Okayyyyy... F-14A to F-14B

Its been decided, F-14D is simply not possible with the current state of progress. After much help from the helpful peeps at Plamo, I've decided to convert the F-14A to F-14B with a pair of look-alike GE engines.

Did some progress today:

From 1/72 F-14A Tomcat

From 1/72 F-14A Tomcat

From 1/72 F-14A Tomcat

From 1/72 F-14A Tomcat

From 1/72 F-14A Tomcat

Aircraft reference pics are taken from HERE

F-14A to F-14D!! Time to AMS!! (at least a little)

I've been doing some research online about the F-14 variants and I've decided to AMS a little for this build. I'm gonna convert the F-14A that I have into a F-14D, the reasons are:

1. I've attached the wrong exhaust to the tomcat a few months back. Now I've realised my mistake I intend to correct it

2. I prefer the GE engine design that the F-14B and F-14D have rather then the original TF30 engines. Coincidentally I've got two those GE engines left over from the F-15C build.

Here goes the modding process:

From 1/72 F-14A Tomcat

From 1/72 F-14A Tomcat

From 1/72 F-14A Tomcat

From 1/72 F-14A Tomcat

From 1/72 F-14A Tomcat

From 1/72 F-14A Tomcat

The rescribing ordeal

Started re-scribing the F-14 a few days back, and there has been slow progress.

I shall let the pics do the talking, so far I've only completed the top of the body and the left side of the cockpit. Many more parts left to re scribe!!

From 1/72 F-14A Tomcat

From 1/72 F-14A Tomcat

From 1/72 F-14A Tomcat

BTW, I've just re-watched Top Gun this morning and damn that show is nice!! This is probably the umpteen time I've watched that show and I simply cannot get sick of it! Love the dogfights! Top Gun is Top Gun.

F-15C Photoshoot

Managed to take some photos of the F-15 using Ah-Weng's camera. My photo-taking skills still suck big-time, there are a few pics that are out of focus. Currently working hard on my F-14, will post some work in progress soon.

From F-15C Completed

For more pics please visit F-15C or leave comments at Plamo

Sneak Preview!

Completed Syncbeam's F-15 this morning. Here is a sneak preview of how it looks like.
Gotta find myself a camera.

From Academy 1/72 F-15C

From Academy 1/72 F-15C

From Academy 1/72 F-15C

The panel lines are abit shallow on this kit hence the lines are nt very visible. Think next time must deepen the lines before painting.

The decals took me ard 2hrs to finish, do until cross-eyed.. Gonna print the base tml and it will finally be complete!

A Re-cast Special!!

Since I could not get my hands on Daiso's mouldable rubber(2-pc type), I decided to try out recasting using Bondite epoxy putty. This being my first time doing recasting I'm pretty happy with the results.

Here's a picture of the mould:

From Academy 1/72 F-15C

Casting casting(This whole thing feels heavy!):

From Academy 1/72 F-15C

Results:

From Academy 1/72 F-15C

Looks a bit oblong:

From Academy 1/72 F-15C

Lessons learnt:
Must open a hole for the excess epoxy putty to be squeezed out. This time my re-casted fuel tanks are slightly out of shape due to too much putty and the mould was not able to close fully.

Bremen Stickers

Got these stickers as souvenirs for a couple of friends from Taipei. I bought them from elsite bookshop near Taipei 101, they were also spotted at the bookstore in Tao Yuan Airport Terminal 2. There are quite a few selection of interesting stickers avaliable.

From Random

For more info do visit their site HERE

F-15 almost ready

Nearing completion of the F-15C Eagle, painted the missles wheels engines etc. today. All that's left is:

From Academy 1/72 F-15C

1. Paint Main Body
2. Gloss/Future the whole kit
3. Wash the kit
4. Apply decals
5. Flat Coat

Hopefully i would be able to return this kit to Syncbeam before school reopens.

BTW, Dad managed to find BONDITE epoxy putty near his workplace, currently trying to recast the fuel tank. Hopefully it works. Keeping my fingers crossed

Astray Photoshoot

Finally managed to take some pics with my old Panasonic DMC-FX7. The usual camera(Casio Ex-Z600) that I take photos with was busted during the trip to Taiwan.

From Astray Red Frame

For full gallery visit:
Picasa Gallery
or
Plamo

Update on the Eagle

Almost ready for painting, all that is left is to do a little more sanding to smoothen the areas around the seams.

From Academy 1/72 F-15C

From Academy 1/72 F-15C

From Academy 1/72 F-15C

Our Future looks good and smells nice too!

Finally got my hands on a bottle of Future, tried it out on the F-15 canopy and my F-14 too.. I must say "THIS SHIT IS DOPE!!!" The canopy after glossing it with Future is damn shiny man.

From Academy 1/72 F-15C

From Academy 1/72 F-15C

One more thing Future smells damn nice too! It has some kind of fresh lemony smell to it.. Seriously, this stuff is addictive!

F-15 for Syncbeam

This was meant as a brithday present for Syncbeam. In the end he asked me to do for him..

The engine is UBER troublesome!! Arghz, killed alot of cells trying to glue the tiny sticks on to the engine!

From Academy 1/72 F-15C

Initally i thought this would be a easy destress build. I thought: "no need to re-scribe panle lines should be easy ba". How wrong was I. The fitting of the kit is horrible!

From Academy 1/72 F-15C

From Academy 1/72 F-15C

From Academy 1/72 F-15C

Lots more work to do...

Only left with photoshoot!

After spending all night decaling the Astray, its finally complete.

From Astray WIP

All thats left with is to take some proper photos. Completely burnt out.