**** DONE: 1/40 Grumman F-14 "Tomcat" - Carrier Aircraft GB

[Lucky13]

Nice work Mr. C!

 

[A4K]

With all, looks great Charles!

 

[ccheese]

Spent most of the modelling day sanding and doping the fuselage and wings. Sorry no pic's. FWIW, the wings are constructed of extremely soft balsa. Painting them with clear dope was like trying to paint a sponge with a brush and a bucket of water. Hope to work on the tail feathers tomorrow.

Charles

 

[A4K]

Looking forward Charles, but all in good time!

 

[dirkpitt289]

WOW, that is so cool

 

[ccheese]

Managed to get the tail feathers constructed, today. Will start covering the wings tonight.

Charles

 

[fubar57]

Looking great Charles. Regarding the wings, is there an option to pose them open?

Geo

 

[ccheese]

Looking great Charles. Regarding the wings, is there an option to pose them open?
Geo

Geo: Yes. There is a completely different set of wings for the extended position. You can make both sets of wings, and change them to suit your mood. My plane, when finished, will be a ceiling hanger, so I prefer the wings swept back and the gear up. The wings, shown in post #66, are for the the extended position.

Charles

 

[rochie]

looking great Charles

 

[brucejscott]

Really nice Charles. What is the purpose of doping the balsa before covering it?

 

[woody]

Nice work Charles

 

[Wurger]

 

[A4K]

Great work Charles! Nice option with the wings too, well thought out.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Am very impressed with your skill with this one Charles.

 

[parsifal]

My favourite carrier bird of the modern eera. Nice choice charles, and this will be interesting, I can tell

 

[Wayne Little]

really enjoy these Balsa Builds!

 

[ccheese]

Really nice Charles. What is the purpose of doping the balsa before covering it?

Bruce... the balsa has to be "sealed" so when you apply the dope to cover the wing (or whatever) is doesn't get absorbed into the wood. After three to five coats of clear dope the wood is sealed. After the plane is covered you have to apply a mix of 50/50 clear dope/thinner to seal the pores in the tissue, for the same reason. This usually only takes three coats. After the pores of the tissue are sealed you can paint it an get a good gloss finish.

Really enjoy these Balsa Builds!

Wayne... Glad you're enjoying the balsa build. You should try one ! I'll send you a T-28 if you want it !

Covered the wings, last night and started to cover the forward end of the fuselage. Note: Guillows has started shipping their models with a gray tissue (see the wings). I have white left over from previous builds, so will do the fuselage in white tissue.

Charles

 

[rochie]

coming along nicely Charles

 

[ccheese]

Which reminds me..... working on the cockpit interior (what a joke !). Does anyone have any info as to the color of the instrument cluster modules or the ejection seats ? This model does not have an instrument cluster as such, just a dome kinda thingy that would simulate the panel cover. Pic's after I get it put together.

Have edited the post to include pic's. The arrows point to the consoles I am taking about, these are glued in place. The "ejection seats" are just sitting there. Sorry the pic is out of focus, I took this pic four times. My camera just will not take a close-up.

The other pic shows the jet intakes which have been added. The front section of the fuselage is all covered.

Charles

 

[Wurger]

I had a quick view through the net sites and I found thet these instrument cluster modules were of brown-tan colour partialy and partialy black. The brownish areas seem to be covered with fabric or similar material. In a few others shots these areas were dark grey. Here is examples ..