ranakoshgelam Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 I have a 1/72 Hasegawa F-14A Tomcat kit in my stash. Its kit # E14 Atlantic Fleet Squadrons, is it the new or old mold? How difficult is it really to build? Ive heard its very hard and frankly looking in the box at the parts time to time and think its going to be a challenge with allot of parts and very complexed. I would like to build a IRIAF aircraft and have invested heavily in aftermarket parts, just my nerves are getting to me to even start it. Finally getting somewhere with my F-111G, painted the black, red and grey parts over the weekend, after work today im going to see if i can spray the fuselage. Attaching the Mk82s onto the BRUs is hard, theres really nowhere they can secure onto, im using superglue and at times messed up a few bombs that sliped off and needs to be repainted. Already thinking of my next project and was thinking of doing the F-14A next for my wife as shes Iranian/Persian just to keep her quiet for awhile :P or Ill do the Hasegawa F-4E as a IRIAF aircraft if it is too challenging. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andre Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 I have a 1/72 Hasegawa F-14A Tomcat kit in my stash. Its kit # E14 Atlantic Fleet Squadrons, is it the new or old mold? Yup, that's the new tool. How difficult is it really to build? Ive heard its very hard and frankly looking in the box at the parts time to time and think its going to be a challenge with allot of parts and very complexed. It, eh, does have its challenges. :-) I've found this article by Brian Plescia to be quite helpful. By the way, if you still have to secure decals, the HiDecal sheet is gorgeous. Diego, the guy who runs HiDecal, hangs around here as well. Highly recommended! HTH, Andre Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andy Mullen Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 (edited) The kit actually an "old" new mould kit, and is still used for the some of the new releases, with a different decal sheet (and about £10 more on the pricetag) Piece of p*** to build :huh:/> Seriously though, take your time and follow the instructions and it will go together quite easy. The only issues I have encountered in the 25 I have built, is where the moulding around the rear has sinkmarks and requires a lot of CA and sanding. If there is a lot of flash around the intakes, then you will find this is a newer pressing and the sinkmarks will be deeper. Also some of the panel lines tend to disappear in certain areas, and need lightly rescribing. Also Brians build article helped me enormously Quickest build was 14 days, longest was 82, average is 49 days. Here are the build pages for the collection so far >> Tomcats << I hope this has been of some help Edited February 4, 2016 by Andy Mullen Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HOLMES Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 Hey Andy, NICE collection you have gotten there!!! :huh: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChernayaAkula Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 Crikey, Andy, I bet you're grateful for that "oversweep" feature of the Tomcat's wings, right? :huh: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ranakoshgelam Posted October 6, 2009 Author Share Posted October 6, 2009 By the way, if you still have to secure decals, the HiDecal sheet is gorgeous. Diego, the guy who runs HiDecal, hangs around here as well. Highly recommended! Those are the decals I have in the stash and got more than one incase it was a short run. they are great decals, (thanks diego for the goodwork and by the way wheres the iriaf f-5e decals? ) Andy Mullen, I think you have an obsession :P a good one in fact because they are great aircraft youve done. im sure it will take me allot longer than 14 or even 82 days to complete, my F-111G has been taking me 2 1/2 years to finish, but in that time frame i have moved to a different country and had to settle into 2 different jobs I just dont know why Hasegawa has the habbit of having the forward and rear fuselage sections seperate in pretty much everyone of their kits ive done. anyway thanks you all for your replys Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andre Posted October 7, 2009 Share Posted October 7, 2009 I just dont know why Hasegawa has the habbit of having the forward and rear fuselage sections seperate in pretty much everyone of their kits ive done. Two reasons: 1 - modularity. You can release more variants of a basic kit by simply swapping fuselage parts, such as on the short-vs. longnosed Phantoms, single- vs. twoseat F-104's, or as on the F-11: Triple Plow I/II lower fuselages and intake parts. This equals more mileage out of your molds --> more profit. 2 - molding limitations. If you were to make a Tomcat with singlepiece upper- and lower fuselages, you would a) end up with a huge seam right alongside the fuselage which can be hard to deal with, and lose all detailing on the sides of those fuselages as the mold can't press the details in there (this has now been overcome with the latest multipart slide release mold techniques, but that's quite a recent development. For a good example why the Hasegawa way is prefereable, compare the fuselages of their 1/72nd F-14 kit to their singlepiece-upper-and-lower Italeri counterparts... HTH, ANdre Quote Link to post Share on other sites
