Pegasus Nautilus in 1/144th

by Glenn Estry

Nautilus cover art

Designed by artist Greg deSantis, It is noted that since Disney owns the copyrights to the submarine depicted in their movie, this model is called an ‘artist’s interpretation’ to avoid getting a nasty letter from the friendly legal department at Disney.

The first thing I noticed about the model from the picture on the box, was that it had some resemblances to the Civil War ship H.L. Hunley, most notably, the harpoon mounted torpedo and the heavily riveted hull, which I liked. What I DIDN’T like was the price. $69.00. When I first saw this model, that’s what stopped me, but when I saw this in a hobby shop having a 40% Off sale on plastic models, I went right to the checkout with it. $42 was a lot better price.

Upon opening the rather weighty box, I found 9 sprues nicely wrapped, (some areas covered in protective foam sheet) along with one envelope containing a good sized plate of photoetch and complete set of masks for the ornate windows. The model included a nice interior ‘living room’ that made for some intricate painting and if I wanted, could have made much more detailed. I decided that most likely, the details wouldn’t be seen unless the interior was illuminated, so, off to the internet I go and find Evan Designs website which sells very small LEDs, switches, battery holders, etc.

(http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/ledlights1.html), for $5 (shipping extra), I got an LED, switch, and button battery holder.

The hull and other pieces are nicely engineered and molded well, barely any flash at all and the pieces fit together well. With one complaint; the sprue attachment points are located in the joints of each piece. This means that in order for the pieces to fit tightly/smoothly/evenly, you must get a small file or sanding stick to remove the excess plastic because the joints are rabbeted for the angular construction to work, and will not meet flush with an obstruction there. This was my only beef because it was in multiple places on almost every piece.

The window masks were a nice addition, but they didn’t fit perfectly in every frame. Also, I think the adhesive could have been stronger and the mask made from thinner material to ‘seal’ better on each pane. The photo etch parts were great and there were plenty. A bit of advice:

Since I also build wood ships that contain brass parts, I am a big fan of ‘Blacken-It’, a nitric acid bath to blacken metals. Do NOT use Blacken-It on the photoetch parts. $10 mistake! The railings are so thin, the Blacken-it actually made them weaker and areas fell apart as I tried to pick them up. I called Pegasus and luckily they sold the replacement photoetch for $10 and told me not to use Blacken-it. The railings and side stairs are the most fragile of the photoetch, and, for me, was nerve-wracking, even at 1/144 scale (I have no idea how anyone can work on 1/300 or smaller scales). I decided it will be a long time before I use photoetch for anything ever again.

The giant squid model support/base was made of solid, heavy vinyl. I used CA glue and that worked well, but I was concerned about acrylic paint sticking to the vinyl. I used a lacquer primer and that seemed to work. Nothing much to say about this other than I thought that an actual squid might be

pinkish-gray so I used Vallejo’s Beige Red as the main color and Dark Blue Grey as a wash, then applied a clear gloss lacquer to give it a ‘wet look.’ After painting, I drilled a small hole for the battery wiring and switch for the LED and hot-glued them underneath the base.

The actual Submarine color I chose was Testors Metalizer color, Burnt Iron, a nice black with flecks of brass in it.

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