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Unpacking the Trumpeter Tomcat


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Ready ? Take a seat. Here goes.

Pretty cool box eh ?

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Ouch, hope this didn't hurt the inside.

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If you need to show of your purchase, it's piece of cake to walk 10 blocks.

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Going inside

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Excellent protection with extra padding.

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Big @$$ Phoenix (I actually looked up what the plural of Phoenix was, it´s simply Phoenix ;) )

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Continued in part 2.

Edited by THX1138
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The dreaded rubbery part. How will this hold up with paint ? It's rather soft.

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Trumpeter has top notch instructions. This page does show the lack of LGB's or JDAM in the kit. There's only a training LGTR's included. So if you want things that go boom! on the ground, get aftermarket stuff or nick them from another 1/32 kit.

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Free wall art included.

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Lotsa decals. I'll probably go with the VF-2.

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The cockpit. Nice detail, but if you're a resin-junkie you'll want more detail.

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All the important bits come in this extra box.

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Part 3 follows

Edited by THX1138
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Important bits. Great seats I must say.

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The parts you´ll spend most time on. Panel lines are surprisingly soft.

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Should you wonder if you still have space for a 1/32 Tomcat. Here´s part of it compared to a 1/48. It´s enormous.

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If you need any more closeups, let me know and I´ll see what I can do.

So what next ? Well. I think this will go on display in my room for a couple of months. I just finished that 1/48 Tomcat so I want my eyes pointed someplace else for a while. Need to finish the A-7E GB too.

But, it's tempting. Looks like a very cool kit. I always wanted a big Tomcat, and now I have the newest tooling out there.

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I think just from the pics that the surface detailing looks fairly restrained and well done, and will look good when painted. However (and I am a Trump fan saying this) the cockpit looks to have about the same level of detail and finesse as the Revell 1/32 F-14 and F-15 from the early and mid 80's. Its just a bit...lacking. Sort of looks like its been scaled up from a 1/48th kit. It may look a lot better when painted, but I hate to say it, but for this much cash I would have expected Trump to get a little closer to the Tamiya F-16 from the 21st century and not the Revell kit from 25(?) years ago. Still, I'm sure the Tomcat community are more than happy to have this one hit the stores, and I'm sure an aftermarket pit won't be too far behind. Just a shame that it looks like it *might* be a requirement and not just a nice option. Looking forward to more review.

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Interesting that instead of providing A/G munitions for an F-14D they included AIM-120s....which were not integrated into the jet (unless I'm greatly mistaken).

Still, a nice looking chunk of plastic out of the box!

Thanks for sharing!

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I think just from the pics that the surface detailing looks fairly restrained and well done, and will look good when painted. However (and I am a Trump fan saying this) the cockpit looks to have about the same level of detail and finesse as the Revell 1/32 F-14 and F-15 from the early and mid 80's. Its just a bit...lacking. Sort of looks like its been scaled up from a 1/48th kit. It may look a lot better when painted, but I hate to say it, but for this much cash I would have expected Trump to get a little closer to the Tamiya F-16 from the 21st century and not the Revell kit from 25(?) years ago. Still, I'm sure the Tomcat community are more than happy to have this one hit the stores, and I'm sure an aftermarket pit won't be too far behind. Just a shame that it looks like it *might* be a requirement and not just a nice option. Looking forward to more review.

I wouldn't say it is a bad as the Revell 1/48th, but I think (After making many tomcat cockpits) that the F-14 cockpit is hard for anyone to do well without the level of detail that resin gives you. There is just a lot of cloth in there. That is a really difficult thing to render in polystyrene. I am very enthusiastic about this kit, I agree that the outside detail looks encouraging. I want to pick one up, but I will wait for some resin and photo etch options before I would "dig in." Thanks for the look inside the box!

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Perhaps Trumpeter looked at the Tamiya and said, ´as long as we don´t do decals, we will be safe. :D

To make the cockpit have any more detail, the price will go up. It´s already a pretty expensive kit. And they wouldn´t want to scare to many potential buyers away. I close the canopy on most of my kits, so having a hugely detailed cockpit is not something I desire. So they left that door open for aftermarket companies.

Perhaps with a bit of work the Aires pit´s fit the Trumpy also.

I´d like to point out 1 area in the contruction that´s interesting. The nose section is seperate. So depending on the fit, and if it needs any sanding or filling, you might decide to paint, weather etc it seperate. And connect it somewhere in the finishing stages. I remember from the Hasegawa this was similar but not an option since the fit was not good enough.

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That's interesting. They put LGBs in kits of aircraft that don't commonly carry them, like the vanilla AV-8B, and then don't put them in a kit like the F-14D, which more likely would.

Those wacky Chinese model overlords!

LOL. the seats don't look half bad. Thanks for the pics THX can't wait to see more. I also believe Waco is correct on the Tomcat not having the AMRAAM cleared for regular (not VX or whatever) jets... one more 1/32 cat couldn't hurt... wait does it hurt when SWMBO kills you?

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That is a great looking kit, too bad I can't afford and or have room for a finished build.

wait does it hurt when SWMBO kills you?

yup!!! especially when she/they make ya live through it, so they can do it again, if needed.

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Hi THX.

Thank you so much for the lovely photos. Have you done any test-fitting with your bird? I ask because I'm curious to know how faithful this kit is in terms of proportions... One of the things that caught my eye (though it could merely be the camera) is that the upper fuselage, in the area of the wing-gloves looks a tad too flat (much like the Hasegawa 1/48.) I think this is one area where the 1/32 Tamiya model may be superior, but more scrutiny is needed.

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While on the subject of things that go Boom!.

Was the Cat only cleared to carry the GBU/38 JDAM (Mk82), or also the GBU/32/31 (Mk83/84) ?

It was cleared GBU 31 and GBU 38. -38 wasn't until very late (2005) and only carried by two squadrons (VF-31 and -213) No one else (except test) ever carried it.

Edited by graves_09
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Thanks for the pics. Looks pretty nice overall, I hope the decals are as good as they look. Good choice of decals IMHO as these are some of my favorite schemes.

The cockpit is a bit flat, but as someone else said- you almost need resin to do the Tomcat office justice.

Don't think I'll be picking this up anytime soon as I got the 1/32 Tamiya in the stash and several 1/48th Hasegawas. So many Tomcats, so little time.

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