1/48 Academy F-14 A Tomcat  Diorama

Gallery Article by George Baxevanis on Dec 16 2009

 

VF-154 'High five'

Not much too say about the famous, beautiful F-14! The best plane of all times! 

This is my first built ever.  I always liked modelling, and always studied articles but never done anything of my own.  I made this one completely out of the box, as I believe that spending less is always better, and more creative in modelling! 

Click on images below to see larger images

  

  

  

The kit is the early Academy 1/48 F-14A. The fit is awful, and the kit is completely inaccurate. You have to re-scribe every panel line, and fix everything generally... The only thing good with the Academy kit is the weapon load that offers (pretty generous - 4 phoenix 2 sparrows and 2 sidewinders). I borrowed the ejection seats from a Hasegawa kit and I superdetailed them with core, real fibber, tissue and paper.  The pilots are from the Hasegawa navy 1/48 ground set, but I used different parts and some of them where cut and puttied to fit together.

For the exterior, I used 5-6 different shades of grey in order to make the fade effect of the panel lines. The chains that tie down the plane are made from 3 lines of cord twisted together, as I couldn't find the right scale chain. The base is a photo frame and the ground is a #400 sandpaper. The lines are painted after masking, so are the pinch holes of the carrier. Hope you like it.

George Baxevanis

Click on images below to see larger images

  

  

  

  

  

  

Photos and text © by George Baxevanis