Hi guys…
Kind of a stupid question but… Do you guys paint your planes, armor etc. mostly assembled?
Reason i ask i because, Im putting together an F-14 TomCat…and… It just seems like it would be difficult to spray it assembled…with the moving wings and all… or do you guys (who have built a tomcat) just glue the wings in one position?
Thanks
Ethan
Much of the decision as to when and how I paint a model is the model itself. Sometimes you have to paint those areas that cannot be reached after assembly, such as the wing pivot areas on the F-14.
There is no right or wrong way as long as you achieve the goal desired. This is a skill set that improves with experience.
I have built 5 planes that had variable sweep wings, all Hasagawa kits. 3 F-111’s, an F-14 and a Tornado. The 111’s and the 14 only had the option to be built either/or-no mechanism was provided for a transitioning wing, and as it was, some modification was needed to mount the wing in the ‘fully swept’ configuration. (one of the 111’s I built this way.) These planes I actually painted fully everything before I mounted the wings in their boxes. The Tornado on the other hand has moving wings and some parts had to be pre-painted before assembly. As far as how to mount them? In my opinion, I would pick how you would intend to display it and leave it. Models aren’t intended to be toys, so I would just eliminate the temptation to play with it and not take a chance on breaking something or having paint damaged by a moving wing.
The other issue might be underwing stores. This wouldn’t be an issue with the F-14, but on a plane like the F-111, all those hard points pivot with the exception of the outermost on each wing and the it would difficult at best, to recreate this.