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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.
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.
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).
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
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