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Wolfpack F-14A questions


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I have looked for this answer but I am having difficulty finding it. I remember seeing a few comments where it was mentioned F-14As used by VF-1 Wolfpack were different than other F-14As and the Tamiya kit is not accurate for this unit. In a different discussion there was a comment that the only valuable Hasegawa F-14 is the VF-1 Wolfpack release, as it is the only variant Unique to Hasegawa. What makes the VF-1 Tomcats unique?  I have several F-14 decal sheets but The wolfpack is the one I want to build. I have the Tamiya F-14A, a 2000s issue of the Monogram F-14A, and the Hasegawa "VF-2 Bounty Hunters" kits.  Surely I can modify one of those. 

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Hello, 

 

I guess it is just a matter of time period.

As one of two original Tomcat squadrons, VF-1 Wolfpack originally used very early Tomcat subvariant with probe-less nose cone, early vertical tails and early fuselage rear end.

This subversion is not well represented amongst Tomcat kits - Hasegawa being one of few brand that released kits with these options (the rarer and most-difficult_to-fond option being the original flat and wider fuselage rear end)

 

So if you want to build a VF-1 Tomcat around time of their establishment or during early operations in Vietnam it is true that most models are not accurate.

 

But again it is not a matter of "VF-1 Tomcat being different" but a matter of VF-1 being a very early Tomcat squadron used very early Tomcat subvariant".  (It would probably be the same for VF-2)

 

You probably easily can find a later VF-1 Wolfpack livery (including one sporting the colourful red wolf head) that fits your Monogram/Tamiya/Hasegawa F-14A kits. 

 

Good luck

 

Eric B.

Edited by Eric B.
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As noted, the early F-14As used by VF-1 and VF-2 on the Enterprise had the early boat tail and the early gun vents. Also of note is that the position light normally found on port vert stab on later models is on the boat tail in these early planes. Here's a graphic showing the early boat tail and later ones:

f14-detail-beavertail.thumb.gif.3fd4be2d9d5a00905ceef85b24ac29ae.gif

Soon after the F-14s were deployed, problems developed with the dielectric panels and they were removed from virtually all aircraft. Here's a photo showing the boat tail with the panels removed:

 

f14-detail-beavertail-01l.jpg.55565086d142436331e9a86a44cf4e7b.jpg

 

Finally, here's a pic of what the early gun vent looked like.

f14-detail-m61-02l.jpg.2044bae7f5d7291c6224e17da76c53b7.jpg

Edited by Mstor
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8 minutes ago, Darren Roberts said:

 

It's amazing how long those original vents lasted. They could be found in the early 90's.

 

Yea, I'd be looking at some F-14A pic with late camo and later boat tail and amazingly, it would still have the seven opening vent. I guess they weren't so bad as to force their change on all airframes.

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Thank for the pictures and the explanation.  I got the Hasegawa kit from the stash and I see the different beaver tails on the sprue. 

 

I found some VF-1 specific boxings on ebay for between $45 and $68,  which seem to be within the range of other Hasegawa Tomcats. But the price for Hasegawa tomcats seems to vary wildly.

 

So many markings options, It looks like you could spend a lifetime building Tomcats and never get to them all. 

 

Thank you again for the help.

Edited by Kurt H.
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51 minutes ago, Kurt H. said:

Thank for the pictures and the explanation.  I got the Hasegawa kit from the stash and I see the different beaver tails on the sprue. 

 

I found some VF-1 specific boxings on ebay for between $45 and $68,  which seem to be within the range of other Hasegawa Tomcats. But the prie for Hasegawa tomcats seems to vary wildly.

 

So many markings options, It looks like you could spend a lifetime building Tomcats and never get to them all. 

 

Thank you again for the help.

 

Hi

 

Be careful with the original Hasegawa VF-1 Wolf Pack boxing...I have it as well and the decals are not usable. They have yellowed very much over time. But there are aftermarker ones available. One day I want to build a VF-1 bird of the days when they flew top cover over Saigon in 1975.

 

de-pinterest-com.jpg

 

cheers

Uwe

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22 hours ago, Kurt H. said:

Thank for the pictures and the explanation.  I got the Hasegawa kit from the stash and I see the different beaver tails on the sprue. 

 

I found some VF-1 specific boxings on ebay for between $45 and $68,  which seem to be within the range of other Hasegawa Tomcats. But the price for Hasegawa tomcats seems to vary wildly.

 

So many markings options, It looks like you could spend a lifetime building Tomcats and never get to them all. 

 

Thank you again for the help.

 

Darren makes conversion sets for both the Hasegawa and the Tamiya F-14A kits that include the backdated boat tail and the gun vents.  Quickboost (or is it Aires) makes a backdated gun vent part for the Tamiya kit too, but I have heard that it doesn't fit well. I used the boat tail and gun vents from the original Hasegawa Wolfpack VF-1 kit and modified them to fit the Tamiya F-14A. Kind of a kludge, but looks OK if you don't look too closely. Problem is that none of the VF-1 decals available are fitted for the Tamiya kit. I had hoped that Brian of Fightertown decals would update his wonderful VF-1 Wolfpack set, but he hasn't unfortunately.

If you are going to build the Hasegawa kit as an early VF-1 bird, then you want to find one of Fightertown's sets. It has everything you need to build one of many of the aircraft that flew those early cruises at the end of the Vietnam conflict.

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The Quickboost early mid-breech panel ("gun vents") fits well provided that you take your time cutting and filing the Tamiya parts to fit, and certainly looks better than the Hasegawa kit part.  The DXM decals should fit the Tamiya kit just nicely according to this build.

