Subject: Re: ARC submission
From: "Steve Bamford ARC" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 8 May 2004 10:15:13 -0700

Hi James,
Thanks for sending in your F-14 article.  It looks excellent.  I'll e-mail
you when your article goes on ARC....currently articles are taking about 3
weeks from the time they are sent in until theyn go on ARC.

Steve Bamford
Aircraft Resource Center
http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com

Live like there is no tomorrow;
Love like you've never been hurt.
Work like you don't need the money.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Sing like nobody's listening.
Live like it's Heaven on Earth.

----- Original Message -----
From: <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>; <UNEXPECTED_DATA_AFTER_ADDRESS@.SYNTAX-ERROR>
Sent: Saturday, May 08, 2004 4:39 AM
Subject: ARC submission

Hi Steve,
This is my ARC submission. I e-mailed you a few days ago to say I was
having problems sending you my article-I hope it works from this
address! The attachment should be five photos. Sorry if this causes any
formatting headaches!
        Cheers,
               James Griffiths.

Revell 1/48th scale F-14D Tomcat by James Griffiths
Here is my 1/48th scale Revell F-14D Tomcat. Despite years in this
hobby this is the only model I'm completely satisfied with! The tips I
got from this site were invaluable in making this kit.
The kit is the old Revell tooling of the F-14D. I know it is not as
nice as the Hasegawa offering but it can still be built into a nice
model given some work - after all, who wants to build a kit that just
falls together?!
I started by re-scribing all the raised panel lines on the kit, using
my carbide-steel scriber and a metal ruler. Construction was fairly
straightforward, but as I wanted to depict my Tomcat ready to launch
from bow cat one I cut off and repositioned the horizontal stabilisers
and dropped the flaps. I also built flap actuators from scrap plastic.
The only other external modification I made was to cut off one of the
aerials aft of the cockpit, as I could not see it in any of my
reference photos.
The pilot and RIO are from the Hasegawa deck crew set A, and both had
to be modified for them to sit properly in the cockpit. I built seat
straps from Scotch tape with fuse wire buckles. Other cockpit
modifications include a photo-etch HUD from Flightpath, photo-etch
canopy mirrors and handles from the same source, and various other
small scratchbuilt details from scrap plastic.
On to the painting - ignore Revells painting instructions, they are
wrong! I used good old Humbrol enamels (no.'s 126, 127 and 128, I don't
know FS numbers sorry) applied with a Badger airbrush. My first attempt
at preshading wasn't very successful-so the weathering on my Tomcat was
all done with pastels. I also tried lightening some panels with lighter
grey pastels with moderate success. The weathering (mainly by a happy
accident) was to my liking.
After consulting my literature I gave my 'cat a full load-out of a two
Sidewinders, a Sparrow, A Phoenix, a LANTIRN pod and two GBU-24's
(GBU's and LANTIRN pod were from  Hasegawa set D). Finally, the decals
are for a CAG bird from VF-2 'Bounty Hunters' on the USS Constellation
circa 1998. I love the combination of low-viz markings with colourful
tails on this aircraft. The decals were from Aeromaster; they went on
quite nicely, but didn't take a matt coat very well.
All in all my best build, by a long way. I am currently building a
large diorama of the Constellation, which will feature this aircraft,
two Hornets and a Viking. Watch this space!!

Text and pictures © 2004 by James Griffiths