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7 hours ago, zerosystem said:

Four were at my local show today.  Anyone want to take a guess of how many questions about the hips or panel lines there were? 

IMG_0209.JPG

Any sticking points in the assembly?    How was it in comparison to the Hasegawa kit?

Edited by John B
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3 hours ago, zerosystem said:

Not much detectable difference under paint on my example.  Some slide mold lines that I opted not to worry about. 

IMG_0205.JPG

 

I can see the difference in the quick-release latches on this side compared to the other side.

 

I opened up my kit tonight and it has the same issues that Zactoman found. I have also started comparing the general shapes of the rear end and wing gloves between the AMK kit and my partially built up Tamiya kit and there are stark differences. I need to do some more examination and see if I can take some pics, but the part of the AMK fuselage between the vertical tails and the outside edge has a steeper slant in the AMK kit than the Tamiya. Also, on the Tamiya kit, the slanted area levels off as it approaches the wing bladder, where it does not on the AMK kit. There are also some significant shape differences in the wing gloves. I need to look at this some more and, hopefully, take pics as I do not know how to describe what I'm seeing. I'm hoping Zactoman will have some time to look further as he is better at this kind of stuff than I am.

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So an accusation has been made that AMK basically just elected to update the HobbyBoss kit...well more or less an accusation. 

Brian at Gunfighter Models has leveled it and has cited numerous places on the kit that are more or less a match to the same areas on the HB Kit...

Can anyone look at that and see if there is indeed a link? 

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On 11/7/2019 at 7:20 PM, Brian P: Fightertown Decals said:

Part of the issue with the slat/wings is that AMK didn’t mold the slat bay. They molded the wing smooth all the way and there should be a recessed bay for the slat. So I see in all the builds, people don’t have a mark for where to paint the red. Some have lots of red vs some with almost no red. And if you do too much either way, it looks off. 

Brian 

 

I checked the KASL "dirty" wing set I have for my Tamiya F-14A and it DOES have the recessed slat bay. I doubt KASL will make a set for the AMK kit, seeing as it already has dirty wings. Oh well...

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13 hours ago, John B said:

Any sticking points in the assembly?    How was it in comparison to the Hasegawa kit?

 

If you're paying attention and dry fitting I didn't reach any major issues during the fuselage and wing assembly.  There weren't instructions available when we first got the kit and had to rely on early PDFs without  sequencing so there were some self introduced issues.  Some parts just snap together which is really nice but as always...TEST FIT

 

  • If you make sure that all of the fuselage pins and posts are alligned and inserted all the way then the fuselage flattens out where some see the gap along the wing seal on the rear edge. 
  • The wings went together without any issues and the spoilers fit perfectly.  (I built mine with them deployed)
  • The nose to fuselage join was a little off on mine but that was most likely due to my screwups in the initial fuselage assembly (intakes go on first before the ramps) but I was able to make a relief cut on an unseen part of the nose part underneath the turtle deck and it worked out just fine.
  • We were under a build timeline so some things were a little more accelerated than I would have liked so once the major airframe components were done. Things like the landing gear doors and actuators, these were a little off for me with the locating holes, this again because of my initial rush to construction might have been an issue with how I put the gear wells together.  Not everyone reported issues there.

 

I can make a pro/con list if people are interested.  Overall it was a fun build with some really amazing new engineering ideas.  Some worked really well, others need a little tweaking.  All in all it's a F-14 to me, which I consider like a P-38...there are alot of things going on in  a kit that have to go right for everything to attach properly.   The claimed detractors of panel lines and shapes don't detract enough for me to not think of it as an F-14...it doesn't have the Hobbyboss or Academy shape and surface area problems, it doesn't have the famous Monogram step fuselage assembly or the Hasegawa fit issues (admit-idly I haven't built that one in years but I still remember how hard it was to try and get the canopy to sit flat).  While it might not be Tamiya, I liked it and will build another.   And just to mention it, there were 2 Tamiya cats and the show (though both Alphas) and all of us did look at them side by side. 

 

 

 

74664637_2749283248435419_2985907619761225728_n.jpg

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43 minutes ago, zerosystem said:

 

If you're paying attention and dry fitting I didn't reach any major issues during the fuselage and wing assembly.  There weren't instructions available when we first got the kit and had to rely on early PDFs without  sequencing so there were some self introduced issues.  Some parts just snap together which is really nice but as always...TEST FIT

 

  • If you make sure that all of the fuselage pins and posts are alligned and inserted all the way then the fuselage flattens out where some see the gap along the wing seal on the rear edge. 
  • The wings went together without any issues and the spoilers fit perfectly.  (I built mine with them deployed)
  • The nose to fuselage join was a little off on mine but that was most likely due to my screwups in the initial fuselage assembly (intakes go on first before the ramps) but I was able to make a relief cut on an unseen part of the nose part underneath the turtle deck and it worked out just fine.
  • We were under a build timeline so some things were a little more accelerated than I would have liked so once the major airframe components were done. Things like the landing gear doors and actuators, these were a little off for me with the locating holes, this again because of my initial rush to construction might have been an issue with how I put the gear wells together.  Not everyone reported issues there.

