Darren Roberts Posted October 30, 2016 Share Posted October 30, 2016 The Block 125 sets have been restocked and the early gun vent is now available. The vinyl tail braces are on order and should be available by early next week. Thanks for all your support and business! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
fulcrum1 Posted October 30, 2016 Share Posted October 30, 2016 What will this enable me to build? I'm not too Tomcat savy. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Darren Roberts Posted October 30, 2016 Author Share Posted October 30, 2016 With these sets, you'll be able to expand your markings options for the Tamiya Tomcat from the mid-70's all the way through the 90's. Essentially, the only Tomcats you won't be able to build are the early VF-1, VF-2, VF-14, and VF-32 with the early beaver tail (but that's coming as well!) and anything that got the F-14B ECM upgrade in the 2000's. You can tell if it got that by looking at the left front gear door. If there's an ECM blister on it, you can't build that with these sets. However, I'll be taking care of that as well. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Falcon053 Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 So I know this will be a stupid question and probaby been answered a 1000 times, so if I want to do a Tomcat from the movie Top Gun, I'll need this update set? What block would these Tomcats be? I know in the movie they are A's, but i dont know what block. Sorry, not the best on all the stuff on it, I know how to tell an A, B, & D...but not much else. Thanks Duane Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Darren Roberts Posted October 31, 2016 Author Share Posted October 31, 2016 All you really need for a Top Gun jet is a TCS chin pod. I'm not sure if they had the L shaped tail braces or not. So, no, you wouldn't need this set. I have the TCS pod as a separate item. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
crackerjazz Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Top Gun F-14 tail braces: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Swordsman422 Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Picked up 2 of the early vents. Both of the birds I want to build on the new Furball sheet have the early vents, though I cannot find references regarding the boat tail. Apparently this was not an area of interest for photographers then. Can I assume what Tamiya has in the box will work for Dakota 204 and Taproom 103 in 1977? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Matt Walker Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 I received an email from Sprue at 3.00pm Sunday saying the NACA panel was in stock. I saw the email at 5.45am Monday, and it was already out of stock! Wow, I obviously need to move faster!! M Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Darren Roberts Posted October 31, 2016 Author Share Posted October 31, 2016 2 hours ago, Matt Walker said: I received an email from Sprue at 3.00pm Sunday saying the NACA panel was in stock. I saw the email at 5.45am Monday, and it was already out of stock! Wow, I obviously need to move faster!! M Two dozen were gone in a matter of hours. I'm making more! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Matt Walker Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Thanks Darren! :-) M Quote Link to post Share on other sites
coneheadff Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 On 31.10.2016 at 4:23 PM, Darren Roberts said: Two dozen were gone in a matter of hours. I'm making more! Hi Darren, any chance for a quick resupply of the NACA panel? I would like to order everything together as it will take some time for the sets to arrive over here. Cheers, Alex Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Darren Roberts Posted November 5, 2016 Author Share Posted November 5, 2016 3 hours ago, coneheadff said: Hi Darren, any chance for a quick resupply of the NACA panel? I would like to order everything together as it will take some time for the sets to arrive over here. Cheers, Alex I'm bringing three dozen up to Sprue Bros tomorrow. They should be available Sunday or Monday. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brian P: Fightertown Decals Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 On 10/30/2016 at 10:35 PM, Darren Roberts said: All you really need for a Top Gun jet is a TCS chin pod. I'm not sure if they had the L shaped tail braces or not. So, no, you wouldn't need this set. I have the TCS pod as a separate item. TCS, standard wheels (not the original ones in the Tamiya kit) and rudder braces. There was absolutely nothing in the fleet by the mid 80's with old wheels and no rudder braces. Last documented non-rudder brace/original wheel jet I have ever seen was 1982. And that was a unique oddity only a few jets made it that long. For pre-1978, the Tamiya kit is perfect. 78-81, it will cover a handful of jets. Post 1981 you need braces, wheels, and when TCS came out. (and starting with block 100/115 you need the ECM bumps on the tail and under the glove vanes. And then the ECM was retrofitted on older jets. Post 1992 you need NACA vents, tall Tacan (actually in the kit!) and ECM. Post 1996 you can add Lantirn and B/D ECM bumps on front gear door and on the leading edge of intake cover. *If these things matter to you* Simple answer is pre-78 and you're good. Post 78, you'll probably need aftermarket if you want to be accurate. Or wait until the 'Late F-14 Tamiya' kit comes out in a year or 2 ;) -brian Quote Link to post Share on other sites
