Bullet 106 - WIP

Sergej I
watching 🙂

Jos Jansen
#metoo Sergej 😉 ...watching with great interest!

Daniel
welcome! I am really super excited for this kit! Just had a look around my modest collection and realized this is the best kit I have ever built - and realizing that without even starting it^^ This will be fun. 👍

Sergej I
Daniel I counted how many Tomcats are actually on your desk... It's hard to imagine this will all be glued into one model...
Isn't it nice, how modern tools are made with smart planing and end up with really nice distribution, carefully chosen injection points, exact and variable recessed lines, no flash, no flow-lines and... almost perfect fit. What great times we are living in! 🙂

Treehugger
Is that a double set of wings in photo 2?

I hope you will add commentary to the photos if you can. 🙂

Daniel
Amen to that Sergej & Roland! I uploaded some pictures to show why I am quite impressed, the fit is maybe not as flawless as the tamiya - but man, Ive never built a bang seat out of 13 parts 🙂

Treehugger
Wanna switch kits? I have the Academy one. 😄

Jens
Ohhh Schei....., wenn man Bild 2 sieht versteht man den Preis erst wirklich

Daniel
@Treehugger: Si, they have the one-piece closed option and the everything extended option, I am sure to go with the latter
Trying my best with some picture subtitles 🙂
No, thanks, Ive head my academy "fun"time already^^

Daniel
@Jens: Denke bei dem Inhalt und der Qualität ist es (auch im vergleich zum führenden Kit) immer noch ein Schnäppchen😉 Schade nur dass man hier in DE importieren muss

Patrick Hagelstein
For picture 4: Just paint it white and bombard it with grease! 😉 Basically, the gear well is white with a metallic accumulator and a blackish skid protector at the ceiling. Hydraulic lines are metallic and the cable looms are a buff color with black straps. But don't worry, there's plenty of pictures out there! 🙂

Daniel
Thanks a lot Roland, though my in-between build photos suck, looks better in RL^^ I agree, especially if you want the worn down look you are better off with handpainting

Maciej Bellos
Dropping in!

Patrick Hagelstein
Picture 14 really is a massacre.... 🙁
Just kidding! That pit looks great! And I agree, plastic or resin cockpit panel can give so much more 3D feel than flat PE. Even though it's much harder to paint, it provides more character and can be weathered and color adjusted better.

Slavo Hazucha
The world is filling-up with Tomcats... Could be worst...😉 😄

Soeren R.
Looks really great - there cant be enough Tomcats in the world😉

Daniel
Thank you very much and welcome mates! True. Is there anybody in the world who doesnt love the tomcat? (besides dick cheney😉😢

Spanjaard
In, of course

Spanjaard
Nice looking pit

Jos Jansen
Great pit Daniel...👍!

Daniel
Welcome and thanks Spanjaard and Jos!

Daniel
Slowly making my way through the many interior parts, not even close to uniting the fuselage parts. Lots of good stuff in there. Also finished the driver+rio

Patrick Hagelstein
Nice work on Chip 'n' Dale! Creative way of getting those helmets transformed. 👍

Falk Röllig
Impressiv

Jos Jansen
Great inspiring work Daniel...I also gonna put pilots in mine!

Slavo Hazucha
Excellent job on the gearwell 👍 + where did you get the small black stars for the helmets? 🙂

Daniel
Thank you very much Patrick, Roland, Falk!
@Jos: Thanks & I can return the compliment! Yeah, I remember some headless dudes on one of your pics😉 and building a white-grey classic you dont have to sculpt your helmets I guess 🙂
@Slavo: Many thanks!! My wife uses some ultra fine pens for manga drawing, I borrowed one of those to paint the stars

Finished the Interior stuff today and joined the fuselage, currently she's resting between two clamps that keep the wing roots together. Not a laser sharp fit but ok with applying some tension to it.

Daniel
some slow progress here, but its now recognizable as a turkey

Jos Jansen
Pooah Daniel, slow but very nice mate...I hope I can match your detail work!

Thomas Bischoff
Wow - impressive Work

Patrick Hagelstein
Picture 27 is something we're not used to here on Scalemates.... 😄

Daniel
@Jos: Haha, you must be joking, yours is as crisp as crisp can get! super-crispy 🙂 But thanks a lot mate!
@Thomas: Vielen Dank!
@Patrick: I know, this is pure blasphemy 😄
[img1]

Jos Jansen
😎

Konrad -
Awesome Daniel 👍!

