1/48 Hasegawa F-14B

by Tyler White

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This is yet another ARC group build project, and I would not have been able to complete it without the Tomcat experts on the ARC boards.  I used some Steel Beach intake covers, True Details resin seats, Eduard masks and photo etch for the cockpit.  I have some resin sitting around, but this being my first Hasegawa Tomcat I figured I would go a little easy.  I finished off the big cat with some superb Figthertown Decals.

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This kit is actually very big and it is over engineered in many respects.  I have done the Revell kit and the Academy kit, both are much easier to assemble, but the results are not as accurate or impressive.  There are some steps that seem to be gratuitous but oh well, you get a nice finished product.  I did the landing gear first, which is a bit unusual.  I used Tamiya smoke to give the white struts some depth and then I moved on to the cockpit.  There I used the basic color Eduard set, and I think that it worked out very well.  I also added a Steel Beach PTID screen to match up with the LANTIRN pod.  I did not like the look of the cloth cowls that cover the avionix in front of each pilot, so I scratch built some using a torn corner of a church bulletin (don't worry I listened to the sermon!).  I also scratch built a little detail on the side walls, though this was somewhat minimal.  The assembly was not so straight forward and there were many mysteries that I had to confront.  Large gaps between the forward fuselage and the main fuselage that needed to be fixed.  There were lots of rethinking required when it came to building the wheel wells, but I think I have learned some lessons for future builds. This was also where all of the ARC'er advise came in handy.

Once the build was done the hard part: the painting.  I got the TPS paint scheme wrong because I looked at the Hasegawa instructions and not the Fightertown instructions.  I got it fixed by airbrushing a grey I mixed up and then pressed on.  There is pre-shading, post-shading, washing, pastel brushing, and patching that went into the paint scheme.  It is a lot of work but I think it turns out nicely.  I kind of stick to the guidelines that I found here on ARC in the "Tips and Tools" section. There is a lot of experimentation of course, but that is what this hobby is about.  Finally I used the Figthertown Decals and I must say that these make the model.  They are thorough!  Lots of data markings that you don't get with the kit decals and the colors are spot on!  The transfer film is nice and thin, but sturdy as well, I did not tear a single one.  The building is exhausting and it requires a lot of patience, but you will not get a finer result with any other kit.

Tyler

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Photos and text © by Tyler White