I completed
this nearly 1 year ago, and only now have I found the time to put it on ARC. I
apologise for the bad photos. I had to rush to take the photos as the
model is now elsewhere. This is only my 2nd submission to ARC, my first was
a CH-53E back in December 2007.
This model started
out as the "Black Knights" F-14A Tomcat. It ended up being a
quite expensive and at times frustrating project as it was turned into an F-14D
of the Bounty Hunters. This project was 3/4 complete when Trumpeter released
their F-14D. If I had only waited.......
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images below to see larger images
A lot of money
was spent on this kit to change it to what it became, and it took nearly a year
to complete. I don't need to go into the well known and infamous shortcomings
of this big kit.
I think I'll
just list what was added;
-
A Cutting Edge
resin F-14D airframe modification
-
A Cutting Edge
cockpit super set
-
A Black Box resin cockpit
set
-
An Eduard placard
set
-
An Eduard interior
set
-
An Eduard exterior
set
-
Zotz VF-2 Bounty
Hunter decals
-
Wolfpack resin late
model wheel type set
-
Turned steel Alpha and
AOA probes (I can't recall what brand they were.)
-
Eduard masks
-
Plenty of Gunze and
Tamiya paint
Firstly, I cut
the fuselage up and replaced what needed to be replaced to make it a D model
Tomcat.
I used bits
and pieces from both cockpit sets, and in my opinion, the Black Box resin parts
were slightly better than the Cutting Edge ones.
I didn't use
all the placards, or all the parts from the interior and exterior sets.
The decals
settled well but were quite thick and I made a big mistake with the stripes
on the forward fuselage. I only realised after I had sprayed clear over it all.
Firstly, I cut the fuselage
up and replaced what needed to be replaced to make it a D model Tomcat.
I used bits and pieces from both cockpit sets, and in my
opinion, the Black Box resin parts were slightly better than the Cutting Edge
ones.
I didn't use all the placards, or all the parts from the
interior and exterior sets.
The decals settled well but were quite thick and I made
a big mistake with the stripes on the forward fuselage. I only realised after I
had sprayed clear over it all. I also made a massive error with the
intakes, I got lazy and didn't bother with puttying the edge of the plastic card
I had placed in the intakes. For weathering I used several different shades of
grey, and diluted watercolour artist paint.
Greetings from Australia.
Phillip Roache
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images below to see larger images
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