Daniel
Thx Konrad!

Clifford Keesler
Looking awesome Daniel.

Slavo Hazucha
So we need a tailsitter turkey Tomcat with flaps out... Where could this journey only be headed..? 🙂

Beautiful "wind tunnel" shape study in the last pic btw! 👍

Patrick Hagelstein
Regarding your comment in picture 30: Some people think the shape of the aft fuselage between the vertical stabilizers and the tailplanes is off. I can't see it... A lot of times pictures from different angles can give different impressions. And shapes on a zoomed in picture don't necessarily line up with a model held close up to ones eyes. It all has to do with distortion and perspective. If it looks like an F-14 without any glaring differences to pictures, it's good enough for me.

Daniel
Finished "White-Basing"😉
@clifford: thank you, it is really fun+easy to build, huge respect for battling through your academy cat!
@slavo: ...he knows too much…
@Patrick: Amen to that!

Treehugger
Huh, splatter stencils, what a neat idea.

Slavo Hazucha
It´s just so cool watching all these Tomcat builds, I´m kind of sorry I did not made it for the GB (technically, I am still finishing the Aggressor GB contribution... 😄) - so many different approaches, I can´t wait for the results...

Those (or similar) stencils were actually on my shopping list for the Vienna Arsenal Model expo, but then virus & stuff ended all ambition in short order 🙂 Pre-shade looking great & rumors are it can only get even better from here 👍

Sergej I
Daniel, great preshading. I also use Uschi stencils, they are a nice speed up. Kindof like precut masks. Not needed but nice to have.
Slavo, there is still time for the Tomcat build. End of Dec. Consider working on a much simpler parallel build to take the tension off... I build planes without PE and in fly mode for therapeutic purpose 😄
Also, the Uschi stencils are now repacked and sold by Ammo (or AK, one of them Spanish mfctrs) and Ive seen them around Czech and Slovak online shops.

Clifford Keesler
The pre-shading looks great Daniel.

Daniel
Thank you mates!
@Slavo: I agree, lots of interesting stuff in the GB! And yes, yours is missing! As the aggressor part of your dual build is already done...😉
@Sergej: therapeutic builds-I also can recommend some simple what-ifs for this purpose, no research, just creativity. Being a bit "exhausted" after the big hornet my little Kuwaiti tiffy brought back the energy for this next navy bird
Stencils - really a nice to have for the quick marbling effect, you can also DIY, you just need thin metal plates, a shotgun, some birdshot, some buckshot...😢

Daniel
Launched Stage 2 of preshading

Jos Jansen
Beautiful pre-work Daniel, you show us your master skills!

Slavo Hazucha
Now it looks like something I left waaay too long in the back of the fridge... ...aah, which is a great way to prepare it for the actual color layers!!! 😄

Looks very special, hope the whole process gets where you want to have it! 👍

Daniel
Haha, well I am going for the "organic" look, so I get the feeling I am on the right path 😄
Thank you guys! It is a bit of an experiment but the test pieces I did came out quite nice, and if it doesn't work out... it's just preshading, right? Post shading is where you can really mess up😉

Sergej I
Yup, gorgonzola Tomcat. Looks promising, Daniel... looking forward to see layer by layer morphing.

Clifford Keesler
Coming along nicely.

Skyhiker
How did you do the effect in the middle of the panels. It looks like watercolors.

James C
That's going to look amazing under the base coats. 👍

Daniel
Thanks a lot guys, I finished painting the belly and side viewed parts today, very satisfied so far, will do a daylight check tomorrow and post pics then.
But the model Train is grinding to a halt now, as theres no shipment of my FS35237 yet, I guess corona is keeping AK off from work...which is sad because Im having kind of a run right now...

