SM 1/7 Scale F-14 Build
12-05-2014, 02:50 PM
#1
Thread Starter
SM 1/7 Scale F-14 Build
Well as one build ramps down another is soon to follow and this one is going to be a lot of fun. My hope is this build will help get rid of some of the unknowns about this kit and help future GJC customers who buy one of these or any jet I do builds with answering questions they may have during their build process. Plus being new to the team I have to start my first build with something awesome 
Anyway the count down has started should be ready to ship any day now!!! They had to change some decals so here is the first shots of the jet.
Anyway the count down has started should be ready to ship any day now!!! They had to change some decals so here is the first shots of the jet. 
12-06-2014, 06:40 PM
#3
Thread Starter
for sure, I already have everything for the jet, so I will finish pretty quick. I'm planning to test fly the avanti and the f14 down your way.
Last edited by FenderBean; 12-06-2014 at 07:02 PM.
12-19-2014, 08:17 AM
#5
Thread Starter
Okay so the official word is it shipped so the countdown is officially on! I'm hoping it gets here before x-mas so I can spend my vacation time building some. This build is for anyone looking for info on this jet and for any possible issues. Feel free to post anything that can add to this and help folks. That being said I hope everyone has a great Christmas and a happy new year!
12-19-2014, 01:03 PM
#6
Thread Starter
New product in the hobby room, well new to me that is! I got 6 of these Jet Central EV2 valves, they are by far the smallest electronic valves I have seen and I can no longer say the EV2 valves are heavier than my robart/hs-81 setup!
They are almost the same weight and when you add the ply mount I have to make for the robarts it is heavier. So I am going to give them a try in this model and see how reliable they are, im hate air and just dont trust anything not servo controlled. This is only because its an unknown to me, I normally do electric but decided to go air on my last project and this one cannot be converted to electric.
Also in the pictures you can see some of the equipment I will be using for this project, already had the 170s, more to come with this as there is a bit more electronics to show.
If your just happening by and not a jet forum follow all my builds have videos which I upload via youtube and you can click the links in my signature for this if your interested. Cheers!
They are almost the same weight and when you add the ply mount I have to make for the robarts it is heavier. So I am going to give them a try in this model and see how reliable they are, im hate air and just dont trust anything not servo controlled. This is only because its an unknown to me, I normally do electric but decided to go air on my last project and this one cannot be converted to electric.
Also in the pictures you can see some of the equipment I will be using for this project, already had the 170s, more to come with this as there is a bit more electronics to show.
If your just happening by and not a jet forum follow all my builds have videos which I upload via youtube and you can click the links in my signature for this if your interested. Cheers!
12-20-2014, 05:43 AM
#7
Great news. I can't wait to follow your build!
Okay so the official word is it shipped so the countdown is officially on! I'm hoping it gets here before x-mas so I can spend my vacation time building some. This build is for anyone looking for info on this jet and for any possible issues. Feel free to post anything that can add to this and help folks. That being said I hope everyone has a great Christmas and a happy new year!
12-21-2014, 10:32 AM
#10
Thread Starter
They are backed up or something, if you look on the Skymaster F-14 thread you can read up on it. Since I havent received any kind of tracking info yet im guessing mine is going to be awhile as well. 
01-03-2015, 10:42 AM
#17
Thread Starter
Okay so time to get this puppy rolling, after a very bad yesterday I decided to redo my video and start fresh this morning. As part of me joining the GJC family and GJC picking up the Skymaster Jet line I decided to post the build here so that way anyone who buys one from GJC can come to the support thread and find some help with this jet and any others. I am going to get a few good, bad and ugly out of the way first, over all the jet is a work of Art but there are somethings that can be improved on which I hope SM sees and changes down the road. Also my videos will be listed on my youtube channels along with all my other projects, I will be linking them to this thread or you can just click the links in my signature box. Feel free to ask anything you like and if I cannot answer it, I will get one.
01-03-2015, 11:14 AM
#18
Thread Starter
Lots of good wings and stabs are solid, paint scheme turned out better than I thought and once the few little things are fixed it will perfecto! Nice tanks and all the ordnance is well done and light which is a plus since I am adding it all plus a little extra
The landing gear seems very solid and actions very well and it does look good. That being said it will be better when I clean it up and do some painting which I will cover again below. Long winded video giving the low down is uploading now.
Last edited by FenderBean; 01-03-2015 at 12:14 PM.
