Grumman F-14D Tomcat (Hasegawa)

Marek Swiderski
what can I say "I like it".

Wilfried Bogaerts
Very nice office!

Philip De Keyser
Great pit Bill, looking forward at the next pic's, greetz Phil

Holger Kranich
Oh a turkey!!! I love that bird! The pit is from Aires, isnt it? How does it fit? I´m gonna watch it!!!

Bill Gilman
Hi Holger, yes it's an Aires cockpit. I thought the fit was pretty good, I was able to make it fit by using sandpaper instead of an industrial grinder. You do have to remove the cockpit rails (where the canopy attaches when closed) from the kit plastic. But that's OK since they are depicted with more detail in the resin.

Holger Kranich
Sounds good! I purchased the Verlinden Updatekit for Cockpit and gunbay etc. . I hope it will fit as good as the Aires-ones. Your way, painting the "office" is very pleasing to my eye´s. Hang in there, it will surely become as good as your Lightning! Or better...?😉

Bill Gilman
I try to make each model as good as I can, I don't usually compare them to each other. On this one, I need to replicate the nasty weathering that you see on the F-14s with the TPS camo scheme, but with the addition of special squadron markings that are freshly painted. I think it will be an interesting contrast! I'm going to try to do the weathering primarily with post-shading, so there will be a lot of airbrushing required!

stefan natus
Looking out for the paint work and weathering,nice cockpit.

Bill Gilman
Almost ready for painting! My, what a pig this kit has been. Tons of flash, lots of warping, bad fit, and half a tube of putty (exaggeration)! The moulds have not aged well...

Bill Gilman
I've added some photos of the fuselage as it comes together. It's easy to see all the filler that I had to use (it's red). I also had to modify the wings, as Hasegawa only made provisions to mount them forward (with slats and flaps down) or with slats and flaps up in the "oversweep" position. By cutting an angle in the slot at the hinge point of the wings, I can now vary from fully swept to oversweep. The photo shows in fully swept position. Methinks it's starting to look like a Tomcat! Anytime, Mate!

Philip De Keyser
Hi Bill, nice progress on the tomcat, that's a lot of putty you need for this bird? but it's looks great alreaddy, looking forward to the paintjob, greetz Phil

Holger Kranich
Need much putty? That scares me a bit in front my Hasegawa Tomcat...

Marek Swiderski
Hi Bill are you going to try Salt Weathering? [img1]

Bill Gilman
Hi Marek, thank you for the link to the article on salt weathering. I would love to give this a try, but I am concerned that in 1:72 scale the salt crystals will be too big (all of the grey planes in the article were 1:32). I wouldn't want an exaggerated effect. But I will have a look at the salt that I have in the cupboard and see how big the crystals are. The results on the Tomcat and Hornet in that article are amazing!

Bill Gilman
Hi Philip and Holgar, yes I needed that much putty! I was quite disappointed in the fit of the model. I suppose we can blame the flash on moulds that are 20 years old. But my experience working with companies that do injection molding is that the warping comes from taking it out of the mould too quickly. In any event, it is together now and the putty has done its job. I did some painting last night and all of the seams are nice and smooth.

Bill Gilman
BTW, how do you put a picture into these messages, like Marek did?

Holger Kranich
It was Marek and i have the same question to him🙂

Holger Kranich
Now i know! Just copy the link in the browser of a pic you´d like to add!

Bill Gilman
Sweet! I will give that a try sometime. So these messages we type are in HTML? I wonder what other codes are allowed?

Holger Kranich
I have no idea!

Marek Swiderski
[img1] and [img2] It is easy like hand shake......... maus right-click ...copy image URL ..... paste

scalemates
no HTML is allowed, if you add HTML it will just show tags like <b>not in bold</b>... scalemates has a "smart" engine that will render any URL to a webpage into a link, any URL of an image into an image, youtube video URL's into a movie player.... no code needed 🙂

Marek Swiderski
Bill you have to try with other crushed salt.

Bill Gilman
OK, crushed salt it is! 🙂

Holger Kranich
Hey Bill, take a look at this, its quite helpful! anft.net/f-14/f14-detail.htm

Bill Gilman
That's a great site, lots of F-14 information!

Holger Kranich
Itsn now my state-of-the-art, referance for F-14´s😢

Bill Gilman
Hello Scalemates!

I've added quite a few more photos to my 1:72 F-14 build that document the salt weathering technique that Marek was so kind to bring to my attention. I think the photos show what was done, essentially you dissolve crystals of salt with warm water all over the model to create a random, patchy "mask" that you then paint over.