arnobiz Posted October 7, 2009 Share Posted October 7, 2009 As everybody says (Then why am I saying it?? ) it is a beautiful kit but it has its challenges. The main gear wells are not complete (i.e. you can see the inside of the plane through them) but it's not too difficult to complete them. The rear part is the most tricky area I encountered so far (I'm not done with the assembly yet), the fit is not perfect and there is a significant amount of putty/sanding to do. You can have an idea of what's going on in my assembly here, if it helps... http://www.carrierbuilders.net/forum/index...?showtopic=1071 If anyone is interested I will soon start the scratchbuilding of the M61 Vulcain in 1/72 scale in the above link. I'm still not sure if it is possible though: 0.35mm barrels and total diameter of 1.7mm Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brian P: Fightertown Decals Posted October 7, 2009 Share Posted October 7, 2009 I think they're pretty easy but they take a bit of time. Honestly I think they are the best F-14 in any scale. I can't figure out why Hasegawa didn't scale up the 1/72 cockpit to 1/48. It's much better than the big one. Attach intakes to lower body leaving forward 1/2in not glued. Attach foreward fuselage to upper body. Attach boat tail to upper body. Add spacer inside top body, mid way back behind/under the aft antenna THEN add top/cockpit to lower body/intakes. Takes care of all the potentially bad seams! I've got pictures on here somewhere from 2+ years ago but don't feel like searching the forums... I wish that article I wrote years ago disappeared. I hate reading it and it makes things sound sooo AMS... -brian Quote Link to post Share on other sites
janman Posted October 7, 2009 Share Posted October 7, 2009 Very interesting since I have one Hase D on my stash. Having built a Fujimi A not so long ago, I think it somehow feels a much easier build. The intakes caused some minor headache, but I don't remember any other bigger challenges. Surely some sanding was needed here and there. Don't want to hijack this thread but would the F-14 experts that have built the Fujimi kit consider it somewhat easier then? Not that I don't like challenges. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andre Posted October 7, 2009 Share Posted October 7, 2009 (edited) Don't want to hijack this thread but would the F-14 experts that have built the Fujimi kit consider it somewhat easier then? It's an easier and slightly less fussy build, IMHO. But the Hasegawa kit just seems to capture the essence of the real thing that tiny bit more. Both end up as good representations of the Tomcat in this scale, they are the Top 2 in my view. Edit: the Fujimi kits do come with nice pilots, a full air-to-air load (and even Mk.43s/Mk.20s plus BRU adapters in one of my boxings) and seperate TF30 engines plus their dollies. Cheers, Andre Edited October 7, 2009 by Andre Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Gurkan Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 Great Collection Andy, well done Tomcats on the Deck , What if you build an Aircraft Carrier ? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
afterburner Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 I thought the Fujimi was easier but the 72nd Hasegawa is still a pretty nice kit if you pay attention when working on the back-end of it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Matt Roberts Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 Attaching the bombs to the racks you may want to drill small holes and short lengths of wire to hold them on. This is how I mostly do it anymore with my 48ths, it has been a long while since I did a MER with slicks in 72nd. I have even seen people do the entire rack uonpainted and then paint after it is completed - how they do it I have no idea, sorta the black magic that allows armor guys to build the entire running gear tracks and all and get them painted afterwards Good luck and happy modeling Matt 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.