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F14A Tomcat - PART ONE

The final things to assemble after the detail parts were all attached into the cockpit tub were the ejection seats. Here I also used the saw blade approach to slag removal. This time, though, I used an X-acto razor saw. This style of cutting is better than the Dremel cutting method for larger pieces like the seats as the slag portions are larger and more prone to binding the Dremel blade. I like my fingers attached to my hands where they are, so this less volatile cutting method works better. Also, the seats are more regular in shape and can be held without as great a chance of breaking them.

With all the seat pieces free of slag, I assembled the seats and placed them aside to wait for painting.

When I completed assembling the ejection seats, I was done with the integration of the Black Box set into the Hasegawa F-14 kit. All that was left was painting the details, but that will be a different posting.

Conclusion
As I said at the start of this article, it is about time that some manufacturer pays attention to these older kits. Black Box definitely has their act together and is producing some of the best after-market cockpit detail sets I have had the privilege to use. I hope to see them continue to grow their line.

Click here to see all of the pictures for this project.