Donnico Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Im working on 1/48 Tomcat from academy; I plan to do it in VF-1 colors circa 1975. I bought the steel beach resin nose correction and all I can say is.... Maybe the hasegawa bird isnt so bad after all. With all the sanding and mr. surfacing this model requires, I might as well just have frustrated the hell out of myself with the hasegawa tomcat. At least you know it will look good when you're done. The steel beach resin presents major fit issues in the nose; especially blending the fuselage aft of the cannon area to the resin replacement parts. In addition, the nose leading up to the windsheild has an un-tomcat like slope which is too steep. The slope problem of the kit nose cone is corrected by the steel beach nose, however the nose between the windscreen and the resin replacement still has the bad slope. It will require major yet careful sanding. ugh. On top of all this, the recessed panel lines are mostly incorrect. I had to rescribe a great deal of the wing glove and spine area, and I will have to scribe the fuselage around the cockpit and nose on both sides due to the sanding that is necessitated by the kit's poor fit. Over the long haul, this kit might actually reqire more work than the hasegawa kit. It really is a terrible kit; the back wings are incorrectly shaped as is the spine and the kit canopy. The interior detail is spartan and the quality of the moulds is not up to snuff. It almost seems like this kit was created in analog and the hasegawa kit is HD. Its an absolute shame the revell kit has raised panel lines, because that kit has a much more realistic shape than academy's. All I can say is that I've stumbled into a modeleing quagmire that I did not want or anticipate. I will have to slog my way through, but please let my experience serve as a warning to other tomcat modelers that are looking for a way around hasegawa's beast. You might as well just hold your nose and tkae your medicine. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Josh1971 Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 This hobby is voluntary... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Daniel_B Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 And just wait'll you discover the wing glove pylons are in the wrong place (too far forward, I think)... Daniel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
raptor22 Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Maybe the hasegawa bird isnt so bad after all. With all the sanding and mr. surfacing this model requires, I might as well just have frustrated the hell out of myself with the hasegawa tomcat. At least you know it will look good when you're done. In all honesty, building a Hasegawa Tomcat is not much more different than building any model. Every model you build requires patience and at least a little bit of elbow grease. And yes, the Hasegawa Tomcat comes out to a very nice piece of artwork when done. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tomcatter727 Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 I smashed that kit into bits when I tried it, and that was without the resin nose. The hasegawa kit is easier, hands down. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PNW_Modeler Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 (edited) wow.....someone has some anger management issues. I have 4 of the Academy Tomcats and have another 2 on order, and all of them have been a joy to build. No need to pop a vein. Edited February 11, 2008 by paul.nortness Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stealthy1 Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 The Hase Tomcat is the only one I build, even in 1/72. I did the 1/72 B cat as my 2nd model, and boy it has a lot of errors, but it still looks mighty fine. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Skull Leader Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 I rather like my academy 1/48 tomcat even without a corrected nose. Must be just a personal experience. Everyone has one kit that just doesn't work for them (when it may just fall together for someone else). There's certainly no shame in it and it definately isn't worth losing sleep over :D Set the kit aside, walk away from it for a few days, and if a fresh approach doesn't help you with it, toss it and move on Quote Link to post Share on other sites
VFA-103guy Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 I rather like my academy 1/48 tomcat even without a corrected nose.... That's because you're special.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tomcatter727 Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 wow.....someone has some anger management issues.I have 4 of the Academy Tomcats and have another 2 on order, and all of them have been a joy to build. No need to pop a vein. uhh....no? lol. I had huge steps and gaps all over the nose, when I finally got it looking acceptable I was finishing it up with 600 sand paper the entire nose cracked and fell apart, I would not have even been able to get it back together anyway. And I dont think I'm the only person here to ever "test fly" a model. Maybe I just got a bad/warped copy but for now I'm cool with revells and hasegawas. Someday I might give it another go, who knows. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
phantom Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 The Hasegawa is a challenge, but after you do it enough times you learn where the issues are. The Acadamy......well.....I built it. Went together fine. But I agree with your statements, it just looked wrong when it was sitting next to my Hasegawa builds. That model has long since been donated to the "Daughters who paint old planes pink society". Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Donnico Posted February 11, 2008 Author Share Posted February 11, 2008 Well, I sanded down the nose below the windscreen last night and it seems to look a little better. I guess I dont hate this kit as much as I did when I was venting, but Im still not looking forward to having to rescribe the entire front of the model. IMHO The hase kit is far superior and I'd rather spend the extra $20 than do all the extra work this kit requires, not to mention having to buy a resin nose. I knew beforehand the hase kit was better, but I was hoping that the academy kit could give me an easy Cat w/o all the overengineering of the hase kit. I was willing to sacrifice some detail with the hope that I could make it up with with a little scratchbuilding and some filler. BTW, thanks to this thread I noticed that the external fuel tank locator holes are WAY off. I will have to fill these. Also, I just painted the intake interiors white & then test fitted the intake assemblies together. Jeez. What a huge seam inside the intake against the fuselage. I dont know how Im going to deal with this, since the problem can only be attacked once the intakes are glued to the fuselage. Maybe miliput and wet q-tips..... I will try to get some pixx together when I have the time. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Man, it was the summer/fall before, for Tomcat Sunset, when I did my first Academy Tomcat in over a decade and a half...and it will be my LAST. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
