Academy F-14 Tomcat

Kit #12471 in 1/72nd

by Paul Gasiorowski

Academy 1/72 F-14A Tomcat

I just pulled a kit out of the stash, decided on 1/72 since it will be a small build OOB. The kit consisted of 3 sprues of plastic parts and 1clear sprue. As usual I washed the parts in a soapy solution and set aside to dry.

I started with putting some weights in the nose of the plane. Some of the assemblies were being built at the same time. The wing assemblies were put together as the wings can be swept back and forward. Seats consisted of 4 parts each. The seats were painted in steps as several different colors were used. I used a black wash on the seat assemblies to show some age. Most ejection seat handles are black and yellow, I just painted them yellow. Painting 1/64″ stripes seemed like a little over kill. Maybe if I had a thick cat whisker it might work. The cockpit was painted and decals were added to the side panels and the instrument panels. There were 15 decals had to be put into the cockpit tub. The seats won’t be added till the end of the build.

The cockpit tub was inserted into the nose halves and set aside to drive. Several parts were added to the cockpit tub, such as the canopy frame and heads up displays on the top of the instrument panel.

I glued the wing assembly and fuselage halves together. The right and left intakes were put in place and the fit wasn’t very good. I had to glue one side and then push the other edge in place and glued it. This had to be done for both sides. The fan blades were painted and inserted in place. They are so far back that they are hard to see.

F-14 port rear view

Attaching the nose assembly to the fuselage was a butt joint. To insure a better fit I attached 1/16″ thick styrene strip to the fuselage and then attached the nose assembly. This helped cut down on the seam that was sure to show up and did.

F-14 starboard front view

While some of the assemblies were drying I painted the missiles and other appropriate parts GLOSS WHITE. After the missile dried I added the appropriate decals. Quite a

few small parts had to be cemented to the fuselage top and sides, IE, small antennas. The fuselage was then painted MM Gloss Gull Gray FS16440, with 2 light coats. Set aside to dry I continued with the decaling of the missiles. I then gave it a couple of coats of FUTURE. The tail assemblies were repainted flat black and coated with FUTURE and the decals were added.

F-14 topside view

This was time to add all the decals to the fuselage, which there were many. This was also a time consuming process. The decals went down pretty well, by using a little FUTURE in the process.

The last parts to be glued were all the small parts, landing gear doors, missile assemblies. Most of the landing gear doors had very small areas to have cement added to them. It was a long process since a piece had to be glued and set aside to dry, before proceeding to the next part.

The exhaust nozzles were painted with a mix of titanium and aluminum spray paint and then glued in place. The tires were painted Flat Black and the hubs Gloss White. The wheels were then flattened and attached. I used Aluminum Bare Metal Foil for the leading edges of the wings and tail assemblies. This had to be carefully applied because if the foil needed to be moved it would lift the paint.

Prior to painting I dipped the canopy in FUTURE and set aside to dry for a day or two. To paint the canopy I used Tamiya tape to edge out the frame and then painted the canopy.

F-14 topside view

F-14 port view

Immelmann’s Eindecker

Eduard Eindecker in 1/48th

by Dick Smith

Eindecker box art

All of the major model manufacturers have produced replicas of the Fokker Eindecker. However, presently the only 1/48th scale kit of the E-II, flown by Lieutenant Max Immelmann, produced by Eduard from the Czech Republic is readily available. This is a very complicated, fragile model with many parts which builds into a very accurate representation of this important WWI fighter.

Eduard’s kit (#8156) contains the correct cowling and wings unique to the E-II version. Construction starts with the detailed cockpit which contains more than 30 plastic and photo etched parts. The interior fuselage sidewalls are painted “sand,” FS-33531, with a drop or two of dark tan, FS-30219, to give the pilot’s compartment some contrast from the exterior faded doped linen. I use an un-tinted bottle of “sand” or the slightly more yellow, radome tan, to replicate the exterior sun-bleached fabric. The cockpit and forward fuselage is surrounded by a cage of steel tubing which is painted gray, RLM-02. Paint the seat RLM-02, the cushion “leather” and then drape the etched metal seat belts into place. Follow the rest of the instructions for the cockpit construction that call for parts to be painted “wood,” steel, brass, and flat black, FS-37038.

The cockpit must be assembled carefully since tolerances are close and any mistakes will prevent the fuselage from closing properly. Attach the elevators to the fuselage and then stuff some wet tissue into the cockpit area. Select the correct wing panels and paint the fuselage, wings, and elevators “sand.” Mask the forward fuselage and paint it with a base coat of steel along with the engine cowling parts. The metal here appears to be covered with “swirls.” This effect can be duplicated with an over-brushing with Citadel’s “ironbreaker.”

The Oberursel rotary engine is sprayed with steel and dry brushed with flat black to bring out the cylinder detail. When the engine is dry, carefully attach the photo etched ignition harness, glue the finished engine to the fuselage, and attach the cowling side panels.

Set your basic airframe assembly aside and construct the landing gear struts which are painted RLM-02. The wheel hubs are the same shade as the fuselage and the tires are flat gull gray, FS-36440. (German rubber was not colored with lampblack in WWI and thus the light gray appearance.)

The underside of the top forward portion of the fuselage holds the rudimentary instrument panel. The single Spandau machine gun, that utilized the Fokker designed interrupter gear and allowed it to fire through the propeller arc, is attached to the fuselage. An etched metal cooling jacket is provided for the gun along with an ammunition belt and spent shell collector chute.

Select the correct prop for the model, paint it wood, and then brush it with clear orange to give it a varnished, high gloss appearance. A profile of the markings for the Eindecker shared by Immelmann with Lieutenant Oswald Boelcke in 1915 can be found on the bottom of page 39 of Osprey’s “Early German Aces of World War I” by Greg vanWyngarden.

The kit contains the wing Maltese crosses with white backgrounds and a second set without the white bands. I used only the national insignia crosses and painted my wing upper and lower backgrounds with insignia white, FS-17975. At the same time, I sprayed the rudder white and applied their black insignia.

Eindeckers were agile fighters that used “wing warping” for control in flight. As a result, the aircraft used several sets of control cables to enable it to maneuver in combat. The back page of the instruction sheet provides a diagram of the rigging. There are several methods of applying the wires; stretched sprue or a light duty fishing line. I prefer .020 stainless steel wire measured to the proper length utilizing pair of drafting dividers.

With the rigging compete, spray a coat of decal sealer overall, and your Eindecker is ready for display.