Grumman F-14 Tomcat

Maciej Bellos I think you should wait for the Academy kit. Even though it's labeled as an A it has all the required parts for a D.

Roland Revolvermann Maciej, i have enough cats in my stash so i didn't "need" anymore
But in my opinion 60€ for an 72nd cat is "over the top". A few € more and i can get an Tamiya 48nd in "sale".
I'm too stingy

Maciej Bellos Agreed!

Marcel Chmura The kit is looking very nice though from what I have seen on YouTube. Very nice molding. Having the 1/48 kit myself but tempted to go for this one either.

Patrick Hagelstein Oh! It surely does and I'm looking forward to building it. The only thing that differentiates this box from the 1988 boxing is the small 50 years Academy label in the left bottom corner. People might end up with the old kit instead of the new one.

Roland Revolvermann Wow, thats really a cleaver box art choice

Pierre I was really excited with this kit until I saw that youtube vid, a lot of the panel lines look wavy due to the nearby riveting... Hopefully he got an early shot and that'll be fixed with production kits. Should still be worth it given the price point.

Martin o Could you link the yt video Pierre? couldn't find it myself. Thanks

Treehugger The general box art here is the same as the kit in 1:48 scale (Academy 12253), the one with the weird front canopy glass. How they could screw that up in our time and age I have no idea (the one in 1:48 scale).

Looking at the review video, my impression is that the front canopy glass surface looks like it should have had more curvature to it (the kit in 1:72 scale).

Roland Revolvermann Is this one a down scaled version of the 1:48 or a completely new development ?

Patrick Hagelstein @ Pierre, I saw those rivets too. It looked like the rivets were pushed in after the panel lines were drawn. Could be that it was a pre-production kit as ScaleModelAircraft (Dusan Lekic) often builds Academy kits that only hit the shops months later. I am however, confident this kit will be nice. The later Academy kits are well buildable and very detailed for an 'easy kit'! This might not be the FineMolds or G.W.H. standard in terms of finesse but I think this kit will build into a very nice OOB Tomcat without fiddling and without a ton of unused options. Don't get me wrong, for a highly detailed very specific BuNo I'll go for either the FineMolds or G.W.H. kit but for a nice detailed 'just sit on my shelf in VF-??? markings Tomcat' I'll definitely look forward to this Academy kit.

Pierre Well, I guess we'll wait and see, I concur it could become the go-to quickbuild kit. I'm glad I didn't give in and pre-order either of the new Tomcats right now, makes me feel very wise and reasonable

Martin o I am just sad this is the only 72 tomcat with the windshield handled like this.

Patrick Hagelstein Perhaps one of the most awaited academies announced this year. The 1/72 F-14A is finally available. MMZ will be able to provide you with a preview of the final version. However, it is still a trial injection, so the details of the product may change slightly.

Originally designed for the Academy 1/72 MCP lineup, it was modified to the general version and the final product is a traditional plastic model, not MCP or Snaptite. However, there are some parts of the parts that indicate that this product started with MCP.

The above is the Google translation for the MMZ preview. Apparently the pictures on there are of testshots. (one can actually see some grime and stuff on the plastic)

Holger Kranich Oho, thats really quick!

Patrick Hagelstein Looking at the box art, this might be an early F-14A. I keep my fingers crossed for the Bombcat parts that I saw in one of the earlier reviews with sprue shots.

Martin o Well I am hoping for the gun vents and beaver tail. maybe even prototype glove fences? a man can dream.

Patrick Hagelstein www.moxingfans.com/m/view.php?aid=5773

I don't see the beaver tail or wing fences but this review has a lot more parts in it than is in the F-14D box right now. It has the pre NACA gun vents to start with. It's on the stabilizer sprue.

Martin o well the beaver tail is right there on the box art. would be cheeky to not include it in the kit )

Patrick Hagelstein True! You got me on that one! I'm more looking forward to the inclusion of BRUs and TERs.

