A Tomcat for Big John

[David Hansen 31]

In my newest installment of "Build a model for a guy who flew the real thing", i present for your entertainment a story you can tell your grandchildren.

And mightily bored they will be!

I am building the new Tamiya 1/48th scale F-14A Tomcat in the markings of VF-32, for my former instructor "Big John" Lawler.

John was a former Air Force linguist in his early days, who re-upped in the Navy after college for the Naval Flight Officer Programme. John was actually serving with VF-74 in 1976, during the Bicentennial, but was aboard JOHN F KENNEDY when it sailed into Boston Harbour for the celebration of the Cities' 350th anniversary , around 1980 or 81.. Among other assignments he worked as a RIO as well as an instructor in both F-4s and F-14s, serving in VF-101, VF-74, and VF-32. He has rubbed elbows with such luminaries as "Heater" Heatley, "Hollywood" Dishart, and "Snort" Snodgrass.

John joined VF-32 as an F-14 RIO in late 1978...probably in the twilight of this very colourful paint scheme, before the change was made to overall gloss gull gray.

This is not the exact Bu Aer or Modex number of the plane i will be building, but will look a little something like this...

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Photo courtesy of Jim Sullivan

 

But before i post photos of my Tamiya F-14 kit....a moment of silence for my dead Hasegawa F-14.

I actually re-gifted this project to Gary Allen, so the plane hasn't been truly euthanized....think of it as a "Rescue Kitty"...

Watch this space

david

 

Edited March 10, 2017 by David Hansen
Correction of factual errors.

[Grunhertz 17,460]

Hi David I'll pop into the editor later if you like? And remove the underlining. But always nice to see a big kitty although I never seem to successfully build 70's plus "stove pipes" so I'll be watching with interest 

[David Hansen 31]

9 hours ago, Grunhertz said:

Hi David I'll pop into the editor later if you like? And remove the underlining. But always nice to see a big kitty although I never seem to successfully build 70's plus "stove pipes" so I'll be watching with interest 

You can make all the jokes you want about 1970s fashion (and believe me i sure do), but it was the swan song for colourful paint schemes on Navy aircraft. The only planes which seemed to escape the trend were the C-2A Greyhounds.

-d-

[David Hansen 31]

I just bought a new camera and i'm still learning all the new features so bear with me on this.

This is the latest state-of-play on my Tomcat.

Everything that you hear about the fit of this kit is true. It is effectively, everything the Hasegawa Tomcat kit should have been, but wasn't. 2 places that really stand out are the fit of the forward and aft fuselage sections (what i call "The Splice Point") and the intake trunks. The fit of those is so good, i was grinning like a loon while i was installing them.

The fit of the windscreen is excellent. One interesting thing Spencer Pollard notes is that the insides of the canopy frames are "Frosted", meaning that when you apply black to the outside of the canopy frames, the inside of the frames appear flat and not glossy. Brilliant.

As a habit, i will prime the joints with Interior Green, so i can see the recessed detail that runs along the joints. I then scribe these lines a little bit deeper before sanding , so i don't obliterate them during the seam cleanup phase.

So far, the only filler i've needed has been some Mr Surfacer 500 in a few corners, and some Mr Dissolved Putty on the beaver tail underside and where the A/B can fairings butt into the back end of the fuselage. This is in stark contrast to the the Hasegawa kit, where it seemed that EVERY joint required extensive filling, sanding and....ugh... re scribing.

Per John's request, the boarding steps and ladder will be opened up. I floated the suggestion of putting those cool red protective covers over the AOA, Pitot/TAT probes, and intakes but John said it wasn't needed.

I may try out the MASTER metal nose tip. we'll see.

Following conventional Tomcat building dogma, i will be painting the wings and stabs separate from the rest of the airframe. Will probably install the verticals for painting. The modular parts breakdown of this kit makes painting the thing up in sub-assemblies easy. Probably a good thing, since the Tomcat is a pretty fiddly, "Geometrically Complex" airplane once the gear, drop tanks, missile pylons, undercarriage, gear doors, etc. get installed.

But it looks more cool this way.

To be continued. Be there- Aloha.

david

Edited March 10, 2017 by David Hansen
minor punctuation and spelling errors

[Grunhertz 17,460]

Nice one David 

[Miggers 7,769]

Always like a Tomcat,the last true Grumman naval fighter.