01-03-2015, 11:28 AM
#19
Thread Starter
So with any good thing there can always be bad and here are two show stoppers so far, some is from shipping some is from factory. The stab on the left in the first picture is the one damaged, as you can see in picture two there is a hole from something pushing in. Not sure how this was damaged in shipping as it was in the middle of the box and for it to get damaged while everything around it was secure and damaged free almost makes me think it was crushed from someone crabbing it but no telling. The way the box was jammed up in the truck Im just going to blame DHL The last two you can see the fins and the damage, one actually slides forward and back and acts as a lock for the hatch. My video explains the issue here, one is broke off the skin and the other has lots of chipped paint. Hopefully SM can get the new stab matched, well see I will report on how they handle my case.
Last edited by FenderBean; 01-03-2015 at 11:58 AM.
01-03-2015, 11:52 AM
#20
Thread Starter
Okay don't take this section the wrong way, as part of my reviews and builds I always like give people everything. One this helps fix problems for the people who come after that buy the same product, plus it helps any company that cares about their products identify and fix things to give you better product. SM has been around for a long time and they clearly care and since this is a new product line for GJC I think this is just as important, if not more important than the other two sections.
Last edited by FenderBean; 01-03-2015 at 12:02 PM.
01-03-2015, 11:55 AM
#21
Thread Starter
Youtube stuff is up
#1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUvI...ature=youtu.be
#2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRLJ...ature=youtu.be
#1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUvI...ature=youtu.be
#2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRLJ...ature=youtu.be
01-03-2015, 10:19 PM
#22
Thread Starter
Still going over the jet I so far nothing else has popped out at me, the main gear is very beefy and the pain looks nice on it. Also not the metal wing actuators for upgrade and the Mod/spacer added to prevent the wings from contacting the stabs. I started back on the Avanti so I can finish it up so I can get started on this bad boy. So not much going on I will report any other findings and I did upload another video covering a few more things.
video# 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zPB...e1LqiHTz7n6poi
video# 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zPB...e1LqiHTz7n6poi
01-05-2015, 11:27 AM
#24
Hey Keith,
I have the same issue as you have with the decals, being that they applied the wrong ones. the "later" VF103 Jolly Rogers should have the toned down markings, not the earlier "red" markings. this is an avoidable mistake, as they do apply the low viz markings on other models. Normally the external tanks on BuNo 163217 should be black with the distinctive Jolly Rogers yellow stripe...mine are plain gray....
these things are easy to avoid, just pay some attention before painting.....hard to correct afterwards.....
Wim
I have the same issue as you have with the decals, being that they applied the wrong ones. the "later" VF103 Jolly Rogers should have the toned down markings, not the earlier "red" markings. this is an avoidable mistake, as they do apply the low viz markings on other models. Normally the external tanks on BuNo 163217 should be black with the distinctive Jolly Rogers yellow stripe...mine are plain gray....
these things are easy to avoid, just pay some attention before painting.....hard to correct afterwards.....
Wim
01-05-2015, 02:40 PM
#25
Thread Starter
Yeah, I spent about an hour or so today with some 2000 grit sandpaper lightly sanding each side of the nose. I literally felt sick when I started LOL I figured if I could get the clear off and sand down to get rid of the sanding dust under the clear coat it would make it look better. As expected the darker paint areas I will just have to live with 
but I was able to clean up all the mess they didnt wipe off before clear coating. It looks a little better I guess well see how it looks when I put my clear coat back on and how it looks in the air. I know that may sound funny but im just weird about the look of my jet. So I will update later once I clear coat it, I have some clear flat paint from krylon that seems to match up, my only worry is will not look good since the clear coat SM uses seems very very flat which I really like. I did get an email from John today, they are building me a new stab, im guessing he will send the new canopy, wing bags and my avanti pipe as well.
Below are the before pics up close of the paint issues on the nose.
This last one was a big one, I was able to clean it up by sanding the clear coat down, so I am happy about that one. I cant do anything about the shades of darker blue around the new decals.
but I was able to clean up all the mess they didnt wipe off before clear coating. It looks a little better I guess well see how it looks when I put my clear coat back on and how it looks in the air. I know that may sound funny but im just weird about the look of my jet. So I will update later once I clear coat it, I have some clear flat paint from krylon that seems to match up, my only worry is will not look good since the clear coat SM uses seems very very flat which I really like. I did get an email from John today, they are building me a new stab, im guessing he will send the new canopy, wing bags and my avanti pipe as well.Below are the before pics up close of the paint issues on the nose.
Last edited by FenderBean; 01-05-2015 at 09:01 PM.