F-14D Tomcat - VF-2 Bounty Hunters
Quickboost seats painted and ready
Fuel tanks painted and weathered
GBU-31 painted and weathered
GBU-16 painted and weathered
Targeting pod painted and weathered
Opened up some of the air scoops around the gun
Forward fuselage with cockpit. Everything goes together like a charm
Air intakes masked. Masks are supplied in kit
and masks removed
Air intake test fit. Again fit is perfect. Inside are three seamlines, but I just ignored them. They will be hard to see at normal viewing angles.
Exhaust nozzels
And test fitted to the fuselage
The wheels needed some profile which I added by putting on small strips of masking tape
And the result after some paint
Chin pod finished and weathered
Adding wiring and tubing to the main landing gear. Good reference literature is always helpful.
I did not add every wire and tube as there are too many. Instead I tried to replicate the overall look.
AIM-9 M/L out of the box. Some of the decals are not 100 percent straight. Have to be more carefull next time.
2h of work...
I used a 1:1 mix of Tamiya Clear X-23 and X-25 plus a lot of Thinner for tinting the windscreen. Took me 5 tries to geht it right. First it got to dark. Than I had some Dust in the paint.... now I’m happy with the result.
Underside painted and light post-shading
Dark Ghost Gray and Black done.
Comentarios
1 21 December 2018, 18:56
Stefan FraundorferI'm in too. The seats, the tanks and the weapons looks pretty nice.
21 December 2018, 23:49
iceThose seats look stunning, the tanks look stunning, those GBUs look stunning and the pod looks stnning too. I need to follow this!
21 December 2018, 23:55
Ingmar StöhrThank you mates! I'm glad you like it so far. Now I only have to build the whole plane to the same standard.
22 December 2018, 09:34
Ingmar StöhrVF-2 Bounty Hunters out of box. May still switch to a different VF-2 bird in Gray markings if I can get hold of the right set.
27 December 2018, 18:44
Ingmar StöhrManaged to put together the main fuselage. Fit is excellent and only the tiniest bit of sanding was required. Also painted the exhaust nozzles. It took me three attempts to get it right. But now I'm happy with the result.
30 December 2018, 20:29
DemigodThose are some beautiful nozzles! Well done interior! The outside gets some dirt, too, right?
30 December 2018, 21:48
Ingmar StöhrThanks Demigod. If you are talking about the outside of the nozzles they also looked too clean to me. But all my references show them very uniformly colored and 'clean'. Therefore I decided to keep them that way. I can always add dirt later.
30 December 2018, 22:13
Kerry COXHere is a little something I found that may come in handy. 👍 🙂 google.com.au/url?sa..ust=1546297689007654
30 December 2018, 23:10
Kerry COXAlso. These little bits for you too. 🙂 👍 aircraftresourcecent..wa169-tomcat/00.shtm
30 December 2018, 23:12
Sven SchönyanVery nice Ingmar!
@ Kerry: thanks for sharing the pictures! A great help for all Tomcat builders!
31 December 2018, 08:11
Ingmar Stöhr@Kerry: Thanks for sharing those pictures. BUT they all show A/B Tomcats with the TF30 engine, not the D with the later F110 engine. Of course they still are very valuable for all the parts that match between Versions.
@Demigod: Most pictures (there are exceptions) show nozzles like here: flickr.com/photos/59396586@N02/11541360954
Maybe I'll add some stains later to make the nozzles look more interesting.
31 December 2018, 09:27
Patrick HagelsteinThe B also uses the F110. The cockpit on the B is basically the same though.
31 December 2018, 09:32
Ingmar StöhrYes... but that's not the point. The links still show A/B Tomcats with TF30 engine, not a D version with F110 engine. You have to be aware of the differences between versions if you use those pictures as reference for a D version. That's all I wanted to point out.