Once that is done, the salt is removed and you are left with a paintjob that would be very difficult to make using an airbrush or conventional masking. I then sanded everything with 2000 grit paper, and did a burnt umber wash using oil paints.

Still lots to do - this isn't over yet! Cheers, Bill

Holger Kranich
The last pic showes a very nice weathered Tomcat! Salt worked good for you!

Holger Kranich
Why are you wondering?

stefan natus
Salt weathering turned out quit well,i like it.

Philip De Keyser
Hi Bill, this looks great with the salt waethering, this is something I must try, but I'm a scarry boy!!!! Greetz Phil

Bill Gilman
Thanks for the comments, mates! Michael, the F-14s from the 70s and for most of the 80s were in the Gull Grey over White scheme. These were glossy paints, and did not seem to weather like the TPS low-visibility scheme where all the paint is matte. I've noticed the same thing with the Phantoms, Corsair IIs, and Skyhawks - the old Gull Grey over White always looked pretty clean, but when they switched to the TPS low visibility schemes they start to look all patchy. Presumably it's a combination of salt spray from the ocean and sunlight that causes this. It's not just the sun, or else the F-15s etc. would also weather that way. But they don't!

Bill Gilman
Philip - I was scared too. Actually terrified is a better word. But it turned out to be very easy to do. The whole procedure, from wetting down the model and applying the salt, to applying my burnt umber oil wash took about two hours. Cheers, Bill

Holger Kranich
It just looks cool, Bill! I love, but never tryed it!

Bill Gilman
Thanks, Holger! You know, I'm having a hard time building a model that is intentionally dirty. I keep wanting to clean it up! 🙂

Bill Gilman
I've added another photo that shows the current status of my F-14D Felix after the markings have been applied along with a couple of coats of matte varnish. Next up is to do some post-shading and weathering with pastels. The burnt umber effect got amplified with the matte varnish, and now looks a bit too "burnt umbery" for my tastes, so I'll try to tone it down.

@Michael, absolutely true for the USN birds. I don't see that effect much on the USAF planes that use the same colors. There must be something else that causes the USN jets to look so nasty all the time. I figured it was the salt spray, but that's just a guess. Does any of our Scalematers know?

Bill Gilman
You may notice that the salt weathering effect was reduced from the matte varnish, too. It's still there, but not as noticeable. Hmmmm...

Holger Kranich
Its looking good, just the wash is a bit prominent but nice, somehow!

Philip De Keyser
It looks great Bill, just a little bit too burnt umber for you, but I like it, everybody's taste is different, I like my models durty and worn, it is not the reality but thats the free mind of modelling and thats great to the hobby, greetz Phil

Bill Gilman
LOL! 🙂

Bill Gilman
Hi mates, I've uploaded some new pictures taken after having a go with the pastels for the final treatment. I've managed to get rid of the brown tint to the burnt umber (what was I thinking in the first place - LOL) and in the process smoothed the edges between the different colors left by the salt mask. Which is not a problem, I think it looks better!

Bill Gilman
Thanks, Michael. I wasn't happy with it as it was, the only thing I could try was pastels, and they really did the trick. This was my first time with the salt trick, I think it would be more effective on 1:32 scale kits.

Wilfried Bogaerts
Nice! Very nice! Black finned Tomcats are cool! Hats off Bill!
(or in your case, medieval helmet off Bill!)

Holger Kranich
Umber is no more prominent! Congrats, thats your way to a medal at the next contest!

Philip De Keyser
Very beautifull Bill, I love your tomcat, great job, greetz Phil

Bill Gilman
@Guido, don't be afraid to point something out if I've cocked it up. I'm a big boy! I was a bit surprised at how much the matte varnish affected the appearance. It toned down the salt effect, and really amplified the burnt umber. I used the new Alclad Flat, which I like because it seems to dry dead flat. It was the first time I used it over this kind of a wash. But now I know, and I don't have to bin the model! 🙂

Bill Gilman
@Wilfried, red finned Tomcats are cool, too, as long as Felix is on there! He's been carrying that bomb since the 1920s, it must have an incredibly long fuse. 🙂

Wilfried Bogaerts
Hi Bill, that new Alclad Flat, does it smell as "good" as their metal paints or can you blast it around uncontrolled without poisening yourself and the neighbourhood? Does it need thinning?

Bill Gilman
@Wilfried, no thinner required. Shoot straight from the bottle after you shake it up really good (the matte agent settles out really fast). Doesn't smell like their metallic colours, but it is a lacquer. Not like their new clear gloss, which is aqueous, and that you don't shake or stir at all.