Simon Zhang It seems that GWH has made a big mistake by cutting away the correct vertical stabilizer for A version and leaving only parts for D version in the box.

Pierre Is there an unboxing anywhere? Not really surprising after they included sprue L twice in the D boxing and no LAU-138.

Simon Zhang https://tieba.baidu.com/p/6340263855
https://tieba.baidu.com/p/6342229204
here are discussion about the vertical stabilizer issue, I think medias are waiting for GHW to come up with a solution, then they can post their reviews

Patrick Hagelstein Noooooooooooooooo!!!! They did the same with the F-15J vs F-15C ANG. The Japanese radome has strips on it, where the US version doesn't. Instead of leaving the sprues unaltered, they removed either version in either boxing. But with this early F-14 they were absolutely wrong! There's so much extra plastic in these kits, why go through the hassle of altering the sprues for these specific details anyway???

Patrick Hagelstein Darn it! My eBay order is already shipped! That means it will arrive before G.W.H. does any updates to their kits...

Treehugger Seemes to me, the front canopy piece in the kit doesn't look like the box art, same as the F-14 I have from Academy (12253). I am very disappointed that they didn't get this right.

Daniel Nice! was it worth the waiting?

Dawid Branski Oh yes! Very long awaited !
Youtube Video

Maciej Bellos In whenever it starts.

Scott Dutton Dont see many in this scheme

Jos Jansen Me too Maciej...

Roland Revolvermann definitely watching this

Patrick Hagelstein Following with interest.

Ferenc Sarka Wow. This will be a hard work. The work with cokpit of the Tomcat is very good. I am waiting for the result. Keep going. Good luck.

Piotr Sarniński-Górecki THX Ferenc

Patrick Hagelstein Hi Piotr! Welcome to Scalemates! A truly impressive setup and a very good start already! Excuse me for asking but with that whole slew of high quality kits and even higher quality aftermarket products, why did you choose the Revell Tomcat? In my opinion there are far more refined Tomcats out there which will build far easier than that one. Just my curiosity...

Martin o It's all my fault! I did not manage to write my Tomcat review in time!

Patrick Hagelstein

Piotr Sarniński-Górecki Haha - no Martin - it's not your fault :-D Patrick - I've started this Tomcat long time ago About 2 years I suppose. I want to build him OOB. Meantime my friend convinced me to build Su-34. When I finished Fullback I've returned to Tomcat. But ... the CAG bird is not my favourite type of markings. I prefer "regular soldiers" :-D So I've found decals with VF-2 markings. And then ResKit wheels :-D And that would be all but... I've started a research about this particular bird and step by step the Connie's Last Dance project was born :-D Yup - I know this is probably worst Tomcat model out there but.. I've started and I will finished it Oh - I forgot - I've got the discontinued PE parts from Eduard dedicated to this model. That ensured me that I MUST finished it :-D
But I'm also sure that my next Tomcat will a GWH's one
Thx guys for interesting and warm welcome

Patrick Hagelstein reading your whole story, it could ONLY be the Revell one. In that case, good luck and we'll guide you along your dark path of Tomcat building. There will be light at the end of the tunnel in form of that GWH Tomcat as Martin can surely tell you about then.

Piotr Sarniński-Górecki Hahahaha - it's good to have you both by my side :-D

Martin o haha to be fair, Revel is definitely not the worst 72 Tomcat, that place is occupied by Italeri beyond any doubt, Revell being actually pretty good in comparison But on the other hand, after building many Hasegawa and Academy kits, the GWH is just a dream

Patrick Hagelstein Piotr, could you tell me where you found those Dr Pepper Resins Hornet intakes? I don't seem to find a(n online) shop stocking them and I can not read the Dr Pepper Resins website...

Piotr Sarniński-Górecki Didn't find them though... They were on the list of options to Hornet in scalemates so I add them but not to the stash - only to wishlist. I'm afraid they are unavaible

Patrick Hagelstein The link on Scalemates only leads to a fishy lawyer site. At least when using Google Translate. Fingers crossed they might show up somewhere!

