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AMK 1/48 F-14!!!

Jennings

By Jennings,
in Jet Modeling

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Mstor

Mstor

Posted
Posted
49 minutes ago, Janissary said:

 it still feels surreal to be hanging out with folks like you who were a part of the real thing, right in the middle of the action.

 

I feel the same way. I am just spell bound watching the launches and then reading about what goes on during cat operations. To all of you, thank you so much for sharing this stuff and thank you so much for your service. I never served in the armed forces but respect most highly those who have. :thumbsup:

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CJ Martin

CJ Martin

Posted
Posted (edited)
15 hours ago, Janissary said:

GW, Collin, CJ (and others whom I may have missed); 

 

First of all, remembering myself as a teenager fascinated with US naval aviation (and not growing up in the U.S.), it still feels surreal to be hanging out with folks like you who were a part of the real thing, right in the middle of the action. My parents still have the Betamax tapes of CNN news from the first gulf war where I would sit in front of the TV for hours and record anything that had to with the air campaign. The first time I touched a Tomcat was in 2007 in San Diego on USS Midway. It was electric. I was overwhelmed with emotions. My knees shook. I kissed the damn thing - no kidding. You probably find all that weird, but I guess when you're fascinated with something in your formative years with next to zero access to it, this happens. Anyway...

 

Two things I am curious about:

 

(1) When you were in the Navy, did you know that the Tomcat was a legend and it would amass this amount of interest from the general public? If you knew that, did it also impress you that way when you were enlisted, or was it just a piece of loud machinery that was your 'job'? What kind of a connection did you have with the Tomcat? Did you build plastic models of it at all? Did you take pictures of the jets for your own reference 'just in case'?

 

(2) Besides these modeling-related pages and the facebook pages I've seen for various squadrons for current and former service members to connect, what other active communities (online or not) are there where naval aviation, the aircrafts, your day to day work etc. are a central topic of interest?  Basically, what other podiums are there where the audience is interested in the details of your life as a service member in the Navy. I guess I am trying to figure out if modeling communities like ARC are significant in 'keeping the memories alive'.  

 

1. When I joined the Navy (back in 1984!) I had a pretty clear idea what I wanted to do (Aviation Electronics Technician) and that's what I signed up for. I had a couple of years of community college including some electronics courses (telcom major) so that gave me an advantage once I got to "A" school. I asked for Tomcats and East coast and got both. After finishing F-14 FRAMP (Fleet Readiness Aviation Maintenance Personnel) school at VF-101, I reported to VF-33 in April '85. This was well before the movie "TOPGUN" came out. As soon as I got my orders, I found a 1/72 kit of a VF-33 Tomcat that I built in the barracks. That was the  "Batmobile" scheme and that bird hit the ramp while landing on the America while I was in FRAMP. It came back to the squadron after rework in early '88 shortly before I transferred, but had been repainted into the low vis scheme. Mostly I built 1/700 WW2 ships while in the barracks, easier to build and display in the limited space I had. These days I mostly build 1/48 WW2 aircraft, though lately the tank bug has bitten me. Currently working on the Bronco M24 Chaffee (Early version). Last kit finished was the Tamiya M4A3E8 (WW2 version, great kit). Anyways I had a knack for troubleshooting which was good because most of our gripes were wiring related.

 

And make no mistake, all aircraft, Tomcats included are living things. They have distinct personalities and moods. Tomcats generally wanted to fly, fly fly. The longer they sat on the deck the crankier they'd get. I had my favorites and I had some that were just a cast iron biatch to work on. Hard to describe and maybe it sounds silly, but I believe it.

 

2. I belong to a few veteran groups on Facebook, most have to do with naval aviation. It's been interesting reconnecting with people I hadn't heard from in decades. For now that is enough. My day job keep me plenty busy though pages like this are nice for a quick break. It's not all fun and games though, pretty much anyone that has worked on the roof is now dealing with various service connected health issues. Hearing loss is a given, as is tinnitus. I took a bad fall off the wing of a Tomcat and ended up in Portsmouth Naval hospital. About half of my current team are former maintainers and pretty much all of us either have a VA rating or are in the process of getting one. That said, I'd do it all again in a second. Best job I've ever had. Worst living conditions and lowest pay though. Typical military BS that is common to all services. To be honest I wasn't the greatest sailor (in terms of military bearing) during my junior enlisted days. My ability to fix broken jets got me out off some otherwise hot water, lol. Later on it all clicked and I was much more squared away on shore duty. I got married during that time and had no desire to go back to sea so I got out after my shore tour. Fortunately that was at Pax River and I've pretty much been here ever since, first as a support contractor and now as a Navy civilian. Yeah there was a little side trip in the entertainment software business but when that ran it's course I came back to Pax. It's been a interesting ride, and I'm about to return to my roots in the tail hook world after 12 years of unmanned stuff. 

