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Hello all,

I just bought a 1/48 Revell F-14D and I would like to know what is needed to convert it into a B model. At a quick glance, they look the same, but I know that there has to be differences. I have two 1/48 Hasegawa A models, can I use any parts out of these to make the conversion? It's not a have to case, I just had two sets of decals for B models that I would like to use but also have a nice set for the D. Thanks in advance.

Pat Green,

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First thoughts: seats (the GRU-type outa the Hase box should do ya), cockpit/instrument details (I think the Bs could have either TID or PTID in back, so check the one you wanna build -again, there may be bits of the Hase kit that will help) and chin-pod. If neither kit has an appropriate pod, an appeal to the ARC posse will probably net you a spare.

There are probably other areas to address, but you're in a good place to start from with the plastic you have already.

Also, I recommend grabbing a copy of the Daco F-14 book, good value even in these days of prodigious internet walkarounds!

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in addition to the above, B also has the radar warning "bumps" under the wing near the intakes, D's did not. These are included in the Hasegawa tomcat. If you plan to build an early model A with your hasegawa kit, then they will be extras.

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Hello all,

I just bought a 1/48 Revell F-14D and I would like to know what is needed to convert it into a B model. At a quick glance, they look the same, but I know that there has to be differences. I have two 1/48 Hasegawa A models, can I use any parts out of these to make the conversion? It's not a have to case, I just had two sets of decals for B models that I would like to use but also have a nice set for the D. Thanks in advance.

Pat Green,

Pat-

Everything you need to build the B (with the exception of the engines and squared off engine fairings) are included in the Hasegawa A kits. If you're in the US, I have a couple sets of engine parts as well s what you need to modify the RIO's pit I can send and I may possibly have 2 sets of engine fairings. I wouldn't be able to ship for 2 weeks. My truck is in the shop getting a new computer..apparently there's a 2 week wait for it to ship from St Louis..lol

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Pat-

Everything you need to build the B (with the exception of the engines and squared off engine fairings) are included in the Hasegawa A kits. If you're in the US, I have a couple sets of engine parts as well s what you need to modify the RIO's pit I can send and I may possibly have 2 sets of engine fairings. I wouldn't be able to ship for 2 weeks. My truck is in the shop getting a new computer..apparently there's a 2 week wait for it to ship from St Louis..lol

Brian,

If you can spare the parts, then yes please send them to me. A few weeks is fine, no hurry on my end. You can email me at exgbuloader@gmail.com and I will give you my address. Thanks again. I will look at the A models I have already for the differences and any spare parts that may help.

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Thanks for the info so far everyone, I knew there would be useful answers out there. I am still working on learning the variants of the Tomcat and another one that is confusing is the A+, don't know if that is seats, engines, bombing upgrades, or what but I think I have enough to keep me busy for a while. Also, I forgot to mention that I have the Bombcat upgrade from Eagle designs.

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To summarize the F-14B features:

GE-F110 engines/shrouds/fairings (same engines in F-14D)

GRU-7 seats (same seats in F-14A)

Single camera chin pod (common on F-14A's, never on F-14D)

ECM bumps (two) under each wing root (just before the "hinge" of the swing wings). Present on all late F-14A's.

wing glove veins bolted shut

late style wheels

Each Tomcat has a somewhat different cockpit (mostly dealing with the displays) so you'd have to get an F-14B specific cockpit if you wanted to get that correct.

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To summarize the F-14B features:

GE-F110 engines/shrouds/fairings (same engines in F-14D)

GRU-7 seats (same seats in F-14A)

Single camera chin pod (common on F-14A's, never on F-14D)

ECM bumps (two) under each wing root (just before the "hinge" of the swing wings). Present on all late F-14A's.

wing glove veins bolted shut

late style wheels

Each Tomcat has a somewhat different cockpit (mostly dealing with the displays) so you'd have to get an F-14B specific cockpit if you wanted to get that correct.

Thank you for the details, that really narrowed it down for me. Haven't decided whether or not I will actually convert the D but, I did find out that both of my Hasegawa A's have all the bells and whistles to the corrections if I want to. I forgot that I had the Italeri F-14 with all the extra ECM bumps so I may be able to do the conversion from it and leave the higher priced models alone. Thanks again.

Pat Green,

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The Revell D (VF-124 release) is actually closer to a B anyway. The cockpit, with the exception of the seats, is actually an A/B cockpit. Like others have stated, you can get everything you need from the Hasegawa kit. One small correction on the info above. The A's the had wing glove vanes bolted shut, while the B's were faired over on converted A's and were deleted altogether on new build B's. That's one way you can tell the difference between a late A and a B.

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If I rob the seats from an A, am I stuck with a seamless A or did the later ones get the other seats?

All F-14A/A+/B jets in the fleet were equipped with the GRU-7 seats for the duration of their career.

With the exception of the different engines and the presence of a newer HUD on the B(Upgrades) for the last couple of years of their existence, everything that you can see on a 1/48 model is the same between the A and A+/B> PTID and the LANTIRN/GPS antenna mod may have shown up at different times from squadron to squadron, based on where they were in the pecking order of getting the mods, but that was it. To amplify what Darren said above, the older early 90's Revell "D" kit is really a chin pod, two pairs of intake antenna fairings, and a pair of seats away from being a proper A+/B.

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