Tamiya F-14D Tomcat

Andrew Gledhill autor
Update 01. 22.02.25. Hello again, and welcome to a new build. After building a ton of Armour kits, its time for a change. A few months ago I was allowed to get a grant from Models For Heroes to get this kit and a few after market extras. Always wanted to do a Tomcat. They sent me a mask set, resin wheels, quinta studio cockpit set, and 2 ejection seat sets. An Eduard seat set and a Aires seat set. I think the Eduard ones look the best, so I will be using those. Mind you, I am thinking of putting the pilots into this one. So the kit seats might be just as good. Anyway, I have started off with the cockpit tub. This is the first time I have used a quinta studio set. Very easy to apply with PVA glue. But very time consuming. I first removed the raised detail from the various panels. Then I painted the tub with Dark Gull Grey. Then the various quinta panels were put on with PVA glue. Some of the little levers were a right pain to fit, as they kept sticking to my tweezers. Anyway, the tub is now done. Next will be to do the 2 instrument panels and the side panels. That's it for now. Enjoy.

Andrew Gledhill autor
Update 02. 26.02.25. Hi again. Well, I had a thought about the seats. Seriously thinking of putting the pilots in the seats. It depends on how they look when painted. As the pilots will obscure most of the seats, and with it being a small scale. I think I will just use the kit seats, as they look OK to me. I did cut off the block on the bottom of 1 Eduard resin seat to see what it looked like in the tub. To be honest, you don't see a lot of the detail at this scale. So, I have built up and painted both seats instead of using the Eduard ones. Applied the decals that Tamiya provide. Then I have added the grab handle and the side handle markings from the Quinta Studios set. The seats are just test fitted into the cockpit tub for now. I have also done a test fitting of the pilot bodies in the seats. Will just have to see how they look fully built up and painted. I bought an AK Pilot Uniform paint set for that. That's it for now. Enjoy.