Worth a follow

I found this blog via Twitter and it's definitely worth a follow!

Naval Air History is exactly what it says on the tin and looking forward to reading up over the Christmas holidays.

All the best.

Dermot

Tophatters Tomcat done!

And that's Tomcat #3 for the year done. Just to recap, this is the Airfix F-14 which I built mostly OOB but with rescribed panel lines and ejection pull rings for the seats. Decals are from the kit and she's brush-painted throughout.

Of all the Tomcats for this year, I'd have to say this is my favourite, probably because I wasn't expecting much from it.

And next up? Why another Tomcat of course! This time, a VF-2 CAG bird from Operations over Afghanistan.

JFK visits Dublin 1996

Can't believe I haven't posted since August! Terrible! I blame the modelling. Or the Summer.
Or modelling during the summer. Anyhow, the Tomcat builds have continued, this time with a VF-14 Tophatters F-14 of the USS John F Kennedy when it visited Dublin in 1996.

I remember this - my parents were lucky enough to get out to the ship while I remembering seeing some of the carrier air wing at Dublin airport - I do have photos from that day but they've got lost in the almost 20 years since then..


(Photo used with permission from Jonathan McDonnell)
Kit selection was Airfix's trusty old F-14A, in the re-boxed edition with these very decals.

It's not a state of the art kit by any stretch, but thought it would be fun to build it, maybe add some detail to it, maybe re-scribe some of the panel lines (that would be a first)

I've already added some strip detail to the main u/c bays. As for the nose wheel bay, less said, the better!

Fast forward through the late Summer, Autumn and into the depths of Winter and she currently looks like this...You can read the full build log here and more about the oldest active squadron in the US Navy, VF-14

And finally, the Sea Harrier from my last post won a Bronze at the 2014 IPMS Ireland show - you can see more of the entries at this link. Was really chuffed with that and another vote for naval airpower!

Until next week, thanks for visiting!
Dermot

Fast Eagle 107 done...and a friend.

So with some summer holidays finally here, that means the pace of building pics up a little! First up, the finished Fast Eagle 107, as she looked back aboard on USS Nimitz, 19 August 1981. The crew were pilot Lt. Larry Muczynski and RIO Lt. Jim Anderson.

"The leader, whom I had gone after, had completed his climbing turn and was heading straight away north-northwest. He started a slight right hand reversal but I had obtained a good firing position behind him. I armed up my AIM-9L and also fired from station 1A. The Sidewinder went right up the guy's tail pipe and blew off everything from the wing roots rearward in a tremendous fireball".



"Since I was only one-half mile from at the guy's dead six, the thing that scared me most was that I would shoot myself down because of the FOD (Foreign Object Debris) going down the engines"



"I did a 6g pull-up straight into the vertical and when I cleared the debris pattern, I rolled inverted. I looked down and could see everything from the wings forward spinning on its way down and the plane on fire. After about two turns, I saw the pilot eject from the aircraft."

And here's my other recent build, another famous Naval fighter - Italeri's Sea Harrier FRS.1 This is finished as 'Black 14' of No. 899 Naval Air Squadron, HMS Hermes, South Atlantic, May/June 1982.

This aircraft took part in the first bombing raids of the conflict and also shot down an Argentinian Skyhawk and two Daggers in the space of three days in May. Now I know why they were nicknamed "La Muerta Negra". You can view the build at this link

Until the next time, thanks for looking.
Dermot

Fast Eagle 107

So this build of the first air-to-air kill by a Tomcat is almost done. It's Fast Eagle 107 from USS Nimitz in all over Light Gull Grey of VF-41 Black Aces. You can read more about the build (including pics) on this link

Also gave the crew a 'Black Ace' insignia on the back of their helmets...kind of. The belts are from wine-bottle foil.

I think the Ace on the tail should be a dark grey, not black but went with the kit decals. The only change was to remove the silhouette decal of the Su-22 Fitter - that was applied on the a/c post combat but this build is as she looks after recovering aboard that morning.

Will post some better pictures tomorrow, once I find the proper camera! Will also post some quotes from that day.

Thanks for looking.
Dermot

Getting on with it...

So haven't posted in a while but will get better at that - work and life getting in the way too much!

Since the last post, the latest Tomcat has come on a bit. It's the Hobby Boss F-14A in 1/72 and will be finished in a Black Aces Scheme from 1981 - dull scheme but interesting story!

The kit..

Some refs and reading material (more of that in a future post)

The jet I'll be building, not long after it splashed a Libyan Su-22 in the first all swing-wing air-to-air combat.

And how she looked last night with paint on. The wings have been finished first to help ensure they still move.....a bit gimmicky for sure but wanted at least one build with moving wings.

You can read more from this build (and some other great Tomcats) on the following thread

And since the opportunity came up, I've also taken on another classic carrier fighter with this build..

As always, thanks for looking.

Best, 

Dermot

Some classic retro Royal Navy Blue Water Ops

In between my builds on the Blue Water Ops (more of that later), I really enjoyed this clip of Royal Navy Phantoms and Buccaneers doing traps (and some bolters) aboard HMS Ark Royal in the 1970s.

