Jump to content

1/48 Tamiya F-14A


Recommended Posts

On 7.8.2016 at 7:55 PM, dylan said:

as I posted in one of the other threads.

DSC_8171-L.jpg

I will be getting at least 2 of the Tamiya kits. 1 high vis Jolly rogers plane and one black aces. probably another 2 of the AMK kits as well.

 

Hello Dylan

Just spotted this post...! I am after decals for my S-3 Viking and I see you have the Aeromaster CAW-8 sheet! Do you plan on doing the Viking of VS-24 and if not, would you seel this portion of the decals?

 

thanks

Uwe

Link to post
Share on other sites
5 hours ago, anj4de said:

 

Hello Dylan

Just spotted this post...! I am after decals for my S-3 Viking and I see you have the Aeromaster CAW-8 sheet! Do you plan on doing the Viking of VS-24 and if not, would you seel this portion of the decals?

 

thanks

Uwe

sorry Uwe  I am planning on doing the entire CVW 8....eventually.

one of the italeri S-3 kits comes with them in the box i think

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 11 months later...

Thank you. I have the kit, but have not looked carefully. But at least the instructions for the A do not give Aim-54 on the shoulders.

 

But looking at your pics, the Phoenix pylons seem to be included if I am not mistaken. They are the ones pointing directly at the wheels in the first pic, I think...

 

I am yet to see a 1/48 Tamiya F-14A build with the Phoenix on the shoulders. More confounding, all the real pics I managed to pull up with that config is either is a B or a D. So now I am questioning whether the A could even carry these on the shoulders. 

 

But, when I was in middle school, I distinctly remember having a sticker of a Tomcat pic with a fully-loaded Phoenix config including the shoulders. That must have been an A!  

 

Sorry, I am unnecessarily confused... The answer to my question is probably straightforward, but my laziness is getting in the way today.

Edited by Janissary
Link to post
Share on other sites

That first pic is literally the pic I had a sticker of when I was in the middle school. I remember the tail flash!

 

If the A can carry it (which looks to be the case) and Tamiya includes it, I am a little surprised why I haven't seen any builds with that config, even if it was just for fun. I guess A carrying them like that is rare, but you'd think there would be more builds? 

 

[Bracing myself for a barrage of those kit pics...🙂]

Edited by Janissary
Link to post
Share on other sites

All F-14's were capable of carrying and employing the AIM-54 Phoenix from either win stations.

 

The reason why you see so few F-14A's with Phoenix's on the wing is because before the Tomcat started doing bombs, Phoenix's were carried on the belly 99% of the time. Carrying Phoenix's on the wing prior to the introduction of the bomb rails was a PITA and a maintenance nightmare so the only time Phoenix's were carried on the wings was when someone wanted to do a photo op, was trying to get the Battle E or someone got a wild hair up their rear and wanted to screw over the Ordies.

 

The reason why it was a PITA is because for years squadrons did not maintain the plumbing in the wing stations for the coolant so when the system was turned on, it leaked like it was raining. Also, the coolant system was required to be "flushed and fill" every so often and when the wing stations were flushed and filled, yep, you guessed it, it would pour out of all the quick disconnects going to the wing. This was a huge maintenance nightmare so squadrons just stopped carrying Phoenix's on the wing since most of the time the load out was 2x2x2, no need to put them on the wing.

 

Then came the bomb rails..................

 

Once the bomb rails came out squadrons were forced to maintain the plumbing to the wing stations since usual load out changed to 1x2x1 with air to ground weapons on the belly. The early 90's were a busy time for Ordnance Shops and squadrons since they were just learning how to load bombs and now had to fix all the plumbing for the wing stations. By the mid 90's all the operational Tomcat's had their plumbing fixed and flying Phoenix's on the wing wasn't a PITA anymore but those early 90's, I bathed in coolantal on a daily basis.

 

Also, when the bomb rails were coming out squadrons started changing over from Alphas to Bravo's and Delta's, along with being decommissioned,  so by the time the fleet started putting Phoenix's on the wing there wasn't that many Alpha squadron as there was prior to 1990.

 

For the Delta's, carrying Phoenix's on the wing was no big deal, they used the AIM-54C+ Phoenix's, which didn't need coolant but for the Alpha's and Bravo's, there were never enough drip pans around when we did a flush and fill.