Maybe start something new to pass the time?Dunno

@skywalker: middle of panels is done with black lacquer paint through the splatter stencils with varied distances from the plastic. Middle of the panel lines is pretty thin FS36375 lacqer sprayed from a very close distance

and a short mid-build review, possibly already known from slavos arctic duel thread:

Stunning kit, great Detail+options, furball decals, very fun build so far - but no tamiya shake+bake! The occasional fit issue, some surface imperfections, some steps in panel lines, mediocre clear parts and a lot of sneaky mould lines waiting to be discovered. Nothing nerve wrecking, but you keep noticing.
Instructions are...well...improvable.
Punch Line:
Very well researched+ambitious but they could have tidied+polished up some of their stuff a bit more i'd say… so (without having built it) i think the extra buck for the tamiya is still justified for their obviously flawless engineering. But when you dont shy away from tidying up yourself, the AMK builds into a stunner 👍

Maciej Bellos
Great preshading there Daniel. How was the fit of the cockpit section with the rest of the fuselage? I've seen videos of it being meh...

Looking forward for the paint!

Daniel
thanks Maciej, me too, in particular for its Arrival😉
Yep, its one of the meh parts but I sanded some internal imperfections on the inner main Body part away and added a Little support on the rear end of the Wheel well and got away with only a small gap (pic 26) I could handle with acrylic putty. Same applies for the gap betw. between inner intake sides and nose part

Clifford Keesler
A lot of "cats" getting their claws. Looking awesome Daniel.

Daniel
Thx clifford!
Missing my topside color, I am now starting with the boomboom

Slavo Hazucha
Lovely surface work on da Bomb! 👍

Daniel
Many thanks slavo, after trying several techniques the thick acrylic paint dab is established now as the easiest to apply and works great (for me).

Some first decals today, as expected by the furball logo on the box they are top notch👍 They even have different serials for the weapons of one type, very nicely done

Clifford Keesler
Looking awesome Daniel.

Jos Jansen
Nice tail vins...!

Sergej I
That Phoenix tho... 😮

Nathan Dempsey
I agree. The stabilizers are looking sweeeeeeet.

Daniel
Many thanks friends, it's great to hear the crowd is pleased so far 😄

@sergej: Besides all the detailed decals I find it remarkable how thin the fins on these things are 👍 impressive what modern injection moulding can do - RIP eduard😉
I bought the AMK weapon set as well and can highly recommend it, especially for the avid tomcat builder!

Daniel
Thank goodness, the FS35237 finally was in the mail yesterday! So I could now cover up all the fungi and bacterial colonies on the top half😉

Clifford Keesler
Looking great Daniel.

Konrad -
Cool and nice work Daniel!!

Slavo Hazucha
Looking most excellent indeed - with all that salty roughness, one could wing-walk in a hurricane!😉 👍

Clifford Keesler
Very nice indeed.

Spanjaard
about weathering the ordinance, I remember the comments of somebody who used to work with that kind of stuff... they keep them pristine clean (mine were "too dirty"😢

Daniel
Thank you very much mates! I am pretty happy the preshading experiment turned out as I hoped it would.
@slavo: yep, but the real salt part is yet to come 🙂
@spanjaard: Well, I guess they try to, but pristine is hard to maintain on a carrier 😉

[img1]

[img1]

Spanjaard
👍

Ronan
Very nice 👍

Patrick O
Great job with the stripes. Looks a lot better now. Definitely worth the effort.

Sergej I
What Patrick said! 🙂 👍

Daniel
Decals: Check!
thx for the thumbs my friends! really appreciate it!
@roland: really too many curves on this canopy! I was extra careful to get everything closed before coming near it with paint, but we'll see on unboxing day...

Slavo Hazucha
Flaps, slats, brakes..! This is what we are waiting for with the AMK kit!! 🙂 👍

Clifford Keesler
Beautiful Daniel.

Daniel
thx!
- … ich muss verrückt sein, ich packe auch noch nen Satz Spoiler oben drauf!!^^

Some salty action today!

ZHOU Kun
Great build! So far so good!

Slavo Hazucha
To achieve maximum realism, you have to let the salt melt away by actual rain water...😉 😄

Epic results, putting down a note to always take Gorgonzolla with a pinch of salt! 👍 Seriously, just looking truly great, always a pleasure to see your takes on naval finishes 👍

Rui S
Nice finish with that salt technique and the dark old acrylic paint (photo 48) 👍

Clifford Keesler
AH yes, the salt. I used it on my last F-14, it was the first time I ever tried salt weathering. I like the way it makes the model look.

