SPA Modeler

Thanks Joe! Here's a new update to add to your reading list.


Okay, here's a nice long update on all I've been working on the last two or three days.

I went to Hobby Day weekend this past Friday and Saturday and was able to get a considerable amount of progress done on my pair of Tomcats for this review. It was time to finally build the burner cans for these models. If I hadn't said it before, I'll say it now: Always pay attention to the I and 2 symbols shown in the instruction sheet to be sure you are using the correct parts for the version you are building!

Here are the two burner cans for the F-14B. They were very easy to assemble as it was all plastic parts:



The inside of the F-14A burner cans had photo-etch parts. These were fairly easy to add and were a tremendous improvement on the appearance of these cans:



Once assembled, however, they were almost invisible:



If you look straight in, they are still visible.

Next it was time to assemble the wings. These are all the parts that are needed for the wing assembly. You can see I needed to do a lot of cleanup first:



Afterward I assembled almost all the wing. The little protrusions you see all need to be cut off if you intend to make these models with the wings swept:



I will be assembling both of these with swept wings due to my limited space for display when these are done. I did cut all those off and assembled the leading edge to each wing.

As the wing was drying, I installed the vertical stabilizers and dry-fit the horizontal stabilizers. It is a good thing I did this since when I first snapped the horizontal stabilizers in, I got this:



Rather than try and re-shape the holes or anything to make these more horizontal, I pulled them out; switched them to the opposite sides of the fuselage and then re-inserted them:



Perfect! So, when you build these models; pay close attention to where you are inserting the tail surfaces to make sure you are putting them on the correct sides before you try to level them out. This will save you a ton of frustrating work.

Moving on, I had to install the forward canards on the front of the main fuselage. For the -A Tomcat I installed them extended:



I installed them retracted on the -B model Tomcat:



This certainly helps to make it easy to tell the two apart.

Here are the two of them side by side:



I apologize that I did not get any pics of some of the speed brake door installation or the installation of the engine burner cans. Everything went together fairly smoothly so I continued to move on. I also installed all the speed brake doors closed since I know I will break them multiple times during the paint stage if I left them open. One thing to note: make sure you line up the burner cans so that the tab on the end inserts into the slot provided. Press in the burner cans close to eliminate any gaps. I did have a couple small gaps on the -A model Tomcat which I filled with the AV putty that I have. Interestingly enough, the -B model Tomcat burner cans went in far easier than the -A model Tomcat.

Finally I got around to installing the wings. These are actually only pressed in and lightly glued:



Later on, I made some effort at carving out some of the inside opening on the main fuselage where the cockpit module goes. This thinning of the front of the main fuselage seemed to fix the issue with the step between the cockpit and main fuselage. It's not too easy to see here as these are just dry-fit together, but they do look far better now:



Okay that is as far as I got on this for now. A few more steps to do and I'll be able to shoot some paint on these.

Thanks for looking in, comments are welcome. I hope my information is helpful to you all.

Your twin Toms are shaping up very nicely Mark. The level of detail those kits have is impressive. 1/72 has come a long ways with top of the line kits like these.

Thanks Carlos. You are correct. I remember throwing together my first Tomcat decades ago in a manner of hours. These are taking considerably longer; but with the extra attention to detail they are looking tremendously better than anything from decades ago.

Stay tuned, more to come.

Right... I think my first Tomcat was the original 1/72 Monogram kit... that was based off the prototype. No Phoenix missiles or wing pylons. Even the Hasegawa kit of that era was pretty basic. Although those did come with a basic missile load out.

I think my first Tomcat was a very old 1/144 tooling by sombody - very basic.

I think the detail in some of these modern small scale jets is superb - I'm looking forward to building mine know I've seen your build Mark.

Excellent Portman. I do look forward to seeing yours in progress.

Very cool! Dryfitting before adding some glue still is and will be a necessary step in building models! At least for me!
You are making fast progress on TWO builds here! The so beautiful shape of an F-14 is a joy to see!

Thanks Thomas. I always try to dry-fit parts as I hate unpleasant surprises. I appreciate the compliments on the two Tomcats. The next thing I have to do is add the photo etch parts to the canopy on one of these planes. I'm not really looking forward to that, but I do want to show how it is done for those who are considering this kit.

The F-14 Tomcats has always been my first favorite Navy aircraft since Top Gun came out in the theaters back in the 80s. The F/A-18 Hornet is another favorite of mine as well. I've done a couple of Tomcats kits as well. Looking forward to seeing more especially with PE added.

Duke Maddog wrote:Thanks Carlos. You are correct. I remember throwing together my first Tomcat decades ago in a manner of hours. These are taking considerably longer; but with the extra attention to detail they are looking tremendously better than anything from decades ago.

Stay tuned, more to come.

I know that's right!!! I can't tell you how many WWII Monogram kits I threw together in a couple of days!!! These days a quick build is 4 months long. lololol.

Both of these are coming together nicely Mark. Your prep work is gonna pay off bud.