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Are there ever going to be any aftermarket parts for the Trumpeter kit? I would love to pick one up, but that cockpit needs an update! I am kind of astonished that only Steel Beach has taken on this kit! Kudos to Darren by the way. Any news?

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IMHO, the kit cockpit + Darren's update set + a bit of tissue soaked in white glue to simulate all that fabric is enough to get you 95% of a resin cockpit's look. If I built another Trumpeter Tomcat, that's the route I'll take.

The one area that deserves more attention, either from the modeler or aftermarket, is the nose gear. It is under detailed and the existing details are just lame. The locking mechanism for the cat launch arm is non-existent; the complex wiring and structure on the hydraulic pump is just rendered as a plastic box; the big spot light is just a blob of plastic; the spring mechanism on the oleo scissor links is missing. All those need to be scratch built. Ironically, the nose gear bay is very detailed. It's as if Trumpeter blew all the R&D money on the gear bay and didn't leave enough for the gear itself. What were they thinking?

My 2 cents.

Terry

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Gents

You got to remember that deciding what to make and then actually making patterns for a kit take a while, especially for us little guys who don't have a pile of people on the payroll. The Trumpy Tomcat is a huge and complex kit that requires quite a bit of forethoughht on how to make aftermarket work for. Just curious, what is needed??

There are parts out for the Revell Eurofighter with more coming BTW.

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where do i get steel beach F-14 stuff?

Sprue bros is out of stock. Also, I tried looking for a review for their slime lights but couldn't find it...

are they self adhesive..? are they an improvement over the kit decals...both tamiya and trump

Edited by signals
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where do i get steel beach F-14 stuff?

Sprue bros is out of stock. Also, I tried looking for a review for their slime lights but couldn't find it...

are they self adhesive..? are they an improvement over the kit decals...both tamiya and trump

I'm casting more F-14D sets this week. I wish I had more time, but my full time job and family have to come first. I've been pleasantly taken by surprise at how fast some of the new sets have sold. In regards to the vinyl slime lights, they are self-adhesive. The color is a very good representation of the fiberglass color that the lights are made out of. Are they an improvement? I think they look better, but I'd probably say they are just a different medium. Here's a picture of the 1/48 scale lights.

33a.JPG

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"I'm casting more F-14D sets this week. I wish I had more time, but my full time job and family have to come first. I've been pleasantly taken by surprise at how fast some of the new sets have sold. In regards to the vinyl slime lights, they are self-adhesive. The color is a very good representation of the fiberglass color that the lights are made out of. Are they an improvement? I think they look better, but I'd probably say they are just a different medium. Here's a picture of the 1/48 scale lights."

Darren, what updates do you have for the trumpeter F-14? And where do I buy them?

Edited by Biped19
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"I'm casting more F-14D sets this week. I wish I had more time, but my full time job and family have to come first. I've been pleasantly taken by surprise at how fast some of the new sets have sold. In regards to the vinyl slime lights, they are self-adhesive. The color is a very good representation of the fiberglass color that the lights are made out of. Are they an improvement? I think they look better, but I'd probably say they are just a different medium. Here's a picture of the 1/48 scale lights."

Darren, what updates do you have for the trumpeter F-14? And where do I buy them?

http://store.spruebrothers.com/132-steel-b...608-p22524.aspx

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Are there ever going to be any aftermarket parts for the Trumpeter kit? I would love to pick one up, but that cockpit needs an update! I am kind of astonished that only Steel Beach has taken on this kit! Kudos to Darren by the way. Any news?

Looks like Aires is coming out with exhaust cans for the Trumpeter Tomcat.

http://www.aires.cz/?wptheme=en

Terry

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Looks like Aires is coming out with exhaust cans for the Trumpeter Tomcat.

http://www.aires.cz/?wptheme=en

Terry

I just saw that! Cool. But here is my question about the Aires cans. I have a set in the 1/48th and they seem to have a lot of rivet detail on the feathers. From every photo I have seen the GE-110 feathers look very smooth. Is the presence of rivets all over the feathers just an over-scaled effect?

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Speaking of aftermarket for this thing, is there going to be a release of a LANTIRN pod to replace the flip-flopped one in the kit? I Googled it the other night, came up with Flightpath and (IIRC) Wolfpack, but when I clicked on it and came up with a "this product is either out of stock or out of production..." message.

I just saw that! Cool. But here is my question about the Aires cans. I have a set in the 1/48th and they seem to have a lot of rivet detail on the feathers. From every photo I have seen the GE-110 feathers look very smooth. Is the presence of rivets all over the feathers just an over-scaled effect?

Those rivets are there on the F110's, it's just waaaaaaaaaaaaay overdone on the aires exhausts. On the real thing, you have to be right up next to the damn things to actually see them.

Edited by TomcatFanatic123
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I'm casting more F-14D sets this week. I wish I had more time, but my full time job and family have to come first. I've been pleasantly taken by surprise at how fast some of the new sets have sold. In regards to the vinyl slime lights, they are self-adhesive. The color is a very good representation of the fiberglass color that the lights are made out of. Are they an improvement? I think they look better, but I'd probably say they are just a different medium. Here's a picture of the 1/48 scale lights.

Hey Darren,

Just a quick (and silly) question. What exactly is included in the cockpit update set? I spy rudder pedals, and (what I think is) the box on top of the RIO's instrument panel cover, but I'm unclear on what the other things are. Thanks!

Edited by TomcatFanatic123
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Seems like a lot of coin to drop on a kit with that many errors. Then have to drop even more coin to fix said errors. :whistle:

Exactly why I didnt buy one when I had the cash... I figure I can buy another Hornet and use the left over money for some seamless intakes and decals. Seems kinda steep to spend 170+ on a kit that is huge that has details of a 1/72 kit... I like to build 1/32 for all the extra details that you dont normally see in 1/48, but that landing gear and the huge gaps around the IP coaming is a joke!

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I am just waiting for Spruebrothers to have Mr. Roberts set back in stock to order.

It should be in the next week or so. The plan right now is to drop off a restock this Saturday at the local model contest. It then takes a couple days to get everything in. I'll let you know if plans change.

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Another couple questions for ya, Darren:

I'm working on one of these beasts right now, and I've already got the 'pit assembled, painted and installed with the front fuselage halves closed. It's obviously too late to get the rudder pedals in (I scratchbuilt a less-than-5-minutes-looks-close-enough-to-work-unless-you're-an-obsessive-rivet-counter version of them for this build, anyway), but would it be too late to install the throttle? Also, since the SSU box sits right on the RIO's instrument coaming, I should be able just to drop that in without too much of a problem, correct?

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