Daniel
@Zhou: Thank you very much, I am really excited what your take on the AMK Cat will look like 👍

@Slavo:Much appreciated, slavo! I am also having fun developing my little recipe, next step was to add some oil to the salted gorgonzola, trying to create a delicious crust😉

@Rui: Thanks a lot, after experimenting with various putties, nearly dry model paints, sprinkling bird sand on drying paint...this came out as the winner as its only a matter of minutes, can easily be cleaned up and looks nice+rough 🙂

@Clifford: 👍 agreed, it always adds a huge 1:1 scale effect to a painted model and makes a nice sharp-edged contrast to all the other smeared, wiped and brushed stuff ...

... which is what I am doing right now, also did a black-brown-oil wash in between

scalemates
tuned in

Skyhiker
Very nice

Clifford Keesler
It's looking great, keep up the good work. Mine won't get much weathering, as the aircraft I am doing was new and the "CAG's" aircraft and was pretty clean. I am watching you guys weather with salt and oils hoping to pick up some tips.

Michael Phillips
OMG how did I miss this???!!! I guess I missed quite a bit with my extended absence here. That weathering looks amazing! You really continue to up the bar with your work Daniel, it has been cool to watch your technique and skill grow with each subsequent model you build.

Sergej I
Noice oil mastery! 👍

Daniel
Thank you and welcome!

So I finished the aforementioned crust - or I think I have 🙂 During that I had several stages were I was like : "Not too bad, done ... 5 sec later: naaaah, just a bit of a darker part here maybe..." and so on after that I went in with the white oil to get it brighter+saltier again ...So it ended - dirty. Which was the main objective of building a D line jet basically 🙂

@clifford: very understandable, your references show it polished a like a race car and gleaming in the sunlight. Probably my next tomcat will be a classic colorful one as well. From the good old days when navy planes were still being washed😉

@michael: Thank you for your very kind words! I got a lot of inspiration and drive lately to challenge myself + really dig into the hobby - a lot of it coming from this site! 👍

@Sergej: thanks! I got a bit carried away after those first stains as you can see now^^

James C
That dirty and weathered appearance looks fantastic 👍

Patrick Hagelstein
I am really digging this! 👍 Every panel you look at has something interesting going on. Smudgy, grimy, but still clean enough for an airplane. Sometimes people overdo Navy TPS birds. Contrary to your previous remark, Navy planes are actually being washed! 😄 Very rigorously as a matter of fact! To keep the salt off. Only thing with the flat TPS paints is that they are rough enough to catch all that oil, dirt and grime and even rigorous washing can't keep them clean. In short: beautifully reproduced! 👍

Nathan Dempsey
Oh man thats some sweeeeeeeet weathering!

Slavo Hazucha
Are we still talking same cheese here as 3 steps before??😉 Man did this one changed over the maturing process... 😄

It's this image of ol'dirty swashbuckling salty air pirate that lets Libyan MiG-23 pilots wake up mid-night all sweaty & screaming..! Good stuff man, good stuff! 👍

As Patrick said, I suspect every panel has a name and had a pint of beer with you during it's very own weathering treatment colors. Thinking this thing has also get a belly-side just put's an expecting smile all across my face😉

Clifford Keesler
I'm blown away Daniel. What an awesome weathering job.

Falk Röllig
Outstanding. Amazing work.

Daniel
many thanks for your approving comments mates, I was expecting more "wash me" comments😉 Glad you like! 👍

@ Patrick: glad you noticed! my approach was to move forward in small segments, giving each something unique. On my previous "weathering project" the 32 scale F/A-18F I was doing big areas in one go and was not always totally happy with the result later. Much better now, the tomcat also helped along with its many panels.
TPS-Washing: I can imagine, must be like cleaning oily sandpaper. Also I noticed the corrosion control just spraying paint over super-dirty surfaces, I can only imagine to what a mess this builds up to during a deployment 😄 like Non-skid all over

@slavo: What brings the smile across my face (and keeps it there for a while) is reading your fantastic comments 😄 Yes, there will be more panels to weather, more pints to drink and a lot of toxic fumes to inhale (which help the modeler to stay in the creative zone I guess)
I have a libyan flogger already desperately trying to escape gipsy 207 on my display shelf - I hope he doesnt pull the handle when he gets a tally on this bad boy^^

OBSIDIAN CRAB
Need some two stripers and a trip to the wash rack!

