F-14A Tomcat 1:144 Jolly Rogers
I was pleased with the details of the cockpit, though I eventually elected to close the canopy. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to craft the ejection handles adequately to be happy.
For painting I first shot a blotch pattern of white over the primer coat to help highlight the panels. Then I used Vallejo Air 71.276, USAF Light Grey and tweaked in a tiny portion of gull grey to give it a weathered blue. Not that you can tell over these images.
After applying the decals, I weathered this kit with Tamaya Panel Line in both brown and black, then used a graphite pencil to shade in a few key areas.
I cut the horizontal tails from the kit and mounted them in a pleasing-to-me resting angle sometimes seen on the tarmac. While this prevents a full-sweep wing configuration, I was not planning on that for this kit anyhow.
I sourced a closed engine from my spares box and triple checked to be sure I had the correct one open.
Revell's panel lines were just about right IMHO. Though, because they were finely shallow, the panel line accent didn't seep everywhere I wanted. Hope the flaps look alright. The tail surfaces were the second to last bits to be added to the model before the final dull coat. I still ended up chipping them off a couple times.
I kit bashed the weapons so I'm afraid I can't speak to whether or not I liked the Revell bits. I have a shelf of completed ordinance and just picked off the best examples. I will say, it was pleasantly pleased to find the Revell had provided decals for the weapon markings. I used a combination of these and my fine tipped pens to accent the weapons according to reference photos.
Wheel bays were hand painted with the red edges using an enamel red from Model Master. Then adjusting where it overran with a toothpick before being glued in place.
The Revell kit includes decals for the wing glove bags and parts around the engine exhausts. I did not use those though preferring the slightly textured paint and weathered steal look.
Comments
25 29 August 2022, 01:41
Spanjaardlooks great. i need to finish some projects, then, i may tackle this one too. i hope it looks as good as yours.
31 August 2022, 13:09
Album info
My first addition to this project was the Revell F-14A kit 04021. While I sourced the Dragon Memorial Flight kit, I elected not to build the Tomcat from there because I felt that the details and decals of the Revell version was far superior. I hope my build does it justice. The decals of this kit lay down incredibly smooth. Very little pressure and sweat equity was necessary to get them to sit and wrap on the fine surfaces. The only part I had problem with was the tail hook and eventually I elected to just paint it. I did do some work on the air intakes of the kit though. I common effort for me. I ground the inner surfaces down quite a bit to get their thickness to be better. All in all, I'm pleased. Hope you agree.