 

I can make a pro/con list if people are interested.  Overall it was a fun build with some really amazing new engineering ideas.  Some worked really well, others need a little tweaking.  All in all it's a F-14 to me, which I consider like a P-38...there are alot of things going on in  a kit that have to go right for everything to attach properly.   The claimed detractors of panel lines and shapes don't detract enough for me to not think of it as an F-14...it doesn't have the Hobbyboss or Academy shape and surface area problems, it doesn't have the famous Monogram step fuselage assembly or the Hasegawa fit issues (admit-idly I haven't built that one in years but I still remember how hard it was to try and get the canopy to sit flat).  While it might not be Tamiya, I liked it and will build another.   And just to mention it, there were 2 Tamiya cats and the show (though both Alphas) and all of us did look at them side by side. 

 

 

 

74664637_2749283248435419_2985907619761225728_n.jpg

 

You suck, dude.. there is nothing good about this kit! Unbuildable!! Remember? 

 

/sarcasm 😄 😄 😄

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5 minutes ago, solher1 said:

Good job in an unbuildable kit.

 

However I am after a freedom of speech, I think such comments should be removed by mods in this topic. They lead to nothing else than shitstorm about thing that was discussed and explained before.

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7 minutes ago, Tapchan said:

 

However I am after a freedom of speech, I think such comments should be removed by mods in this topic. They lead to nothing else than shitstorm about thing that was discussed and explained before.

 

Thank for this great post. Some are more equal indeed 😉

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Awesome job on your build! Definitely captures the feel of an F-14. Congratulations on a wonderful build.

 

I do however find it extremely funny that people are so triggered by people pointing out that there are some "inconsistencies" with the kit and trying to explain what areas may need to be improved upon with this model. It's like they are personally attached to the kit or something. Good grief, no one said unbuildable or anything of the sorts. But hey, if that's how you guys are getting your laughs then more power to ya'. 

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22 minutes ago, Jonathan_Lotton said:

FFS...no one ever said the kit was unbuildable. 

What was disputed was the "most accurate Tomcat ever" claim, and the hubris that followed it. 

 

 

...plus seeing tones of non-issue issues...

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3 hours ago, DIO said:
3 hours ago, Jonathan_Lotton said:

FFS...no one ever said the kit was unbuildable. 

What was disputed was the "most accurate Tomcat ever" claim, and the hubris that followed it. 

 

 

...plus seeing tones of non-issue issues...

 

I will certainly agree that the kit builds up into an attractive F-14D, no doubt about it. As Jonathan_Lotton stated, the issue is with the "most accurate Tomcat ever" claims. I also take issue with the claim that the issues uncovered are "non-issues" when I can see them whenever I get a good look at the model.  Some might think that the complaints have all been made and we are rehashing old news. This is not true. There are some underlying shape issues with the AMK kit that are beginning to come to light. I am trying to understand what I'm seeing so I can put it down in words that make sense. I am not good with drawing or 3D drafting type programs, so trying to create graphics that would show what I am seeing is beyond my skill. In time, I and others will be able to explain the underlying issues. In the meantime, please, let's not berate others just because they don't agree with what you think about the kit. The builds I've seen so far are really impressive. That the kit goes together well even without instructions is indeed a positive. I've started some assembly of the fuselage and it just clicks together as stated by others.

This should not be an emotional issue. This is a technical critique of the accuracy of the kit, nothing more.

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5 hours ago, niart17 said:

Awesome job on your build! Definitely captures the feel of an F-14. Congratulations on a wonderful build.

 

I do however find it extremely funny that people are so triggered by people pointing out that there are some "inconsistencies" with the kit and trying to explain what areas may need to be improved upon with this model. It's like they are personally attached to the kit or something. Good grief, no one said unbuildable or anything of the sorts. But hey, if that's how you guys are getting your laughs then more power to ya'. 

 

As well as I when I read some of the comments that take a marketing slogan to heart and that AMK intentionally made mistakes. 

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On 11/10/2019 at 7:28 PM, zerosystem said:

Four were at my local show today.  Anyone want to take a guess of how many questions about the hips or panel lines there were? 

IMG_0209.JPG

Saw them yesterday, thought they all looked great.  Also saw Terry's spread out on the table.

Edited by dekon70
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58 minutes ago, zerosystem said:

 

As well as I when I read some of the comments that take a marketing slogan to heart and that AMK intentionally made mistakes. 

Perhaps I missed it, but I can't recall anyone saying AMK made the mistakes on purpose. THAT would be a crazy claim to make. I can't imagine any company purposely making such mistakes. It's not unusual for companies to make mistakes, it's not unforgivable even. It is what it is. But it's also not unheard of for people to evaluate a product and find what they find good and what they find bad about a product. That's what is called a customer review, or a discussion about a product. It's not like this is the first time a kit has been evaluated and things pointed out. There are forums dedicated exclusively for this purpose. 

