F-14A/B Tomcat VF-111 VF-103 (1)

It has been awhile since my previous build on a Tomcat. Instead of he Fujimi kit that I have done at the start of 2009, I am returning to this Hasegawa kit. I have built the same VF-103 Last Flight a few years ago. of course, the result is not very good in the eye of today. And I will be working on 2 kits at a time so my piles of F-14 can be relaxed more quickly. So let's see how this couple will get along.



These 2 are actually 2 different versions. F-14A follows its own standard manual, while the F-14B follows the F-14A Plus manual. The main difference will be the parts used for their nozzles and some minor parts around the frame. But basically these 2 are the same kits.


There is a piece of photo etch attached to each kit. Each consists of some cockpit dashboards and some cockpit accessaries like mirrors.
I have quickly assembled the 2 cockpits with their respective PEs.

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro F60 (4)

After a couple of weeks, the de-canned paint has settled and also grew a little thicker. This will be doing me a lot of good in the coming painting work.

Before actually applying the de-canned TS85 paint, I have a final check of the cowlings to make sure no pin marks were missed and to fixed some of the gaps. And them primed the entire frame with Finisher Foundation Pink. This should help to give brightness to the red on top of it.
I have painted both sides of the end plates before hand so the white at their top part is painted first.


After the primer, the de-canned TS paint was diluted with Gunze lacquer thinner. In this way, the paints are not subjected to lengthy drying time as normal enamals.
The covereing power of this paint is good. I can easily get the color saturated without over-shooting the color into a darker tone.


The parts will be un-touched for some while until the paint dry out. In the mean time, I can work on something else like the cockpit, the engine.... or some other kits as well. XD

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro F60 (3)

Finally, I have found myself a comfortable moment when I can sit down a while and get this little thing done. What I am trying to do is to collect the paint in the spray can with great care so I didn't risk any chance spitting the paint everywhere.

There are a few things to be prepared, a paint bottle; some pieces of clean paper; a straw; a rubber band and some blue tack.

First of all, cover the openning of the bottle with the paper and fix it with a rubber band. Then prepare a 3~4cm of the straw.
Open a little hole at the roof of the bottle. Install half of the 3~4cm straw into it. This time, fix the straw with some blue tack so the straw wouldn't drop into the bottle or rise when the air is pushing from inside of the bottle.

The picture below shows my first attempt tonight.


However, After a few sprays, I felt the need to cut open some little holes on the roof. This let the compressed gas releasing from these holes instead of pushing back towards the straw. (Well, you may imagine by the time the gas releasing from the straw, the paint comes together too!)

So finally, I have opened some little hole around the straw too.

After some careful "spraying", I have collected half bottle of the TS-85 paint. You may notice the bottle looks like a can of coke refresh from the refrige. And indeer it is very cold. I am not very good at Physics but I can tell it is a perfectly physic stuffs. So no worry! When the paint cool down for a while, it is as normal as what came out from a regular Gunze paint.

And here is the finished one, a pure TS-85 paint for airbrushing.

PS: I have just be able to collect half bottle, because then I have collect certain paint in the bottle, an extra spray push a lot of paint from those little holes. I think the size of the bottle and the size of the holes has limited the amount of gas releasing from the inside. I am really not some Physics guys but anyway, I think I can get some more of the paint with ease later on even I have used up this half. So why would I risk messing up the place?!