Wilfried Bogaerts
Thx ! 🙂

Bill Gilman
Ha! I cocked-up the exhaust nozzles! But I have a general rule of thumb to not post my mistakes on-line! So I will only show you the nozzles after I've fixed them! 🙂

Holger Kranich
😢

Martin
nice outcome with the salt method

Burkhard D
Haven't modern paint formulas been devised amongst others to eliminate chipping? 😉

Duncan Cook
Looks nice Bill. YOu got me as a reader. I love the Tomcat.

Dirk Heyer
Very fine paintjob! I have learned a lot of new methods! Thx for this post! Your Tomcat looks very pretty!
Greets
Dirk

Tim Vereecke
very nice paintjob Bill!

Bill Gilman
I finished this baby last night - tonight I will set up the photo booth and take some new pictures. I think it came out pretty good - although I personally don't care for models with extreme weathering (unless it's a tank).

This was the first time I put a crew in an airplane - imagine that! Do you know how difficult it is to paint a five o'clock shadow on a 1:72 pilot figure? I used figures from a company in Belgium, PJ Productions maybe? They are very nice indeed!

Plus, I had to scratchbuild a US flag. Really a different job for me, starting with the salt! Cheers, Bill

Bill Gilman
OK guys!! I've uploaded the pictures of the finished model. Quite a few of them, too! I hope you like the way I posed the model - it represents what was typical at the end of an air show performance. The F-14 would "bow to the crowd" by "kneeling" on its front gear, and the RIO would wave an American flag. I love that stance when the F-14 compresses its front strut, it looks like a cat ready to pounce! Enjoy!

Holger Kranich
Absolute convincing and beautiful result, especially the waving flag!!!

Marek Swiderski
Nice indeed

Philip De Keyser
Fantastic job Bill, love the flag, greetz Phil

Wilfried Bogaerts
Beautiful !

Burkhard D
Indeed, looks great. I see the nose wheel oleo is compressed. Do you plan to put your 'Cat on a catapult diorama?

Holger Kranich
With open canopy and waving flag?🙂 Would become a wild catshot!
The configuration, you see is as a "showact" at special days. Judging from the nozzles with enough thrust to let the frontgear "collapse".!

Burkhard D
Ah, okay. So like this one?
[img1]

Holger Kranich
Wonderful picture! Yes just like that!

stefan natus
Nice one bill,glad you got rid of the burnt umber.
Lovely extra the flag and strut.

Bill Gilman
Holger is correct, the F-14 crew would compress the front gear and fly the flag in front of the reviewing stand after an airshow performance. A nice patriotic moment.

[img1]?zz=1

Wilfried Bogaerts
I was just wondering, are the engines still running and isn't there the possibility the flag got sucked into the intakes if they are not careful ?

Holger Kranich
The really have to be, i think.

Bill Gilman
The reason that you usually see one exhaust nozzle closed and one open when the F-14 is parked is because they shut down one engine when taxiing after landing. So they just need to remember which side to stick the flag out of of. 🙂

Holger Kranich
AAAAhhhhh, so it makes sence! But not on your pix...

But otherwise, your model showes a blink of an eye in a moment, so why not?

Its normally the left side, they shut down, isnt it?

Bill Gilman
I've seen pix where the left side is closed, some with the right side closed, some with both closed, and some with both open! But the left side does seem to be the most common. I suspect they shut down the one that gave them the most trouble during the flight! 🙂

Holger Kranich
I heard it depends on the version. A & B close port and D closes starboard...

But i´m not sure...

Bill Gilman
OK, here is the "official answer" (it's the same for both TF-30 and GE-110 engines:

The Tomcat has a "weight on wheels" switch and a "weight off wheels" switch. When weight is "on wheels" (on deck) the nozzles are commanded open to reduce thrust produced by the engines to keep from blowing over ground personnel. When the weight is "off wheels" (airborne) the nozzles will close any time when being in "basic engine" from idle to military power (highest thrust without selecting afterburner) and will open up as afterburner is staged. This feature gives added thrust at idle when being airborne. The switches are mechanically operated by the main landing gear scissors assemblies, but need electrical power to function. When electrical power is taken off the jet completely, the aircraft will default to the weight off wheels condition where the nozzles close so that if there happened to be a total electrical failure airborne you would still have the same amount of thrust at idle that you always do airborne.