coneheadff Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 5 hours ago, Darren Roberts said: I'm bringing three dozen up to Sprue Bros tomorrow. They should be available Sunday or Monday. That sounds great!!!! Thanks a lot!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
coneheadff Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 2 hours ago, Brian P: Fightertown Decals said: Simple answer is pre-78 and you're good. Post 78, you'll probably need aftermarket if you want to be accurate. Or wait until the 'Late F-14 Tamiya' kit comes out in a year or 2 ;) -brian Thanks for the great explanation Brian! Just one question...I went through my decals yesterday looking for a aircraft to build and started searching the web for references. I choose BuNo159843 in TPS during ODS from your great sheet. Unfortunately there are not many pictures of the aircraft, but the ones I found showed only new wheels, the braces, TCS, the "middle style" gun vents and the TACAN antenna. No ECM bumps!?!? Where these jets fitted with the new ECM equipment later during base maintenance or did the Navy decide to leave the older blocks unchanged? Alex Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JEN722 Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 3 hours ago, Brian P: Fightertown Decals said: TCS, standard wheels (not the original ones in the Tamiya kit) and rudder braces. There was absolutely nothing in the fleet by the mid 80's with old wheels and no rudder braces. Last documented non-rudder brace/original wheel jet I have ever seen was 1982. And that was a unique oddity only a few jets made it that long. For pre-1978, the Tamiya kit is perfect. 78-81, it will cover a handful of jets. Post 1981 you need braces, wheels, and when TCS came out. (and starting with block 100/115 you need the ECM bumps on the tail and under the glove vanes. And then the ECM was retrofitted on older jets. Post 1992 you need NACA vents, tall Tacan (actually in the kit!) and ECM. Post 1996 you can add Lantirn and B/D ECM bumps on front gear door and on the leading edge of intake cover. *If these things matter to you* Simple answer is pre-78 and you're good. Post 78, you'll probably need aftermarket if you want to be accurate. Or wait until the 'Late F-14 Tamiya' kit comes out in a year or 2 ;) -brian Well, down the drain goes my plan of making 160393 from 1978 and 1984, and 160382 from 1983 and 1984. :( Jens Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Matt Walker Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 I'm going to be checking my email every minute to see if the notification has come from Sprue!!! :-) M Quote Link to post Share on other sites
coneheadff Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 39 minutes ago, Matt Walker said: I'm going to be checking my email every minute to see if the notification has come from Sprue!!! :-) M I know somebody else who will do it ;-) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Don Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 Good stuff Darren! This Tamiya Tomcat kit and anything associated with it is flying off the shelves! My small LHS has gotten in two separate orders and both were sold out in days. Faster then anything he's seen in a long while. SB can't keep Darren's sets in stock because they are so sought after. I see lots of Tamiya Tomcat's on club tables and competition tables in the next year. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
zerosystem Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 12 hours ago, Darren Roberts said: I'm bringing three dozen up to Sprue Bros tomorrow. They should be available Sunday or Monday. You're going to have to start putting together value packs ;-) Between vents, wheels, and block upgrades on top of multiple builds... like the Grumman line is reopen in 1/48 scale... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Don Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 37 minutes ago, zerosystem said: You're going to have to start putting together value packs ;-) Between vents, wheels, and block upgrades on top of multiple builds... like the Grumman line is reopen in 1/48 scale... LOL! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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