When I restarted my model-building hobby, I wanted to have everything perfectly set up at my disposal; all my tools, all my paints so that I could just do what I needed to do (which to me was concentrating on my model. However my A.R.C. friends made me realize that if I really wanted to get the best out of my model-building experience, that I should go right ahead and jump in with both feet. So what if I didn't have every tool that I needed right at the start. The point they imparted to me was that I needed to work with the tools I had and not worry about the stuff I didn't have. Besides going to the hobby shop as you progress through the build was half the fun of building.

And what better way to start this initial build, than start with a little eyestrain inducing miniature aircraft that fits in the palm of your hand. I picked out the Dragon F-14A Bombcat of the VF-41 Black Aces in 1/144 scale. This build is being done on a time limit. The A.R.C./Scaleair 2005 Tomcat Group Build was from January 1st, 2005 to June 1st, 2005. A grand total of 5 months worth of building time. I did complete the F-14A but I didn't enter it into the group build judging. I'll do other builds later on which I may compete. Thanks to Jeremy (Skull Leader) and g0_command0, who told me I should go ahead, join the group build and (with apologies to Nike) Just Do It!

I think what attracted me to this model-kit was the picture on the box. This squadron happens to be my favorite squadron. VF-41 was one of the first blooded F-14 squadrons in the United States Navy. Their distinguished record and motto has been First to Fight; First to Strike in testament to their "firsts" in combat. While on deployment in the Mediterranean Sea on 19 August 1981, during a routine combat air patrol mission over the Gulf of Sidra, two Libyan SU-22 Fitter aircraft were shot down by Black Aces aircraft after an unprovoked firing on the F-14 section. The incident marked the first Navy air combat confrontation since the Vietnam War and the first ever for the F-14A Tomcat. On 22 March 1995 the Black Aces embarked in USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT for a six month deployment to the Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, Arabian Gulf, Persian Gulf, and Adriatic Sea. During this deployment the Black Aces conducted combat operations during Operation DELIBERATE FORCE and Operation DENY FLIGHT over Bosnia-Herzegovina and Operation SOUTHERN WATCH over Iraq logging over 600 combat hours and 530 sorties. During Operation DELIBERATE FORCE the Black Aces became the first F-14 squadron to deliver air-to-ground ordnance in conflict with an enemy force. Late in 2001 the Black Aces, flying some of the oldest F-14A's in the Fleet, began the transition to the F/A-18F Super Hornet. Known for multiple historic combat accompishments, the squadron was selected to be the first naval fleet squadron to operate the Super Hornet.

When I first opened up the box, the first thing that struck me was about 1/144 scale aircraft is the amount of detail that can go into something that is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. And they don't come with instruction sheets. The only instructions you get are on the back of the box. The decals come out very nicely in this Dragon kit. The VF-41 squadron markings are small, yet very clear and crisp.

When separating the parts from the sprues, it's best to cut away from the part, owing as to the size of the part (small). I cut away two connections, and then "broke" the part off the sprue in such a way as to leave a little piece ready to be filed off. The parts were able to be cut off nicely and the plastic was easy to sand.

After taking off the parts off the sprue, I took some time to dry fit the parts. Here are the wings and the main upper and lower fuselage parts. The following pictures show the top, bottom and sideview dry fitted. What's surprising about this kit is the fact that despite it's size, the parts fit together extremely well.

When on A.R.C. someone mentioned that there was a lot of sanding involved for the Tomcat to have the proper dihedral in the wings. The F-14 currently had an angle to the wings that was way out of scale with the real thing. So I had to do as much sanding as I possibly could and somehow managed albeit with a really nasty sanding job to get the proper dihedral. It is my hope that when the final fit goes together, that the wing dihedral problem with straight out. It still goes a bit hinky once in a while. I used a 100 grit 1 inch piece of sand-paper and went at it. (not advisable, unless you're in a hurry like me...I'll clean up the mess later. I just wanted the proper angle to the wings).

