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Here's a shot of the tail decals in place - becareful to make sure you press the decals into the light engraved details, since those details has to read through at least two layers of decal.

Great job Chris!! Wow, your brush skills are fantastic!! Did you mask then hand brush, or did you do all those sharp corners freehand? Truely admirable, my brush skills have gone down the crapper since I rely too much on my airbrush now - I only brush the smallest of parts . I break out the airbrush for even some really shamefully stupid parts - but I just can't get the paint even and thin enough on large surfaces. Too bad to hear about your panel line problems. There could be one of two reasons or a combination of both. What are you brush painting with (what type of paint?) and did you apply a clear coat (with a different solvent base) to protect the paint before you panel lined? I essentially sandwich my paints with different solvent based layers to protect each other from interacting with each other. The Tamiya Acrylic base coat (acrylic), then a layer of ModelMaster Acryl clear-coat (which is laquer based dispite the name), then artist oil wash (thinned with low odour varsol - mineral spirits). You see that all these three layers have a different solvent base and therefore do not interact with each other. You can go on layering them - I usually use a clear-coat layer to seal in every step of the way. It allows an "undo" to the previous stage should I need to strip anything away. Looking forward to more posts.

You da man Solscud007!! I just got my set on Thursday (8 days to Canada - pretty good) - and I love them!! They arrived all safe and sound with no customs or duty woohoo! Thanks again for letting us know of this deal. Now if only they would sell the CMS figures (both sets) at similar prices!

Have you or anyone else ever used this stuff - it looks neat, it has an interior set (which is the hardest to mask IMHO), and exterior set, so you can paint the interior black and exterior grey (hard in 1/72) plus a slightly undersized set to paint a very thin rubber gasket around all the frames (I don't think I'm that ANAL at this scale - but useful at 1/48!) Plus it includes circular mask for the wheels.

The other side, I would love that square red decal that goes near the head rest that has the seat and aircraft called out - but haven't found it anywhere yet (at least in 1/72 scale). Boy are things limited in this scale.

Here's a side view.

Close up of the PE parts from the Verlinden update kit - its dual layered. Hey a question, I usually use crazy glue for these PE parts, but what do I use on the canopy rails? I want to avoid that fogging crazy glue often gives off, especially evident on clear parts.

Other side

The rocket motor seems so much more defined on the Verlinden.

Other side

Here's a side by side comparison, the darker one is the Verlinden and the lighter one on the right is the True Details. Funny how different they are? Which one should I use (what's your opinion of them?) The Verlinden has those mesh pads over top of the seat cushions, but how do I paint the mesh pattern?

Here's a close up of the pieces, you can see the details on the seats is finer.

Here's the Verlinden cockpit update set. Very nice tubs, unfortunately, where the pilots legs go to the pedals isn't recessed far enough for my taste. The photo-etched parts are not as crisp or detailed as the hase supplied ones are - the canopy frame is missing those pipes (what are they?) but it does include a few nice access panels and most importantly, the fold down ladder sides with the tiny holes drilled out of them (my reason for this kit). It includes the gun bay, I'm not sure if I'll use them since fabricating the access door to scale would be a nightmare. The raised detailling on the panels are excellent though. I was dissappointed that there was no PE of the canopy latch mechanism on the fuselage side - are you aware of any made?

Here's a shot of the True Details seats - actually my first time taking a good look at them since I recieved in the mail and promptly put them in my F-14 kit box. They aren't too bad especially for 1/72! Unfortunately the harness is the same for both seats.

Hey David, this is the Cartograph decal set that comes with 364 - can you tell if there is enough stencilling? I'd love a shot of the CAM data set - they had no pictures of it on their site.

And a close up of the tail fuel dump, is this what you were looking for? Thanks for the site, it was great. I think I will buy a bottle of radome and the grey - since I'm using the MM clear coats anyways, I already have the thinner and solvent - great another type of paint!

Hey David, don't you mean 16440, that's what's in the instructions - can you check that for me. Here's a shot of boat tail sprue.

Here's a progress shot with a few more decals on. I really love the yellow V.Stab tips, they fit like a glove. I recommend painting the nav lights silver first, then a clear red and blue. Then decal the yellow tips one side per fin first. The decal cleans up any mess painting the nav lights would of done - since the yellow will hide and make the red/blue areas perfectly straight. Doing one side of each fin, allows you to properly fold over the excess yellow to the other side. I used a lot of MicroSET first to soften up the decal and allow it to fold over properly. Then when most of the SET is semi-evapourated, but the decal is still soft and moist, I brush on MicroSOL along the edges (fold-over) panel lines/revits and the rear little antenna protrusion. Let it wrinkle up (DO NOT TOUCH AT THIS POINT) the wrinkles will dissappear when the SOL sets. Once one side is completely dry, then do the other side allowing the decal to fold-over the fin to connect up with the previous side. I find this is the best way to decal these two side conditions where the colour must wrap around to the other side. I love it, my only comment is the night formation lights on the tips do not line up exactly to the decals (no biggie) and the black fins are a little large, so if you line them up to the lower panel line on the V.stab, then they fall past the upper panel line by a smidge (which is what I did) but the yellow decal placed afterwards do straighten up this mis-alignment, however if you look very closely, you can make out the black underneath the yellow.

