1/72 Hasegawa VF-0S Step-by-step...

[wm cheng]

Here's the assembly together - I'm glad I took the time to add the strips, it make the end profile a bit more interesting. You can see a dab of Mr. Surfacer1000 at the sprue connection points yet to be sanded off. I want to make sure these babies are completely blemish free - since that Alclad metalizer stuff will transmit the slightest imperfections through.

[wm cheng]

The arms glued together and sanded down.

[wm cheng]

Again I am making sure that the seam on the gunpod is totally gone, I am almost polishing it since that Alcad metalizer isn't too forgiving.

[wm cheng]

I thought I add a little detail to the end of the gunpod, the original just butte ends, I glued on a little tiny minus mold vent from those wave option parts (same ones I used earlier on in the thread for the pilot's seat) I think this nice caps off the end of the gun.

[wm cheng]

Here's the leg with most of the putty sanded off - its really important to get rid of the seams along these halves. You can see the panel lines are re-scribed back in.

[wm cheng]

Here's a closeup of the front edge of the intakes on the lower surface. I filled in and sanded away the old panel lines that do not match up. I have re-scribed a new line that matches up across the seam. Its not really parallel with the front edge of the intakes since I thought it be more important to match up to the panel lines on the sides of the intakes (and they are not symetrical in width). You can see a smudge of putty on the left side - I guess that was a minor sink hole that he putty did its job in filling.

It is curious though, there seems to be a bunch of tiny little pits (the small grey dots) around the seam. I finally got a new tube of Tamiya putty (my previous one lasted me 5 years! - it actually dried up when the tube developed cracks) and the new tube was very liquidy - I think the solvent and the putty didn't mix or separated. I am guessing that this liquid pitted the plastic while it was drying (kind of like plastic cement) I am hoping that the grey dots mean that they are filled. I guess I will find out when I do a light coat of flat white as primer soon.

[wm cheng]

Here's the top - there was a bit of a height difference here, so I hope the putty will even this out.

[wm cheng]

Here's the inside of the intakes, that crevice filled - its pretty hard to get your sand paper in there.

[wm cheng]

Here's a parting shot for tonight - its gettting there (to the point where I can zoom it around the room )

Just some more fine sanding and I think I'll takle the airbrakes next. I will drill out the holes, but I want to find some way of thinning the plastic so that it looks more to scale around each of the holes where you'd see the cross-section of the metal.

Sanding and more sanding....

[Stamen0083]

Here's the top - there was a bit of a height difference here, so I hope the putty will even this out.

William, if you think that was something, you will absolutely freak out when you glue the other two pieces on top. I hope you know what I'm talking about.

Very cool strips in the tail cone there. I'm very glad you did them :-D

About the intake panel line, it is parallel to the front edge if the front edge actually covers up completely. In your picture, you can see that there's a bit of missing plastic between the front edge and the left wall, as viewed from the picture. If you fill that area with some putty, the panel line will be parallel again.

Edited April 5, 2004 by Stamen0083

[David Hingtgen]

wm cheng: I'd appreciate it if you could focus on how you mask and paint the intakes, and the wheel wells, in your upcoming posts. Those have always given me problems. (And I've bought like 4 F-14 kits this month, many a well and intake to mask). Of course, since I think the VF-0 will be pure white, there won't be much to mask--make something in camoflage next! But any tips would be appreciated. Especially if you could help me to mask off the lip of an intake. (Especially round ones). The absolute hardest thing to mask, for me, is an airliner's engine---pure white nacelle outside, but a bare metal lip on the outside, wrapping around to the inside. And F-18's aren't much better.

Anyways--before you get to the navigation lights, etc, I noticed something when looking at some of my F-14 pics. While they certainly glow green when on, when off, they're BLUE. Not blue-green, but BLUE. I think that all the Yamatos are actually correct, for "lights off". (The red ones are red regardless, but the green lights look bright blue when off). Something you might want to consider.

Edited April 5, 2004 by David Hingtgen

[wm cheng]

Your right Stamen, thanks for pointing that out, I didn't even think of it till you mentioned it and looked back on the pictures. Instead of adding putty to build it back out, I think I will sand the other side down to even it out a bit - it seems to be the simpler solution, I'll let you know how it goes.

David... we are on the same wavelength - I've just ordered the Verlinden F-14 cockpit update set for my 1/72 Hasegawa F-14 as well as various photo-etched parts (have you ever found photo-etched mirrors for the canopy for 1/72 scale?)and this "quick" canopy mask from Eduard (I am curious since I have never seen or heard anything like it before) I am readying myself for probably my next kit, the Hasegawa F-14 done in the VF-84 Jolly Rogers scheme (I am a bit upset that while Hasegawa has provide top notch Cartograph decals, they lack the canopy white on black names!!). Its been a while since I did a real aircraft (I've built a lot of F-14s in the past - its my favourite, but none I am proud of and none at my current skill level - since I returned to the hobby). I am hoping it will be a nice addition to the Valks.

