discussion Nick's Airfix 1/72 F14A Tomcat - Geoffers US Icons Group Build

[Nicko]

I hadn't expected to start this for the next couple of weeks, but with this hot weather, my model room is the coolest place in the house! And my workshop where the airbrushing goes on is second coolest.

I can't imagine there's anyone on here that hasn't heard of the F14 or seen the 'iconic' film in which it appeared. Airfix were pretty quick off the mark in releasing their 1/72 offering in 1975. I built one as a lad to the box art scheme and clearly bought another to do in the other included marking option. I can't imagine it cost more than one pound back then. So after probably about 50 years, its finally getting some attention.

Looking through the contents it appears that teenage me had already decided to build it wheels-up, with the fuel probe extended and with just four sparrow missiles for armament: With that in mind, here is what we are dealing with.......

Nice box-art on the rather battered box......



Instructions - somewhat yellowed with age......





And finally, the plastic!













And I was left with this lot rattling around in the bottom of the box.....



More to follow.

Nick.

 

[Nicko]

Well, here are the photos I couldn't add to the original post.

Transparencies..... the stand will come in handy!



Decals. These will be getting replaced. Haven't decided on the scheme yet, but there appear to be a myriad options out there.....



These are the kit schemes. Seems amazing now that this used to be as good as it got for working out how to paint a model....



Anyway, I have made a bit of a start so there will be a swift follow-up.

Thanks for looking.....

Nick

 

[Geoffers]

Nice one Nick, looking forward to watching you knock it into shape

Geoff.

 

[Nicko]

Not huge progress, but with a couple of other builds reaching the point where progress needs to be more measured, and the hot weather sending me looking for things to do where I can keep relatively cool, here's where I'm at...

Wings and vertical stabilisers are made up of two parts with one of them being an insert. These were glued in and clamped up while I put the cockpit together. Fuselage halves were clamped to hold the cockpit floor and bulkheads square while the glue dried.





Surface detail is raised and very subtle. With that in mind I was not going to worry about losing it on the lower wing surfaces while the inserts were tidied up with a couple of rounds of Mr Surfacer 500 and a bit of sanding. Most of the other parts (there are refreshingly few altogether) were then cleaned up and taken to my airbrushing station in the workshop down the garden where it was a pleasant 22 degrees compared to about 32 outside. Various shades of primer were applied and the next task will be seeing if any of the joins on the wings and vertical stabilisers need more work. Instrument panels and side consoles will get a bit of dry brushing to see if the detail can be brought out, but that's about it for the internals. I painted the engine faces in a dull aluminium although its doubtful if they will be seen!





That's going to be the extent of progress for about three weeks. I've got two days at work and then off on a trip.


Thanks for looking in.

Nick

 

[Neil]

I definitely did this one as a kid in the box art scheme - pretty sure I was quite chuffed with the result at the time, although I suspect not so great in reality.

Enjoy your trip.

 

[Steven000]

Nice project, have fun