Jos Jansen
Pooaah Daniel...breathtaking man... 😮

Patrick Hagelstein
'cleaning oily sandpaper': 😄 👍

Daniel
thx friends! added the wing sweep areas and also worked a bit on the clean side today,
@shawn/roland: Finally! 😄 👍

OBSIDIAN CRAB
Re: washing aircraft. I was USAF, aircraft sheetmetal, and part of the job was washing. AF jets washed regularly to keep corrosion under control, particularly areas prone to build up of dirt and gunpowder residue.They're washed with an aircraft detergent and a fiber pad, like a ScotchBrite, but totally non-abrasive. Even though it's a matt finish, it often softens up to a satin sheen.
I don't know how the Navy does business, but I would think that shipboard activities would include rather frequent rinsing at a minimum.

Slavo Hazucha
Belly side starting to live up to the expectations! 👍😉

Speaking for myself, if I have 10 photos, 9 showing mint-condition aircraft and 1 a dirty one, guess which one I tend to call "reference" for the model 😄 I definitely don't like going impossible unrealistic or doing random unplausible effects because they look good on a model, the more I value a well done job that's still in the realms of the possible - even if it's the one odd machine in a "very special" condition.

I really like this build & paint-job, because I see method & plausibility in the build-up, not just the cheap beauty of prominent shades everywhere...

That said, I fully believe that as a routine, aircraft were and are kept in a best possible condition and super-dirty ones are often snapshots right before the condition was much improved. It's a completely different cup of tea trying to make an interesting model of a reasonably clean, all-grey plane, which is IMHO an art in itself and not at all an easy one too...

OBSIDIAN CRAB
I've seen plenty of grubby airplanes. A-10 after live firing the gun is filthy. Intense operations conditions, either exercise or real world, they get dirty, so it's not unrealistic or unreasonable. It's neat to see what happens when it's not a "hangar queen".

Slavo Hazucha
I actually forgot to ask the question before...:

- regarding the watercolor pencils - I was thinking to check something like that out, with the same thought for streaks and light gradients. Result here looks really good - do you put them straight on the paint, or a is a matt varnish layer needed? + I assume you need to seal the result, does it stay prone to easy wiping away/washing away with a drop of water etc?

I often do at least some washing & weathering before decals, fearing to "activate" silvering and all kinds of disasters by letting stuff be sucked under the decal borders or just making these more visible - so water keeps hitting the model pretty late in my process, therefore the questions...

Daniel
Very interesting shawn, judging the common air force jet photos you guys did a top job! I would like to hear what the navy side uses as cleaning procedures exactly, for one they have a much higher pressure with salt corrosion and on the other hand I believe less time and dedicated space for thorough cleaning compared to land based fighters. Pictures show cleaning crews working on the top side of tomcats with the same equipment they use for deck scrubbing like water hose and brooms. Interesting topic!

@slavo: Thank you, think I approach a similar path🙂 Concerning weathering I dont stick to one reference but mostly use several sources and pick out what I like, so I try to balance my artistic freedom (= I want beautiful shades^^) with what could be realistic. I start with the thought of how could stains have happened on this particular position, like walkways, oily hinges, touched points during pre-flight, hard to clean nooks and crannies and so on, resulting in different layers of dirt 🙂 the good thing on the tomcat: You find references for everything your artistic side can imagine^^

For watercolors I am definitely no expert, basically started to use it here, but so far: If you dont have high gloss you should have no problems on pure paint but it needs texture to hold on to. The more texture the easier it is applied. you can experiment with a dry, moist or wet pencil and get different effects, but it's not as "moveable" as oil paint in my experience, so it gets lighter by wiping but the shape of the spot is harder to change. Pretty sure it stays water-sensitive too so I would seal it.

BTW do I remember correctly that you dont seal your oils? I am considering this here, as it is a nice mix of different gloss gradients but I have the fear that it will always stay a bit "sticky" and gather dust that embeds itself into the oil layer. Which doesnt happen on a rock hard lacquer varnish. If I remember art classes oil paintings need a varnish layer to preserve right? Do you have long-time experience on this?

