Hobby Boss 1/48 F-14D VF-31 'Tomcatters' (80368)

And here we are, finito!

VF-31's '110', BuNo 519618 as she was at the beginning of OIF in 2003.

I used the Hobby Boss 1/48 F-14D, TwoBobs 'Felix in the Fight' decals, Humbrol enamels, W&D Studio pitot and AOA probe, Eduard canopy mask (Godsend!) and a really cheap airbrush.

My aspiration was to use as little AM as possible to show what a great kit this is, in my opinion it is superb. It has one or two idiosyncrasies, but still offers a superb amount of value and is a great fitting kit which allows you to make a great looking 'Cat out of the box.

I chose not to fill all the rivets, as I don't mid them. I added small touches here and there to improve the kit, but all was done using what's in the modelling box (wire etc).

Sit back and enjoy.

Superb build  

JOSH

Thank you Josh.  

Well, after posting up all the pictures, I had a nagging feeling something wasn't right... No-one has spotted it, or if they have, everyone has been too polite to mention it. I erroneously placed the modex's, putting the nose modex's on the wings and vice versa. I thought I could live with it, but once you notice it, you can't 'un-see' it. So, it was out with the paint and on with the correctly sized modex's. Closure at last!





I also noticed I'd forgotten to place on the yellow warning notification panels on the structure behind the RIO's seat, so these were duly placed on as well. I havent glued the canopy on, so it wasn't a finicky problem to get them on.










I also decided to add the TwoBobs' 'slime lights' to the nose to replace my painted on efforts. The TwoBobs decals fitted perfectly.