The clip is courtesy of Jay on the Britmodeller Forum and the original footage is from a 1970's documentary series called 'Sailor'. Groundbreaking TV for it's day really. I think the series in full is now available on DVD and as a nipper, I seemed to recall it covered different stories aboard the 'Ark, not just the pilots.

All the best,
Dermot

So that's VF (one) Tomcat built...on to the next VF-4(one)

So finally got the first of this year's year of Tomcats done.

I'm not really happy with the final satin varnish (which took an age to go off) and there's a couple of goofs in the build. But for a kit almost as old as myself, (issued 1975 - the kit, not me), I'm happy with it!

Next up, a VF-41 Black Aces jet from 1981 involved in the Tomcat's first air-to-air kill...of another swing-wing jet as it would happen. The kit is a little newer, being HobbBoss' F-14A from a couple of years back.

This scheme won't be so colourful - all over grey by the look of it!

Dermot

The future of carrier aviation..and part 3 of the Tomcat build

I came across this picture the other day.

It's a VF-1 Wolfpack F-14A Tomcat (the plane I'm building) being launched by catapult from the USS Enterprise. It's sometime in 1974 during the first deployment of what for its time was a cutting edge fleet interceptor.

Fast forward almost 40 years to 2013. This is the latest cutting edge plane being launched from a carrier. Except this one is like something from the time of the Enterprise of science fiction fame. This plane is the X-47.
It's unmanned. And it's being launched from the deck of an aircraft carrier. Now granted, it didn't get to land but it did two low passes before returning to land at an airport. Impressive stuff.

The stuff of science fiction but now reality. And the future of carrier aviation. Speaking of VF-1, here's the latest on my build (which I think is part 3) First, the missile, wings and tails finished up.

The aluminium leading edge on the wings was way too wide (thanks Ruari) so corrected that. Before...

And after...much better!

The fuselage got a white primer coat (like everything else) from a spray can which also acted as the white colour for the build. Probably not best for larger scales but good for 1/72 once I added Future on top to gloss it. The wavy pattern of Gull Grey was by using a 'wavy' mask and then gently removing the paint ridge afterwards (as i'm a brush painter)

And after painting the nose, wing sealing bladders and glare panels. Added the tails too (after a bit of fettling to make them fit).

And as she looked last night, with one side of her wonderful 1970s colour scheme decals applied. Some of the 'slime' lights are a little off - based on the moulding on the fuselage - but I think the old girl looks great! Now to do the left side..

F-14 for 2014 - Part 2

So here's the latest on my first build for 2014.
Got the cockpit finished and fuselage all buttoned up. For a 1970's kit, the fit is great! Apart from seat belts from Tamiya masking tape, the cockpit got ejection seat handles from fuse wire. And the kit decals.

And if you're wondering where the wings are, I'm building, painting and finishing those separately - make it easier to paint them when they're not on the kit.

And because this is such a short post, here are just two of the many great Tomcat videos out there. Great footage in both. especially VF-31 Tomcatters last cruise. Enjoy!

Dermot

My first F-14 for 2014 - Part 1

Thanks for visiting and following - sorry for not posting in a while.

Modelling took a back seat during December - the Christmas festivities took away my work bench (i.e. the dining room table) and then the death of my Mother following her long and dignified battle with Alzheimer's didn't make me feel like modelling for a while.
I'm finally getting back to the hobby my Mum encouraged me to keep at when I was a kid - I built many a Spitfire and Sherman on the kitchen table.

So here's the first of my year of F-14's for 2014. It's the old Hasegawa issue from the mid 70's (?) and will be finished as a VF-1 aircraft. As mentioned in a previous post, I'm just building F-14's this year.
A one-man, single type group build!

The parts total 95 ('Precision Parts' says the box cover) and for it's time, it raised the bar for F-14 kits and was the standout in this scale for years until the arrival of the Fujimi and newer Hasegawa issue which both had engraved lines, etched parts and a much bigger parts count.

This kit is a mix of raised and engraved details with options for the engine nozzles and a compliment of Phoenix, Sparrow and Sidewinder missiles (which the newer Hasegawa kits don't have!) The original decals with this issue are very basic - the sheet here is from the newer issue by Hasegawa and were sold with the kit by fellow club member Murfv (thanks) 

Unfortunately, the cockpit is of the 1970's - very basic ejection seats and no flying controls or cockpit details?! So some scrap card/plastic later and we're at this stage: I'll use the kit cockpit decals for this.

Overall, a dry fit reveals no major issues except for the usual trouble spots on the F-14 build: the nose to fuselage join, the lower intakes fit and the rear fuselage fit (just behind the wing bladders).

I'm also going to follow F-14 expert builder and good guy Andy Mullen's advice on building and finishing the wings (with paint and decals) before inserting in the fuselage - should make like a lot easier.

Thanks for looking and enjoy your modelling.

Dermot