Grumman F-14 Tomcat

Patrick Hagelstein I'm in! I'm in! I'm in!

Martin o yes please

Sören Reifert You should probably look at https://1999.co.jp/eng/ and if you don't find this kit, look for any other F-14A. The instructions for Hasegawa are always the same.

Andrew Robertson It's for the decals, I found the sheet on eBay, just trying to make sure it's complete and so I know where to put them

Andrew Robertson https://1999.co.jp/eng/10000638 no instructions or images

berni I think it should fit, too. look here: https://scalemates.com/produ..3/120633-49-instructions.pdf

or here:
SCM Search: F-14A Tomcat Hasegawa

Konrad Limmer Watching this

Urban Gardini Felix Rules!

Patrick Hagelstein I'm in!

Pierre Thank you all for your interest. This is a classic kit and scheme I have been wanting to do since I was 12, hopefully I don't botch it!

In any case, it isn't gonna be a fast build, given the kit complexity and the crazy temperatures around here which prohibit any kind of spraypainting right now.

Pierre I got ahold of a hobby boss decals sheet, so I will do a Black Aces plane instead. The white tail plans look really good, and those grey touch-ups are really visually interesting.

Felix will have to wait for a Delta cat!

Ekki Watching.

Cuajete Me too.

Augie Guess so.. although as much as I love the ol' turkey could be argued another f-14 when we're well catered for..

Michael Hickey I agree with you there Augie.

Michael Phillips Whoa, am I losing my mind here? I coulda SWORE that this was 1/48 earlier today, now it says 1/72. I am guessing someone erroneously changed it?

Michael Hickey Hey Michael your not going loopy, it did read 1/48 this morning.

Michael Phillips I changed it back. There is already an entry for the upcoming 1/72 GWH Tomcat. This one is for the 1/48 one that was announced yesterday.

Patrick Hagelstein Just bring it on!

Patrick Hagelstein Cool! I've read that comic.

Jos Jansen I have been a fan of this flying hero for years, which seems to be immortal. It's an idea, I do not know if this will be my next project because I'm probably going to build a Dassault Rafale M first.

Maciej Bellos I am jealous of you!

Michael Phillips Yeah, looking forward to this one... but I am actually even more excited for the upcoming AMK F-14D, of which I have two on pre-order. I haven't decided what markings to build this one in yet either... Now I just have to get the mojo going on my current project, which has stalled because I hate rescribing...

Harry Eder I like this dio!

Benoit Mathier Fantastic!

Markus Antonius What brand of colours do you use for painting?

Julian Herrero aka Yuri Nice !!!!!!

Mitja Oberc Thank you all! .
Christian: It's not based on real reference. I believe, that there is no "museum" / "gate guard" Tomcat with this camo.
Markus: I've used Model Master, Revell and Vallejo colours

Saeed Ezadi Nice one! What a good idea!

Mitja Oberc Thank you

Spanjaard excellent! i missed it before, what a great job!

Patrick Hagelstein This is the first look I ever had at the infamous Fujimi 1/48 Tomcat and yes, it's a kit I would stay away from...

Patrick Hagelstein Their 1/72 version on the other hand is a very close rival to the Hasegawa one!

Steve H. It has a very weird combo of raised and recessed panel lines , strange kit .

Patrick Hagelstein Indeed!

Marko Nice. I've done it, and I enjoyed it very much. Excellent kit to work on. I've done mine in flight. Will be watching.

Martin Oostrom Oooh! This I want to see

Jos Jansen Interesting to follow, I've the same kit in my stash....I

Marko Nice. Count me in.

Michael Hickey You're all welcome aboard.

Jos Jansen Great plane, great new kit from Tamiya...definitely following!

Patrick Hagelstein All of those kits have their benefits and 'shortcomings'.
Hasegawa: Can be built for cat launch and is well engineered but fiddly in places.
Fujimi: Can also be built for cat launch but is just a little bit less detailed than the Hasegawa one but builds up more easily.
FineMolds: The wings are closed up but everything else can be built opened up for a maintenance scene. Overall better detailed but the panel lines need some getting used to. As with the Hasegawa one this kit doesn't come with weapons but if you get the extra weapons set this is the set with the most modern weapons and a great LTS pod.
Overall all these three kits build up really nice with varying effort and can be turned into detailed masterpieces just OOB. Let's see what GWH and Academy come up with hopefully this year!

Cuajete Thanks Patrick!
I forgot that also Academy release a new mold. Good news!
Weapons set you mention is from FineMolds?

Patrick Hagelstein Yes, it's FP31 which numbers directly in between FP30, the older type F-14A and FP32, this mid 90's edition.

Cuajete Thanks again Patrick. You think this set is better than Eduard's weapon sets? (Phoenix, AIM-9, AIM-7...)

Patrick Hagelstein I haven't seen the Eduard set in person but for injected styrene the FineMolds set is really crisp.

Cuajete

Scott Higginbotham The decals for FineMolds weapons look good too.

Cuajete Thanks Scott

Patrick Hagelstein Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Tomcat!!! I'm in!

Cuajete Me 2.

Patrick Hagelstein Looking at your cover picture, that would actually be cool to do. A sparkling new and unweathered Tomcat prototype. Gets me thinking...

Martin o well yes, my fascination with early block alphas will probably never allow me to get to a TPS build.. also, the vf-1s will be brand new, more decals though..

Patrick Hagelstein Nice, bring it on! In the meantime I ponder about that prototype idea......

Ekki Following.