I use to do the interior intakes in gloss white - while the piece was still out (usually the F-18 and F-14s I've built have the intake piece separate, then I mask the silver - really old F-14 / the bright colours - from the inside and outside and spray the silver. I then glue the intake in (basically with the interior fully painted - and I tape up the opening to seal it. I then fill and sand the piece and eliminate the seams as usual and paint the whole bird. Waiting till the end to take the tape off and I usually have to re-mask the silver and touch it up on top of the gull grey - but only the outside thin edge. I find that if I apply masking tape to the inside and cutting it at the edge, the exterior colour folds around the intake lip while the tape keeps the interior colour protected. Ah, I don't know if you can understand this - its really hard to describe - hope you the gist of it. I'd like to see how you do it - I'm kind of stumped too. Luckily this bird is essentially all off-white. However, I do plan on doing the VF-0 in a grey-white and then re-masking the gear wells and painting them in a bright gloss white.

That's really interesting about the nav lights - do you have any photos of that? Hey if people around here at MW and Shawn would allow us to endulge their bandwidth - maybe we can build our F-14s together here? What do ya say Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself I've still got those dreaded landing gear doors with the injection pin depressions to fill and sand down - that must the worst part to this kit!

[Stamen0083]

I've still got those dreaded landing gear doors with the injection pin depressions to fill and sand down - that must the worst part to this kit!

Those parts shouldn't worry you so much, William. If I've done it, you will be able to do it. All you'll need is a good chisel. Sandpaper you already have.

I think there are many parts to the kit I can find to be worse

[David Hingtgen]

Sorry but I'm not QUITE following how you mask the intakes. (And the fact that the demarcation line between the grey and white on the interior of the intakes varies by squadron doesn't help).

Anyways---I actually like the Fujimi 1/72 for Tomcats, for they are like 95% as detailed as the Hase, but have the great advantage in that they FIT quite nicely. Also, the way they're designed, you can completely paint, decal, and clear-coat the wings and fuselage separately, and then attach the wings as the very last step of all. And still have a working swing mechanism. Finally, Fujimi's come with a full set of *nice* weapons. (I'm not knocking the Hase, I'm just saying why I go for Fujimi--honestly, the fit is 99% of why I buy them) My first decent F-14 was the Fujimi when it first came out, and I noticed the much superior fit right away. (The reason is, because it's assembled unlike any other F-14, in any other scale--I'll describe it if you want).

I am simply not one of those "cockpit guys". I focus on the outside of the plane. Overall shape is usually my #1 requirement for a model. (That and fit).

While the Hase's are more detailed, I do think the Fujimi's have a better nose-shape. (though the rear fuselage nibs are definitely more accurate on the Hase). I do wish they made canopy masks for the Fujimi's. I'm decent at canopy masking, but it's still very stress/fear-inducing.

PS---Fujimi's come with photoetched canopy mirrors. Man, I kept a spare set for years, I'll see if I still have them and send them. (I don't think I do though, but I'll dig through the spares box). Fujimi's have raised instrument detail, and decent ejection seats. Certainly not resin-good, but good enough for me.

PPS---I'm very tempted to buy a Hase 'Cat for the decals alone, it's impossible to find *good* 1/72 VF-111 decals, my fave squadron by far. And the newer Hase have Cartograph... (If anybody's got a Hase F-14 with good VF-111/Sundowners decals, and aren't going to use them, I'd gladly buy them off you)

PPPS----I have an Italeri 1/48 F-14 I plan to build soon as practice. (I just happened to have one). Haven't decided what to build it as yet---don't want to spend much money on decals. Also haven't decided whether to do a really easy all-gull-grey scheme, or to do a tougher one for painting practice as well. I'm going to try out some techniques (including intake and well and canopy masking) on this one before I tackle my pile of 1/72's.

[David Hingtgen]

And here's some nav lights, blue as blue can be.

Left pic is the right wing's light, and the right pic is the one on the underside of the right wing glove. It's a Jolly Rogers F-14B, btw.

[Grayson72]

Here's the inside of the intakes, that crevice filled - its pretty hard to get your sand paper in there.

WM, you need to get yourself a set of jewelers files so you can get into those tight spots, I can't imagine trying to get in there with sand paper.

Also, I have a set of 1/72 photo etch canopy mirrors I got from either squadron.com or greatmodels.com

Try those places.

Edited April 5, 2004 by Grayson72

[Myersjessee]

ohh...good idea...thanks Grayson.

[Stamen0083]

WM, you need to get yourself a set of jewelers files so you can get into those tight spots, I can't imagine trying to get in there with sand paper.

Eek. I'd like to discourage the use of files inside the intake wells here. One slip of the hand and you'll be missing a huge chunk of plastic.

Squadron makes excellent sanding sticks, and the best part is, you can trim it with scissors to get a desired width. I trimmed mine down and used it to sand the inside of the intakes on my VF-0S.

[wm cheng]

Thanks for the tip about sanding sticks, I just dug some up that I purchased several years ago on a whim and have yet to try them out - I'll use them on those little injection pin depressions in the landing gear wells.

