USN Aircraft - VF-114 1972

Part of the MiG killers allotment of aircraft are a couple of VF-114 "Aardvarks".  As this is an interesting scheme to do (bright orange stripes) I used my lunch hour to see what it might look like using a quick mock up (and if it went well it would become the production version).

TD later F-4 model used a a base for the J Model.  The lettering decals are from my standard set.  The orange stripe however I scaled from some artwork.  The problem is that it doesn't match the TD moulding as a result is about 2mm too short and also the black line isn't definitive. As it is too short it also comes together in a point rather than the square end that the real VF-114 aircraft had.  Therefore I need to overscale the black lines to make it stand out more as well as look at the length and fitting. 

As I have used a clear decal the walkway decals which I normally fit will have to be cut before fitting and then butt up against the stripe otherwise it will show through.

Other things that need to be done is the Kitty Hawk lettering needs to be resized as it is too large.  The remainder of the decals went on okay and I gave everything a coat of Microsol to make sure it sank onto the moulding as well as it could.

I have also found that making the decals into PDF and then printing isn't a problem so I might put some up as a share later for those who fancy a go.

Anyway, back to work and I will strip this one back down (NAVY, Stripe and Kitty Hawk can all come off leaving the remaining decals in place) and see if I can get a better set made up tonight.