SPA Modeler

I imagine that the stiffeners came along later in their service life due to airframe fatigue. Many aircraft types received stiffeners in various places as needed later on during the later parts or their careers.

Learning a little bit more about the Tomcat as I get deeper into this build. Another thing to notice from the photo I posted of BuNo 160393 is the one nozzle open/one nozzle closed configuration of the exhausts.

Lots of stuff going on at home including the SUV going kaput. Going fishing this weekend to wash it all away so no updates for a few days.

Looking forward to seeing you back on this one John. Hope you had a great day fishing bro.

Had a blast and got sunburnt too!



139 bass, two bullhead and one angry bullfrog for the three of us.

Sounds like one hell of a good trip!

John, the hydraulic shutdown sequence on the F-14 resulted in the exhaust nozzles ending up in that position after shutdown.

Thanks guys! Here's a little bit of work that I've managed to do on the Tomcat.

The nose landing gear has been painted and weathered...



The nose gear doors have been painted but not finished with weathering. I wanted to figure out how I was going to paint the red edges. I ended up doing one side at a time and working my way around each door. Sounds like a lot of work but doing one side at a time reduces the need to mask the corners, which in turn, helps to save some time.


There are some lower fuselage alterations called out in the instructions that I have attended to. Two small ports and a riveted access panel were filled in with black CA glue.






The lower fuselage also has some subtle but noticeable molding marks running along its length that needs to be removed. I used a round edged knife to lightly scrape it off and varying grades of sandpaper to finish it off.

Excellent work. I woul love to see how you do struts to get such crisp lines.

Stikpusher wrote:I imagine that the stiffeners came along later in their service life due to airframe fatigue. Many aircraft types received stiffeners in various places as needed later on during the later parts or their careers.

F-14A tail stiffener started from F-14A block 95 (BuNo 160379), around 1978-1979.

Excellent work on the Tomcat John! It's really looking good.