Time to beat-up the finishing! 😀
First up I added some sponge chipping using Model Color Medium Sea Grey.
I was quite random about this.
This is a much faster way than using salt for chipping but the effect isn’t as fine.
Decals are next after a gloss coat. The markings are from Cam Decals’ Tomcat Alley: Grumman F-14B Tomcat 72-046. The VF-102 Diamondbacks F-14 depicted here was one that operated during Operation: Enduring Freedom in 2002. The decal was printed by Microscale. Alas, quality isn’t great: fidelity is not quite there, some looked oversized and some shattered/tore when I tired to re-position them.
One of those that tore was the 3 diamond marking on the wing gloves which had to conform to curves. I ended up removing the torn pieces that also lifted the paint underneath. So I sanded them down, masked (using the remaining good decal as a template) and painted the diamonds. Some touch-up was done by handpainting.
The placement guide was also not very clear as the panel lines shown in the instructions don’t quite match the ones on the kit so I ended up guesstimating some of the locations. Once properly cured though, they do look very good. I decided not to put any of the small stencils.
After another gloss coat to seal in the decals, I proceeded with panel lining with Raw Umber oil paint. The oil paint was quickly brushed onto all the panel lines and wiped away with a turpentine-soaked tissue to leave the panel lines filled.
After that I randomly filtered the panels, paying more attention to the rear fuselage and wings.
I also added streaks on the wings with oil paint.
I was given a tip by my friend Max (from Out There) that streaks can be done with a normal 6B pencil. I gave it a try here by lightly adding squiggles and used a cotton bud streak the graphite. Looks good. But I decided to keep it light and move on.
Next were attaching the ‘things under the wings’ which I worked from inside outwards. The GBU-12s were first, then the drop tanks, then the gear bay doors, then the AIM-7 and LANTIRN, and lastly the AIM-9s. The gear doors’ red trims was done with a red permanent marker.
The wheels were then attached and I’m close to the finish line. I hope when I attach the wings they won’t be scratched up too much.
Build Log
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3