F-14B Tomcat - 1:32 Trumpeter

[The Migrant]

That looks like one of those '2 hours masking, 5 minutes spraying' sessions Great job so far.

[flyjoe180]

Nice work, she is going to look colourful

[Guest]

Thanks Mike/Joe,

Gave the kit and missiles two coats of gloss. The walkway on top of the Intakes have to be painted on, so I used Lifecolor 'Roof Dirt' UA722, it's not as grey as it came out in the photo. I read somewhere that the walkway is anti-skid paint, so for my last coat I deliberately pulled the airbrush away so the paint was virtually dry when it hit the model, this gave a very fine sandpaper texture.

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Painted the exhausts, ready for fitting. But going to do the decaling first. Letting the gloss varnish dry overnight.

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Cheers Derek

[yak face]

Really coming on now Derek , although I'm not sure about the natural metal effect!LOL!! Seriously though , i love the look of the Tomcat when its coming in to land with everything hanging down , this is going to look amazing , cheers tony

[Guest]

Thanks for your support Tony.

Got all the decals on, so still to paint the edges of the wheel bay doors red, and fit them and the wing control surfaces. But before all that I have to attempt the weathering. As far as I have found out the 'Red Rippers' were fairly clean so I am trying to achieve this finish.

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Here are the decal shots. Again Trumpeter disappoints; instructions leave you guessing in some places, the 'slime lights' decals at the wing tips didn't fit, had to mix paints and paint them. The development of the decal shape around the nose of the missiles was way out, had to tease them into shape.

Cheers Derek

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[yak face]

Looking sharp Derek , shame about the decals putting up a fight but youve tamed them perfectly. The weathering Ive seen on pics of Tomcats is usually concentrated around the wing pivots and centre fuselage as can be seen in the photo, so a little here would be fine even for a well kept machine. Keep at it mate its going to be one fine looking cat , cheers tony

[papa 695]

Looking very good indeed Derek

[Guest]

Looking sharp Derek , shame about the decals putting up a fight but youve tamed them perfectly. The weathering Ive seen on pics of Tomcats is usually concentrated around the wing pivots and centre fuselage as can be seen in the photo, so a little here would be fine even for a well kept machine. Keep at it mate its going to be one fine looking cat , cheers tony

Thanks Tony, that's exactly the look I am trying to achieve. Ian, I appreciate your comments also. Cheers Derek

[flyjoe180]

That is looking superb Derek. I don;t ever recall seeing this scheme before, but your F-14 is looking more like your reference photos every time you update.

[Guest]

Thanks Joe, I didn't fancy looking at a skull and cross bones so the kit came with the scheme I adopted.

Have been putting off painting the red edges of the undercarriage doors, as I know I would make a mess of it. Fortunately I bought the February issue of the 'Fine Scale Modeler ' magazine, which had an excellent solution to my problem. You 'paint' on the edges with red felt tipped pens. They showed only a thick point being used which I think is impossible to get into the internal corners with, but using the same principle I used a 0.3mm fineliner to get into these corners and the thicker nib to fill in and do the outer faces. All available from W H Smith. Cheers Derek

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[colin m]

Looking great Derek. I've never seen such colourful weapons. Very nice.

[tr1ckey66]

That's a beautiful finish to the Tomcat Derek

Look forward to seeing this finished.

Cheers

Paul

[Dave W]

Coming along well Derek.

[Guest]

Thanks for the words of encouragement Gents.

Masked off the area for the scuff marks from the Wing Gloves and using the Black Fineliner pens mentioned previously, and smeared it with a cotton bud. After this I sprayed the entire aircraft and loose parts with a flat varnish.

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Looking at lots of photos, the F-14B I am building displays a predominantly brown weathering, see photos below.

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To replicate this I have used Florymodels Dark Dirt weathering wash which leaves a brown finish, but I have added some of their black between the wing roots down to the tail as this is a dirtier area.

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They say to let it dry for 20 minutes, but I always get a better result, by leaving it for several hours, or overnight, maybe it's just me?

Cheers Derek

[yak face]

OOH ! Mucky! Should be nicely weathered when the wash is removed Derek , top stuff , cheers tony