Martin o actually the aircraft in the picture is a later production alpha. It has new beaver tail, gun vents and alpha probe. these three details by themselves are fairly easy to find even in 1/72 but the first six(?) prototypes had different, rectangular wing glove sealing plates and larger wing glove fences on top of the fuselage. These details are available in 1/48 for the Tamiya kit (at least I saw them somewhere) but would have to be scratchbuilt in 1/72. also, welcome gentlemen

Patrick Hagelstein Yes, now I see it. Well, liking that picture as such with the spotless paint job, no markings and only some dirt from the wing gloves, I think I should be able to build it only using an FP30 or a Hasegawa one. I only need to find/build those finned drop tanks.

Martin o I will be looking forward to that

Martin o yes please

Patrick Hagelstein I've got the aftermarket stuff in. I only need some plastic to slap it onto. I preordered the Tamiya F-14D kit as it comes as close to the updated F-14A VF-154 used in the end. I might wait for the AMK kit though to see which of the two is the better detailed and better buildable.

Michael Phillips Count me in on this one for sure!

Patrick Hagelstein Welcome Michael! I have a special task for you though: Guide me through this to reach just a fraction of your level, that would be really appreciated.

Michael Phillips Ha, I am sure you can reach that level with ease! I have built the Tamiya Tomcat, so I can advise that it is a REAL pleasure to build. Seriously, it is the most pain-free build I have encountered (30 total models now). I love the markings you chose, so this will be sweet! If you have any questions or requests for tips when you get to this, just feel free to give me a shout. I will be glad to lend any assistance I can!

Clifford Keesler I'm in.

Clifford Keesler I'm sure the AMK kit will be less expensive. From the CAD drawings I have seen of it, it looks nice.

Patrick Hagelstein Welcome aboard Clifford! And thank you Michael for the encouragements! I'll be picking your brain for sure during this build!

Konrad Limmer Cool ! Count me in as well.

Patrick Hagelstein Cool! Welcome Konrad!

Patrick Hagelstein Let's go!

Martin o yes 1/72 tomcats! never a bad thing

Martin Oostrom Hold your horses, especially Patrick
First some things to finish; F-100, XF-13, TBD-1, before starting something new.

Patrick Hagelstein Aha! Well, my progress is nonexistent at the moment... I'm in the Netherlands for family visits without any kit on my hands.

Cuajete Following!

Brian Fruit FolloWING

Patrick Hagelstein Count me in!

Martin o interesting. how much do you plan to open? just the OOB details or more?

Patrick Hagelstein I'm in! I'm in! I'm in! Yes! Yes! Yes!

Patrick Hagelstein Reminds me that I really have to post some new pictures...

Harry Eder Interesting topic!

Murad ÖZER here.

Ekki I'm in.

Donald Dickson II Yep, I'm in.

Florent Thouret I. am. in.

Cuajete Me too!

Dave Flitton Me 3!!

Konrad Limmer Of course nothing will excuse this once you miss it. I'm in too sorry Dave 4.

Patrick Hagelstein F-14 Tomcats (Microscale AC72-0044, 1:72)
Wouldn't just any Fujimi F-14A combined with the above decals work? The Fujimi F-14 is very fine. On par with the Hasegawa one but in my opinion a lot more buildable because of a less fiddly set-up.

Martin o well, any VF-1 decals are quite difficult to get so I thought I would get two birds with one stone.. will have to give that idea up i guess

Cuajete Also have the following decals:
F-14A VF-1 Wolfpack [The Fir..] (MYK Design A-72087, 1:72)

Academy's kit with VF-1 decals:
F-14A (Academy 12504, 1:72)

Or Airfix kit if you can get it cheaper for obtain the decals:
Grumman F-14A Tomcat (Airfix 05013, 1:72)

Cuajete In fact you have all these options in kits and decals:

SCM Search: 1:72 vf-1 wolfpack*

scalemates nice search

Martin o yes. all of these are very difficult to get/insufficient quality/wrong time period. Whats in the Fujimi box is just perfect for me so I wanted to kinda test the waters to see if it would be obtainable.

Choppa Nutta haha, is that bad of a fit ?
ah well, the practice will do me good !

Michael Hickey Well after viewing Cliffy's Cat I think I need a piece of humble pie. He done a nice job.

Choppa Nutta Reading through the review it does have some shortcomings but for the price and the addition of some cheap PE for the cockpit, also it was a new tool in 2002 so not that old at all really and I've got a rivet wheel !

Feeling tempted actually

H. Wi Still nobody able to tell if the new Tamiya cat can be built overswept or not?

Markus Antonius what does overswept mean?

Patrick Hagelstein Markus, overswept means that the wings are completely folded for storage or moving around on a flight deck. Overswept means that the wings hang marginally over the stabilizers, so no movibg of those is possible.

Markus Antonius ahh i see! never recognised this in photographs of tomcats in carrier-bays... thanks patrick!

Mathijs Beenhakker Markus The F-14's wing sweep can be varied between 20° and 68° in flight and for storage on deck or hangar they had the oversweep of 75 degrees

Patrick Hagelstein Shouldn't be any problem. The doors are all separate and knowing Tamiya in exactly the same size as their corresponding openings.

Markus Antonius ok, but it is not intended in the instructions? thanks anyway

Patrick Hagelstein Who needs instructions anyway?...

Ekki Watching.

Michael Phillips Uh oh, Murad's doing a Tomcat! I gotta watch this one!!!

Murad ÖZER Guys thanks a bunch but this no one will be a no show, i bought the kit for it's decals.

besides this italeri kit i built many times i consider it not even as a kit, simply awful probably the worst tomcat in this scale out there.

Martin o I actually buy a lot of kits for decals as the standalone decals cost about the same The Gunfighter is certainly a kickass topic.

Murad ÖZER yup i am meaning to do a proper vf124 outta this with a hase or probably hobbyboss depending on the price/availability