 

As to why Tamiya didn't include the Phoenix on the wing in the instructions, your guess is as good as mine.

 

GW

Edited by GW8345
Link to post
Share on other sites
2 hours ago, Janissary said:

 

If the A can carry it (which looks to be the case) and Tamiya includes it, I am a little surprised why I haven't seen any builds with that config, even if it was just for fun. 

 

[Bracing myself for a barrage of those kit pics...🙂]

sEfEyAC.jpg

Link to post
Share on other sites

Wow looks so cool with the Phoenix on the wing pylons. At least you can see that big a** missile instead of it being buried on the belly. I think on eof the Hasegawa weapons sets has Phoenix missiles in it? I will have to check my sets.

 

 

Link to post
Share on other sites
22 hours ago, GW8345 said:

All F-14's were capable of carrying and employing the AIM-54 Phoenix from either win stations.

 

The reason why you see so few F-14A's with Phoenix's on the wing is because before the Tomcat started doing bombs, Phoenix's were carried on the belly 99% of the time. Carrying Phoenix's on the wing prior to the introduction of the bomb rails was a PITA and a maintenance nightmare so the only time Phoenix's were carried on the wings was when someone wanted to do a photo op, was trying to get the Battle E or someone got a wild hair up their rear and wanted to screw over the Ordies.

 

The reason why it was a PITA is because for years squadrons did not maintain the plumbing in the wing stations for the coolant so when the system was turned on, it leaked like it was raining. Also, the coolant system was required to be "flushed and fill" every so often and when the wing stations were flushed and filled, yep, you guessed it, it would pour out of all the quick disconnects going to the wing. This was a huge maintenance nightmare so squadrons just stopped carrying Phoenix's on the wing since most of the time the load out was 2x2x2, no need to put them on the wing.

 

Then came the bomb rails..................

 

Once the bomb rails came out squadrons were forced to maintain the plumbing to the wing stations since usual load out changed to 1x2x1 with air to ground weapons on the belly. The early 90's were a busy time for Ordnance Shops and squadrons since they were just learning how to load bombs and now had to fix all the plumbing for the wing stations. By the mid 90's all the operational Tomcat's had their plumbing fixed and flying Phoenix's on the wing wasn't a PITA anymore but those early 90's, I bathed in coolantal on a daily basis.

 

Also, when the bomb rails were coming out squadrons started changing over from Alphas to Bravo's and Delta's, along with being decommissioned,  so by the time the fleet started putting Phoenix's on the wing there wasn't that many Alpha squadron as there was prior to 1990.

 

For the Delta's, carrying Phoenix's on the wing was no big deal, they used the AIM-54C+ Phoenix's, which didn't need coolant but for the Alpha's and Bravo's, there were never enough drip pans around when we did a flush and fill.

 

As to why Tamiya didn't include the Phoenix on the wing in the instructions, your guess is as good as mine.

 

GW

 

EXCELLENT explanation Gary! I asked a VF213 maintainer that I work with now and she said exactly the same thing, SHOWERS for everyone! HAHAHA!

 

Cheers

 

Larry

Link to post
Share on other sites
On 12/1/2018 at 3:17 PM, GW8345 said:

 

 

As to why Tamiya didn't include the Phoenix on the wing in the instructions, your guess is as good as mine.

 

GW

 

It's there, they just don't mention it in the instructions. For as much detail as Tamiya put into the kit, their instructions sometimes leave a bit to be desired. Another example is in the F-14D kit... if you're building the VF-2 option, they tell you to use the sparrow-well blanking panel used by F-14As and Bs on TARPS-wired jets, when that panel wasn't used in D models. (and I don't recall it being mentioned at all in the A kit, though I think all the options in the F-14A kit pre-date the introduction of TARPS)

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 1 year later...
On 8/8/2016 at 11:37 AM, Sabre Freak said:

Dis en

ello-optimized-8a82cd26.jpg

Just need '79 JR markings, 203 Modex and the Buno.

 

So did anyone ever get BuNo's for the Final Countdown jets?  I saw that 160382 was one.  It's currently on display in Seattle with Modex AJ202.  Anyone know any of the others?

