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CD48168 - 1/48 F-14 Tomcat - The Early Years


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Hi,

 

The decals arrived here safely today.

They are totally awesome...every subject on the sheet is one that I'm delighted to see decals for.

One subject that I'd really love to build is the version of 157983 with the PMTC badge on the tails. Seeing the decals in person, the gold in the badge is so impressive. 

 

Cheers, Stefan.

  

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My 1/72 Caracal F-14 The Early Years decal arrived a couple of weeks ago and my two Tomcat kits arrived over the weekend, so I am getting excited about this project.  It's kind of difficult to decide just which Tomcat prototype to build.  I looked up the Cradle of Aviation website from the link Quixote provided.  Very useful info there!  However, I discovered an early b&w photo of a Bombcat on Wikipedia Commons that I would like to try to go along with my F4H-1 Phantom kit all bombed up.  Does anyone know the BuNo as I can't make it out from the photo?  I think it's either '985 or '995.  Caption says circa 1973. K/r Dutch

002.JPG.cf5950d0b7262417e8c58b698cb8df77.JPG

002A.JPG.5e7ffd410f184ebe53c2b631cc417fb0.JPG

 

Edited by Dutch
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Jabba, You are probably correct.  My research was only for the BuNo. As there was no 157995, I assumed 157985. However, I have not yet checked my WAPJ volume on the F-14. I will try to verify. Still dealing with aftermath of TS Eta. K/r,  Dutch 

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On 11/5/2020 at 7:01 PM, KursadA said:

So..what do you think? This one indeed has been a best seller so far. The next instalment in the "Early Years" series will be the A-10.

My two copies in 1/72 arrived yesterday, and my biggest obstacle will be deciding which option to build first. Detail and print quality is outstanding!

 

Looks like the basic instructions cover some key points but I will have to do some more comparisons to work out the best kit (or mix thereof) to represent some of the prototypes' unique features.  Probably a Matchbox kit or two in my future, along with a use for the recent Revell "Top Gun" reissue of the modified Snap-Tite tooling.

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On 11/17/2020 at 2:21 PM, Jabba29 said:

I have found this photo in colour in one of the books that I have and it states that it is Bu No 157990 aircraft number 11. But to be honest I still am unable to read the Bu No so your research maybe more reliable.

WAPJ doesn't mention too much about the early prototypes or test & development birds. Not too many photos either. Their caption on the No.3 asymmetric wing sweep photo leaves me thinking they don't know all the facts. So I will go with 157990, No. 11. K/r, Dutch 

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  • 1 month later...

So, a noob question to the F-14 buffs. Which kits would be suitable to build a (very) early F-14? Both 1/72 and 1/48 scales... What would have to be modified?

 

(I think I have a 1/72 Matchbox lying around somewhere, and I recently purchased an Academy 1/72 F-14A. Are they any good for a prototype project?)

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3 hours ago, TomTheCat said:

So, a noob question to the F-14 buffs. Which kits would be suitable to build a (very) early F-14? Both 1/72 and 1/48 scales... What would have to be modified?

 

(I think I have a 1/72 Matchbox lying around somewhere, and I recently purchased an Academy 1/72 F-14A. Are they any good for a prototype project?)


Not certain about 1/72, but Steel Beach made the superb 48173 F-14 Preproduction Backdate conversion for the Tamiya Tomcat.  Sadly out of production but well worth searching for.

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18 hours ago, TomTheCat said:

So, a noob question to the F-14 buffs. Which kits would be suitable to build a (very) early F-14? Both 1/72 and 1/48 scales... What would have to be modified?

 

(I think I have a 1/72 Matchbox lying around somewhere, and I recently purchased an Academy 1/72 F-14A. Are they any good for a prototype project?)

 

For 1/72 "out of the box," the Matchbox kit is closest to the prototype configuration. Unfortunately it's a typical Matchbox kit overall, crude or nonexistent detail and generally not a choice for "serious" modellers. I'm still in the early research stage for deciding if it's simpler to try to adapt parts from Matchbox as a conversion for the new-tool Academy or Hasegawa, vs modifying one of those much better kits essentially from scratch (pending any aftermarket conversion that might materialize).

 

The major feature of the prototypes not in most kits is the shape of the fences and fixed cover plates over the moving portion of the wings. There are also differences from most kits in the tail fairing between the exhausts, gun port and associated vents, and the undernose sensor configuration. Best single-point resource currently available is probably the MATS Tomcat site:

http://www.anft.net/f-14/f14-detail.htm

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  • 1 month later...

Hi, Kursad,

first of all i would like to congratulate your team for this great subject and for the wonderful quality in printing. The sheets are gorgeous ! I bet they will be sold out shortly.

I received my two sheets a week ago and tried to pick up one aircraft to accomodate my 1/48 Tamiya F-14A. Corneillian dilemma ! 😉.

I want to replicate the PMTC bird with the gold eagel and anchor logo and blue strip on the tails. But i can't find the aircraft depicted on the instruction manual. Should be the option 4 or 9 ?

AFAIK the PMTC birds bunos were 157983/157988/158615 with early or late fences. Can you help?

Best regards.

