Revell 1/48 F-14 Tomcat * Help needed! *

[Guest]

Hi Patrick, the Tomcat is a difficult model, no matter the maker. I have made the 1/72 Hasegawa and the 1/32 Trumpeter, and both had a lot of problems. Your's is coming along nicely despite the problems you have had. Keep up the good work. Cheers Derek.

[flyjoe180]

The post shading is looking very good Patrick

[Guest]

Thanks Derek & Joe - it's quite interesting building an aircraft & a tank at the same time. Similar, yet different skills are needed

[Guest]

Patrick the preshade did come out great! Accenting the panels further with different greys will also make a huge difference. I've got some static shots of the full scale at a museum and it was beat up and weathered rather harshly so it wo'nt be a stretch to take it further. I've got 2 of these kits in the stash so its a bonus to see how nicely yours is coming along,gives me hope! Looking forward to seeing more,keep up the great work!

[Dave W]

The pre shading looks really good.Something I haven't got the hang of yet.

[Guest]

Thanks Trey & Dave! I have read somewhere that each time a maintenance panel was removed it received a lick of paint, leading to a 'patchwork quilt' effect.

[spanner570]

broke off the pointy bit & the filler hasn't sanded down very well!

Nothing worse than breaking off your pointy bit!

This is looking really nice Patrick. Top marks for sticking with it....I must confess to having no interest in modern fighter jets, but I am enjoying watching you bring this model to life...as you surely will.

[Guest]

Ha-ha I kinda knew it would break off - somehow it was asking for it!

Thanks Ron, I'd like to build more aircraft - it's the tales of poor fitting & lashings of filler that put me off!

[flyjoe180]

Ha-ha I kinda knew it would break off - somehow it was asking for it!Thanks Ron, I'd like to build more aircraft - it's the tales of poor fitting & lashings of filler that put me off!

You should build more aircraft Patrick, you're doing a marvellous job on the F-14. Not all aircraft kits need lots of filler or fit poorly. Some go together quite nicely with very minimal filling/sanding.

[Guest]

Thanks Joe! It's funny you should say that just as I have parts of a Bf109 sitting on my desk

[papa 695]

Great work so far Patrick just as the others have said the pre shading as worked well and with the post shading your planning should really make it stand out keep up the good work

[tr1ckey66]

Hi Patrick

The pre-shade looks great to me. Pre-shading is not to every aircraft modeller's taste but for me it adds a little more interest to, what could be, a very flat finish. I think you've mastered this technique very well and will help this F14 become the great model I'm sure it will be.

Cheers

P

[Guest]

Thanks Ian & Paul - unfortunately I think I've overdone the highlighting!

Now the pre-shading looks too pronounced I think. So should I try going over the darker areas with a mid grey to blend it together, or just leave it?

Any help is very gratefully received!!

[ATTACH]83172.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]83173.IPB[/ATTACH]


[ATTACH]83174.IPB[/ATTACH]

[Guest]

I think it depends on how old/used and abused you want it to look Patrick. Some of the pictures I have seen of these birds the panel lines do really show. I reckon once you start the decaling it will look really good. Personally I would think about putting a light mist of grey over the decals to age them as well.

[Guest]

So do a gloss coat & apply the decals - then a grey mist coat to tie it all together?

That's a good shout Tel! Thanks