1/48 Tamiya F-14A

[Anders_Isaksson]

38 minutes ago, Darren Roberts said:

They did pretty well with their F-16C kit. They covered just about every F-16C variant there is.

...

Good example there, Darren. Let's hope Tamiya follows that pattern with their Tomcat. 

[Ichitoe]

4 hours ago, Darren Roberts said:

All of the small details can be very confusing. I agree completely with build it how you want to. It's all about passion. I'm passionate about the F-14, so I notice little differences. The Kittyhawk Banshee came out and there were posts listing what was wrong with it. I couldn't see any of them! Here's what I would say are the details on the Tomcat listed from least important to most important for the overall look.

 

1. tail brackets - These are barely visible, so if you're not sure, just go with what's in the kit.

2. ECM blisters - These are a little more visible, but there was a mix a jets that had/didn't have them even into the 90's. I've been known to put markings that should have had them on a kit that didn't have them, and it doesn't really make a difference.

3. wheels - Now we're getting into pretty recognizable differences. The wheels that were on the early Tomcats are decidedly different from later Tomcats. Still, if you're doing an early/mid 80's jet, it can go either way and most won't know the difference.

4. TCS chin sensor - By the mid 80's, there was a mix of jets that had/didn't have them. If doing a gull gray over white jet, you would go with the small ALQ-100 sensor that comes in the Tamiya kit. As a general rule, anything from the 90's on you would use a TCS pod.

5. gun vents - The general rule for gun vents: Early to mid 70's had the 7 grill vent, late 70's through the 80's had the standard vent, and 90's on had the NACA vent.

 

Again, build it for the enjoyment of the hobby. Hopefully the list above will help if you wanted to try be a bit more accurate.

Darren,

 

Thanks for this info. It gives me, in layman's terms, what I wanted to know about exterior upgrades.

 

And your build is looking fabulous!

 

Mike 

[DanW]

The Tamiya colors guide depicts matt grey and white for Victory 200 color schame. I thouhgt that early Tomcats used to be glossy.

[CJ Martin]

On 10/14/2016 at 5:23 PM, A-10 LOADER said:

 

Just found a pic of this jet in the Colors & Markings of the F-14 Tomcat, Vol. 2, by Bert Kinzet. It is 161142 and those markings are from around October of 1981.

 

Steve

This particular jet eventually was transferred to VF-33 following a depot maintenance period, where she was repainted in the low vis tactical scheme. Upon her return, she was assigned modex 200 and had the low vis star and lightening bolt with the thin yellow interior lines. She was one of three Block 110's we had when I was there in 1985-88. She was a good bird, strong radar and a perfect missile shoot record (when I was there at least).

 

[kurtd123]

Just curious...  were there ever any jets with the TCS pods, tail brackets but no ECM blisters along with the beaver tail in the kit?  Asking because I happen to have those parts!

[Cool Hand]

30 minutes ago, kurtd123 said:

Just curious...  were there ever any jets with the TCS pods, tail brackets but no ECM blisters along with the beaver tail in the kit?  Asking because I happen to have those parts!

Many Tomcats in the early to mid 80's had that exact configuration. For example: the jets from Top Gun.

[Modelmkr]

Although not always easy to do, your best bet for all those detail combos is to find actual photos of the subject you want to model… can't argue with a photo.

 

Marc B.

[Alpagueur]

On domenica 7 agosto 2016 at 5:00 PM, Parabat said:

Going to have to be one of these;

 

which block is that?

[Dave Roof]

11 hours ago, Modelmkr said:

Although not always easy to do, your best bet for all those detail combos is to find actual photos of the subject you want to model… can't argue with a photo.

 

Marc B.

 

It's interesting that you say that. I just received a photo of an F-14A from VFA-211 that pretty much proves this very point.

[Parabat]

2 hours ago, Alpagueur said:

 

which block is that?

Block 90 I believe.

[kurtd123]

I have seen some comments about replacing the wheels.  Are the kit wheels correct for the birds represented by the kit decals?  It seems like an automatic to replace wheels these days, but figured it was worth asking "why?" before I spend even MORE money!

 

Thanks,

Kurt

Edited October 19, 2016 by kurtd123

[Darren Roberts]

1 hour ago, kurtd123 said:

I have seen some comments about replacing the wheels.  Are the kit wheels correct for the birds represented by the kit decals?  It seems like an automatic to replace wheels these days, but figured it was worth asking "why?" before I spend even MORE money!

 

Thanks,

Kurt

They are very nicely rendered for the time period of the kit details. However, if you want to do anything later, you'll need to look at the newer style wheels. Royale Resin has some beautiful sets.

[kurtd123]

48 minutes ago, Darren Roberts said:

They are very nicely rendered for the time period of the kit details. However, if you want to do anything later, you'll need to look at the newer style wheels. Royale Resin has some beautiful sets.