31 December 2018, 09:45
Patrick HagelsteinTrue! 🙂 And to make things more complicated a couple of Ds were refurbished As and only a hundfull were newly built Ds, so even be more aware about the actual airframe you are portraying.
31 December 2018, 17:04
Patrick HagelsteinAnd happy new year and a lot of modeling for 2019 off course! 😄
31 December 2018, 17:04
Patrick HagelsteinAnd the year starts off really badly..... Knowing I have that same kit in my stash but realising I won't be able to do it justice as Ingmar is doing.... ;-(
2 January 2019, 04:34
Ingmar StöhrOh Patrick :-O It's such a nice kit. Just give it a bit of paint and you can do nothing wrong!
2 January 2019, 06:34
Jos JansenI agree with Marco...superb, exactly a pretty good idea of masking tape...!
2 January 2019, 11:49
DemigodLooks great! I reckon you didn't want to invest in some Eduard aftermarket?
2 January 2019, 17:14
Ingmar StöhrThanks mates!
@Demigod: It was definitely not for cost or invest. I just did not fell like needing it. Of course the Tamiya kit can use some improvements here and there. But I guess I just wanted to enjoy the incredible good fit of the kit without fiddling around to much.
2 January 2019, 19:07
Kerry COXWise words there Ingmar. 👍
I do like what your doing by the way. 👍
The fun aspect of assembling models can be lost in all the hyper detail available for us to consume. 🙁
And for what. ?
Maybe a comp, but generally for something that will just end up occupying a spot in a display case for the next couple of years with only you to know what went into it.
The detail that comes with the kits is for me, usually enough.
Yes. ? Mmmmmmmmmm
2 January 2019, 20:34
Konrad -True words Kerry! And yes I can absolutely agree with this.
But to add as much detail as possible is also a main part of this hobby I think!
Anyhow your CAT looks amazing 👍
2 January 2019, 20:53
Ingmar StöhrI really enjoy adding some details here and there. I'll do what I feel necessary and ignore some imperfections and sure enough I'll overlook a lot. In the end I'm building the kit for 1) fun and 2) for myself. I know what I did and am proud of it, if my work lives up to my own expectations. If others like my work it gives me some extra motivation.
So - I am glad, that you like it so far. Today I did manage to prepare most of the smaller parts. So there should be more painting soon, and also the main fuselage should be ready to receive paint in a few days.
2 January 2019, 23:17
Kerry COXWell put Ingmar. 👍 🙂
I know I love being motivated by builds that encompass a lot of work. 🙂
Yours is one of them. 👍
3 January 2019, 03:27
DemigodInsane details! Is that lead wire? I did the brake lines on my cat with copper wire, and it was a little bit springy and hard to fix. Does it work better with lead?
3 January 2019, 10:05
Thomas Bischoff... "without fiddling around too much" .... great work on the details! One day I am curious to find out what you achieve with a lot of "fiddling around" 🙂
3 January 2019, 10:24
Ingmar Stöhr@Thomas: fiddling to much (in my opinion) is if you add all the wiring inside the wheel bays or you open panels an show all the avionics stuff. That's not my world - yet 😉
You can have a look at my F-15E album to see what can happen if you use all that PE stuff 😉
F-15E Strike Eagle | Album by stugiii (1:32)
@Demigod: Yes, I did use lead wire. As you mentioned copper is to springy. But then again lead wire can be to soft and sometimes (for hydraulics) you want very straight lines, which can be a bit difficult with lead wire. What you can try (and what I also used on other builds) is to heat up the copper wire with a lighter (annealing). This will soften the copper a lot and take away the springiness. Works also with PE. But be careful with very thin wire or tiny PE as you can easily melt it away!
3 January 2019, 12:00
Kerry COXIngmar. Now you really have me drooling with anticipation for the next lot of what you got. ! ! hehehehehe 😉
4 January 2019, 03:44
Ingmar StöhrThank you mate! Painting guess on, but so far nothing worth showing.
