During the IPMS USA NATCON at Chicago I fell in love with the TOMCAT which was on display at the TWOBOBS stand.  It was build by David AUNGST, this was a wonderful bird, what a scheme.  As soon as I was back from vacation, I started the project....as I'm a Tomcat fan, I had to have this bird in my collection!

The model:  The HASEGAWA 1/48,you need an A+ version.

The decals: TWOBOBS   sheet n° 48-007.

Resin add : the cockpit from Balck Box.

Construction:

cockpit:

Well, we start with the cockpit, as usual with a resin cockpit you've got to separate the pieces from this huge block of resin. 

Then begins the test fitting, and the first problems come to light....on the left side of the cockpit you'll find the "steps" with the ladder.  You'll have to sand inside the outside of the cockpit tub because the resin cockpit didn't have the imprint of those steps.

 

 

I also made a "big" hole in the resin cockpit, left side, so I could still save the bottom of the steps.  This way they still have some depth to them.

 

 

 

Another problem is the position of the front and rear cockpit panels, you have to thin the plastic border of the kit, but still leave some material. You'll have to do the seam job on the front area with the instrument cover, take a look at the picture and see that I sanded it too much, so I ended up with a big gap on the front.  So I had to put in some plastic card to close the gap.  The rest of the job on the cockpit requires no comments, a careful paint job an it's done, oops....I almost forgot to mention that I've added the levers ( flaps, gears...)

Some work is required on the inside the air intakes, Pieces F10 trough F13 have to be in the near "closed" position, the model manual shows them as they would appear inflight!

I've added some plastic around the flaps, to simulate the hinges that HASEGAWA forgot.

Fuselage:

No real problems, just be careful when adjusting the pieces for gluing! Don't forget that the gun gas vent is from an A+ model !

As usual for a Tomcat, one exhaust can is in the open position and one closed.   Editors note: This is because one engine is shut down after landing and the plane taxi's on the remaining engine.  SB

The painting process:

So I decided to give life to the model.  Starting with the bottom colour; FS 36375 (TESTOR 1728) with the usual paint technique of making shadows on each panel line (this technique is called "pre-shading").  I masked the whole bottom and applied the first top coat.  I started with the light blue, kind of Air Superiority blue. The mix is made with Flanker Medium Blue (TESTOR 2131) Bright Blue (TESTOR 2032) and Blue (TESTOR 2033), with a ratio of  5: 2 : 1.

After that, I carefully "taped" the model and drew the edge of the second blue colour, which is Aggressor Blue; FS 35109 (TESTOR 2031).  When this job was done, I "taped" for the second time and added the Dark Ghost gray color ( FS 36320 ) TESTOR 1741. When talking about the "taping" by this I mean I covered all the area, drew on the tape the edges and cut it with a sharp blade.

Patrick

Patrick Spitaels

ANS MODELISME

IPMS BELGIUM

http://club.ansmodelisme.com