 

https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/79872-wichita-06-vf-1-wolfpack-f-14a-tomcat/

 

Jens

Edited by jenshb
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I will use the hasegawa kit to build a VF-1 bird. I like a challenge.  The hasegawa kit looks good, but hard.  I will just need to verify the gun port details.  I have a recent microscale sheet with the VF-1 markings, it is a nice sheet, It is the inspiration for this build.  I have a grande vision of a VF-1 tomcat over the end of the Vietnam war. 

 

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10 hours ago, jenshb said:

The Quickboost early mid-breech panel ("gun vents") fits well provided that you take your time cutting and filing the Tamiya parts to fit, and certainly looks better than the Hasegawa kit part.  The DXM decals should fit the Tamiya kit just nicely according to this build.

 

https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/79872-wichita-06-vf-1-wolfpack-f-14a-tomcat/

 

Jens

 

Good to know that about the Quickboost vents. Unfortunately, they were released after I shoehorned the Hasegawa ones in mine.

As far as the DXM decals, they are very close, but the "NK" on the inner vertical stabs is not slanted back quite enough. It should line up perfectly with the rudder hinge.  In the pics you linked to the builder also used the Quickboost boat tail. Unfortunately, it is a boat tail for late model Tomcats, not the early ones. I guess he got confused and thought that since the gun vents were for an early one, the boat tail was too. I surprised that QB didn't release an early boat tail.

 

Kurt, the Microscale sheet is a pretty good fit for the Hasegawa kit, but the color red they use is way off. It will still look pretty good, just not accurate color wise, if you worry about such things.

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Important detail I'd like to throw out there;

 

If you are doing a VF-1 or VF-2 F-14A on the 74/75 West Pac (Vietnam) Cruise, the chaff buckets are not set up like you normally see them (both on the same side). For the Block 65 and 70, one bucket was on the left side of the tail hook, the other was on the right side. IIRC correctly, the forward bucket was on the left, the aft bucket was on the right.

 

Basically, the aft bucket was on one the left side of the hook but on the right side of the hook.

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7 hours ago, GW8345 said:

Important detail I'd like to throw out there;

 

If you are doing a VF-1 or VF-2 F-14A on the 74/75 West Pac (Vietnam) Cruise, the chaff buckets are not set up like you normally see them (both on the same side). For the Block 65 and 70, one bucket was on the left side of the tail hook, the other was on the right side. IIRC correctly, the forward bucket was on the left, the aft bucket was on the right.

 

Basically, the aft bucket was on one the left side of the hook but on the right side of the hook.

 

Do you have any photos of this? I can't find any early boat tail photos from underneath with chaff buckets installed at all.

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19 minutes ago, Mstor said:

 

Do you have any photos of this? I can't find any early boat tail photos from underneath with chaff buckets installed at all.

DACO F-14 Book, page 65, bottom right photo shows the underside of a Block 65, the two square panels just behind the speed-brake are the panels used to cover where the chaff buckets go when the bucket/housing are not installed.

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1 hour ago, GW8345 said:

DACO F-14 Book, page 65, bottom right photo shows the underside of a Block 65, the two square panels just behind the speed-brake are the panels used to cover where the chaff buckets go when the bucket/housing are not installed.

 

Thanks, just recently got the Daco book. Will check that out.

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  • 2 weeks later...

In addition: The early Block 65 Tomcats of the first cruise 74/75 featured at least during the delivery and ramp up phase from mid-73 till the early phase of the actual cruise the chin pod with the ALQ plus the IRST pod. It was removed rather quickly because it was not yet reliable and only added drag but looks pretty neat on the model. I think the HASE kit should have that version as well?! Just in case; those Block - 65 F-14As were handed over to the reserve squadrons right after the first cruise and VF-1 and -2 received newer Block 85 and - 90 birds that already had the leaner beaver tails instead of the broader boat tails. IRST was gone and the gun vents went to the then standard two-grid layout. You could easily do a VF-1 bird of the second cruise in 76 using a model that represents a Block 90 bird, e.g. Tamiya etc. This block seems to be more frequently depicted by model kits available and the VF-1 birds of the second cruise had essentially the same livery as during the first cruise, i.e. high viz and white belly. Might be an alternative if you hit any problems reg the boat tail and six-grid vent etc.

Edited by bushande
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1 hour ago, Shadrik said:

Another interesting thing, though not restricted to VF-1 Tomcats:

 

http://nabe3saviation.web.fc2.com/aF14un.html

 

Look at the first two images, there are panels missing on the exhaust nozzles. At first I thought that might just be maintenance related on the ground, but they flew like that as well.

 

F-14A_VF-14_in_flight_1975.jpg

 

Wow, I never noticed that, even though I've had copies of those photos for a long time and looked at them frequently. Thanks for pointing it out. Don't know how one would go about representing that on a model's exhausts. Especially aftermarket ones.

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3 hours ago, Mstor said:

 

Wow, I never noticed that, even though I've had copies of those photos for a long time and looked at them frequently. Thanks for pointing it out. Don't know how one would go about representing that on a model's exhausts. Especially aftermarket ones.

As far as I gathered, this was only a temporary feature of the first -412 iteration of the TF30s. What's missing are the smaller nozzle fairings lying over the actual feathers that would retract upon selecting burners or switching to idle. It's a challenge to depict that on a model. You would have to sand off the smaller fairings, rescribe the structure and add the brighter bracket. Tough but feasable.

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