff. It Dries quick, sands well and seem to be quite strong.
I’ll spray them and attach them later as suggested




Got to tackle the seams all over the wheely thingy next..



Sorry for pants update....hopefully a bit more done next time!

 

[boatman]

HI Si ive just caught up with your tomcat build an really enjoyin it lookin forward to more pics an it makes me want to start building my big 1/32 scale super tomcat but I cant as im up to my neck in ship build but come nxt winter it will hopefully happen or the S/H
chris

 

[JR]

Si.
Well for a start a belated Happy Birth day to young Benson. A teenager now, start on the yoga Si , remember KEEP CALM AT ALL TIMES.
As teenagres our girls were a nightmare, but nowfantasic , just when he's over those years young Holly will be starting, of course by that time you will be completely trained in how to cope !

Now for the apology, how I missed this I don't know, like Bob I know nothing of these strange machines so will sit at the back. See you have Fernando to keep a eye on you. From what I can see it looks very neat, certainly in the office dept.
John.

 

[Wouter]

Happy birthday to your son indeed. And nice update.
You are making me curious though chap: which game did you play during those three hours?

 

[Si Benson]

Morning folks,

Finally managed to make significant progress after more filling and sanding . The whole lot was primed, using Mr surfacer. Went down very smoothly and I couldn’t find any rough spots from the filling.







Painted the after burners painted gloss black then gave them a coat of AK xtreme gun metal...






I thought I’d taken a picture of the pre-shading I’d done, but when I came to crop my pictures this morning turns out I didn’t Anyway..... the pre shading was done with Tamiya nato black and then a base coat of Tamiya Xf-20 and
XF-18.


Never done the pre-shade thing before but I’m pleased with the results. Still got lots to do paint wise, hopefully get some more done today

Thanks for looking

 

[Deleted member 4539]

Very nice pre shading Si.

 

[Jim R]

Hi Si
Seem to have missed a bit. You're making a very neat job of this. The care taken early on with the dry fitting and the taping has paid off. I have tried masking areas when filling to avoid panel lines getting clogged but even then some rescribing is needed. I hate scribing - all going well and then a slip . Paint job is really good and you have certainly mastered that preshade. Folding wings - that's cool.
Jim

 

[Wouter]

Oh that looks very very good Si. That preshade is subtle, as I like it. Great base for further work, keep it up chap!

Cheers

 

[Si Benson]

Thanks for the input chaps, much appreciated


Managed to get to the bench for a few hours today and got the tail wings and canopy areas masked and sprayed also the underside painted up.
It’s had a clear coat and I’ll get on with the decals once it dried.


Quite pleased with it currently.....I really hope the decals play nicely

Thanks for looking

 

[yak face]

Looking excellent si , the pre shading worked lovely , perfect for the tomcat too ad the later darker grey aircraft ( as opposed to the light gull grey and white hi viz early ones) seemed to get very stained and dirty looking in service, cheers tony

 

[Mickc1440]

That looks really nice Si, looking forward to seeing it marked up.

 

[Fernando N]

Very nice work of the pre-shade and the paintjob Si.

Looking forward to see the markings on.

 

[Jim R]

Hi Si
Lovely paint job. Decals will really bring it to life.
Jim