 

But on a more serious note.....comon 300!!!!!

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3 hours ago, niart17 said:

Perhaps I missed it, but I can't recall anyone saying AMK made the mistakes on purpose.


I heard their CAD system was infected with the wannascribe virus and that random panel lines were removed from the CAD files by this virus.  
 

Reminds me of that styrene eating bacteria that was infecting kits back in the rec.models.scale era...

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On 11/10/2019 at 5:23 PM, zerosystem said:

Had to finish the build for a deadline so I wasn't able to get these up sooner:

Very nice build(s)! :thumbsup:

Did you happen to get any pics of one with swept wings from behind, showing the bladder area? I'd be curious to see if having them swept helps hide the hip problem.

 

On 11/9/2019 at 4:55 PM, gb_madcat_sl said:

However, I found my slats for both the clean and dirty wings to be molded correctly with complete panel lines and rivets. 

Hi Mark, are you certain you checked both separate slats for the dashed line vs solid line?

I find it hard to believe that if they did in fact re-tool that they would knowingly ship defective parts to customers. If that's acceptable I've got piles of reject parts that I can start shipping.

 

On 11/10/2019 at 12:31 PM, Mstor said:

Could this be a problem that is occurring during the actual pressing of the parts? In any case, how is all this getting past QA?

There's no way that the molding process could produce a dashed line.

Hard to believe it could get past QA unless they are only (quickly) looking for obvious molding problems (i.e. short shots) or missing parts that may have fallen off sprues.

This is something that must have been noticed on test shots and test builds. Again, if they retooled then these parts should never have reached customers.

 

Front_ends_zpsl7pgvnnc.jpg

With the AMK and Tamiya sitting side-by-side, one area that immediately caught my eye was the forward fuselage. The AMK looked bigger. At first I thought it was just the darker plastic but then I put on my glasses (no joke... :coolio:).

 

Nose_top_dims_zpskf3ciuda.jpg

Some may say it's just a few thousands of an inch, but there's also a difference in the taper and curvature of the front end. The AMK just looks thick (and it's not just the forward fuselage).

 

The AMK cockpit opening and canopy is wider as well. Here is the Tamiya rear canopy sitting on the AMK kit. Note the amount of plastic visible on each side of the Tamiya canopy.

AMKwTam_canopy_zpsxm2bp6zk.jpg

 

The canopy arch is also different.

Arches_zpsbtxdkoxv.jpg

 

The AMK rear canopy has two parting lines as has already been noted. The plastic looks nice and clear without distortion. As nice as it looked, the Tamiya canopy is amazingly clear and completely distortion free, possibly the best canopy I've seen.
The AMK windscreen is less impressive and does show a lot of distortion on the side panes. This is evident if you hold it up with light behind it. Fortunately it is less evident when it's sitting on something or mounted on the model, but there is some slight wobble visible.

Windscreens_zpsfqkzikes.jpg

 

The AMK clear parts each have a single injection sprue with several overflow tabs so lots to clean up. The Tamiya parts have one injection sprue with zero overflow tabs.

Despite careful packaging the larger clear parts on my AMK kit all had stress marks at the injection points from flexing. The separate rear canopy parts had almost fallen off the sprues and the stress marks on them would show on the finished painted model.

 

More when time permits...

 

:cheers:

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5 hours ago, Zactoman said:

 

 

There's no way that the molding process could produce a dashed line.

I agree, if they were raised panels on the model MAYBE I could see that in a case where plastic might have failed to flow into the panel grooves in the mold due to not enough pressure or something. But for recessed model panel, in order for a section of a recess to be missing then the area around it would be have to be distorted as well because the line is raised above the surface on the mold. 

 

Thanks for the evaluation Zacto. I appreciate the effort it takes to do such an in depth look at a model. Often times we only see a final aftermarket product without seeing what kind of measuring and evaluating would have to be done in order to yield such a product. Even though you may not be doing it for that purpose in this case, it's still interesting to see how each person approaches the problem. Thanks and keep us up to date with your findings.

 

Bill

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On 11/4/2019 at 6:43 AM, flanker27 said:

Vicky from AMK just email me to confirm my address in indiegogo, so it seems those who pre-order from indiegogo should receive their kits soon I hope.

It's been a week since I heard from Vicky. Have you heard a peep?

 

Hmmmm :whistle:

 

Guess AMK is still sitting on their hands about mailing the kits to Indiegogo suckers (like me).

 

I'll wait a few more days before I, once again, ask them where the kits are.

 

SAD!

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I was looking at sprue "O" and noticed a few parts that I can't find  in the instructions...

F-14D Super Tomcat (Plastic model) Other picture16

 

Look at the parts directly to the left (center of the sprue) of the turbine wheels and between the fuel tank halves. There are four "square" parts. One with a long shaft on the end and a "square" on the other.

 

I am taking a guess that these parts are wheel chock halves????

 

Can someone take a look at sprue "O" and see what those 4 "square" parts are? I can't find any reference in the instructions.

 

Just curious..

 

Scott

CNJC-IPMS

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