Darren Roberts Posted January 29, 2017 Share Posted January 29, 2017 Years ago I wrote up a comparison of all the manufacturers 1/48 Tomcat kits. With the new Tamiya kit out and the AMK coming soon, I thought I'd revisit that project and update it. I'll be building a Tomcat from each manufacturer and giving a run-down on the good, the bad, and the ugly. First up is the original Revell kit released in 1978 or so. Here's what I wrote many years ago, and after building it again, it just confirms what I thought! It was build completely out of the box, but I did what I could with painting and decals to at least make it presentable. This kit is as bad as the Tamiya Tomcat is good. Revell F-14: This kit is, in a word, hideous! It should not be confused with the much more recent Revell release, which is actually the Monogram kit. This kit is so bad that the box art isn’t even of the actual kit. Revell used the Fujimi kit for the box art. That’s how bad this kit is. The manufacturer doesn’t even want modelers to see what this kit looks like! Cockpit (F-): Is there such a thing as an F-? In this case there is. The cockpit is essentially a slab of plastic with blobs of plastic for seats. There isn’t even a control stick for the pilot. The instrument panels are completely flat and aren’t even close to being realistic. The decals given for the instrumentation lacks much detail at all. The only thing that can be said that’s good about the cockpit is that there’s a throttle provided. Shape (D): Well, it at least resembles a Tomcat. The kit seems to be based off of early Tomcat drawings (see the notes about the Fujimi kit). The boattail area is much too narrow between the engines, and the speed brake is flat, lacking the hump in the middle. Surface Detail (F): Fine raised lines are present, but don’t even come close to being accurate. The boattail resembles the standard shape, but the gun vent is the pre-production short muzzle with no vents. This combination never existed, especially with the Alpha probe on the nose, which is contained in the kit. I can’t comment on the detail in the wheel bays because there are no wheel bays! Obviously this kit was designed with gear up construction in mind! The landing gear is very soft on detail, with the main gear being about half the size it should be, being that there are no main gear bays. I will say that the main wheels are at least passable. Fit (F--): And you thought an F- was bad! I don’t know who engineered this kit, but they were on something when they did it. The seams for the wings, horizontal stabs, and tails are all in the middle of somewhere that they shouldn’t be. For the wings, the seam is in the middle of the undersides of the flaps. The stabs have a large, square piece that fits up into the rest of the stab, and the tails have seams right down the middle of the rudders. Now, if the fit were good, it might not be that big of a deal. But the fit is absolutely horrendous, leaving steps and gaps that require copious amounts of filling and sanding. Oh, and remember what I said about the fine, raised detail? Kiss it good-bye! Ordnance (F): I’m not even going to comment. Pros: It has a throttle…..and wing glove vanes. Cons: Everything. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bill Posted January 30, 2017 Share Posted January 30, 2017 Quote You even make this kit look good! Funny thing I have that FSM magazine with your Tomcat comparisons in the various scales and model companies. Just looked at it the other day. I may have to go ahead and get the new Tamiya kit. I have always wanted to build the A model in the original paint schemes with VF1 markings. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
my favs are F`s Posted February 2, 2017 Share Posted February 2, 2017 :)) where are the panel lines... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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