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1/48 HobbyBoss F-14A Tomcat


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Tjena Anders!

Just found this thread, and I must say it sure looks good! Will follow the rest with great interest!

Tjena, tjena!

Thanks, glad you like it. :)

What´s the purpose of the magnetic tape? I thought it was det cord, to blow up the canopy in case of ejection.

By the way, Christmas came early when I collected my own F-14A at the post office yesterday :-) Got the Aires pit and exhausts as well..

/E

The tape serves to protect against lightning strikes, but I must admit I have no clue exactly how it works.

Good news, Erik!

Quite an impressive kit the way it looks in the box, right? :)

I assume the Aires items are all the newer stuff designed for the HB kit and not older items?

As described earlier I used the nozzles made for the Hasegawa kit. While it worked out ok I could just as well have waited for Aires to release the new items.

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Jupp, all the resin bits are supposed to be tailored to the HB kit. Haven´t test fitted or anything yet, and I suspect it will not be shake and bake, at least not regarding the office. The castings are very nice. Nothing was damaged as far as I could see. Lucku Modell managed to cram the aires boxes in to the otherwise filled to the brim box, but the kit box was wrapped in bubble plastic and placed in an even larger cardboard box - being so large that it attracted the interest of the customs office - alas I had to pay 261 SEK to collect the package, including the 100 SEK "import fee" that the post office claims each time a package is going through customs. I guess that´s because we´re all using e-mail these days :-)

Ok, I guess that the lightning that hit the canopy is lead to the metal frame rather than through the canopy and in to the pilots helmet. That might be a good thing if you´re a pilot I guess.

Now, keep working on your Cat, so that I will have a nice guide to follow when I start on mine :D

/E

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  • 1 month later...

Anders, time to stop skiing and start working on this build again. I want to see this when I go to Stockholm on March 17. :-)

I have started playing around with my own Cat, as you´ve seen, and I'll start a WIP-thread as soon as I got something substantial to show.

But I can tell some of the readers of this thread that the Aires exhausts designed for the Hobby Boss kit fit very well. The after burner cans fit nicely inside the HB plastic nozzle fairing, and the Aires nozzles fit nicely on the outside, with no strange looking joint visible inside. I wish their cockpit had the same fit.. Dremel is my friend..

/E

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Thanks for your interest, Erik. However, the chance of this one getting done in time for 08 Open is rather minimal. <_<

Have been busy with a few 48th and 35th scale AFV projects but hope to return to this build soon.

Still have a number of seams to check and a few panel lines to scribe but then it is primer time! :)

I see you got your WIP going already, I will closely follow your progress.

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  • 3 months later...
  • 4 years later...

Well, that was the nail in the coffin for this WIP on my HB Tomcat.

I just last week had the kit out on the bench to see what was left to do before painting could commence.

But right now I am more curious about where I can pre-order the new Tamiya F-14A. :rolleyes:

And this HB Tomcat went straight into the trash...

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Wow that seems like a waste, It' was looking really good.

What?! No! It's still a great model, build it then compare it!

Well, I guess it's a matter of perspective.

The HB intakes (both inside and outside) are a pain to work on and look at.

So, I have made my mind up and won't waste more time on this build - especially when it's no other than Tamiya who'll soon come along with their Tomcat. :)

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Sorry to hear you dumping the project. Was one of the best Hb Tomcats I've seen. I bought one and after looking at it repeatedly decided to dump it and do all the mods I wanted (tons of open stuff for maintenance) to Hasegawa.

Don't know why you'd want to save the HB weapons and wings... The weapons fins are stupidly thick and the wings, while having pretty nice flaps have rivets like crazy, and no angle to the slats - they are incorrectly straight. Not to mention they are too large. I'm not saying the Hasegawa wings are that much better but they are easier to correct.

Brian

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Save your HB parts as the Tamiya cat will be weapon less and not have flaps/slats.

Sorry to hear you dumping the project. Was one of the best Hb Tomcats I've seen. I bought one and after looking at it repeatedly decided to dump it and do all the mods I wanted (tons of open stuff for maintenance) to Hasegawa.

Don't know why you'd want to save the HB weapons and wings... The weapons fins are stupidly thick and the wings, while having pretty nice flaps have rivets like crazy, and no angle to the slats - they are incorrectly straight. Not to mention they are too large. I'm not saying the Hasegawa wings are that much better but they are easier to correct.

Brian

Word, Brian (and thanks)! Yes, the HB wings are pretty useless.

After lots of filling and sanding I then spent some time rebuilding the flap hinges to improve their appearance, but had only just begun looking at how to correct the weird angle of those slats. No easy fix, and then there is their size problem (as you mentioned)...

I will go with Tamiya Tomcat for now, but I am realy curious about the upcoming AMK Tomcat as well.

And life is just too short to waste time on trying to fix fundamentally bad kits. :)

Edited by Anders_Isaksson
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  • 1 year later...

...picking this up again...

 

I have sniped a cheap HB Tomcat last week...probably was sold due to the known issues...and I have started looking at the intakes last night! I have Monogram intakes to compare it with and a 70% built up Tamiya bird. I have a feeling I might know where the issue is. I have also ordered sprue D (intakes, etc...) from the Tamiya bird! A German dealer has all the single sprues in stock! Once they arrive, and with the help of the plans in the Dako Book I hope to be able to start a surgery! I am jut curious if it can be done and what the result will look like...if time was an issue then this would be a no-go since Tamiya's shake and beak kit is simply top of the pops !!!

 

cheers

Uwe

 

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