Grumman F-14B Tomcat VF-102 'Diamondbacks'

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October 30, 2017
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October 30, 2017
Copy of the Tamiya radome.
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October 30, 2017
Note the lenght difference between Revell (top) and Tamiya forward fuselage. The Revell nose is much longer between windscreen and radome.
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October 30, 2017
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October 30, 2017
Revell nose w/ Tamiya windscreen. Looks much better already.
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October 30, 2017
Revell and Tamiya radomes are identical in length.
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October 30, 2017
Note huge cross section difference between Revell fuselage and (recast) Tamiya radome.
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October 30, 2017
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October 30, 2017
A wedge shaped cut was necessary to squeeze the fuselage into the right shape.
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October 30, 2017
The nose was cut off again to remove around 2,5mm between radome and windscreen
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October 30, 2017
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October 30, 2017
Scale Navy Stuff fuselage top louvers in place.
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October 30, 2017
They look quite a bit better than Revell's louvers.
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October 30, 2017
A wedge shape cut is necessary to squeeze the rear fuselage into shape
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October 30, 2017
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October 30, 2017
The Aires F-110 shrouds fit pretty well with the fuselage cut as described before.
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November 2, 2017
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November 2, 2017
Main gear wells cut open before being enlarged.
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November 2, 2017
I wanted to replace the fuselage position lights with clear parts. I simply removed the entire panel and replaced it with a clear part cut from the Revell canopy.
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November 2, 2017
The position lights will be masked before painting.
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November 6, 2017
CAD designed & 3D printed TID screen & upper IP. Analogue instruments will be added later.
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November 6, 2017
Aires F-110 engine shrouds in place.
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November 6, 2017
Widened main gear wells.
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November 10, 2017
Cockpit sidewall canvas covers were made with Magic Sculp.
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November 10, 2017
Ditto.
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September 10, 2020
3D printed air intake ramps.
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September 10, 2020
Forward intake ramp painted and weathered. Deadly close up photo! 😄
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September 10, 2020
Early painting & weathering stages.
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September 10, 2020
First decals applied.
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September 10, 2020
More painting & weathering. I sadly had to change my initial plan to build Modex 102 as some of the decals were badly misregistered. It'll be another normal line bird then.
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September 10, 2020
The national insignia and some other decals were removed and painted instead. The masks were cut on my Silhouette Portrait.
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September 10, 2020
New national insignia.
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September 10, 2020
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September 10, 2020
Nasty gaps between fuselage and wings...
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September 10, 2020
... required another cut and a bit of squeezing.
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September 10, 2020
No more gaps!
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September 10, 2020
Making templates for the carbon fibre shrouds in front of the nozzles.
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September 10, 2020
BRU-33 from Aerobonus installed. There should be gaps with visible wires in front and behind the racks but I wasn't in the mood for this kind of work. Pretty much all of this will be hidden under a GBU-12 anyway.
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September 10, 2020
Adding shadows and weathering with highly diluted Tamiya Smoke.
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September 10, 2020
Smoke was also used to create shadows and accumulating dirt around old touch ups. The dark sports were later filled with bas colour, leaving just a small "frame" around them.
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September 10, 2020
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September 10, 2020
Almost finished Phoenix pallets with bomb racks. Some small parts have to be added and a few small details to be painted.
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September 10, 2020
Liquid mask applied with a sponge was used to create a more vivid surface.
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September 10, 2020
The contrast is very low but it's visible.
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September 10, 2020
Wash / filter applied to a stabilisator. I used warm grey, black, blue and white oil paints.
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September 10, 2020
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September 10, 2020

Comments

8 30 October 2017, 09:23

Holger Kranich
Oh wow, count me in!

30 October 2017, 09:44

Alexander Grivonev
Wow, nice cosmetic surgery. Why did you saw it off the first time, wrong position/angle?

30 October 2017, 09:47

Ben Schumacher
The surgery was made without scale drawings, just based on photos; I needed several attempts to get it (more or less) right. The angle was incorrect indeed, the nose was pointing too far towards bottom at the first attempt. Then, I didn't realize the Revell nose is too long between windscreen and radome, so this problem was adressed at the same time.

30 October 2017, 12:31

Michael Phillips
Wow, this is fascinating! Some serious plastic surgery here.. Pamela Anderson would be envious! LOL

30 October 2017, 13:13

Konrad -
Impressive I'm in!

30 October 2017, 14:55

Bryn Crandell
Interesting. Going to keep an eye on this one.

2 November 2017, 11:43

Spanjaard
i am curious about the 3D printed stuff

6 November 2017, 17:54

Ben Schumacher
What would you like to know?

7 November 2017, 07:27

Spanjaard
you did it yourself? what printer are you using? 🙂

7 November 2017, 07:47

bossy122
Hey! I was on a carrier vessel full of those things a long time ago!

7 November 2017, 08:11

Ben Schumacher
Yes, the 3D printed parts were designed and printed by myself. They were printed on a Formlabs Form2.

7 November 2017, 08:50

Spanjaard
thanks a lot. looks like a very nice toy😉 i guess you have it for more than printing parts for your models right? i should be doing some training in 3D printing...
amazing job you are doing in this Tomcat, by the way.

7 November 2017, 09:53

Ben Schumacher
It sadly isn't my printer, I just have access to it from time to time. I wish I had one myself! 🙂

7 November 2017, 10:23

Spanjaard
i see, it is not a cheap toy, but results seem really good. i did not know about SLA printing, but this seem to be the way to go, probably better than filaments or powder....

7 November 2017, 10:36

Ben Schumacher
Much better for detailed parts, but much more expensive as well.

7 November 2017, 12:13

Spanjaard
ok, we will have to wait a bit for them to get cheaper 🙂

7 November 2017, 12:17

Chris Nally
Very nice Ben

27 November 2017, 14:20

Patrick Hagelstein
Following with interest!

27 November 2017, 20:07

Steve -
Just a quick round of applause for this fine looking build. Your corrections look like all the effort was worth it.👍

27 November 2017, 20:26

Ben Schumacher
Thank you all for your kind comments! Once my Super Hornet ist finished (which should be the case within next week), I'll get back to the Turkey.

29 November 2017, 08:09

Chris Nally
Good one Ben

29 November 2017, 10:26

Ben Schumacher
Thank you Chris!

29 November 2017, 13:17

Ben Schumacher
Time for a big update! 🙂

10 September 2020, 09:36

Treehugger
Why are 3d printed elements tilted? Does the tilted positino during 3d printing, lead to cleaner edges perhaps?

10 September 2020, 10:35

Slavo Hazucha
Coming somewhat late to the party, but at least I made it - some excellent stuff on show! The exterior details & weathering look great & I really like the way you took care about the wing root gap - an issue that seems to occur on more than a couple of the available Tomcat kits 👍

10 September 2020, 11:06

Alexander Grivonev
Love the subtle weathering

10 September 2020, 14:10

Ben Schumacher
Thanks folks, glad you like it! 🙂 Treehugger, inclined parts usually lead to more crisp detail indeed.

11 September 2020, 08:41

Album info

Initially, I only wanted to correct the nose shape of Revell's 32nd scale Tomcat. It turned out to be more complicated than I initially thought, but as was quite pleased with the result, I decided to go a step further and to convert it into a F-14B as flown by VF-102 during Operation Enduring Freedom.

Grumman F-14B Tomcat VF-102 'Diamondbacks'

71 images

1:32

Cancelled

1:32 F-14A Tomcat Weighted Wheels (Wheelliant 132 004)

1:32 F-14B/D Tomcat exhaust nozzles (Aires 2099)

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