1/48 Hasegawa F-14B Tomcat

by Alan Williamson

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Special F-14 Tomcat Sunset Update Sept 2006 

 

I'm here with my second Tomcat, the Hasegawa F-14B. Done up to represent that of  VF-103 Jolly Rogers, from the USS JOHN F KENNEDY final cruise. I brought this kit from Calum whom is the only person I know that can get hold of the Hasegawa Tomcats in Australia. 

The Kit : Hasegawa F-14B Tomcat kit No. 09639

Additions : Aires F-14B Cockpit Set 4149

                    Super Scale Decals No. 48-1009  F-14B VF-103 Final Cruise

Construction

I started to build this Tomcat while I was finishing off my first F-14A while the problem fits that plague the Hasegawa tomcats were still fresh in my mind. I thought that maybe I could build this kit with out some off the problems that came with the construction of the kit WRONG, I experienced the same problems while building this kit that I did with the first kit. Not only that I'm part way though number three Tomcat and are still having the same problems even thought I have tacked the three Tomcats in a different way. Yet I have just ordered another Hasegawa Tomcat from Calum thinking of making it two something must be wrong with me. I even had to go out and stock up on my putty this kit seems to require a fare bit of it during the build, I started the kit in the same way as the first one, with the Aires cockpit, I did not add enough information in the first article on installing the Aires cockpit to the F-14A so I'll add some in this article. I found that with both of the Aires cockpits allot of resin had to be removed from the cockpits. So much so that the floor of the cockpit was so thin that you could almost see though it. The same applied to the side wall of the cockpit. I then painted and assembled the cockpit, once the super glue had set I started the dry fit into the forward fuselage AFT removing parts of the kit until I was happy with the fit. As well as thinning out the kit forward fuselage AFT walls some of the kit hud mounting has to be removed to make way for the Aries cockpit. Sorry about the lack of photos with installing the Aires cockpit. The kit went together pretty much like the first one, although I seemed to have allot of problems with the intakes more so than the first Tomcat I changed the construction here by assembling the after burners and engines into the fuselage. With the first Tomcat I assembled the intakes first with little problems. But on this Tomcat fitting the engines before the intakes was the wrong move. I had to use a lot more putty and sanding than the first Tomcat to get intake assembly to fit and match that of the shape of the tunnels, a lot of re-scribing was involved in this section as well, but after about three hours of wet rubbing and re-scribing I was happy with the look it was time to fill any other areas that needed putty. See pics 04 and 05 directly below. 

Top and bottom view of the Tomcat with putty where the joins / gaps are. Adding the Aries cockpit created a bigger gap in the nose section of the kit, and did flare the forward AFT fuselage making it harder to align the nose section.

 

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 I had found though with this kit that Hasegawa did not included the F-14B gun bay access door with the NACA type inlets, but had instead supplied the earlier gun bay from that of the F-14A with the grills. I thought what to do about this problem I didn't want to use the gun bay door supplied, and when all hope was lost I remembered I had an old 1/48 Monogram F-14 that I was never going to build. The great thing about this Monogram Tomcat was it included the parts to turn it from an F-14A to an F-14B/D including the the F-14B/D gun bay doors with the NACA type inlets. I had to modify the Monogram gun door to get it to fit the Hasegawa kit but with some putty and lite wet rub you wouldn't notice. See picture 06. During construction the other fit problem that gave me grief as well as with the first Tomcat was the Beaver Tail it just doesn't seem to line up and it creates all sorts of dramas, it took me about four to five hours of wet rubbing, re-scribing and refilling to get the beaver tail to look like it fits with the rest of the fuselage. Most of the construction was now finished and it was time to paint.

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Painting and Decals

for most of the paint I use Model Master enamel with the odd painting jobs done with Humbrol and Tamiya, the top of the fuselage was painted in FS36237 while the underneath was painted in FS36320 the tails, drop tanks and canopy with anti-glare were painted in gloss black. I had better luck with painting this bird  than with the F-14A were I had nothing but trouble. Once the paint was dry I covered the entire kit with gloss clear ready for placing on the decals. with the Tomcat now covered in gloss clear I started to place the decals on this took a week, the SuperScale decals are not as thick as the Hasegawa decal and there were a few close calls when placing them on with some of the decals curling up, but I got there in the end and the kit looked great. It was now time for  another quick cote of clear over the decals, when doing this keep in mind if your high lighting the panel lines the more paint the shallow the recesses lines are. I found that before I start building a kit I go over most of the panel lined with the scriber, some panel lines I find are to hard to make deeper. This can also help with making the decal really sink into the panel lines giving that more realistic look of being painted on.

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The Finish

The clear was now set on the Tomcat and the next step was to weather it. I've adopted the pastel wash technic that Steve Bamford wrote in his article placed in the Tools 'n' Tips, I have found this the easies method with a great out come. I have tried other technics from the Tools 'n' Tips section but have not had the success as I have with this one. The hardest thing with doing the pastel wash is not dropping or braking pieces of the kit, that's why I try to leave most things that are likely to brake off during this step i.e. horizontal stabilizers. Now that I had finished the pastel wash I covered the entire kit with matt gloss, and with the gloss dry it was time to finish constructing the Tomcat. adding the landing gear, landing gear doors pylons etc. The ejection seats, canopy and probes are the last thing that I glue onto any kit I build, normally there the first thing to get broken off the kit when handling. That is that another Tomcat finished onto Tomcat number three.

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Thanks

To Craig from Aeroworks for getting a hold of the Aires cockpit, the SuperScale Decals  and the paint. If you want any of the these such items or anything else to improve your kit drop Craig an E-mail at aeroworks@iprimus.com.au Craig exports to the U.S and other countries.

To Calum if I had not got my second Tomcat of E-bay I might have only had the chance to build the one Hasegawa Tomcat  I have since brought three Tomcats from Calum  and have number four and five on order.

To Steve Bramford for this great site and his tips.

Alan

Photos and text © by Alan Williamson