Just more decalling... man are there ever a lot. Here's the head. I brushed the Tamiya chrome marker silver on the head light piece first, then brushed Tamiya clear red over it, it makes it catch the light a bit better than just clear red - it would of been nice if there was a clear part made for this. The black and yellow decal doesn't fit quite right - luckily this is the only piece that doesn't fit well, as I have mentioned before some of the other pieces are a bit oversized, but this piece is a bit undersized. Well its in the belly of the aircraft anyways, so I made sure the top of the head was aligned, which left a little white gap near the visor. I used a lot of MicroSET to get it to conform to all the irregular surfaces. Unfortunately, a excess piece of carrier film that I trimed away made it under the decal in this one spot, and I didn't notice it until it dried. When it catches the light in a certain way, you can just see it in the photo - oh well... no biggie.

My wife has the digital camera tonight... I'll take some shots of the resin seats and cockpit stuff when she gets home. Can you suggest any good aftermarket data or stencil decals for that Hasegawa F-14A Jolly Rogers kit, the catograph decals are good, but it seems to be lacking in some data markings or are they complete in your view. Particularly its missing the pilots names on the canopy - and I guess I'm just used to all those warnings on the VF-1 and VF-0s Doesn't the F-14 have more stencilling than the cartograph decals provide?

So If I want to do whats on that box, I don't mottle it in anyway? Even the top surface? Damn, I was all keen on trying that F-18 article out! Is that box photo, and the plane the cartograph decals are based on an all grey plane? XF20 seems awful dark for FS16440 (what about XF-19 Sky Grey - I'm afraid the decal of the walking surface on top of the intakes might appear lighter against the XF-20 paint) - would you recommend me switching to another type of paint, I wouldn't mind getting a bottle just for this kit - as long as its acrylic. What about a radome equivalent -XF55 Deck Tan? Hey has anyone every used Tenax-7 - what is it like? How does it react to painted surfaces? P.S. I've noticed that the Hasegawa kit also includes a forward gear retracted to accept the catapult too.

Ahh, exactly what I wanted to see - thank you guys so much. Sorry David, it was my typo, I have the F-14A Jolly Rogers reissue not the B or D. I am a bit dissappointed in the tailcone for the A on my kit. But seeing the comparison, I think I will stick to my Hasegawa kit for the time being, I might only do the one or maybe two kits in total anyways. Do you guys want to see my Verlinden cockpit detail set and the True Details seats - I got the older GRU-7 seats to go with my A. I think I prefer the Verlinden ones, the details are a bit finer and they have that woven pad over the seats, not the ribbed looking seat cushions (which always bothered me). Hey the Hase kit also includes the "kneeling" forward gear to accept a cat.

Hey David, is there any differences in the overall body and details between your new F-14D and the older (but not really old) F-14D re-issue (Jolly Rogers) - I don't mean the D or A variant differences, but did they completely re-tool the common airframe parts or is it more of an extra sprues thing. Very nice cat Capt.!

Hey thanks so much David for a really excellent and interesting read - man I just love all this info. Its sometimes hard to follow exactly where you're talking about especially with the Fujimi kit since I don't have one (yet ) so some pictures specific to the parts you are talking about would be helpful (sorry I might be referring to your other original F-14 thread - I was reading them together ). Either case, I will bookmark these for my reference when (or if) I actually start on my kit.

Yes, I have the Hasegawa re-issue of the Jolly Rogers F-14A - just looking at the sprues I really love it. Plus I got the Verlinden cockpit set and true details resin seats as well. Its just too bad the wings don't swing - I can't decide which way to mount the wings, swept for a sleeker look, or forward displaying all those flaps and slats. I am really looking forward to it... someday. I was just curious about the Fujimi kit. Every picture of it I see seems a little "fat", wide near the rear end - I don't know if its just a wide angle lens (you know it puts on 15lbs ) or is the kit a little wider - either case its not flattering. However those mirrors and rubber tires, plus the swing mechanism looks tempting, but the lack of detail - scribbed lines are a bit of a turn off. I might get it if I run across it at a local hobby store - now that I have 4 seats I am dissapointed that the Hasegawa cartograph decals do not include the pilot and rio's names on the canopy - do you know were I might get these, it would look nice beside the Valkyries. On a slightly different note, what type of grey would be the closest Tamiya colour? Sky Grey? I know the FS number is provided, but is there a chart that converts that to Tamiya colours? Secondly, that great article on USN weathering, what era is the Hasegawa re-issue kit? Would it have such a mottled grey paint scheme? I would take it that its past the gloss white belly and grey top, but is it overall grey or a lighter grey in the belly?