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1/48 Tamiya F-14A


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Curious, why the two Japanese kills on the same airframe? Didn't two different Vf-84 Tomcat's "splash" the two Zeros in the movie (one with a gun the other a missile)? Or did both movie star Tomcat's get zapped with two Japanese flag markings? Still makes for a neat subject.

:cheers:

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Curious, why the two Japanese kills on the same airframe? Didn't two different Vf-84 Tomcat's "splash" the two Zeros in the movie (one with a gun the other a missile)? Or did both movie star Tomcat's get zapped with two Japanese flag markings? Still makes for a neat subject.

:cheers:/>

I'm thinking it might have been a reference to a live fire exercise that was filmed in connection with "The Final Countdown" rather than the fictional fight scenes themselves. I also have a feeling those markings were only on a jet for squadron workups rather than an actual cruise, but we may never entirely know. It is a pretty "unique" marking I must say.

For the F-14 and Zero dogfight scenes, for the most part they were filmed with the Tallmantz B-25 camera ship over an area near NAS Key West. Those images were shot by professional cameramen in the bomber. But for the M-61 gun fire sequence (and Final Countdown to date is the ONLY movie to correctly represent that gun firing in sound) and the Sidewinder launch, the F-14s went to a USN gunnery/bombing range, I believe near Vieques island. The B-25 couldn't go there since these were live firings. So the RIO in at least one of the F-14s was trained to run a film camera to capture footage of the shots as the other one fired.

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So I'm thinking of pre-ordering a couple of these. I have the old Aeromaster sheet with the Nimitz cruise and Fightertown Wolfpack decals I think will work and I'm also thinking about picking up the furball F-14a all star sheet as well. Forgive me for not knowing much about tomcats....how do I know if an early tomcat will work or not with these sheets? Is there an online reference somewhere?

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Edited by fulcrum1
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Looks like you could do the VF-24, VF-84 and VF-142 birds (Top, 2nd and 2nd last). The last one, VF-124 has the really early 7 vent gun gas vent and the others have the triangular reinforcing plate on the tail plane, replacing the hexagonal plates. You could probably make some triangular reinforcement plates and scrape the hexagonal ones off, allowing you to make the later planes as well. This is a great sheet.

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That Vf-41 scheme with the large ace of spades looks killer too :thumbsup: . Dangit I will have to order a few more of these little jewels by the looks of things...my poor pocketbook :doh:

:lol:

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Looks like you could do the VF-24, VF-84 and VF-142 birds (Top, 2nd and 2nd last). The last one, VF-124 has the really early 7 vent gun gas vent and the others have the triangular reinforcing plate on the tail plane, replacing the hexagonal plates. You could probably make some triangular reinforcement plates and scrape the hexagonal ones off, allowing you to make the later planes as well. This is a great sheet.

Steel Beach will have some updates that will include everything you need.

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There is some conjecture on when exactly the hexagonal stiffener plates were replaced with the L shaped ones... during 1981 it is entirely possible that some jets could still have had the hexagonal brackets featured on this kit, so while not definitive, the answer is likely "yes", you could build a 1981 jet with the proper decals.

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There is some conjecture on when exactly the hexagonal stiffener plates were replaced with the L shaped ones... during 1981 it is entirely possible that some jets could still have had the hexagonal brackets featured on this kit, so while not definitive, the answer is likely "yes", you could build a 1981 jet with the proper decals.

Yes, the 1981 Gulf of Sidra jets from the VF-41 Black Aces for instance had a mix of hex and L brackets on their jets in 1981. So while the work was being done to add the "L" brackets, it hadn't happened to all the aircraft yet at the depot level.

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Yes, the 1981 Gulf of Sidra jets from the VF-41 Black Aces for instance had a mix of hex and L brackets on their jets in 1981. So while the work was being done to add the "L" brackets, it hadn't happened to all the aircraft yet at the depot level.

Jay is correct. Fast Eagle 102 had the hex stiffeners while 107 had the inverted L stiffeners.

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A Tomcat from the VF213 Indian Ocean cruise from 1981 that I was on. The birds were painted overall gloss gull grey but of interest were the multicolored Aim-9s/7s that were hung on their pylons (last pic).

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Edited by Viper_944FW
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Actually, Tomcats from CVW-7's first cruise on Ike would make an interesting subject. It's unfortunate that there aren't any.

You could get kind of close using either the Furball and/or the Superscale sheets. It wouldn't be exact, but it would look the part.

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Those multicolor missiles are interesting. I know there were still all-white missiles in inventory well into the 1990s. A buddy of mine that served on the independence and later the kitty hawk said that as late as 1999 or 2000, VF-154 still had some all white phoenix missiles on hand.

Edited by Skull Leader
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Those multicolor missiles are interesting. I know there were still all-white missiles in inventory well into the 1990s. A buddy of mine that served on the independence and later the kitty hawk said that as late as 1999 or 2000, VF-154 still had some all white phoenix missiles on hand.

The 80s and even the 90s saw missiles with gray and white areas, because they were assembled from the sections that were available at the time in the magazines. For example the 'winder in the photo above has a white warhead section, while the other parts were gray at the time of buildup. While multi-colored missile sections may upset the AMS modeler who strives for symmetry and uniformity, I have it on good authority that the weapons themselves worked just fine.

Any chance you could see pics of those all white Phoenixes to make out if they were some of the last remaining AIM-54As? All of ours were gray in the late 90s, but we only carried and shot the C version from the F-14D...

It makes for interesting modeling for sure!

Edited by Neeko
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A Tomcat from the VF213 Indian Ocean cruise from 1981 that I was on. The birds were painted overall gloss gull grey but of interest were the multicolored Aim-9s/7s that were hung on their pylons (last pic).

Vf213_006c1.jpg

Vf213_004c1.jpg

Vf213_011d1.jpg

Vf213_002c.jpg

Vf213_005c1.jpg

Vf213_008a1.jpg

Vf213_004a1.jpg

AWESOME pics!! I was a Blacklion from 2005-2009. Blacklion markings from the 70s and 80s are sorely lacking out there... there are a few if you can find them, but not a whole heck of a lot

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