1/48 Tamiya F-14A Tomcat - "Rage 207" - COMPLETE 2/5/17

[TRM]

Always a good show when you hit the bench Matt! Can't wait to see the top coats go down!

[wing_nut]

Slicker 'an snot on a door knob.

[thug626]

Looks like ya nailed it with the underside painting.

[doogsatx/]

Small update from the other night - finally got the heat shields sorted - tough shades to approach. Ultimately I went with a mix of Alclad Steel, Jet Exhaust and Pale Burnt Metal, and then a mix of Steel and Magnesium for the "flat" portion beneath the rudder.

Exhaust nozzles are just placed to get a sense of things - they still need to be painted and weathered and will be installed on the proper sides when the time comes.

[Wes]

Doogs you really have taken painting planes to a new level. Your updates are always jaw droppingly good.

[doogsatx/]

MOAR work!

One thing I'm thinking through is...how to tackle the grimy streaking that's seen on the portion of the wings that sweep into the fuselage?

By holding a pencil against them as I moved them across their sweep, I got some good circle arcs, which I used to help plot out the radius.



I then outlined both wings. The idea is that I'll fix a post at the circle's center point, then fix *something* to it by string, and use that to portray the sweep grime with the proper arcs.



Also got started building in different tones to the upper Dark Ghost Gray. This new tone is Gunze DGG mixed with 25% Neutral Gray and maybe 5-10% Black.



Stay tuned!

[doogsatx/]

Further tonal variation up top - a bit of Light Ghost Gray



And on the underside, I wasn't happy with my initial staining, so I went back at it with a mix of Gunze Neutral Gray, Khaki and Mahogany. Seems a much closer interpretation of the way Rage 207 actually appeared.

[deafpanzer]

Amazing work... one of best paint jobs I have seen.

[joelsmith]

You know Doog you keep this up and you will be uncatchable. your depiction of the "corrosion control" patchy finish is as close to real as it gets. Keep up the good work, Joel.

[M1Carbine]

Freaking WOW! Outstanding work Doog

Bob

[TRM]

Always a good showing from you Matt! Color is on it's way to a sunning finish again! Keep it coming!

[doogsatx/]

Been totally snagged up by rainy weather the last several days...looking forward to the return of drier weather to get back to it!

[mrversatile]

Catching up on this, Doogs, I like where you are going with this one. Nice job on the organized tonal mess. Do you plan to do some chipping as well?

[doogsatx/]

Dec 7, 2016 0:11:29 GMT -5 mrversatile said:

Catching up on this, Doogs, I like where you are going with this one. Nice job on the organized tonal mess. Do you plan to do some chipping as well?

There's not really much chipping per se, but this particular F-14 had a lot of corrosion control touch-ups, and those will certainly be depicted. Just need to get the main paintwork sorted first...

[doogsatx/]

Wrapped up the upper surface Dark Ghost Gray last night - still have a lot of work to go in terms of griminess and corrosion control touch-ups, but the main DGG is now finally in place.

[TRM]

Beautiful work there Doogs!!

[chromdome35]

I'm in awe of your painting skills!

Can't wait to see the finished results.

[doogsatx/]

Let's have some fun with missiles! A few bitterly cold nights at the bench, too cold to trust myself with the fine work of applying touch-ups to the F-14, so why not get the missiles going?

Initial coat of MRP-38, Light Ghost Gray:



Second pass with a weathered white of Gunze 69 Offwhite and some light, warm gray (just a drop). The Sparrows on my reference shot show a lot of variability and best guess is missiles were hodgepodged (you can see this on a ton of other reference photos - white fins on a gray Sidewinder etc).



And...putting some radome tan on the radomes. These, too, showed variability in the references. For the more "tan" ones, I added a base of Gunze Sandgelb. Radome was a mix of Gunze Radome and a few drops of Chrome Yellow, since Gunze's interpretation of radome seemed very flesh-like.



Next I'll be masking off the radome, refining the gray, and making things dirtier, per the references - since the Sparrows are currently too light compared to the dirty F-14 belly.

[deafpanzer]

Amazing work... more please?!?!? LOL

[mrversatile]

What is interesting is the difference in the underside of each wing on the reference photo.

[doogsatx/]

Big but not so big update!

So first off, I noticed a few nights ago that I forgot to sand down the resin pour nubs on the Sparrow warheads. Ugh. This necessitated some repriming and repainting - and I went ahead and knocked out the AIM-9 heads while I was at it.



Back to the big show. The upper surfaces needed a bit more grime, so they got a loose, asymmetric stippling of highly thinned Gunze Tire Black.



I'm really, really eager to get into the corrosion control touch-ups, but there's all kinds of little stuff I have to knock out first, and that's been eating my bench time the past several nights.

Like...the intake walkways. I used Furball's masks for these, and I'll just say I'm not a fan of the vinyl selected for the masks. It's basically opaque so placement is annoying. It's stiff. It's super tacky. As a result, I got a tiny amount of lift (and some weird in-curve on the port walkway toward the front).



A bit of masking and respraying later, and all fixed. Even with the extra effort, I much prefer painting these to resorting to decals.



Ugh. More masking. I don't even know what this stripe is, but I have choice words for whoever thought it up. Masking a straight line over those tail humps is not an enjoyable experience unless you like frustration and expletives.



And...out the other side. Got a small "hangnail" just inside the port tail, but it's nothing a quick touch-up and some corrosion control won't sort out.



Extending down the sides, with a gap for the NAVY stencils.



In "random things that need sorting" news - been adding the red borders to the gear doors, and discovered that these doors don't have outside faces - they just seat right against the fuselage (and seat very nicely). So that's two fewer things to paint at least.



Up next - outer gear bays and then FINALLY corrosion control.

[doogsatx/]

Dec 12, 2016 12:07:19 GMT -5 mrversatile said:

What is interesting is the difference in the underside of each wing on the reference photo.

Yep - that and the touch-ups gone wild are what drew me to this particular airframe!

[doogsatx/]

Finally got into the nerve-wracking work of the corrosion-control touch-ups. References point to a very light gray - lighter than Light Ghost Gray - so I used Mr Paint 197 Light Blue Gray mixed with some Light Ghost Gray. It looks the part, if a bit more pronounced than in the pics, but I'm assuming decals and clear coats and additional weathering will knock the contrast back somewhat.

[Deleted]

SWEET!

[doogsatx/]

Bit of a sideways jump last night into masking hell - getting the gear doors sorted, and getting the next stage of the Sidewinders masked and sprayed (the lighter metallic band just behind the dark metallic head).

[deafpanzer]

I think I am falling in love...

[plasticjunkie]

Amazing paint work indeed. Pulled up a chair and have my Wild Turkey Honey Whiskey handy.

[joelsmith]

If it gets much more real looking, you'll need to build a starter cart for it.

[doogsatx/]

Weird how being off for the holidays has largely kept me off actual computers (for long enough to play on forums, at least). It's also interrupted bench time. Such as that one night when the pupper decided barking and whining was preferable to sleep...



But I've managed to get some work in - including lots of tedious decal work on the AIM-7s and AIM-9s. I'm honestly not too thrilled with the AIM-9s - especially next to the resin Sparrows. I'm considering going with some Brassin AIM-9Ms instead.



Also had some adventures with trying to find a good black backdrop. This isn't it, but gives a good look at why I want black as an alternate.



Last night, I finally got a start on the decals - which are going to be a mix of Furball, Fightertown and a few custom ones for the Bu.Nos. These are Furball - and I've forgotten just how much of a pleasure Furball decals are to work with. Really, really wish they'd venture into 1/32.

[Leon]

Nice Decal work Doogs!