International Scale Modeller

guys n seats pretty much done. I will leave the canopy unglued for a few days to do a last tinker with the cockpit details before they are sealed up forever. The canopy also has a seam along the top that needs to be dealt with
The rear guy is very distorted by the curve of the canopy.























First coat of black on the wings n stabilisers. The black shows up Everything. No need to worry if the panel lines n rivets will be visible. Every little scratch and mark can be seen. So I have quite the job of of applying the black, then rubbing it all down to get everything smooth. You can see on the wing where the primer has some tiny bumps, and when the black was rubbed back these show through as grey dots. I couldnt feel or see these in the grey primer. Plus the black mixture I have goes on very orange-peely so not sure what to do about that. Im thinking rubbing it back to smooth, very thin coat to hide any rub thoughs, then clear coat very thin to get a smooth surface for the decals.

Superb work going on here

Kevthemodeller wrote: Mon Jul 21, 2025 3:40 pm Superb work going on here

Thanks Kev


Finally got around to another update.

After masking and spraying the canopy, then removing the tape, there was all sorts of crap under the clear plastic. It was so bad I decided to cut off the canopy, clean it and stick it back on.
And I did this twice...
After the second time I stuck some magnets on it and the fuselage, so the canopy is now removable for cleaning. What a pain all that was.

These pics show a relatively large flake of sandpaper, in front of the seat, stuck on the inside of the canopy.





Various repair pics




















However painting is mostly done with the black. Almost ready for decals I think.
After spraying black undercoat, I rescribed all the lines and rivets.
Then hit it with Mr Color GX series Ueno Black. I have no idea how it differes from other blacks, but the GX series are supposed to be top quality.










However hard I tried I could not eliminate these join lines.


Final coat

The canopy survived both the removal and cleaning....that's a win although painful.
Getting more impressive each week.

digger303 wrote: Tue Jul 22, 2025 10:02 am The canopy survived both the removal and cleaning....that's a win although painful.
Getting more impressive each week.

Yes, it is a bit of a miracle that it didnt get damaged in some way. Turned out better in the end being removable.

The black paint was polished with Tamiya red and blue compound, then sprayed with a very thin black to cover where the paint was rubbed though. Came up very shiny, far better than I expected. I read in a Tamiya instruction book that the compounds can be used to polish plastic before painting. Will try that on my next car body.

Most of the decals are on. It looks pretty good on the stand now, but still lots of work to do. The clear coat and subsequent polishing and panel line work will be next.

Looking seriously good

Thats an impressive looking beast!!

So good , serious skills at work.

Bit of a bummer these film free decals. Did everything by the book and they let me down.






Luckily I have the (crumbly) kit decals as backup to fix this mess.



Uprise Decals - Film Free Technology - Simply not up to the money I spent on them

OUCH! Looks like you have a solid recovery plan though.

That is a crappy outcome after spending good money.

DRUMS01 wrote: Sun Aug 03, 2025 10:27 pm OUCH! Looks like you have a solid recovery plan though.

Solid enough. Not the best outcome I was after but at least not a total disaster with emails sent off to the supplier of the decals and that sort of crap. I will be hesitant to use these decals again though, only when there's no other option available.

anyhoo, its finally ready for a clear coat after the disaster recovery












clear bits. Made the tail light, the front sensor was included in the kit. Am also making the wing tip lights









And I found these at the LHS today. Looks pretty cool, a polishing cloth for fine curves. Got a 2000 and 3000 grit.

Interesting to see how it performs and how long it lasts.

Well, this thing's finally done. 3 months it took, and was quite tricky to get the surface smooth gloss black with panel lines and rivets. All the scribing and dotting rivets did pay off as they show up just beautifully I think. Wings and horizontal stabilizers are removable for storage and transportation, as is the canopy for cleaning out the dust.

Overall Im pretty happy too. rushed it a little bit at the end, but It looks nice on the stand and will look great in the hobbyco display window. I'll add some shots of that when its installed.

