Wim van der Luijt Great project, count me in for the rest!

Martin o thanks and welcome!

Martin o Started with the wings, taking a break from the VF-1 decals. The Eduard lozenge pattern decals were the nicest decal sheet I have ever seen. Sad to actually cut it up and use

Martin o D.V fuselages put together. D.III close behind. Also instead of expensive model colors I have used my wife's painting acrylics to mix my own shades. A lot cheaper and, considering how difficult it is to confirm color accuracy in old subject matter like this, about as accurate. Turns out my cheap airbrush sprays them just the same.

Martin o the fuselage is all sanded and primed for all four planes. I am applying the wood decals from HGW on two of the planes (the others will be painted) but the decals break a lot. Also the props are finished and although not quite on par with the general wizardry present in here, I am quite satisfied with the result for my first wood props.

Martin Oostrom My first recollection of a Tomcat is a Jolly Rogers one. So I consider that the purest form

Martin o I think I first saw tomcats in the JAG TV show? hmm what do they fly there?

Martin o A quick youtube search has shown some TPS VF-143 cats. not bad either. Also Jolly Rogers decals are literally in every kit could almost build the entire squadron

Patrick Hagelstein Whoah!!! This is worth looking into! Curious how those decals turn out Martin.

Günther Debiscop J.A.G. serie re-used a lot of movie parts from either e.g. Top Gun or US DoD approved clips. So almost all F-14 units came along the serie...

Cuajete Following!

Ekki Watching.

Martin o The testing decals are very difficult to position and tear/warp easily. nevertheless, the first test has shown a lot of fails. the stripe thickness is ok but length is wrong and the modex number is too big. a lot of other things are incorrect size as well, having me retreating into minimizing my effort (most of the generic stencils will probably not be printed and just used from the kit box). really hoping a second test is a little more successful so that I can print something less unwieldy. the academy kit is probably not the best for this either as the proportions are quite different from the data i am using

Spanjaard i love cats

Patrick Hagelstein OK, are you sure this is only a testbed??? It turned out really nice!

Martin o thank you. I am afraid the picture is just really merciful regarding the issues

JOHN THOMAS Nice work

Patrick Hagelstein Looking at your cover picture, that would actually be cool to do. A sparkling new and unweathered Tomcat prototype. Gets me thinking...

Martin o well yes, my fascination with early block alphas will probably never allow me to get to a TPS build.. also, the vf-1s will be brand new, more decals though..

Patrick Hagelstein Nice, bring it on! In the meantime I ponder about that prototype idea......

Ekki Following.

Martin o actually the aircraft in the picture is a later production alpha. It has new beaver tail, gun vents and alpha probe. these three details by themselves are fairly easy to find even in 1/72 but the first six(?) prototypes had different, rectangular wing glove sealing plates and larger wing glove fences on top of the fuselage. These details are available in 1/48 for the Tamiya kit (at least I saw them somewhere) but would have to be scratchbuilt in 1/72. also, welcome gentlemen

Patrick Hagelstein Yes, now I see it. Well, liking that picture as such with the spotless paint job, no markings and only some dirt from the wing gloves, I think I should be able to build it only using an FP30 or a Hasegawa one. I only need to find/build those finned drop tanks.

Martin o I will be looking forward to that

Martin o I finally managed to spray the hangar. With the basic details on the deck complete, I will be able to finally put the two pieces together and seal the deal with the elevator. Looking forward to starting with all the details, the kit looks pretty basic right now.

Norbert Steffens Hi Martin,

great. I'm in...

Martin o The deck is now on the hull. The details I am adding are mostly inaccurate, sadly. Gotta use up those PE parts. Putting the 1/700 crewmen on will be fun

Martin o After going mad several times from gluing the railings, the LSO post, rigging and stern lights are the last details separating me from the last and most anticipated build part. The small crewmen. The tiny metal sailors are overjoyed about hopping aboard their ship soon.