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Which chinpod for F-14A (1974) VF-1 Wolfpack modex 100


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The pilots were sourced from an old Hasegawa 1/72 US Pilots/Ground Crew set - its old and the sculpt is a bit soft.  I wished there were a better alternative (but I already have it in my stash).  I have a newer resin Navy pilots that just arrived but they don't have their face mask on and it comes with the seat.

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  • 2 months later...
On 10/5/2020 at 6:32 AM, wm_cheng said:

Your right, its never in both places, but unfortunately I was following the instructions and didn't check the references (just one of many instruction mistakes) and its too late now to scrape one of them off after layers of future and clear coats.

Incorrect. I have old original slides that depict 158979, i.e. this very bird as NK-100 with USS ENTERPRISE on both, the vert. stabs as well as the wing gloves. It was not the only modex that had the carrier name placed on both spots. VF-1 went through a lot of design changes in the early stages before and around the first cruise. The carrier names in both places would be correct for this particular ship along other serials for the work up phase prior to the cruise.

 

External tanks were very uncommon but there. It would have been the old versions that still had the fincaps on the butt end.

 

Reg. Wichita-101 (the one with the black skunkstripe over the spine): A few years back I did a 1/32 version of Wichita-101, i.e. 158627, the first F-14A delivered to VF-1 as of early June '73 and I talked a lot with one of the pilots who flew her on her delivery flight from Calverton to Miramar and who did the first test shots with the AIM-54 and AIM-7. Only a few days later the second operational Tomct would be delivered to the sister squadron VF-2, i.e. 158629 as NK-201.

 

It was AD-222 with VF-101 in '99-'00 - apparently around her lest station before she was carved up. To my knowledge there is only her cockpit section left as a museum piece.

 

158627 was delivered to VF-1 in June '73 with a black skunkstripe and white aircrew names written in old letters on the black canopy rail as well as missing the tan tip of the nose cone; it rather had an all grey nose with a white bottom. It resembled somewhat the early VF-84 design in that. For that popular photoshoot (of which I still have two original color slides) it wore the large red cheat stripes, however the NK-tailcode was done in thin black untilted letters. The outer side of the tails featured the wolfhead and the name "Wolfpack" in large red letters written just below. At that time it still had the short gun muzzle and only the small ALQ-pod under the nose; oh and it still had the boat tail with dialectic panels attached. Until early '74 it went through several changes; the all black skunkstripe was (sadly) removed, just as the nose was painted white with the tan tip. The IRST pod was a removable system and rather frequently changed around as it seems. That is at least as it has been reported to me by several former VF-1 personell I got in touch with. I do have images of her showing her with the IRST pod attached and also without it. Same goes for sister ships within the squadron. The short gun muzzle was very early exchanged by the longer muzzle and the six-grill vent (as Gerry already pointed out). The dialectic panels of the beaver tail would partly just be deleted during and with some examples even after the first cruise. The black and untilted NK-tailcode was also exchanged against the common red tilted NK-code very soon, even at a time when it still had the nice all black skunk stripe going over the spine. The Wolfpack writing  on the tail would go pretty soon as well. Crew names were also changed just short before the '74 / '75 cruise. I only have one B/W shot of 158627 on the cat with a full weapons compliment and the ominous early drop tanks. I do have other images showing 1st cruise VF-1 and VF-2 birds with tanks strapped on but due to shortage of the things and the fincaps causing damage to the ventral strakes upon release by floating too long under the intake trunks, tanks were not seen very often.

 

At some point before the cruise and thankfully only for a short time 158627 had it's red cheat stripes removed and replaced by very small and short cheat stripes that just went from the nose cone to the 101 modex. Thanksfully that was traded back to the large cheat stripes rather quickly. I only have a few B/W shots of that design version.

 

158627 was the only ship that went through that many design changes in such a short time but other serials had several design elements as well that didn't make it eventually.

 

NK-110 had at some point the red cheat stripes removed altogether without any replacement.

NK-105 had a stylised black NK-code (in design similar to what VF-21 birds had early on) placed on her starboard wing.

Some ships like 158979 / NK-100 or NK-103 and NK-105 (would have to look up the BuNos in the archive, sorry) had at some time not only the USS ENTERPRISE name twice applied on the hull but also a Wolfhead that morphed into the cheat stripe. Looked pretty cool too.

 

I can provide proof / reference once I get back home over X-mas.

 

The way that NK-100 model is done is pretty correct and authentic. Again, tanks would be uncommon but not unrealistic.

Edited by bushande
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  • 3 months later...

Sorry that it took a while. Life has me caught up in a lot of stuff at the moment without much time for the hobby or to sort out images out of the mess I call an archive but here are at least some refs that give proof that 158979 had the ENTERPRISE designation twice on her at some point ....

[img]https://up.picr.de/40820076mm.jpg[/img]

[img]https://up.picr.de/40820075oj.jpg[/img]

 

I have a ton of images of the early VF-1 birds showcasing all the funny design variations they did at some point, however I just don't have the time to sort them all out, sorry.

 

One I came across accidently rummaging through my files was this one ... (Not the nicest one in my eyes, but enough to maybe make for an interesting build).

[img]https://up.picr.de/40820070ru.jpg[/img]

 

Another one is this of 158627 ... yuk bahh - not my stile but interesting enough to be of note ...
[img]https://up.picr.de/40820067db.jpg[/img]

Edited by bushande
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OK, something’s weird with that third photo. Why is the perspective on the right fin marking all out of whack? I’m not trusting this image for a second. I’m ready to learn something new, but this is out there... Anybody else seen this marking before?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sorry for my late reply.

 

Thanks for the effort of clearing the images habu. I wouldn't have noticed. Much appreciated.

 

@Sernak: As said, life has it at the moment that I can only very sporadicly access the forum. I have to check my ressources for 115.  I'll need a little time for that until I get back home. I have about 70 original slides all just on first cruise VF-1 birds. It might take a while.

 

@ Andrew: Which image do you mean? The one of NK-110 with the oversized red cheat stripe with black outlines or the B/W image of NK-101 with the VF-1 roundel insignia on the tail? Both images stem from either an original slide or paper photograph from the 70s. Should you refer to the straight NK-tailcode in the B/W image of 158627, that is the first of three design versions of the NK-tailcode that VF-1 apparently tried. It's a black bolt lettered styliced tailcode that indeed has been straight on the tail. Shortly after they set the N and K apart from each other with different heights, still keeping the black letter color but turning the letters thinner and keeping them straight. Eventually (and fortunately) they turned the letters red, bold and tilted. But these images show what was actually there when they tried several designs.

Edited by bushande
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@Bushande, don't bother man (for the specific 'Wichita', for the rest of your archives from VF-1, YES, do post them on the forum!), I have checked various websites dedicated to the Tomcat and the US Navy, and I have concluded that Hasegawa got it all wrong with their first kit/generation Tomcat.

 

VF-1 never had a '115' Tomcat.

 

Looking forward for your VF-1 archives!!!

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