Link to post
Share on other sites
On 11/19/2020 at 10:27 AM, Reddog-03 said:

 

So did anyone ever get BuNo's for the Final Countdown jets?  I saw that 160382 was one.  It's currently on display in Seattle with Modex AJ202.  Anyone know any of the others?

There were multiple VF-84 F-14s painted up with the "202" and "203" modex for filming the Final Countdown movie.   As to whether ONE jet or multiple jets had the kill markings applied is a question that needs to be answered first.   If multiple jets had them, then there are multiple BuNos.   My guess is the best source would be someone's personal photos that haven't already been posted on-line or maybe someone's logbook noting which jets they were flying in when they were in Key West for the event. 

 

There is a list of BuNos for went on VF-84s first Tomcat cruise -> LINK HERE  , but modexes could/do change and jets could have been swapped in/out prior to deployment.  (Granted, the jets were brand-new at the time.)

 

Looking at this from another angle, these were fictional kills so is there such a thing as an "accurate" BuNo?   Why would any BuNo from any F-14 VF-84 during the period of the filming be more or less accurate than another?   Until this information gets widely distributed, who is going to go up to a model with markings of a fictional kill and state "Hey, you got the BuNo wrong."?  Going by the movie, 202 and 203 each should have ONE kill marking, so in a way things have already gone sideways.

 

In my opinion, build the model the way YOU want to build it, with whatever BuNo you choose and keep it fun.   Listen the movie soundtrack and have don't worry about the minutiae. Given how 2020 has been, we could all use a little less worrying and a little more fun.   If the information surfaces later on, just paint over the old decal and apply the "accurate BuNo".

 

 

Edited by John B
Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah, I love that site too.  Use it all the time.

 

These sites are great for photos but no useful info on bureau numbers:

 

https://www.floridamemory.com/find?keywords=f-14+final+countdown

 

https://www.ar15.com/forums/general/-/5-1176097/?page=1

 

Here's what I've compiled from across the internet so far:

 

160382, AJ206, was used for filming at NAS Key West in June 1979

 

160391AJ210, used at NAS Key West (Fun Fact: 160391 spent most of its life with VF-84 and was also filmed in "Executive Decision" in Oct 1995 as AJ202)

 

160393AJ200, used for live fire missile shot

 

 

160401, AJ211, used at NAS Key West

 

 

160414, AJ201, filmed in launch scenes aboard USS Nimitz

 

Where are they now:

160382 is currently on display at Museum of Flight, Seattle WA

160391 is currently on display at Texas Air Museum, Slaton TX  

160393 was scrapped in 2007

160401 is currently on display at Fleet Air Control and Surveillance Facility (VACAPES), Virginia Beach VA

160414 crashed in 1995

 

If anybody has anything to add, update or correct, please feel free.

Link to post
Share on other sites
On 11/23/2020 at 9:29 AM, Reddog-03 said:

...160391AJ210, used at NAS Key West (Fun Fact: 160391 spent most of its life with VF-84 and was also filmed in "Executive Decision" in Oct 1995 as AJ202)...

 

...Where are they now:...

...160391 is currently on display at Texas Air Museum, Slaton TX...

 

Nice research!

Whoa... THAT airframe would be interesting subject to see in the multiple color schemes it wore in VF-84.

Great Googley-Moogley turned up this search for 160391

Gull gray over white as in Final Countdown movie -> LINK 1

Overall Gull gray, but still hi-vis markings -> LINK 2

TPS Desert Storm -> LINK 3

TPS without tailcode as in Executive Decision -> LINK 4

 

Hmmm...🤔 Hey D-Rob!   I have an idea you might like!

Edited by John B
Fix a broken link
Link to post
Share on other sites
On 11/23/2020 at 12:06 PM, John B said:

Nice research!

Whoa... THAT airframe would be interesting subject to see in the multiple color schemes it wore in VF-84.

Great Googley-Moogley turned up this search for 160391

Gull gray over white as in Final Countdown movie -> LINK 1

Overall Gull gray, but still hi-vis markings -> LINK 2

TPS Desert Storm -> LINK 3

TPS without tailcode as in Executive Decision -> LINK 4

 

Hmmm...🤔 Hey D-Rob!   I have an idea you might like!

 

That would be kind of cool to show all four schemes. To quote a not-so-great 80's song... "Things that make you go hmmm".

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...