1/48 Hasegawa F-14A Tomcat

by Bill Hawkins

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At long last, I finally completed my 1/48 scale Hasegawa F-14A Tomcat. After a year of on and off again building (sometimes painful), I completed my Tomcat as the group build came to conclusion in the May/June timeframe.

The Tomcat depicted is F-14A BuNo 159435 from VF-143 CVW-7 aboard the U.S.S. Eisenhower during early 90's time period (1991?). 

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The color scheme is the TPS low-vis scheme and the decals are from Superscale and Aeromaster (stenciling). Paints used were MM enamels - Top side FS35237 and FS36230 and Bottom side FS36495. Paint was airbrushed with an Aztek 470 airbrush mixing about 10% flat white to the base colors for correct scale color. To accurately depict the heavy fading of the Naval 'Cat, I spot painted several panels with an additional 5-10% flat white added to the original color. Weathering was accomplished using thinned enamels and chalk pastel mixtures.

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The burner cans were painted using MM Metalizer airbrushed straight from the bottle (Aluminum Plate, Burnt Metal and Exhaust) and polished with cotton swabs. The cotton swabs provided a great metal shine and also allowed for some shading differences dependent upon the pressure applied during the polishing.

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The model was built out of the box with careful attention and scratchbuilding added to the cockpit (levers, throttle, and some buttons (super glue knobs). 

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Also added were the hydraulic lines to the main gear, additional lines / plumbing to the front gearwell and the primary hinges to the flap area on both wings. Additional wiring/plumbing was also added to the main gear wells.

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This was an extremely challenging project, but one in which I learned new skills and gained additional confidence in my model building. I have many more Tomcats to build and hope to finish them all before the Mighty 'Cat is gone from the fleet. Long live the Tomcat...and the World Famous Pukin' Dogs of VF-143 !

Thanks to all my fellow ARC'ers for the many tips and suggestions you provided along the way. A special thanks to Brian M for some additional "parts" needed during the build.

Bill 

Photos and text © by Bill Hawkins