Clifford Keesler
Beautiful job Daniel. A job very well done.

Daniel
Many thanks Clifford! Appreciate it

Bernhard Schrock
Da bin ich platt, nicht nur ein bisschen sondern restlos platt! Gigantischer Aufwand aber ein noch gigantischererer Effekt 🙂

Jos Jansen
Beautiful modeling craftsmanship Daniel, good natural weathering .... this Cat has been on the deck for a while...😉

Christian Ristits
Looks Fantastic, love the weathering you have down with the salt!

Mathieu
Bookmarking this one for future reference !

Alexander Grivonev
You know you are doing it right, when other modelers use your work for reference 😄👍

Really fantastic work, it isn't obvious at the first glance how difficult it is to nail that heavily weathered look of a Tomcat. It is "just" grey, but it is more work than some fancy three-tone camouflage if done properly.

Slavo Hazucha
Daniel @Oils - I mostly do not seal them (yet... 🙂 ) My realistic expectation is that none of my models is going to be included in world-cultural-heritage programs and I do not have illusions about their too-long-term endurance 😄 Apart from that, pretty much everything in our hobby is prone to aging, varnishes & future go yellow, decals crack, etc...

Just today I was carefully dusting off my models due to an expected visit and so far (oldest = 1 year) no problems, the untreated oil surface is not soft/sticky or otherwise compromised yet...

I like the surface effect my oil treatment leave, particularly the uneven satin patterns - but I plan to experiment with this in the future...

Daniel
First a big thankyou to all of you for your comments, really awesome if I can provide some inspiration, thats what scm is all about 👍

Well it looks like a lot of extra work to add layers upon layers, but its the part I enjoy the most in modelling so its not really felt as work 🙂
(work for me would be recreating a whole In&Exterior from scratch, as Bernhard and Alexander show, huge respect guys!)

So, I call surface work done.
I chickened out and sealed everything in lacquer varnish. Main reason is that I imagine future archeologists scraping through layers of plastic waste just to get really excited for a strange object in perfectly sealed condition, depicting how dirty military machines really were 400 years ago 😄
--- And pics just really show that there is no satin gloss left on the cats 🙂

At first I wanted to do it just touched down, but now on 2nd thought it looks much cooler soaring in turkey style with the legs hanging.
So whats left is to add all the small parts and mount it over the deck - basically done 🙂

Soeren R.
Great work witrh the weapons Daniel - they are superb!

bughunter
A airbrush artist at work - fantastic result 👍

Clifford Keesler
I am amazed at the scope of your ability to turn out such stunning work Daniel. I stand in awe of your work sir. Simpily stunning.

Nathan Dempsey
Those are gorgeous weapons Daniel!

Treehugger
Oh, magnets for attaching weapons onto pylons? (photo 70 comment)

Slavo Hazucha
More progress - and looking all good and shiny (actually messy & dirty, but in an entirely good sense 🙂 ) 👍

Do you find just one rod sufficient to hold the full opulence of a 48-scale Tomcat safely in the air? I used two on the F-111, which works perfectly, my Hornet got one and is pretty wobbly on it, but then that´s a longer rod and a more "pro-motion" angle...

Also, are you doing a landing-approach with unspent ordnance or a post-take-off scene?

Daniel
Thanks mates!
Yep, this cat is returning to the boat after dropping one of two bombs on the sortie, quite common during the last wars where fighters were often just waiting on station for targets to appear. Often in vain.

@ Treehugger: yes, I tried it on my big hornet where I had a truckload of cool ordnance and just couldnt choose which was the coolest 🙂
You can see pics of different loadouts here: Blacklions in OIR - Completed | Album by halohead (1:32)
To be honest I didnt change the load out that often since then...but i could anytime! 😄

@slavo: Since we have few earthquakes over here I trust the small rod^^ Its pretty stiff as is is quite short (twss) having a tailsitter also helps the balance here 😉
And since my F-16 still sits gracefully on her super wobbly arched bicycle spoke, I dont worry about this construction.

Daniel
Calling it done!

Scalemates F-14 Tomcat Group build 2020 | Album by halohead (1:48)

Was a blast to make and to share, I want to thank everybody here for sticking around, liking and commenting! 👍