Feature 1: Hasegawa F-14a, VF-84 Last Cruise by Steve Filak, Sr.

Feature Article 1:
F-14A Tomcat
VF-84 'Jolly Rogers', Last Cruise
Hasegawa 1/48 F-14A, Kit #PT120

The Jolly Rogers have enjoyed a rich history, dating back to the F-4U Corsairs of VF-17 during WWII. Since then the Jolly Rogers have changed squadrons five times, and have flown a number of different planes, from the Corsair, Bearcat, F9F Panther/Cougar, FJ-3 Fury, Demons, Crusaders, and Phantoms, finally settling in with the F-14 Tomcat. The unique markings of the Jolly Rogers have made it one of the most popular Tomcat squadrons in history, and one of the most frequently modeled Tomcat squadrons as well. True, its days are numbered as the F-14 is gradually being phased out of Navy service, but you can bet that, even once VF-103 finally converts to the F/A-18F Super Hornet, the aircraft of the squadron will still carry 'The Bones'.

The kit is Hasegawa's F-14A, kit number PT120. My particular kit had decals for VF-154, which of course I didn't use. The kit is incredibly well detailed, but is not without its own peculiar set of quirks in terms of construction (but we'll get to that later). In addition to the kit itself, I decided to use the Black Box cockpit set for this model. Decals are Superscale's "F-14 Black Tail Tomcats", and were provided by my good buddy Steve Stohr of North American Hobbies - thanks a bunch for hooking me up, my friend!

(Note: This particular kit contains the parts to make either an early or late version F-14A, including parts for the NACA gun vents. Earlier versions of the Hasegawa F-14A contain only the earlier gun vents.)

As is usual, construction begins with the cockpit/forward fuselage area. Since the Black Box kit was being installed, there were a few special concerns in getting everything to fit. The Black Box instruction sheet instructs you to remove the rails on each side of the forward fuselage, as well as the footwells for the upper boarding steps, and the top part of the inside of the access hatch for the boarding ladder.

I found that it wasn't going to be as easy as all that. It took me quite a bit of sanding, scraping, and test-fitting to get the set to fit into the forward fuselage halves, but I have to say - in retrospect, it was definitely worth it for the sake of the added detail. However, I think that my next Hasegawa Tomcat is going to have an OOB cockpit, with maybe a little good old fashioned scratchbuilding/superdetailing thrown in for good measure.

The seats were also completed at this time, but were not installed until much later. The seats were painted with Model Master and Humbrol enamels, and the black warning stripes on the ejection handles were drawn in with a Sharpie marker after the Insignia Yellow was applied, and allowed to dry.

Once the forward fuselage had been completed, I set it aside for a while, and went to work on the aft fuselage. First order of business was the wheel wells. I've got to tell you, this was probably one of the most complicate wheel well assemblies I've ever seen on an aircraft model kit. Be very careful in assembling these, as it will affect not only the fit of the upper/lower fuselage, but also the sit of the aircraft as well (don't ask me how I know this ;-)). If you have this kit, and afford some extra aftermarket parts, I'd recommend the Aires wheel wells for this kit. It will still require some skill in assembling, but it should make things quite a bit easier.

Once the gear wells were assembled, the upper and lower fuselage halves were joined, and construction commenced on the aft fuselage. The boattail and exhausts were added (another tricky part of the construction process here - I'm not really sure why this had to be a separate assembly, but oh, well.......). The intakes were also completed and installed at this point. To correct the intake ramps, I followed the instructions in Dave Aungst's outstanding article at Hyperscale, which describes the assembly of the Hasegawa F-14 in excruciating detail. I highly recommend it as 'required reading' to anyone building this kit, and I've provided a link to the kit at the end of the article.

Once the majority of work was completed here, the forward and aft fuselage parts were joined, the resultant seam filled and smoothed out, and a coat of primer followed. Now, it's beginning to look like an airplane!

The wings were also constructed at this point, as well as the vertical tails. The vertical tails were also painted and decaled at this point, but not installed until much later. I didn't want to have to do any complex masking, and this was the easiest way to prevent that. The wings/tail were painted, weathered, and set aside while the painting and weathering commenced on the fuselage.

The fuselage was first preshaded, and then painted in the TPS colors of FS36375 Light Ghost Gray for the undersides, FS36320 Dark Ghost Gray for the nose, and FS35237 Medium Gray for the topside surfaces. The paint was thinned with lacquer thinner (great stuff, BTW!), and applied in very thin coats so that the preshading would still show. In addition, some touchup spots were added to the model at this point as well.

The rear fuselage was masked off, and the exhausts were painted in a basecoat of Alclad Aluminum. This was later weathered with very thin airbrushed coats of burnt sienna, thinned with lacquer thinner.

I developed a new technique for weathering on this one, which involved drawing in all of the panel lines with a pencil, and then blending the lines out with an artist's blending stump. This is an artist's tool which looks like a pencil, but is actually tightly wrapped paper. Artists use them for blending pastels and charcoals, and they sell for $1-2 USD at most craft/art supply stores. This was done directly over the basecoat before any clearcoat was applied, so that the end result would blend with the overall paint job.

With this complete, the tails/wings were attached, and the model was overcoated with several coats of Future. It was left to dry for 48 hours, and decals were applied. As far as I can tell, this particular aircraft wore minimal stencils, so I left most of them off. Everything was left to dry overnight, and the next, day, any silvering was taken care of with a careful dose of Solvaset. Go very easy with this stuff, and apply it with a fine brush. It's easy to overdo it, and ruin a decal permanently.

Now that the major construction was complete, it was time to attach the landing gear. These were superglued in, and given a wash of Raw Umber. Gear doors were edged in Red with a Sharpie marker and attached at this time as well. You'll note that some of the gear doors are slightly misaligned. I fixed this afterward, but unfortunately didn't get a chance to take another photo - I'll try to update the photo when I get a chance. Just so you know I fixed it...........;-)

Final details included painting and attaching the canopy, wing glove weapons rails, and seats. The model was airbrushed with Testor's Dullcote, thinned with lacquer thinner, and a final dusting of pastels in select spots completed the model.

Seems strange to sum up the construction of this kit in only a few paragraphs. The truth is, this kit was started over three years ago, and was sidelined a number of times in favor of other projects. You know, ones that can actually be completed! I have to say that finishing this kit pushed my modeling skills to a new level, if only out of sheer necessity to get it done! I recommend it to experienced builders, but the truth be told, I still maintain that the best 'bang for the buck' F-14 in 1/48 is the Academy kit. It is not quite as detailed as the Hasegawa, but it much easier to build, and the detail can be added with a scriber, some elbow grease, and a little determination.