VFA-103guy Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Man, it was the summer/fall before, for Tomcat Sunset, when I did my first Academy Tomcat in over a decade and a half...and it will be my LAST. :D And a fine specimen it was.. Seriously, when compared to the other Academy kits (which were also very nicely done), Andrew put a lot of extra work in to his to bring it up to par.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Donnico Posted February 11, 2008 Author Share Posted February 11, 2008 Hey- just a thought- Anyone know where I can get some tomcat intake covers that would be compatible with VF-1 circa 1975? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jefropas Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 This hobby is voluntary Josh, thats Funny as all H**L! :) Jeff Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Darren Roberts Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 I'm about to deliver a restock of Steel Beach stuff to Gordon at Spruebrothers. Included will be a set of resin Tomcat inserts. They are made for the Hasegawa kit, but the beauty of resin is that it can be sanded to fit. Sorry to hear about the problems with the SB nose correction. It isn't the easiest to install, but I've found it's not too bad, either. I've installed about three of them, and by the third one it was pretty painless. I'll post pictures later of what it looks like. The key is to start with the fuselage sides and work your way towards the nose. Once at the nose, sand down the kit upper fuselage parts even with the resin front piece. You're also correct about the slope of the kit fuselage. You did exactly the right thing. There was nothing I could do about that. While not perfect, the nose correction goes along way in improving the "look" of the Academy kit. The back spine is a still a bit funky, but it's acceptable. My view on building Tomcats is that if you're only going to build a couple, go with the Hasegawa kit. If you're going to build quite a few, the R/M kit and Academy kit will do the trick. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Donnico Posted February 12, 2008 Author Share Posted February 12, 2008 I'm about to deliver a restock of Steel Beach stuff to Gordon at Spruebrothers. Included will be a set of resin Tomcat inserts. They are made for the Hasegawa kit, but the beauty of resin is that it can be sanded to fit. Sorry to hear about the problems with the SB nose correction. It isn't the easiest to install, but I've found it's not too bad, either. I've installed about three of them, and by the third one it was pretty painless. I'll post pictures later of what it looks like. The key is to start with the fuselage sides and work your way towards the nose. Once at the nose, sand down the kit upper fuselage parts even with the resin front piece. You're also correct about the slope of the kit fuselage. You did exactly the right thing. There was nothing I could do about that. While not perfect, the nose correction goes along way in improving the "look" of the Academy kit. The back spine is a still a bit funky, but it's acceptable. My view on building Tomcats is that if you're only going to build a couple, go with the Hasegawa kit. If you're going to build quite a few, the R/M kit and Academy kit will do the trick. Thanks for the encouragement, Darren. You know, if it werent for the SB resin nose this cat would have found its way to garbage can a long time ago. After enough sanding Ive got the nose looking pretty good. Im pleased with it, and I especially like that SB gives you the early 70s style gun vents. The only problem I now have to tackle (with the nose) is that in my sanding and scribing and sanding and surfacing I have lost some detail around the cannon muzzle. I also took an inadvertant chunk out of the cannon. I need to putty it. My major concern now is how to fix the horrible seam inside the intakes on the side proximal to the fuselage. Im still undecided as to using intake covers. I'm leaning against it. I think Im going to try milliput, but I need to devise a way to: a) place the milliput deep enough inside the intake to fill the visible area of the seam; :D smooth/ sand the milliput once its placed. I assume Ill do it with a wet q-tip. Anyway, the SB nose correction, IMHO, is the only way to build a Tomcat that is acceptable (to my eye) from the academy kit. The most work is to blend the lower nose resin pieces to the fuselage around the front landing gear well, but with enough effort and a little filler you can pretty much eliminate the 'step' that occurs. In highly reccoment the SB correction to anyone who would aim to tackle the academy kit. As a whole, however, I think my next cat (whenever that might be) will be the hase kit again. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PNW_Modeler Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Donnico, someone must have stomped on the box before you got that thing....something definitely is not normal there. Like I mentioned, I have done several Academy Tomcats...both in the original F-14A boxing and the new Bombcat box....and I have never experienced any of the issues you are having. I am starting to wonder if you just lucked out and got that one fluke box out of the case that should have been melted down to make sprues. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DonSS3 Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 The only really bad fit issue I had with mine was that lower nose panel insert on the starboard side. Had to "pad it out" with plastic strip then putty, sand, putty, sand… Well you get the idea. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
F14SRCOOL Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 The first and last academy tomcat i built was for the tomcat group build and i must say i enjoyed building it more than the hasegawa tomcat........pretty much the simple reason being the hasegawa kit is broken down into a load of parts, the intakes are difficult to fit and the ramp doors in the intakes are rather awkward to fit. having said that though i know the hasegawa while it takes longer comes out better, but on the other hand if academy did a D model and corrected the nose profile id be there! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rom Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 wooh.. i have an academy kit, and an italeri one... My first tomcats... i guess it wil be great sport!! bye Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Skull Leader Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 I've noticed two distinct camps when it comes to the Academy kit, you either really like it, or really hate it. It sits roughly at 3rd on my tomcat kit hierarchy, but I love 'em. to VF-103guy, I'm glad you recognize my special-ness... I meant to leave something special for you in the toilet the last time I visited your house Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dreammh Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 IMO the Acadmy tomcat isn't much easier to build than the Hasegawa one. Yes the parts are lesser and thus less complex. But the time spent on the fit takes up majority of the build process. Main;y on the forward fuselage,the intakes and the speedbrakes. Not to mention rescribing the forward fuselage. Still I have to agree it builds up into a good tomcat (I ain't really bothered by the nose thing). When Hasegawa tomcats gets too pricey, I just have to look elsewhere. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.