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Various F-14A/B/D questions for the knowledgeable


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Im going to start this by addressing the elephant that always seems to wander into the room.

 

I dont want to know about the virtues of the Tamiya F-14A kit because I already have one.
I dont want to know about the problems of the AMK F-14D because I already have one.

Im not really interested in "but this one is better than that one"

 

The kits im interested in knowing about are the Italeri and Academy and Hobby boss kits for now.

 

Italeri 837 F-14A Tomcat Plus

Italeri 839 F-14B Super Tomcat

Italeri 2667 F-14A Tomcat

 

Academy 12206 F-14A Bombcat

 

Hobby boss 80366 F-14A Tomcat

Hobby boss 80367 F-14B Tomcat

Hobby boss 80368 F-14D Tomcat

 

Can somebody tell me a little about those kits, from what I can see on here none of these kits are ever really talked about, which is odd considering what big F-14 fans you all seem to be

 

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Well I did a build recently of an Italeri F-14A. Actually a rebox by Mistercraft, but still, the plastic itself is the same.

Panel lines are recessed, a bit heavy. The intakes are a pain. The panel lines on the front fuselage are in wrong places, which will show with VF-84 scheme that's in the box.

The wing sweep mechanism seems very fragile. It's probably the cheapest of the bunch You posted. And You really get what You paid for with this kit - detailwise.

Italeri decals are very nice.

Overall a neat kit, if You can forgive some inaccuracies, generic cockpit buttons.

 

If You're interested, I posted some pics of what I deemed worse parts of the kit in the build thread. I did not check it for any plans and such, as I generally don't do that.

I have a HB F-14B but will not comment on anything. There were a few build threads in here.

I wanted to buy the Academy F-14 Bombcat, but that nose is just too much for me. I'd take Italeri nose section anyday over Academy.

 

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I built the Academy bombcat about 10-15 years ago. It was actually not too bad. The panel lines were ok but the kit was otherwise somewhat bare detail wise. The nose looks odd. Nice selection of ordnance and I remember the decals being real nice. If I found it for $15 or less at a show or something, I would consider buying it just for the ordnance. 

 

I had the HB -A but sold it off years ago (so never built it). A lot of rivets on the wings and horizontal stabs that looked out of place. To me, the biggest issue with the HB kits that goes unnoticed is the MLG. They are too tall. That makes the backside appear too high up. This is true for A,B and D from what I can tell from the online pics. Probably not a difficult fix but still. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Academy F-14:

1) To my eye, the framing on the windscreen gives it a somewhat square appearance. It doesn't have much of a "bubble" profile either, which seems to contribute to the square look. 

2) The kit's external fuel tanks are mounted on the inboard part of the intake when viewed from the front. The real tanks are positioned towards the outboard portion.

HTH

jrbm

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