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Info on F-14A in OIF


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Hey all! I've been wracking my brain on what I want to use my Tamiya F-14A for. After reading the Osprey Publishing book "Tomcat units of Operation Iraqi Freedom" researching for a VF-2 bird I'd like to do I became more interested in VF-154s use of older airframes at the end of the Tomcat's service life. From what I understand the F-14A represented by Tamiya is a very early version of the aircraft. The only visual change I know off the top of my head comes from the gun vents being updated which I promptly purchased an aftermarket part. What other changes are needed to the Tamiya Tomcat to accurately reflect an OIF F-14A? Additionally are the AAQ-14 and AAQ-25 the same visually? Steel Beach offered an AAQ-25 for the Tamiya kit but it looks to be out of production. Thanks!

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You'll need a TCS chinpod, the ECM bumps on the beaver tail and on each side of the intake walls and the Alphas of the latter days esspecially those late VF-154 birds of 2003 you are interest in definitely had a PTID and FLIR controller for the RIO. Speaking of which, you may also get ahold of a LANTIRN plus respective pylon if you want to strap A/G loads on your bird (which would be more realistic thatn pure A/A combos for that squadron in that time). hence you may also try and get the BRU-93 racks for the Phoenix pallets. You already notd the NACA gun vents. A change of the wheels has occured as well.

 

VF-154s birds might have been old BuNos but they went all through several upgrades and were all brought up to Block-135 standard plus post production upgrades such as PTID for instance.

 

When Darren was operational his Steel Beach line had everything you need as complete sets. Nowadays you have to gather it all from different providers I think.

Edited by bushande
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2 hours ago, bushande said:

You'll need a TCS chinpod, the ECM bumps on the beaver tail and on each side of the intake walls and the Alphas of the latter days esspecially those late VF-154 birds of 2003 you are interest in definitely had a PTID and FLIR controller for the RIO. Speaking of which, you may also get ahold of a LANTIRN plus respective pylon if you want to strap A/G loads on your bird (which would be more realistic thatn pure A/A combos for that squadron in that time). hence you may also try and get the BRU-93 racks for the Phoenix pallets. You already notd the NACA gun vents. A change of the wheels has occured as well.

 

VF-154s birds might have been old BuNos but they went all through several upgrades and were all brought up to Block-135 standard plus post production upgrades such as PTID for instance.

 

When Darren was operational his Steel Beach line had everything you need as complete sets. Nowadays you have to gather it all from different providers I think.

Thanks for the reply mate! This is all very valuable information. I actually ordered the Phase Hangar Resin F-14A late kit and from what I can tell has most of those upgrades. Looks like I’ll need to track down wheels though. A follow on question I had was regarding the Lantirn. I initially thought the navy just took the aaq-14 and skipped the aaq-13. Come to find out the pod was really designated the aaq-25 and had some changes. Problem is no one sells aaq-25 only aftermarket sets, only 14. Is there a visual difference between the two? Even if it’s purely the labels? From what I can tell the chassis are the same. Was thinking I could purchase an Eduard Lantirn and simply reprint the decals included with a Tamiya kit!

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  • 5 months later...

AFAIK, there is 'almost' a full set of second targeting pot. There is only one clear part of the head (part L5). Unless there is another solid piece I've not seen, or is not mentioned in instruction. I guess You could build it out of spare plastic or miliput.

 

Obviously You'd also need the tail reinforcement braces.

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