Gooo on David,do it in a "WHIF" Fleet Air Arm scheme.

We'd have had them if the CVA-01 design had've gone ahead.

[Grunhertz 17,460]

13 hours ago, Miggers said:

Always like a Tomcat,the last true Grumman naval fighter.

Gooo on David,do it in a "WHIF" Fleet Air Arm scheme.

We'd have had them if the CVA-01 design had've gone ahead.

Nooooo keep it as a 70's USN no ridiculous whifery  on this one 

[Jockster 816]

I'm hanging on for a bit to see what the AMK kit is like but either way a 1/48 Tomcat will be hitting my bench later this year. Nice to see that Tamiya have the wings on later option. 

Nice job so far David. Lots of nice things being said about this kit.

[David Hansen 31]

Hi Jockster,

I know a lot of people are waiting with anticipation for the AMK kit, but from what i hear, its sort of an apples-to-oranges comparison; Yes, they're both F-14 Tomcats but the Tamiya kit represents an early build, good-looking-but-woefully-underpowered A-Model, while the AMK kit will be the later versions with more grunt. I'm a paint schemes kind of person, so i'm pretty happy with what i have now; especially with the experience of the Hasegawa F-14.

I am keeping an open mind and may consider an AMK kit, but only if they do an A-Model and only if it goes together without too much fuss.

 

-d-

[Muttley 2,312]

Looking grand, I do like a Cat.

 

Following with interest

[David Hansen 31]

Mieow.

[AndrewE 834]

Great start.  I like your choice of scheme, hard to beat a colourful gull grey and white F-14.

[Darren 282]

Excellent work so far David. I can't wait to start my Tamiya ones, but I'm waiting for the Furball decals VF-111 sheets

[Jockster 816]

Hi Dave, if it goes together like the MiG 31 then it'll practically build itself!

[Hairystick 87]

On 3/11/2017 at 2:06 AM, Jockster said:

I'm hanging on for a bit to see what the AMK kit is like...

 

On 3/13/2017 at 5:26 PM, David Hansen said:

Hi Jockster,

I know a lot of people are waiting with anticipation for the AMK kit...

I am keeping an open mind and may consider an AMK kit, ...

I see a facebook post from AMK seemingly saying "we have a small staff & no idea when it will be ready". 

I've been waiting for AMK as well, but will seriously consider the Tamiya instead now.

[USAAF 1,227]

David your Tomcat is looking fantastic as always . I am looking forward to see those band seats done and some paint on her. Keep the awesomeness up

Brian

[David Hansen 31]

12 hours ago, USAAF said:

David your Tomcat is looking fantastic as always . I am looking forward to see those band seats done and some paint on her. Keep the awesomeness up

Brian

well.....okay.

 

-d-

[David Hansen 31]

I'll post another update when i return from my next 11-day deployment.

 

-d-

[USAAF 1,227]

19 hours ago, David Hansen said:

well.....okay.

 

-d-

I see that now i ment to say Ejection seats

 

[David Hansen 31]

And now, an update on Gypsy 203.

We are getting close to the painting stage; the airframe is together, the seams have been sanded, and i'm just attending to some things that gotta get done before the paint goes on.

 

Not the most thrilling installment i know, but still important.

Tune in next time, Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel!

-d-

 

[Grunhertz 17,460]

Attention to detail me likey keep it up sir 

[USAAF 1,227]

Those light David look fantastic and awesome job on the exrtra detail

 

[David Hansen 31]

Hi Everyone,

Another update. Something else i wanted to get out of the way, was to get at least some interior colour on the windscreen. I have since re-masked it after these photos were taken, to protect against "bonking" it into things while i continue the painting prep process. Hopefully, this little step-by-step narrative will make sense.

 

 

 

 

 

Well... Hopefully this makes sense.

-d-

[Grunhertz 17,460]

Made sense to me great idea 

[David Hansen 31]

And now, a minor update.

I wet sanded the model down with 1000 grit, masked off the bare metal areas on the back end, and made a couple passes over the belly with Tamiya white surface primer.

Found a few glitches; most of which are in some 90-degree corners between the intake fronts and the over hanging wing glove and intake roof. Nothing insurmountable. Will let it dry a day or so before i go back and fix these places.

-d-