Small Scale Military Headquarters

Jim,

Glad to see the 4th represented. Wil make a welcome addition the my 51st birds. One question.
Are the Yellow ID bands painted on the bottom of the wings?

Regards,

Mike

The stock engine tubes are a tad small in diameter most noticeable where the nozzles meet the tubes. Rather than disassemble the monster and fabricate new ones I set about to find some acceptable work-a-round. The solution was in the kitchen cabinet... Crystal Light! As it turns out the little cups ...

Here's an overall view from above.

Added some wing gasket detail using stock plastic.

The stock JSI Tomcat comes as an A with the Pratt & Whitney engine nozzles. A now defunct after-market company made a fairly credible resin replacement for the GE F-110 nozzles. They however are not perfect. They are to large and to straight. The real thing is more rounded so being the fanatic that ...

The engine shrouds on the B/D had a row of fasteners around the entire circumference. These appear to be some sort of silver/aluminum recessed screws so I have to drill out these points about 24 per engine. I'm thinking I'll probably punch some thick foil and insert these in the drilled holes. Will ...

This shot highlights some of the panel line corrections and rivet enhancements. Threw in a 1/144 F-14A to show how big this thing really is!

uys, It has been awhile since did any work on the big cat. We lost 2 children in less than a month and I am just getting motivate to work at the hobby. Hope to finish the project this summer before school starts so here goes with a first installment. Not quite finished with panel line and rivet deta...

Nathan,

Received my F-18 Hornet nozzles and they are a huge light-years improvement over the BBi originals. You sent them Sprue Brother quick as well!

Thanks,

Mike

I'm in for a set for the F-18 Hornet. My son was a plane captain on the F-18 deployed to the gulf on the Eisenhower and I want to do the bird up like his plane. The upgraded engines will look great.

Mike

Put me down for a "B" conversion...

Mike

My understanding is a number of early release 1/18th F-14B "Black Knights" Tomcats included resin ordinance as a stop gap until the final versions became available. Would any of those resin owners be interested in selling the resin copies?

Regards,

Mike

Have unopened 21C Blue Nose P-51 "Petie 2nd" will trade for 21C silver "Old Crow".

Regards,

Mike

The goal was to spend Christmas break (high school teacher) working on the big cat but the gods had other ideas. My oldest son returned from the Persian Gulf last year after serving as one of the flight deck crew on the USS Eisenhower. He was a plane captain launching and recovering F/A-18s with the...

Is there any hope that this ordinance will be made available? I'm converting one of my "A" models to a "B" Bombcat and need exactly what is pictured here.

Regards,

Mike

No, I'm in Ann Arbor Michigan... Go Blue!

Mike

I teach high school and the first month is usually pretty tough. This year due to lay-offs our class size is around 35-40plus kids and we are all having to teach multiple subjects meaning no free time. After a month I should get my Saturdays back and will make more progress on the big Cat. Thanks fo...

Another overhead shot of the GE shrouds. This Cat has been sitting in a sun-bleached bone-yard for awhile and the carbon fiber looks bleached almost to a charcoal gray. http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t197/mcaulk/GEShroud.jpg The 2nd pic is a shot of the carbon fiber decal made by Model Sports sp...

Have been studying the engine shrouds on several F-14B/D models and am not entirely pleased with the various shades of metallic grays and or blacks that guys are using. As I'm sure you know these fairings are not metal but unpainted carbon fiber. Last night I stumbled upon a model car site that had ...

I am planning on using Alclad II Pale Burt Metal. It has a hint of gold in it and matches most of the pics I have seen. In addition the stuff is tough as nails once applied.

Regards,

Mike

Guys, Thanks for the encouragement... it is appreciated and at times very much needed. Had planned to simultaneously work an "A" in the VF-111 Sundowners markings. The plan for that Cat was/is a canopy open super detailed cockpit. Have the front fuselage disassembled and the front office ready for d...

tko211, Thanks for the feedback. Yea but to be honest I sometimes wonder if it will ever end. Reworking the panel lines and airframe is taking more then twice as long as my original estimate but I should know by now that is normal. Anyway I will be happy when this is finished. Spent 1/2 the day carv...

Rob,

Thanks for the positive feedback. As you know this is a pretty ambitious project requiring many hours of work. Would love to see some of your pics when you get the chance. Thanks for the offer on research shots may take you up on it. In the mean time take care happy modeling.

Mike

The Tomcat is absolutely covered with rivets... well all aluminum aircraft are but they really show up on the F-14. A couple of examples: http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t197/mcaulk/F-14Drivets.jpg Some of this is due the the low viz paint scheme and anti-corrosion spot painting to fight salt wat...

For some reason the makers of most of these pre-assembled display models feel compelled to make the panel lines extra deep. Some are worse than others and this Tomcat is not ridiculous but the channels are pretty heavy. One observation regarding this JSI model. The overall shape of the airplane and ...