Hey, guys, thanks! Really appreciate the encouraging words : ) Hi PHArchivist, regarding the engine nozzles.. I divided it into 4 areas: A, B, C and D:
The feathers on Area A look burnt to a toast. The petals on the "B" area sometimes remains partly shiny and the others largely burnt or heat-stained to a somewhat bronze look. Area C looks like a brownish/rusted color, and "D" is actually shiny bare-metal at first but I see they turn matte and weathered after years of service.
That "D" slab is is shiny on this F-14
Here the "D" slab looks faded and weathered.
The way I painted it is as follows: I started out with Tamiya gray primer (rattle can) all over. Then I used a black sharpie marker and drew dots at random all over area "A" and "B" with more dots on "A", which is darker. Then I handbrushed Alclad bronze over that. The sharpie dots and primer kind of mix up with the lacquer Alclad unevenly and creates the effect below. After that I sprayed on a very faint mist of Alclad Burnt Iron over area "A". And after that I weathered it lightly with some Abteilung gray oil paint for area A and Abteilung Grease and Bitume on Area "B"
The "C" area is Semi-matte Alumiminum weathered with Abteilung Grease, Gray and some Starship Filth. I used grease not to bring out a grease color but because it's the closest I could bring out a burned or heat-stained color with.
For the other Tomcat I also experimented on spraying the B-petals with semi-matte aluminum and "burned" them with Abteilung Grease and Bitume oils, leaving some petals partly shiny like in some F-14 pics I see. Unfortunately there's no close-up shot of the engine nozzles in the movie.
I then later found out that I could dry-brush a few areas of the "B" petals with Gaianotes Mirror Chrome but I was very careful not to overdo it - just a few petals here and there.
For Area "D" which is the slab on top, I used Alclad semi-matte aluminum. I then tried weathering it with gray oils but I find it just doesn't blend in with the bare-metal color. I also tried mottling it with a darker metal shade which kind of worked but I still wasn't happy with the tonal variation. In the end, I hate to admit it but I just weathered it using a regular graphite pencil : )
All in all I think the various layers bring out a nice weathered TF-30 nozzle -- the kind that looks like you don't want to lean against accidentally lest you get soot on your clothes : ) The newer F-14Bs and D's used the more powerful GEF110 engine with cleaner looking petals. F-14 pilots won't agree with me, but I think the TF-30s on the F-14A I think had more character -- just because they're grubbier -- like the Millennium Falcon : )