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Hello---am venturing into the world of small, I have an Academy F-4E

in 1/144 and saw an Academy 1/144 F-14A cheap at Hobby Lobby. Is it as

good as the Revell in that scale or does it too many fit issues. I remember

the 1/72 Academy having a strange shaped nose. Thanks---John

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The later Revell F-14 issues (apparently there have been various toolings) are in a different league. If you can find any of the three Goffy Model F-14A upgrade sets (weapons, wings and interior/canopy) you'll have one of the best 144 models anywhere!

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I first got the Academy--it was cheap and staring me in the face. Once I got it home, I went looking for the Revell and picked up their A and D boxings. I'll use the Academy for painting experiments...

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^ I took some pics and posted an in-box review HERE on modellboard.net, but it's in German only.

The essentials:

Trumpeter basically did a good job. I'm not sure whether they've corrected the intake issue their 1/32 Tomcats suffer from, but the rest looks very much like a Tomcat. They've done a couple of things nicer than Revell. They included different forward fuselages to cater for the differences around the gun, included different seats, different wheels, three versions of chin pods, old and "BOL-rail" AIM-9 launchers, and different engines with correct shrouds respectively.

The instructions are pretty vague. The kit includes some parts that would be correct for the aircraft of the decal options, but the instructions forget to tell you about the parts that should be used instead. Speaking of the decals, they're the one part they totally hosed (yeah, what a surprise, right!?). Ditch them and get Fightertown's decals instead. :thumbsup:/>

Overall, the kit's very nice indeed. Here in Germany it costs about twice as much as a Revell Tomcat. It's up to the individual to decide whether the couple extra bucks are justified. I'm not going to throw away my Revell kits, but for some versions, I would definitely consider the Trumpeter kit.

Edited by ChernayaAkula
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^ I took some pics and posted an in-box review HERE on modellboard.net, but it's in German only.

...

Excellent info, and thanks for the recap in english as well. :thumbsup:

I examined the HB 72nd scale Alpha when it was first released and from what I can see the intake issue is less obvious compared to the 48th and 32nd scale Tomcats, perhaps they did some tweaking - or not.

Looks like I will get a Trumpeter 144th Tomcat soon. :)

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