The Final Countdown

1/72 Hasegawa Grumman F-14A Tomcat  and 1/72 Hasegawa Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero

by Ray Seppala

--------------------

 

In about 1980 the movie, The Final Countdown, hit the cinemas. It was about a Nimitz class carrier (USS Nimitz) being transported back in time to the eve of the attack of Pearl Harbour.  More recently it has been released on VHS and now DVD.  The story line and acting may have been I bit on the weak side (personal opinion) but where else would you see 2 F-14s toying with a couple of Mitsubishi Zero (Modified Havards/T-6s in the movie).  When I came across this movie in a video store a couple of years ago I snapped it up and the modelling mind began to tick over.  Could I do a diorama with the F-14 and Zero in it, what scale? How could I suspend the models in a flying configuration?

Well I decided on 1/72 since I had a Hasegawa F-14 kit sitting in the stash, all I had to do was find a model of an early model Zero.  A member of my local model club came to the rescue; he was getting rid of an early issue A6M2 Hasegawa Zero so I acquired it for $5.  With the required kits in hand they sat in the stash for another 6 months until I dragged the movie out for another viewing and got motivated to start the project.

Click on images below to see larger images

Hasegawa 1/72 Grumman F-14A Tomcat (early issue)

I built the Tomcat out of the box.  I found a couple of 1/72 pilots from a Hornet kit I had and committed surgery on the back seater to turn his head to look in the general direction of the target...I mean Zero.  The kit markings were for an overall grey aircraft so I had to modify the scheme slightly to back date it to around the early 80s, this meant painting the lower fuselage and underside of the wings white.  I forgot about the upper trailing edge of the wing were white as well.  That will be fixed some time soon.  I also used the kits 'buzz'? numbers as well as I was running to a deadline and forgot all about them until I was decaling.  That will be attended to when I can source the correct numbers.  I positioned the horizontal stabs so that the aircraft had a climbing and turning attitude.  I mounted the Tomcat on a 6mm diameter Perspex rod.  One of the engine exhausts was modified by drilling hole through it and a piece of tube was glued to the rear or it to give the assembly some strength.  I painted the Tomcat based on colours called out in the instructions modified as mentioned before and sealed with Future.

Hasegawa Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero

The Zero was also built out of the box, I repositioned the control surfaces again to give the illusion that the aircraft was turning.  The pilots head was also cut off and repositioned.  I used kit decals modified slightly to be similar to the aircraft used in the movie.  I also painted the bands on the fuselage and tail.  I also shortened the wing gun barrels to be similar to the aircraft used in the movie.  The model was painted as per the kit instructions and sealed with Future.

Click on images below to see larger images

The Base

The base was made form a piece of MDF bought form a craft store.   I drilled a couple of holes to accept the Perspex rod. The rod was pent using a paint stripping heat gun and forming the bends over a 50mm diameter tube.   I spread some Pollyfilla (wall patching plaster mix) on to the MDF and shaped into something that resembled waves.  After it was dry I painted it blue and green and added some white for the wave peaks.  The remained of the base was painted a brown colour from a paint sample pot that I had lying around.  I finally sprayed Future on the waves to give them a gloss look.

I am happy with the final result, not every day you have the chance to model a Tomcat and Zero together!

Ray

Click on images below to see larger images

Photos and text © by Ray Seppala