 

Thanks!  I am going with a very boring completely out of the box build.  Washed the parts down this morning and watched a couple of YouTube videos to prepare myself.  Hope to get started on the cockpit soon!  Probably using the VF-84 markings to replace a Monogram build that my X "accidentally dropped" as we were in the process of splitting up 22 years ago! LOL. (That is how long it has been since I built a Tomcat!)

 

Kurt

[Darren Roberts]

1 hour ago, kurtd123 said:

 

Thanks!  I am going with a very boring completely out of the box build.  Washed the parts down this morning and watched a couple of YouTube videos to prepare myself.  Hope to get started on the cockpit soon!  Probably using the VF-84 markings to replace a Monogram build that my X "accidentally dropped" as we were in the process of splitting up 22 years ago! LOL. (That is how long it has been since I built a Tomcat!)

 

Kurt

You're going to have a very different experience building this Tomcat. It literally falls together. I still have 17 Monogram kits to build, but I'm seriously wondering if I can bring myself to build them after seeing how easy the Tamiya kit is.

[Alpagueur]

11 hours ago, Darren Roberts said:

I still have 17 Monogram kits to build

with this Tamiya kit mayve it's time to sell them?

[tosouthern66]

The only thing that would make this kit any easier to build would be cut all parts from tree put them all in a box, add glue, paint and decals and shake! I need to eork on mine but I am afraid I am going to screw it up! It's too nice of a kit to screw up!

[Alpagueur]

14 minutes ago, HomeBe said:

And something tells me , KASL Hobby (http://www.shop2000.com.tw/KASLHOBBY/) is working on a wing set with separate flaps & slats for the Tamiya's Tomcat.

 

this is a GREAT news! resin or plastic?

[Darren Roberts]

4 hours ago, Alpagueur said:

with this Tamiya kit mayve it's time to sell them?

I've still got space on my wall of Tomcats waiting for those 17 to be done. I've got a lot of decals to still use!

[glorystomper]

1 hour ago, HomeBe said:

And something tells me , KASL Hobby (http://www.shop2000.com.tw/KASLHOBBY/) is working on a resin wing set with separate flaps & slats for the Tamiya's Tomcat.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/KASLHOBBY/posts/1408797602482154  

 

 

V.P.

 

 

 

awesome! need to grab a few sets.. have you ordered from KASL before? is it difficult?

[glorystomper]

oh yes, but of course!

 

thanks for the info, HomeBe!

[viper730]

Only if they are complete new wing sets cause me I am not chopping on the kit wings. They are too intricate and I would not take the chance to mess up a 70-90.00 kit.

 

[Don]

7 hours ago, HomeBe said:

And something tells me , KASL Hobby (http://www.shop2000.com.tw/KASLHOBBY/) is working on a resin wing set with separate flaps & slats for the Tamiya's Tomcat...

 

 

 

Wow!! Now that would pretty much make this Tamiya F-14A the ultimate 'A' model Tomcat kit! I sense a lot of Hasegawa Tomcat's being dumped and fire sold on EBay soon.

Cheers!

[ESzczesniak]

On 10/17/2016 at 1:35 AM, DanW said:

The Tamiya colors guide depicts matt grey and white for Victory 200 color schame. I thouhgt that early Tomcats used to be glossy.

 

Was there any resolution on this?  I thought someone posted that this was correct...something about a depot maintenance and returned in flat colors.  But I can't seem to find that post now.  I'm getting close to pain, so it's time for me to work those details out.

[Jay Chladek]

The resolution is, the paint starts out glossy from the depot. But after a couple weeks at sea flying through salt spray and high speed air, the finish gets blasted back to semi-gloss than flat rather quickly. Add spot applications for corrosion control and a bird can end up looking prety ratty pretty quickly, depending on the carrier deployment and the time of year. Only time I would ever go completely gloss would be on an airshow display bird or if I had a picture of one right out of the depot (such as a high-vis VF-32 jet from the 1970s with nose number 220 on it). Of course, I went with a gloss finish when I did Gunslinger 76, VF-124's Bicentennial bird, back in 2006 for Tomcat Sunset as I doubt that bird ever did a carrier trap when it was in that paintjob.

[ESzczesniak]

10 hours ago, Jay Chladek said:

The resolution is, the paint starts out glossy from the depot. But after a couple weeks at sea flying through salt spray and high speed air, the finish gets blasted back to semi-gloss than flat rather quickly. Add spot applications for corrosion control and a bird can end up looking prety ratty pretty quickly, depending on the carrier deployment and the time of year. Only time I would ever go completely gloss would be on an airshow display bird or if I had a picture of one right out of the depot (such as a high-vis VF-32 jet from the 1970s with nose number 220 on it). Of course, I went with a gloss finish when I did Gunslinger 76, VF-124's Bicentennial bird, back in 2006 for Tomcat Sunset as I doubt that bird ever did a carrier trap when it was in that paintjob.

 

That's not totally what I was looking for.  The extent of weathering varies by modeler. In particular, this is a CAG bird in an early 70's paint scheme.  The pictures I've seen of these birds are much the opposite of the TPS schemes.  I'm certainly not going to do full gloss, but I'd like to know where it started and go from there.