SPA Modeler

ha ha, nobody noticed that when I posted pictures of the cleaned up wheels , it was the non-ejector-pinned side of the wheels that was shown
Purely random choice I assure you

Some very minor progress on the Tomcat was made yesterday evening.
I installed a new fuel dump mast for one thing.
Next I got the 3d printed burner can inserts glued in place.
Then I painted the inside of the , ehhhh, what should I call them.. exhaust nozzle end caps? Well I painted the insides gloss black so I can Alclad them later . They are shown here as it they were attached but they are just sitting their but not glued. Still contemplating how to pain the visible portion of the engines on this. Anyone who has seen the rear end of an F-14A knows how near impossible it is to replicate all that is going on there with paint.
I also future dipped the windscreen in so I can get that installed...

Progress is looking good Chris! The variable opening nozzle end parts of the afterburner are referred to as petals, like on a flower. At least on some engine types.

Nice work on the engines!

cbaltrin wrote: ↑Tue Apr 14, 2026 6:48 am ha ha, nobody noticed that when I posted pictures of the cleaned up wheels , it was the non-ejector-pinned side of the wheels that was shown
Purely random choice I assure you

Wonderful work, Chris. It’s a pleasure to watch such clean and tidy construction. Although it’s not been a specific interest before now, I’m curious to know how you plan to paint the exhausts.

And yes, I was completely convinced you had removed the injector pins and did not really see that the interior wheel pattern changed just enough to indicate that was the other side.

Stikpusher wrote: ↑Tue Aug 18, 2026 9:53 am Progress is looking good Chris! The variable opening nozzle end parts of the afterburner are referred to as petals, like on a flower. At least on some engine types.

Thanks Carlos. On the F-110's we had in the "B" models, we called them Turkey Feathers. That description does not seem to fit the appearance of the TF-30 however. Petals does seem more appropriate here.

speedgraflex wrote: ↑Tue Aug 18, 2026 12:59 pm

cbaltrin wrote: ↑Tue Apr 14, 2026 6:48 am ha ha, nobody noticed that when I posted pictures of the cleaned up wheels , it was the non-ejector-pinned side of the wheels that was shown
Purely random choice I assure you

Wonderful work, Chris. It’s a pleasure to watch such clean and tidy construction. Although it’s not been a specific interest before now, I’m curious to know how you plan to paint the exhausts.

And yes, I was completely convinced you had removed the injector pins and did not really see that the interior wheel pattern changed just enough to indicate that was the other side.

Thanks Bruce. Not quite sure on the exhaust nozzle/petal painting. As for the masking, it would be easiest to paint it first, then mask it and paint the fuselage. Problem is keeping the mask from peeling up for all the time it would take to paint and decal and clear coat and, dare I say, weather it up... Probably the safest thing would be to paint them last after all the other painting is done, but that presents it's own set of problems, especially if there are decals applied... As for the actual paint. At least 2 shades of alclad and / or MRP and possibly some tamiya weathering pastels. Or I may just admit defeat up front in the realism department and just go with 2 different shades of the base metallics ...

cbaltrin wrote: ↑Tue Aug 18, 2026 2:49 pm

Stikpusher wrote: ↑Tue Aug 18, 2026 9:53 am Progress is looking good Chris! The variable opening nozzle end parts of the afterburner are referred to as petals, like on a flower. At least on some engine types.

Thanks Carlos. On the F-110's we had in the "B" models, we called them Turkey Feathers. That description does not seem to fit the appearance of the TF-30 however. Petals does seem more appropriate here.

They are called the same thing on the Pratt & Whitney F-100 turbofans. USAF mechanics tend to leave them off of those on F-15 Eagles and on the GE F-110s used on the B-1.

Looking them up online, apparently the technical term is interlocking flaps.