Here's a shot of the legs sprayed with some flat white as primer along the filled seams. This helps me see where there still needs to be filled and sanded. Also it helps blend in the grey putty and Mr. Surfacer to the white surrounding parts so that I don't have to use as much paint later on to hide the filled areas.

[wm cheng]

You guys are right those top pieces for the legs fit really poorly common Hasegawa - this isn't up to your usual snuff - what's going on here. It'd even say the gaps around around the order of old AMT/ERTL stuff. Well, I decided to push it to the rear of the leg, leaving the front edge with the big gap - since it would be eventually covered with the grey decal. I lathered on the Mr. Surfacer, then sanded - and here you see a coat of flat white to see where we are. Still not great, but I'll brush on a very thick layer of flat white paint to sand down afterwards to minimize the seam - however, I don't want it smooth, I still want to read a seam here.

[wm cheng]

The arms turned out okay - but also major putty here to make the surfaces flat. I also rushed the sanding of this baby - since I was building it in the small bits of free time I had while workng. I think I may have to go back and re-sand quite a few pieces - the seams are still slightly present

[wm cheng]

Here's the critical seam that I was absolutely nuts about - while the rear portion after the clear sensor domes worked out, there is a slight blemish in the front radome portion. However, I'm glad that I was able to keep the slightly ridged profile - too much sanding could turn the radome into a cone. I will paint a strip of flat white paint and sand that off to seal in the faint seam (not really visible in this photo) but apparent to the naked eye upon really close inspection.

[wm cheng]

Another critical seam that turned out okay. The dark line is the Mr. Surfacer underneath.

[wm cheng]

Another spot to inspect carefully. Remember to continue the scribed panel line across the seam to join the underside (I might of scribbed too deeply)

[wm cheng]

Argh... You can see the slight bump where the sprue originally joined to the forward fuselage halve - damn, I was too impatient and need to sand again to smooth that out. These errors are hard to see before you prime since they are not holes or depressions, they are just the opposite.

[wm cheng]

Another critical seam to get right (there seems to be more of them on this model than any other so far). The two little tabs even though they have been sanded smooth, don't seem to mate up with the lower portion of the rudders too well. I will paint a thick coat of flat white across this seam are re-sand.

[wm cheng]

That's what the thick coat of flat white looks like - I will do this in all the problem areas (which is most of all the critical joints ) and attempt to re-sand again... boring, but necessary to achieve a flawless finish. This is often the step I don't spend enough time on - and I always regret it afterwards.

[wm cheng]

Hey all, I've been sanding, sanding... sanding anytime I get on the bugger. Just when I think I'm done, I prime it in a flat white paint, and some imperfection shows through - so I have to sand it down carefully, using the white paint as a fine filler. After so many tries, I'm pretty much down to the bare plastic. I don't know why I'm having such a hard time this time around - I guess every once in a while you get a model like this - its not that its a bad kit. Just bad luck

[wm cheng]

Finally after 3-4 tries, I get a satisfactory profile from round/circular at the tip feathing our to a point near the clear sensor area. I find the nose cone has to be perfect, its the most prominent part of the model.

[wm cheng]

Here's the other side, with any paint and primer sanded off again. The area where the sprue joins the nose cone has kept giving me problems, is just the opposite of a chunk taken away, it's a very minor lump, that can hardly be seen until you paint it. Hopefully its finally gone now. Looks like I need to re-drill some of those bolt holes around the sensor array.

[wm cheng]

Again, another crucial joint, finally in the right profile, its too easy to sand it flat - but I think it looks better angular but not sharp.

[wm cheng]

ARRGH!! I'm having bad luck with this bird! I don't know if its me or the kit, but I was hoping that this VF-0 would be like the previous VF-1 where the nose section fits almost seamlessly to the fuselage. Unfortunately, when I slide the nose on, it tends to droop down creating a rather large crack here (it may be that I glued those forward leading edges at a slightly downward angle). So I guess I would have to glue this piece on now so I can do any sanding or repair work before I give the bird a first coat. Unfortunately, to close up the gap, I needed much more glue than I applied (I applied very little at first - wanting to leave the seam as a panel line) - but it wasn't enough to hold close the seam. As a result, I had to pry it apart again, and drop in a bit more liquid cement in the seam - unfortunately I think I added too much, because when I closed up the seam, it all oozed out the sides and gave me this mess.

I'll let it dry and sand it flat I hope - I may re-scribe that line in after, but I must have the patience to let it dry completely. Nothing worst than trying to sand away liquid cement excess when its not completely dry - what a mess!

[wm cheng]

This rudder seam turned out okay after more sanding and filling.

[wm cheng]

The leg turned out okay as well after I re-sanded several times, the panel lines continue across the seam to my satisfaction, and the re-scribed intake lip turned out okay too. I should of thinned the forward leading edge of the walls of the rear intake by the feet - here's a tip for others The thick plastic walls always make the model look toyish.

[wm cheng]

The top also turned out okay now (after several tries)- unfortunately I sanded so much that I sort of lost the faint small rectangular panels on the top surface. I would recommend that you glue this top piece onto the legs right away and start filling and sanding with the seams of the legs, that way it's easier to maintain the same slightly ridged profile of the leg.