BEFORE

AFTER

When I decided to work on the canopy, I had many problems with trying to mask off the small 1/144 canopy. The fact that I didn't have a magnifier lamp at the time made for a real eye-strain session. And not only that problem escalated to "what masking substance or tape do I use to mask this confounded thing?" Finally I just ripped off the masking and painted it by hand with a 10/0 brush. Hence the not too even canopy lines. I will probably do better with a 1/48 canopy.

I decided after that, to attach the engine inlets to the fuselage, and then dryfitted the body together to make sure that the fuselage continued to fit with little problem. Aside from a small gap where the inlet parts attached to the engine, the fit was pretty good. However the gap was removed with Cyanoacrylate (CA).I set the wings, and glued the top part of the fuselage to the bottom side of the fuselage. The method I used was to take four drops of Testors glue to anchor the weld, THEN reinforce the seams with Tenax 7R. That bonded the two parts together and formed a very respectable seamless bond on the right hand side.

I started in on the cockpit, and painted it, I will have to touch it up with a little flat black, and brown. The seats were so rudimentary...No detail at all. It's probably because of the size of the kit, which borders on eyestrain scale...However, some detail can be ad-hock done, like a rudimentary visor and oxygen mask with some black, and grey along with the helmet painted red. All the pilots and seats are, are a shapeless BLOB. So I tried to shape the seats a little better, however not much is being done on the inside and a lot of the detail-work is being focused on the exterior of the aircraft.

Then I decided to hook the cockpit/fuselage with the back end and start working on the fit with both sides attached.

There are things however that detract from a proper fit. These are the things that need to be done before this model is sent to the "paint-shop". I find that there were a number of gaps that needed filling. The wingroot had a rather noticeable gap, as well as the gaps that I mentioned above.

The F-14's wingroot had a gap that needed to be filled with cyanoacrylate, CA or what most of us refer to as crazy-glue. I applied the CA to the gap and it filled nicely. After it dried a little bit, I took a fine-grain sanding stick (received from a friend on A.R.C.) and sanded the CA applied section to form. When I started this, I was planning on building the F-14 Bombcat from VF-41 in a gear down position, but then owing to the size of the landing gear and the fact that my eyes won't take the strain of trying to do it without artificial magnification, my decision switched from doing it gear down to gear up. That also necessitated a major change of venue for that F-14 and turned it into a plaque-like diorama which I will have to get clear plastic rods thin enough to go through the afterburner cans of the F-14 as well as getting a plaque base big enough to support a mountain diorama that I am planning on building. I did some experimenting with CA and talcum (baby) powder to form a real ad-hoc putty to take care of some unsightly seams in the aircraft. I sanded a little too much on the landing gear doors and ended up with a pretty large gap. The CA and talcum powder combination really worked...well as you can see by the pictures on this page. The only problem now is that the F-14 now smells like a baby. Oh well...

As of February, Heather and I got a new camera, a Nikon Coolpix 2200 2.0 MegaPixel camera that has a terrific macro for closeup shots, perfect for our detail shots when it comes to doing up webpages of our aircraft. I'm looking forward to using it quite a bit. Here are some pics that I took with the camera. More better pics to come as I start the paint work.

I finally decided to get off my butt end and paint the F-14. I used Model Master FS36440 (Flat Gull Gray) in a spray can. The coverage went pretty well, unfortunately, though, there are some spots that need touch-up so I'll have to get a bottle of FS36440. After obtaining the colors that I needed to at least do a semi-decent paintjob on the cockpit, I retouched the acrylic with enamels.

The F-14 was had some post-shading done with a HB mechanical pencil, sharpened to a fine point with some soft sandpaper prior to application of Future to seal in the coat. I'm gonna go buy myself a technical pencil used for drafting as that has a really sharp point and is easier to manipulate.

This is the finished aircraft. Well, honestly, not finished entirely, as the base I wanted to make for the Bombcat is not finished yet. I wanted to create a diorama of the F-14A flying over some mountains. That and the fact that the weapons are really too small to do without the aid of a magnifier lamp. This was a very interesting build as it was my first build since coming back into the hobby. Hopefully other builds will help me increase in experience and look better than this one. I'm looking forward to my next build, which is the Monogram MiG 29 Fulcrum.