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On 2/5/2021 at 11:51 AM, FASTEAGLE107 said:

Hi, Kursad,

first of all i would like to congratulate your team for this great subject and for the wonderful quality in printing. The sheets are gorgeous ! I bet they will be sold out shortly.

I received my two sheets a week ago and tried to pick up one aircraft to accomodate my 1/48 Tamiya F-14A. Corneillian dilemma ! 😉.

I want to replicate the PMTC bird with the gold eagel and anchor logo and blue strip on the tails. But i can't find the aircraft depicted on the instruction manual. Should be the option 4 or 9 ?

AFAIK the PMTC birds bunos were 157983/157988/158615 with early or late fences. Can you help?

Best regards.

 

Thanks - the PMTC markings were intended to be an optional second set of markings for 157988. I don't remember why I decided to remove it from the instruction sheet - it certainly looks like you have all the markings you need on the sheet. I will recover the profiles and add it to the reference page soon.

 

While 158615 will be easier to build (since it has the late fences), the sheet does not have the modex numbers you need, and I never intended to support this option on the sheet.

 

My design team (me, myself, and I) thanks you for your kind words - but it looks like the F-14 "Early Years" sheet was not as popular as the F-15 and F-16 counterparts. The F-16 sheet was halfway sold out two months after its release. I think the early wing fences and the relative complexity / obscurity of early F-14 configurations might have discouraged all but the most hardcore F-14 fans.  

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On 2/7/2021 at 3:57 PM, KursadA said:

My design team (me, myself, and I) thanks you for your kind words - but it looks like the F-14 "Early Years" sheet was not as popular as the F-15 and F-16 counterparts. The F-16 sheet was halfway sold out two months after its release. I think the early wing fences and the relative complexity / obscurity of early F-14 configurations might have discouraged all but the most hardcore F-14 fans.  


Well, that’s a shame.  I think I predicted it would be a license to print money.  I’ve bought all the “Early Years “ sheets, sometimes in both scales, and snagged a Steel Beach conversion for the Tomcat.  Guess I am among the hardcore fans.  
 

Nonetheless, I am so grateful you chose to issue decals sheets about subjects other than the 869th sheet for a 1/48 FW190.

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On 2/7/2021 at 11:57 PM, KursadA said:

 

I think the early wing fences and the relative complexity / obscurity of early F-14 configurations might have discouraged all but the most hardcore F-14 fans.  

 

Hi,

 

Wow, I'm now officially one of the most hardcore F-14 fans.😄

 

All kidding aside, thanks again for making this awesome sheet, Kursad. It doesn't look like any of the other F-14 decalmakers were ever going to tackle these subjects.

I had always wanted at least one of these, so I had bought the Steel Beach conversion set when it was available just hoping that one day there would be decals.

And there are a couple of subjects without the high fences on the sheet.

 

Cheers, Stefan.

 

 

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It is still pretty early - when you release ~40 decals in a year the sheets from the batch before the last one seem to be old 🙂 .  As we see more builds and online reviews etc, I am sure it will do well over the next year or so.   

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On 2/7/2021 at 11:57 PM, KursadA said:

 

Thanks - the PMTC markings were intended to be an optional second set of markings for 157988. I don't remember why I decided to remove it from the instruction sheet - it certainly looks like you have all the markings you need on the sheet. I will recover the profiles and add it to the reference page soon.

 

While 158615 will be easier to build (since it has the late fences), the sheet does not have the modex numbers you need, and I never intended to support this option on the sheet.

 

My design team (me, myself, and I) thanks you for your kind words - but it looks like the F-14 "Early Years" sheet was not as popular as the F-15 and F-16 counterparts. The F-16 sheet was halfway sold out two months after its release. I think the early wing fences and the relative complexity / obscurity of early F-14 configurations might have discouraged all but the most hardcore F-14 fans.  

Hello Kursad. 

It’s definitivly a great idea to propose us (the hardcore tomcat fans) this long awaited sheet for the 50th anniversary of the first flight 👍

Thank you for your support to answer my request. Really appreciated.

Since i bought 30years ago the Bert Kinzey Pacific Fleet color and markings référence book in Paris, i always want to build one of the early jets.

Please consider another Tomcat subject: F-14B Super Tomcat prototype scheme ( aka Lucky 7).

Regards. Stephane

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 year later...

(I hope it is OK to pose this question here.)

 

I am interested in doing an early F-14A from this sheet in 1/72. It seems the best, but not perfect, option for the first prototype is the 1/72 Matchbox kit. I was wondering where the first release of the Airfix F-14A fits in on the sheet. Which airframe does it most closely represent, in the opinion of someone who knows the F-14 well as well as having knowledge of the Airfix kit? 

 

I built the original Airfix kit on its release in my childhood and I'd love to try that kit again, for the sake of nostalgia but I'd also like to complete it as one of the early test airframes, if appropriate. Thanks.

 

LD. 

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I also plan to use a Matchbox kit as the first prototype but having built it before, and the Airfix kit too, I'm wondering if the workload to bring it up to a common display standard of my more recent kits is too big. I'm seriously considering scratchbuilding the prototype wing gloves on a Hasegawa early kit using the Matchbox kit as a guide. Or maybe a new tool Academy one, haven't seen one yet. If you use the Airfix kit it really needs replacing the fins, burner cans and main undercarriage (or at least wheels). 

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