When the engine is shut down, the starboard engine is always shut down first. The reason why is because there is a bidirectional pump that has to be checked to ensure that if the starboard engine is lost in flight, the flight side hydraulics will still operate. Once it is ensured that it is working the bidirectional pump will be secured and the flight side hydraulics will go to zero and the afterburner fuel control on that side will no longer be powered because of the lack of hydraulics. Since the weight on wheels switch is still receiving power from the left generator, the starboard nozzle will be trapped open. When the port engine is secured the left generator drops off-line at approximately 55%, however the combined side hydraulics will still operate at 3000 psi for a short period of time as the engine continues to wind down. When the port engine is secured (power off) the nozzle closes because of loss of electrical power and residual fuel pressure through the fuel control to the nozzle actuator.

Bill Gilman
So my model shows the engines at idle (both nozzles fully open). Highest thrust without reheat is with the nozzles closed (this causes the exhaust gas to speed up to fit through the smaller opening - like a rocket nozzle).

scalemates
too difficult for me, anyway your model is stunning 🙂

Holger Kranich
"When the engine is shut down, the starboard engine is always shut down first. The reason why is because there is a bidirectional pump that has to be checked to ensure that if the starboard engine is lost in flight, the flight side hydraulics will still operate. Once it is ensured that it is working the bidirectional pump will be secured and the flight side hydraulics will go to zero and the afterburner fuel control on that side will no longer be powered because of the lack of hydraulics. Since the weight on wheels switch is still receiving power from the left generator, the starboard nozzle will be trapped open. When the port engine is secured the left generator drops off-line at approximately 55%, however the combined side hydraulics will still operate at 3000 psi for a short period of time as the engine continues to wind down. When the port engine is secured (power off) the nozzle closes because of loss of electrical power and residual fuel pressure through the fuel control to the nozzle actuator."

Ok, thats a good explenation for that question!🙂🙂🙂Intersting to hear, that this is general for ALL versions!

Holger Kranich
I love the F-14 so much, but there are still so many questions and "walkarounds" to make...

Wilfried Bogaerts
It becomes more and more obvious why these machines are so expensive...

Thankfully they do not scale down the prices of the kits to the same amount. Imagine a 1 Billion Dollar plane in 48th scale would cost you 20833333 Dollars... augh !

I wouldn't have a stash of a few hundred kits and probably collect cigar bands or other useless junk

Anyway, thanks for your explanation Bill ! 🙂

Philip De Keyser
Haléloeja to scalemates, this is mechanical lesson🙂, and other stuff, greetz Phil

Bill Gilman
Hi Scalemates! My salty Tomcat model received the most votes in the Britmodeller F-14 Group Build! Woo hoo! I won a set of USN Squadron patches. Many thanks to the nice folks on Britmodeller who donated the prizes!

Holger Kranich
What should i say? GREAT! Congrats from me!!!

Markus Kutsch The Plastic Bench
I could not imagine what salt use will bring on a plane ( i mostly build Tanks,whitewashes with Salt are often).But now i know it.
Grrrrrreat!Congrats,too!!!

Wilfried Bogaerts
Congratulations Bill!

Zimmermaniac
muchos congrats Bill

Duncan Cook
You deserved it Bill! Nice work.

Bill Gilman
Thanks guys!! 🙂

stefan natus
Congrats bill!

John Thomas
VERY NICE WORK, GREAT JOB

B
Great work bill,how big us it in 1/72 scale? I'm thinking of getting one.

Bill Gilman
I don't know, let's see...Wiki says the F-14D is 19.1m long. Multiply by 1,000 and you get 19,100mm. Divide by 72 and the answer is 265mm. That's my answer and I'm sticking to it! (Divide by 25.4 for inches - about 10.5) 🙂

Duncan Cook
Wonderfull work. I love the Tomcat.

Tim Vereecke
Awesome Tomcat! 👍

Es-haq Khosravi
Excellent Job! Awesome!

soheil moghisi
Excellent. I love tomcat.

Murad ÖZER
Amazing finish!

Bill Gilman
Thanks! Felix Rules!

Ray Seppala
Great work Bill, love the ready for launch stance

Augie
Superb Bill, makes me want to do my Vandy 1

Vorya hidaryan
Excellent job!

Luc B
hey I missed this one, awesome Tomcat 👍

Clifford Keesler
NICE TOMCAT!!!!!!!!!!

Harry Eder
Your Tomcat looks great ! 👍

Christian W
This is so cool. I like teh F-14 anyway. I like the pilots with the American flag. Nice little detail.

Bill Gilman
Thanks @Christian W - I added the pilots and flag after I saw a photo taken after an airshow performance where the crew displayed the flag and lowered the front gear as a "bow" to the crowd. When I saw the photo I said I gotta do that!

Christian W
So cool!

Clifford Keesler
Beautiful Tomcat Bill, well done sir.

Rui S
A beautiful model, indeed 👍