@Michael: yes, I'm using the Daco book and of course the internet. I'm using more or less exlusivly AMIG colours. So for me the instructions are only a rough guideline. Especially for the ordnance I just went with pictures and chose colours that looked right to me.
4 January 2019, 14:00
Spanjaardseriously good looking cat! 🙂
nice idea to use tape with the wheels to make the missing detail. i think i would have probably mounted the wheel at the end of the dremel and use a blade or file to make the missing grooves. but your approach is also quite good.
4 January 2019, 23:48
Ingmar StöhrThanks Spanjaard! The dremel was also my first approach. There were two problems:
1) I had already flattened the underside of the wheels. So carving would have been a bit cumbersome.
2) The wheels don't have round holes for mounting. They are trapezoid, which gives very defined positioning later, but makes it very hard to mount them centric on the dremel.
After noticing all that I remembered the masking tape technique and it worked better than expected. Indeed I also used it on the Sidewinders. Instead of sanding around the small rings I sanded everything round and flat and later rebuild the rings with Tamiya tape.
5 January 2019, 10:42
Spanjaardi knew that there must have been a good reason for not doing it with the dremel 🙂
5 January 2019, 23:36
Clifford KeeslerMe 3. LOL. I have the VF-2 Markings for my Hasegawa F-14D. and a set for my Academey F-14A.
18 January 2019, 02:21
Konrad -Einfach nur Klasse 👍! Just awesome Ingmar cant wait to see the whole cat 😉!
18 January 2019, 09:46
DemigodHmmm, love the fin! Kit decals? And why didn't you glue it before painting?
18 January 2019, 17:00
Maciej BellosA friend at another forum says the fit is so good, nearly perfect that you can prepaint parts and put them into place with minimal glue. You can even paint thw whole front section and kind of snap it into place. The kit is nearly perfect.
18 January 2019, 18:11
DemigodTrue. I am building a Tamiya Tomcat myself at the moment. Yet I am a fan of putting it together before paint - just to sand that minimal step that there still is or to connect that panel line. 😉
18 January 2019, 18:56
Ingmar StöhrThank you guys! The vertical stabilizer will receive a bit more weathering. Only very subtle streaking and color variation. The seem so be rather clean in most pictures.
@Demigod: Normally I also tend to glue together as much as possible before painting. The fit in this kit is so good that I choose to try sub-assemblies this time. Second reason is the size of the model. We'll see how it works out.
18 January 2019, 19:04
Ingmar Stöhr@Spanjaard: can not comment on accuracy too much. Kit certainly has some simplifications that can be improved. But Detail ist very nice and fit wise it is definitely one of the best kits I ever held in my hands.
@Stephan: Thanks mate!
22 January 2019, 08:48
DemigodNice! How did you do the canopy? Just polished and green tint? A dip in Future?
10 May 2019, 18:10
Ingmar StöhrThanks guys! At the moment all projects on hold because I'm setting up my new workbench. But I'd love to get back to this kit!
@Demigod. No polishing, no future. Just some Tamiya clear green and blue.
10 May 2019, 22:50
Kerry COXGaining some space to work with Ingmar. ! ? 👍
The builds will be a whole lot easier to do with some elbow room. 🙂 👍
11 May 2019, 00:53
Ingmar StöhrOh yes! I'm looking forward to it. Still some work to do, but I think I can start using it in one or two weeks.
11 May 2019, 07:10
Kerry COXI just heard the sigh of relief from way down here Ingmar. hahahahaha 🙂 🙂
11 May 2019, 08:07
Ingmar StöhrActually finished this build some weeks ago, but somehow forgot to upload the pictures.
16 October 2019, 19:24
Ingmar StöhrThank you!
@Sven: Well, then we have to arrange our own private show. Otherwise you'll have to wait till FFB.
17 October 2019, 18:41
Ingmar StöhrThank you guys! A lot of fun to build. One of the bests kits I know so far.
18 October 2019, 04:42