Thanks to everyone who followed along, and to those who provided encouragement. It was quite a project and I felt like it would have been a real chore if I didnt have other people to bounce the progress off. This community is really great for that.

sorrry about the crappy photos, the indoor ones are before final touch up, and Im not in much mood to take better pics as this thing really did drain me a bit. Because of this Im having a spell from building for a while.

digger303 wrote: Thu Aug 07, 2025 1:33 pm Interesting to see how it performs and how long it lasts.

works really nicely, as advertised. I'll try washing the cloth to remove the dust buildup, and perhaps use it wet next time. Overall I recommend it, probably best for car bodies. After the 3000 grit, I used tamiya compounds red and blue and the finish on the plane was very shiny. That process would be great for clear parts too. The canopy on this plane was rubbed with red and blue, and came up great.

Beautiful finish and a great journey getting there

Woohoo!!



Man!! What a build, sir. Gonna look great in the shop window! Hope you can get some 'outside' pics with the sky as a background.

And, I probably missed it... but how did you get the seam off the top of the canopy?? Sand it down and then I did see where you used Tamiya compounds to polish it back up - but what grit did you use to remove it?? (and sorry if I missed it... )

barryf1fan wrote: Tue Aug 12, 2025 7:43 pm Woohoo!!



Man!! What a build, sir. Gonna look great in the shop window! Hope you can get some 'outside' pics with the sky as a background.

And, I probably missed it... but how did you get the seam off the top of the canopy?? Sand it down and then I did see where you used Tamiya compounds to polish it back up - but what grit did you use to remove it?? (and sorry if I missed it... )

Hi Barry. Glad you like it. I'll try n get some better photos
For the canopy seam I sanded it off with some fine grit sanding pads. Any fine sandpaper will do, around 1200 - 1500 before using the compounds. I then used tamiya red then blue compounds.
Those compounds are fantastic for getting scratches out of clear parts.

Stokesy44 wrote: Tue Aug 12, 2025 6:36 pm Beautiful finish and a great journey getting there

Thanks stokesy. I'll try and get some better pics. These ones are shite

Some more pics in a better light.

Now that is an amazing quality build - congratulations!! All the hard work has paid off massive dividends!!

Wow! looks great. Shine, color, details....

I like it!

Sure makes the standard F14 colors and stencils look kind of mundane, yes?

I think Maverick and Goose would be honored to have a seat in this bird...

Very very nice

Bravo!

That is an absolutely stunning finish

So glad that all the extra effort you went to with the scribing, rescribing and rivetting shows up so well on the finished product.

Awesome work & attention to detail

RangerNeil wrote: Wed Aug 13, 2025 4:58 pm Now that is an amazing quality build - congratulations!! All the hard work has paid off massive dividends!!

runnerUA wrote: Wed Aug 13, 2025 6:18 pm Wow! looks great. Shine, color, details....

DRUMS01 wrote: Wed Aug 13, 2025 8:43 pm I like it!

Sure makes the standard F14 colors and stencils look kind of mundane, yes?

I think Maverick and Goose would be honored to have a seat in this bird...

digger303 wrote: Thu Aug 14, 2025 2:13 am Very very nice

bfrd wrote: Thu Aug 14, 2025 1:25 pmBravo!

Tomcat64 wrote: Fri Aug 15, 2025 10:17 am That is an absolutely stunning finish

So glad that all the extra effort you went to with the scribing, rescribing and rivetting shows up so well on the finished product.

Awesome work & attention to detail

Thanks everyone for your kind words.


I just wanted to show you it sitting in the shop window. Its hard to get a decent photo of it, but here it is...

Tomcat64 wrote: Fri Aug 15, 2025 10:17 am That is an absolutely stunning finish

So glad that all the extra effort you went to with the scribing, rescribing and rivetting shows up so well on the finished product.

Awesome work & attention to detail

What he said superb work, good save on the decals

Awesome
Really like the in flight appearance you did