The Ship Model Forum

Rumor has it that the Tamiya F-14 was scaled up from one of Doug's 1/350th Tomcats.

~Greg

Insane work...indeed

HI Doug
just Awesome. These tomcats are just sublime... I wait your painting
cheers
Nicolas

great looking Cats... I was wondering do you know if Shapeways makes the 30 ft sea cutters that are supposed to be the ready service boats ?? Nimitz carried a pair of these cutters in recessed bays on the starboard side for her 77-78 cruise.. These would of been used for man overboard ect.. So glad to see they make the 40ft and 50 ft boats and cradles... We had those in hanger bay three... Embarked Adm also had one like the Capts gig but it was white hulled as I recall.. Again great build you got going here..

Hey Bill,

Thanks for the comments in regards to the build. As for your question about Shapeways having 1/350 30' sea cutters....I couldn't really find anything in my initial search. Doesn't necessarily mean they don't have it, I just couldn't find it. Another avenue you could pursue would be to contact Greg (BaconFistModels) at Shapeways. He is one talented designer and specializes in (but not limited to) 1/350 scale items. Greg is also a member of this forum and goes by the name of gjholmes77 here on Modelwarships. coincidentally, he posted a comment at the top of this page. I know that he has created many items for use for 1/350 scale US Navy aircraft carriers and he may possibly consider designing the 30' sea cutters you are needing. I can't guarantee he will, but it never hurts to ask. You may already know Greg and have searched his shop on Shapeways, but I've included the link below just in case you wanted to check it out. Looking forward to seeing your build on the forum. Good luck with your build Bill and finding what you are looking for sir.

https://www.shapeways.com/shops/baconfist?li=pb

Hi Doug.
Outstanding work indeed!
I am having trouble getting the shape/dimensions of the hangar deck and ceiling. any diagrams/measurements that you could supply me would be much appreciated. My email is: joselo2711@gmail.com

cheers joselo

If anyone has some pictures of the aforementioned 30' sea cutters, I could probably whip something up.

Well.....it's been about a month since I last posted and I have still been working on the Tomcats. I have moved onto the landing gear, tail hooks, and horizontal stabilizers. One thing I noticed with the horizontal stabilizers in the 1/350 Trumpeter F-14 B/D kits is they seem a bit too large. I'm not sure if that's because the wing sweep on the main wings is so extreme, but in reference photos I have been looking at; it doesn't appear the the horizontal stabilizers should stick out further that the main wings even when they are over swept for deck storage. Unfortunately I didn't plan ahead for this because I probably would have kept the 1/350 Tamiya F-14 horizontal stabs and see if they would have been a better fit. Since I didn't do this......I just went ahead and slightly reduced the size of the horizontal stabs on the Trumpeter kits and they turned out okay.

I didn't like the landing gear that came with the kits, nor do I like the flat look of photo etch landing gear either, so I opted to scratch build my own for all 20 F-14's. It does take a while, but I do like the results. The following photos shows a bit of the madness.....

Your work continues to impress....

Doug
Your work still makes me scratch my head, wondering where you are hiding that shrinking ray gun at? These things look really life like, awesome work and as always I'm following along hiding in the corner trying to see where that ray gun is at.

You are crazy Doug ...impressive and amazing work...

congrats

Those Tomcats are crazy! Great work.

OH MY GOD!! Just stop! I couldn't wait to see some more air wing work but this too much! I'm just happy as a clam when I successfully get all the decals on one without messing them up, this is beyond the scope of reality

any updates?

Still working on the aircraft. F-18's at the moment. Once I get far enough along with "assembly line". I'll post some photos. I haven't devoted enough time at the workbench for a while I am still working on it though. Hopefully I'll have something to show soon. Thanks for all the comments in regards to the Tomcats.

I've started from the start a few weeks ago and finally got caught up, fantastic job, really.
Thats a lot of scratch-building. I thought about getting big E about 10 years ago but decided not to, and after seeing everything you have done,
I'm kinda glad I didn't get it, I would of done the same thing as you, but would have got burned out at least twice, and it would be sitting on a shelf
75% done and I highly do not think it would ever get finished. You do a lot of the same style of scratch-building as I do, but I get burned out a lot easier.
Keep it up, can't wait to see the whole "Wing" done, how many planes in total-70 ??
Super work !

I know that building such a kit with adding lots of details a very (and very) hard and time consuming work. But I am also very curious about the new progress of your built. So when will you share the new pictures

Thank you in Advance

Well, it's been a little while again since I last posted anything. These aircraft are taking forever, but I would like them to turn out decent so I am trying to take my time with them. I started on the F-18's and have some progress photos. I'll probably have about 5 or 6 of them with their canopies opened and cockpits added in those. I also wanted the flaps, slats, and horizontal stabilizers dropped as the aircraft normally are when sitting on the deck. I've also added the rudders to vertical stabilizers as well. Another item I scratch built was the engine nozzles. I removed the kit's molded on engine nozzles and made my own from hollow tubing.

Some other additional items I've added are from Shapeways.com from a designer who's shapeways page is called SNAFU Store. There are two sets and I've included their links below. Both are of course in 1/350 scale. The first is the "F-18 drop tanks", which I am using in place of the kit's drop tanks. They are far more accurate in shape and size and placement upon the pylon. The other set is "US Missiles", from which I got the sidewinder missiles with racks. This is the same set that the phoenix pylons for the F-14's came from as well. The missiles in the set are fantastic. Anyway, the links are below in case you are interested in them.

F-18 drop tanks from SNAFU Store (shapeways.com)
https://www.shapeways.com/product/YN9JL ... d=56086463

US Missiles from SNAFU Store (shapeways.com)
https://www.shapeways.com/product/X5WPU ... d=43704687

It's been a pretty slow process modifying the F-18's. The biggest issue seems to be that they are in clear plastic and are pretty brittle if care is not taken to make the modifications. I've had to scratch build several different pieces due to them breaking which can be seen in the photos below. Anyway, still a lot more to do. Thanks for following my build.

You are a mad man.....and a mad man that can make something brilliant! Nice work!

Brett M wrote:You are a mad man.....and a mad man that can make something brilliant! Nice work!

Didn't you know that model makers have been blurring the lines between genius and insanity, ever since there were models of things to make?

Excellent work so far on those planes, Doug!