Martin o this should be good. watching for sure

Piotr Sarniński-Górecki Should be It's a distant project by now. And main problem is that carrier deck section by Italeri is a discontinued item And it's hard to find

Patrick Hagelstein Knowing Italeri, they will rerelease at some time in the future. What about finding it on Evilbay then?

Piotr Sarniński-Górecki Same as looking for a needle in a haystack...

Patrick Hagelstein

Holger Kranich This is definately a cool work! Love that Tomcat!

Jeremy Wiltcher Thanks, it was so much fun I plan on a few more NSAWC aircraft.

Frank Krause Nice camo! Looks a bit futuristic, but like it.

Dutch Very impressive camouflage scheme! Nice work.

Murad ÖZER Lovely camo!

Jeremy Wiltcher A few new pics were added

Spanjaard eye catcher for sure

Nathan Dempsey That is a great camo Jeremy I'm realizing that you have more adversaries aircraft than anyone!

Jeremy Wiltcher It has always been a favorite model subject of mine, along with fictional navy aircraft

Neuling Beautiful colors!

Stephan Ryll Very cool cat

Augie love it!

scalemates Stunning! Love your Tomcat

Patrick Hagelstein Please tell us what you feel right now! Is it living up to your expectations?

Martin o yes, do tell! i am waiting for my hobbyboss kit to arrive for my review gwh vs hobbyboss vs finemolds

Maciej Bellos Following!

Federico Burchianti It's a very impressive kit, it's more similar to a 1/48 with all the parts and complexity than to a 1/72. I have taken all the sprue and compare it to my Fine Molds F-14 (early A model). Both seem so well done that's difficult to say which one is superior (if one is superior to the other); there are many small differences and probably just assembling them I can have an exhaustive opinion. That said, I have excited to have such great models of my favorite aircraft; they have raised the level above even to Hasegawa and Fujimi (the -A model isn't bad at all) kits. Just a final note: the Greatwall F-14D has a completed set of missile (so yes, even the Sidewinders are in the box) but no air-to-ground armament or pods and, if you like to do a "flying" model as I like, you have to add the pilots.

Patrick Hagelstein The weird thing is that moxing.net really early hat a sprue overview with BRUs and LANTIRN pods included. Hopefully a Bombcat is not too long out as I intend to build mine as a late F-14A with TERs mounted on the BRUs.

Federico Burchianti think I will do it 'out the box' as VF-2 CAG, armed with all air-to-air missiles. As I havè at least other 4 Tomcats on the stash, including a Hasegawa F-14D with both pods, I like the idea to use this one to make the F-14 at the apex of the career as fighter (-D version, mid '90s).

Martin o Hello, my final review can be found here: https://imgur.com/gallery/RxCFtqH

Patrick Hagelstein Nice one!

Martin o Finally done, comments welcome!

Holger Kranich Really a nice comparison! Thx!

Martin o You're welcome Holger

Patrick Hagelstein I'm in!

Maciej Bellos Following!

Maciej Bellos I sit!

Pierre Wee, another Black Lions tomcat!

Chris H. This is the best model kit I've ever, ever seen! Got it in my stash as well. Looking forward to your build!!

Urban Gardini I'll gladly follow this build! I've got it as well but mine's gonna be a CAG-Felix. But it have to wait though due to my wild kitten as he need to calm down before I start anything ambitious...

Bryn Crandell And another Tomcat! Oh goody!

Maciej Bellos To all Tomcat afficionados, does anyone have the pattern of the white protective coating used in AMARG for the Tomcats that were stored there?

Patrick Hagelstein No but I like your train of thoughts! Saves a lot of time building a detailed cockpit!

Jos Jansen Hell yeah...another big Cat, Iam grab myself a seat!

Augie Oh god...resistance is futile

Patrick Hagelstein Soeren, what errors have you seen?

