Work (finally) continues on the F-14.
Surprise surprise, the first thing to be tackled is the cockpit. I first sprayed Vallejo Air Dark Sea Gray thinking that it’s a match to FS36231 (the standard interior color for modern US jets) but it was too dark. So I ended up spraying my usual Vallejo Air US Gray over and be done with it.
The ejection seats are given a base of Vallejo Air Black Grey with the details handpainted on. I also added seatbelts made out of 1mm width masking tape.
The instruments are all provided as decals. Some people really have a problem with this. I’m not one of those though. However, the side consoles have no details on them. Nor are there decals provided, which is very strange. With the canopy closed, this isn’t a serious issue. But still, it’s lazy on Hobbyboss’ part.
To ease painting, I cut out a section of the connector on the wing. The wings can now be removed and snapfit back in.
Next I tried to fix the intake gap issue. The seamlines here are quite obvious and I decided to run some Vallejo Plastic Putty into them to remove as much of the very visible gaps as possible. It’s a bigger issue further inside the intakes. For now, these are left as is until I find a better way to fix them. A glaring mistake for most people who knows the F-14 would be the missing air intake ramps. After looking at photos, I noticed that there’s a distinct demarcation line inside the intake that splits the gray and white colors. So I inserted masking tape the best I can and hope for the best.
The canvas covers on the instrument shrouds were painted in Green Brown and the seats were attached. I think the restraints look a bit too thick but I’ll live with it. The canopy had a center seamline which was cleaned up and then had a dip in Future. It was then masked off and cemented onto the fuselage. The front section of the canopy needed some sanding and finessing to fit flush. To add to the patched up effect, I sprayed randomly onto the kit with leftover paint from other projects I was doing concurrently. I also made sure to spray Black Grey onto the canopy frame before main painting begins.
Mig AMMO Light Compass Ghost Gray is used for the main color. Unlike most F-14s of this era, this particular VF-102 Tomcat is conveniently a single color overall. I went light on the trigger this time to make sure the patched up paint underneath will show through.
As for the Mig AMMO paint, it comes in the same bottle style as Vallejo, has a steel BB inside for easy mixing, looks grainier than Vallejo but went on very nicely and easily slightly thinned. It however has a slight smell that’s not pleasant.
Build Log
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3