Edited by CJ Martin
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Collin

Collin

Posted
Posted (edited)

 

One of my favs when it comes to S-3 vids.  Mike (Callsign SNODS) and I were crewed together.  Good dude (for an 04 hinge).  Excellent stick and good behind the boat.  He is also the pilot of the S-3 barricade video that floats around.  We had some intersting flights together (CASE 3 final when the Tomcat in front of us crapped itself and almost went in the drink, on downwind together when a F-18 barely avoided going in the water after a cat shot 10K below weight, a few flights in the Gulf when we went places we shouldn't have).  He let me fly the jet a lot.  I don't know if I took this video, or one of my squadron mates (I have a ton of old 10mm tapes and such on my model desk I need to convert...a ton of flying vids from my years in Japan and at Pax).  I always went flying with my camera or vid camera.  As for the ball flying: little low in close, two wire.

 

Kitty Hawk had a huge deck compared to Indy....but I really liked Indy.  I remember being the lead COTAC taking a new LT pilot and the other 7 S-3's (and two ES-3's) flying off of Indy and cross-decking to Kitty.  We formed up (off of Hawaii...great flying weather) and came cracking down for a nice break.  We were first across the ramp and I remember saying "are we going to land"...there was so much more time from crossing the ramp to hook engagement on the Kitty because of the larger deck.  We didn't have any CATMs onboard (unlike the Hornets cross decking with us)...so the BOSS (an S-3 guy) let myself and SNIF (my pilot) run the deck.  Would have to look at my log book...but we probably got 4 more traps after the first one.  Helped the folks on the roof get used to operations again, and customary....we bought the BOSS a 6-pack of his fav soda for the extra traps.

 

Cheers

Collin

Edited by Collin
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CaptainObvious

CaptainObvious

Posted
Posted (edited)
4 hours ago, CJ Martin said:

Yeah there was a little side trip in the entertainment software business but when that ran it's course I came back to Pax. 

 

CJ, 
Your "little side trip" made a big impression in my life.
Thank you.
-co
 

Edited by CaptainObvious
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Zactoman

Zactoman

Posted
Posted
On 9/23/2018 at 9:15 AM, foxmulder_ms said:

It has Great Wall Su-35 style intakes/engine nacelles. Cool.. 

 

Sorry if this has already been answered, but the kit appears to include both one piece intakes/engine nacelles and a lower fuselage with the engine nacelles attached.

Will the lower fuselage be re-tooled so the full length parts will fit or is the modeler expected to cut away the nacelles so the parts fit? :hmmm:

 

:cheers:

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dylan

dylan

Posted
Posted
14 minutes ago, Mr Matt Foley said:

 

WORD! What I said!

WERD!!

like a drunken deadbeat dad another "promise" unkept.

does anyone have the patience to go back through the thread and count the number of times that the release date has changed?

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goondman

goondman

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, dylan said:

WERD!!

like a drunken deadbeat dad another "promise" unkept.

does anyone have the patience to go back through the thread and count the number of times that the release date has changed?

If i was really bored, I'd do it. There's been a bunch though and on their Facebook page. Theres even one comment where one of them apologizes-for something to the effect of-leading us on. But they turn right back around and do it again. 

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Mstor

Mstor

Posted
Posted

Might not be all AMK's fault here. Hobbyeasy keeps changing the release date as it gets close to the last one they posted. I don't think they have any information from AMK. They're just extending the pre-order each time it approaches the last date. They did the same thing with the Kitty Hawk releases. Didn't mean they had a new date from the manufacturer. When they eventually get the kit in, that will be the release date. Until then it anyone's guess.

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foxmulder_ms

foxmulder_ms

Posted
Posted
17 hours ago, Zactoman said:

 

Sorry if this has already been answered, but the kit appears to include both one piece intakes/engine nacelles and a lower fuselage with the engine nacelles attached.

Will the lower fuselage be re-tooled so the full length parts will fit or is the modeler expected to cut away the nacelles so the parts fit? :hmmm:

 

:cheers:

 

 

I have no idea. But I would speculate they go over the lower fusalage. They (engine nacelles on the main part) look smaller in diameter. I still don't get the wing mechanism either. It looks like they have some extra pieces. 

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andrew.deboer

andrew.deboer

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, foxmulder_ms said:

 

 

I have no idea. But I would speculate they go over the lower fusalage. They (engine nacelles on the main part) look smaller in diameter. I still don't get the wing mechanism either. It looks like they have some extra pieces. 

It looks like the AMK rear fuselage will be a 2-ply arrangement, with the full-length nacelles glued over the structural piece. Makes me wonder if it could add enough weight to make it a tailsitter... Which I will never know because my AMK Tomcat will have forward-swept wings and will be posed in flight!. 

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