Scalemates F-14 Tomcat Group build 2020

What a beautiful box... pity this won't be Mickey's F-14 though. I'm just swapping decals and plastic between this kit and the Ace rebox of the nicer Revell F-14A. 

This is why the swap... it's not a bad kit, but the Revell one is much nicer. So if you're going to blow one of them up... 

Of course, we'll need some pilots. The cockpit has no detail, so I grabbed a tub from the spares box. 

The fuselage is all glued together... not bad for fit at least. 

Let's try some undershading... hmm... I hate my airbrush... 

A new airbrush, a much better coat of paint... and the pilots are ready for action! 

Looks pretty good to me once they're seated. 

A bit of masking and some black paint. The comic-base is ready to go! 

Hmmm... the panel lines are a bit deeper than I thought... 

And now that the decals are one, we pause for a moment and reflect... the next part's gonna get ugly! 

That's gonna leave a mark... 

Added a bit of wire for internal structure support. 

Let there be light! 

Where there's fire, there's smoke... that's way too much cotton... but I kinda like the look... 

Some cheap hairspray to hold the shape, and some Tamiya clear orange and smoke... and we've got an explosion going on! 

A bit of white glue to hold it all in place... and we're done!