Soeren . The post from busbande (next to last) explains what he found and he knows the subject
https://flugzeugforum.de/thr..ts.72604/page-4#post-2661758

Michael Hickey Do I need it? No... Will I get it? Many, Many times over.

Patrick Hagelstein Schade.... Ich wollte die Flügeln nutzen wegen die Spoilern....

Hans Robben So the conclusion is that this is a lemon? Let's wait for the final release.

Soeren . Yeah I hope that AMK did some magic there and we will see a nice release in the end.

Daniel I have high hopes they do, for the Kfir they redesigned the whole fuselage after criticism on their first release. Even if not, I have a really hard time spotting any gamebreaking mistakes there and I will definitely get one and build "Bullet 106"

Jay Benson Bought this kit circa 1989 for about $50US from Squadron.

Holger Kranich Hmmm the sprues look very good to me!

Soeren . I agree with Holger. The kits looks really nice in the box.

Federico Burchianti Indeed. Hope to see my copy soon.

Lukas . GC9 confirmed from box photo.

Robert { Bob } Borland just getting my feet wet

Patrick Hagelstein Whow, that's something special. In that case, I can totally understand you want to do this kit, and especially him, justice.

Patrick Hagelstein Hi Martin, I just read your review again. One thing I noticed is that you commented on the Fujimi airbrake protruding. That's actually correct and not many manufacturers get this detail right.

Martin o So you think it should not be sanded and rescribed? Interesting. Gotta check with the pictures

Holger Kranich Real nice comparison of the 4 kits. You really pointed out the pro´s and con´s. Glad to have the Fujimi and Hasegawa at home. But now i need the Fine Molds one. And lets see what Great Wall Hobby offers us in the next time. GWH seems to be a great deal. Will you expand your comparison with the GWH kit?

Cheers Holger

Martin o Thank you, Holger! I am definitely planning on expanding this not only with the new GWH which I will try to get ASAP but also the old Hobbyboss and upcoming Academy.

Holger Kranich Yeah, cool to hear that!
And btw, it was a great relief for me, that you share the opinion that the Hasegawa canopy looks ... weird, at least. Now i know that i am not alone.

Martin o Yes it is a cause of great anxiety for me as I am otherwise heavily biased for the Hasegawa F-14

Holger Kranich Oh i can imagine! I like the Hasegawa kit very much and have figured out that the Revell canopy fits quite good. A little sanding here and there...

Martin o Ah yes, the canopy is the only good thing about the Revell kit

Patrick Hagelstein Why? What's wrong with a WWI era F-14?

Patrick Hagelstein F-14A Combat Air Museum Topeka | Album by Hagel
This is a picture I took a while ago. Not as pronounced as on other airframes but you can see the raised trailing edge of the airbrake. Beware, it's only on the top one and only at the back.

Patrick Hagelstein Pictures 4 and 5...

Patrick Hagelstein Exactly!!!

Markus Antonius THE perfect Tomcat in 72nd? Let's cross fingers...

Patrick Hagelstein I'm with you Markus!

Patrick Hagelstein Hobby.dn.ua has it on pre-order! I'm tempted to jump in but might wait what prices will be here in the US.

Patrick Hagelstein Just visited Lucky Model and looking at their pre-order sprue shots it seems this will only be in air defense mode, so without the BRU-32s and with only the LANTIRN pylon, not the LANTIRN itself. Does that mean we have to wait for another Bombcat boxing???

Martin o tbh seems kinda weird to me putting bombs on a tomcat anyway I can send you the LANTIRN I have from the Fujimi box

Patrick Hagelstein True, it's weird but then again in the heydays of it's career there wasn't too much to fire at from a long distance. Somehow the Afghani and Iraqi warring factions didn't have that many long distance interceptors or cruise missiles to fire at fleet battle groups. It's not that I'm in need of the LANTIRN itself but I think it's weird looking at the Moxing.net sprue shots with LANTIRN and Bombcat sprues in it and then looking at the 'actual' sprues where they are not included.

Martin o ah yes, right. that makes sense