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Italeri 1/48 F-14 Tomcat questions


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Hi guys. I've been thinking about acquiring an Italeri 1/48 F-14 Tomcat kit to add to my stash. I've got Academy, RM and Hasegawa offerings, but I have been wondering if there might be an alternative to Hasegawa's high price and lots of parts, Academy's nose profile and RM's raised panel lines. I've seen a couple buildup pics and it looks reasonably decent in nose profile and has recessed panels. But I also understand it is a bit wanting in spots.

I know the exhausts in the F110 powered Italeri issues are junk, but what about the rest? I was thinking about an F-14B or D Bombcat kitbash with Steel Beach panel parts, RM exhausts (and portions of the cockpit and seats as opposed to aftermarket parts) and leftover bits from my Academy cat build (I didn't use the missiles or pylons in the Academy kit at all). A simpler kitbash might be to do an A model with the leftover exhausts and other parts from my recent Academy cat build.

Knowing this is involved, should I go for it or not waste my money?

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Damn Really !!!!!!! :thumbsup: I have 3 of the B's i was gonna do are they really Junk?? should i just grab some revell/mono D models and convert to B's??????

Anything's possible. Really they're not bad if you want to pass them off on some unsuspecting kid who wants to build a big Tomcat....as long as you're not related to them.... :unsure:

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Hi Jay,

I've built an Italeri Tomcat, placed it near the Hasegawa, Monogram and Academy models, and really it seems a 'slimmed down cat'...

Exhausts apart, fuselage section, canopy undersquare and ordnance are wrong in size, u/c legs are too rough and thin, panel lines are too heavy and it lacks some details as access ladder and airbrakes.

In other words, the overall look is not very convincing. Much better an Academy or Monogram box, if Hasegawa is too expensive.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Luca

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Is the Italeri Tomcat the Fujimi kit in a different box?

I remember building a Testors/Fujimi 1/48 years ago, not the worlds best Tomcat kit.

It was an "A" model, weird thing was that the forward fuselage had recessed panel lines and rivets, while the rest of the kit had raised panel lines and rivets.

Ken

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There is one redeeming bit of the kit from what I remember...I think the AIM-54's are actually C's, which is significant since I think they're the only C's produced in plastic. Not that it's overly hard to carve off the "boxes" on the A's to make a good C, but still....

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Okay guys, thanks. I still might acquire one if I can find one for a very reasonable price. But, I'm not going to go out of my way to find one then. The Phoenix missiles provided do sound like an interesting perk though.

BTW Thundergrunt, don't trash your Italeri birds if you already have them. Sounds like it might be possible to kitbash parts of them with other Tomcat models to make something good with them. Or, they might make good quickie builds. I doubt most people will spot the differences between the Italeri Tomcat and other cat models easily anyway.

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Well look like those are going in the trash bin and gonna pick up some RV/mono D then thanks for the help

I do not have an Italeri kit at hand, but from what I see from the site gallery, they are not totally useless.

The windscreen looks better than the Academy and Revell ones, and may replace them.

There are drop tanks you can use for the Revell kit.

I am not sure, but if there are reinforcement plates on the tail fins, you can use them on either the Academy or Revell kit.

The decals are good too, so I heard. But there are too many impressive decals out there in the market to use their kit decals.

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Just to clear up some confusion, the Italeri kit is NOT the same as the testors/fujimi 1/48 kit (which is easily the worst-shaped 1/48 Tomcat out there... making the Academy look absolutely great), but it can still be a pain.

Thundergrunt, if you're still looking to offload some of those Italeri super-tomcats, I'd save your trashcan some of the strain and take one or two off your hands (got something I wanna try and the cheaper the kit, the better I feel about messing one up), just PM me :thumbsup:

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Just to clear up some confusion, the Italeri kit is NOT the same as the testors/fujimi 1/48 kit (which is easily the worst-shaped 1/48 Tomcat out there... making the Academy look absolutely great), but it can still be a pain.

AAAAAH....well, that changes things. See, I thought I actually knew what I was talking about. :thumbsup:

We need a blushing smiley.

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Ok i've got to know what is so bad about the Italeri Tomcat. i've built 2 one being the Bravo release and i didn't have any major problems. Granted it is not the best kit out there but you won't find a perfect tomcat kit on the market. i personally would rather build the italeri kit than the Fujimi or Academy. i do admit that the Bravo release is crap but only for the engine exhaust and fairings.

VF-1 was built out of box with Micro Scale Decals.

VF-33 was the Bravo release. grafted hasegawa nozzles to it and used spare hasegawa seats. aeromaster decals.

and check out my awards page and click the link (1st Place 2002 SCMA 1/48 Aircraft Jet Fighter/Recon)

Awards

F-14A_Tomcat_VF-1_01.JPG

F-14A_Tomcat_VF-33_04.jpg

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I can't find the thread that had the hit-/miss-list for the Italeri F-14A, but here's what I remember from memory.

The good news is that the panels lines are recessed. The bad news is that a lot of them are in the wrong places. Ooops I was thinking of the Academy kit.

Good news - the instrument coamings are good. Bad news - those are probably the best things about the cockpit - Academy & Monogram are better.

Good news - missiles are seperate from rails & racks. Bad news - the missiles themselves a little need help.

Good news - it looks a F-14 when finished. Bad news - comparing beside a Monogram/Academy/Hasegawa F-14 only points out it's shortcomings.

Good news - open & closed exhaust petals. Bad news - the gun bay vents look.... goofy.

The list goes on and on, but the list becomes more "bad news" than "good news". (Wheel proportion, tailhook, missing tail detail, wheel wells.......)

If I still had an Italeri F-14A and wanted to upgrade it, I'd pick up an original release Monogram F-14A kit (for as cheap as possible) for parts to fix the Italeri problems. The other route I'd take would be to take the best parts of the Italeri kit to upgrade the Monogram kit.

The Italeri F-14B has even fewer good points that their F-14A.

Any kit can be built. Making an inaccurate kit accurate is a question of how far one wants to go to fix it. Doing that and have a well-built kit is a measure of the modeler's skill and patience. The question is - do you think you have the patience?

I can't speak for anyone else. I can only speak for myself. I don't have the patience (or desire) to fix the Italeri F-14's shortcomings. Give me a Monogram F-14 instead, I can live with raised panel lines.

Edited by John Bibay
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Aha! Found the threads -

Italeri F-14 Thread #1

Italeri F-14 Thread - another opinion

So just forget what I posted earlier and check out the threads.

kit-bash V. 1) to use the best part of multiple kit to make one good one 2) N. the ceremonial result of throwing a model kit against the wall. "I gave up trying to build the Hobbycraft F-14 and had a kit-bash with a hammer."

Edited by John Bibay
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