Search the Community

Hi folks Finally F-14!! Those modellers who followed my works know I have been building Iranian fighter jets models in past couple of years. This time is tomcat's turn! The kit is Hasegawa PT46 F-14A Tomcat in 1/48 scale built straight from the box with exception of AIM-54 phoenix and AIM-7 sparrow missiles which come from Hobby boss kit and AIM-9s from AFV Club F-5 kit. The kit is really nice but it has it's own famous complexities specially in intakes. colors are mixture of Mr.Color , Tamiya and Hataka colors. Hope you enjoy Pictures taken by my cell phone. Barzin 001 by Freddy Pilot, on Flickr 002 by Freddy Pilot, on Flickr 003 by Freddy Pilot, on Flickr 004 by Freddy Pilot, on Flickr 005 by Freddy Pilot, on Flickr 006 by Freddy Pilot, on Flickr 007 by Freddy Pilot, on Flickr 008 by Freddy Pilot, on Flickr 009 by Freddy Pilot, on Flickr 010 by Freddy Pilot, on Flickr 011 by Freddy Pilot, on Flickr 012 by Freddy Pilot, on Flickr 013 by Freddy Pilot, on Flickr 014 by Freddy Pilot, on Flickr 015 by Freddy Pilot, on Flickr 016 by Freddy Pilot, on Flickr 017 by Freddy Pilot, on Flickr 018 by Freddy Pilot, on Flickr 019 by Freddy Pilot, on Flickr} 020 by Freddy Pilot, on Flickr 021 by Freddy Pilot, on Flickr 022 by Freddy Pilot, on Flickr 023 by Freddy Pilot, on Flickr 024 by Freddy Pilot, on Flickr 025 by Freddy Pilot, on Flickr 026 by Freddy Pilot, on Flickr 030 by Freddy Pilot, on Flickr 031 by Freddy Pilot, on Flickr With his mates: 032 by Freddy Pilot, on Flickr 033 by Freddy Pilot, on Flickr 034 by Freddy Pilot, on Flickr

Hobby Boss has just re-released its Tomcat kit (link) as 1/72nd Grumman F-14A Tomcat "VF-1 Wolf Pack"- ref. 80279 Source: http://www.hobbyboss.com/index.php?g=home&m=product&a=show&id=1445&l=en V.P.

Finished! I enjoyed every moment of this build. Will get my hands on Tamiya's Phantom soon. If you want to see the different stages of painting, you can find it here: All but one of the pix are close ups, since the model i huge even in 1/48. I made one huge mistake, let's see if anyone spots it. And it's ready for pickup, Axel! Stay safe, take your shots and keep glueing plastic! /Torbjörn

Hello everyone, been a very, very, very long time since I've posted on Britmodeller - 5 or 6 years I think!? But wanted to share something that I finished up today. F-14A+ Tomcat, VF-74 'BeDevilers', 1991 Operation Desert Storm, USS Saratoga. Kit: Hasegawa Scale: 1/72 Paint: Hataka Blue Line Acrylics, Citadel Acrylics all hand brushed throughout. Finishes: MiG filters, Flory washes, Mr Hobby Flat Topcoat Extras: Quickboost ejection seats otherwise OOB Decals: Kit provided with Furball Aerodesign position lights Had the added impetus to finish as the first show in 2 years (in England) is on this weekend at Thornbury and I'm displaying on the Cold War SIG stand, hope to see some of you there!

Well, having finished my first A model Tomcat using the Hobbyboss kit with some aftermarket and scratch added details, I’ve settled on what will be the next one, and have opened the box on an Academy kit. Plenty have already waded in on the aspects of this kit and I don’t want to repeat what’s already be said, so I’m going to share my thoughts, plans, tribulations, etc as I start, plan and progress this one. Choosing a model I’d had a number of boxes open, trying to decide which to start on next, a KA Models one, Hasegawa (I got the retool after ordering an old one by mistake first – oops), a GWH one, Finemolds (First one I bought and now leaving that until later and maybe doing it with lots of panels open – if something can be done about the wing shape) but when I opened the Academy one, having read that many see it as a straightforward build, and then seeing the quality of the mouldings, with all the details in place that I’d had to add to the Hobbyboss ones... and with wing panels that look right (whereas Hobbyboss isn’t – nor are Hasegawa), I thought I’d give this one a go. It looks quite delightful. Academy F14 project kick off by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Choosing a subject Ok, this took some time. I wanted a subject that would grab me. I’d planned (and still do) at some point to do a VF84 A model in all over Light Gull Grey, so a popular scheme but with a slight variation... But maybe something less obvious. Pukin Dogs will probably be on the list at some point, but not yet; another Vf-111, no I want some variation and I haven’t measured the kit’s fin chords yet. I thought about several others such as a Pencil VF31 to accompany the Felix-Bug etched picture that a good freind had passed to me... and many hours were spent going back and forth through the D&S Pacific and Atlantic volumes looking for inspiration. VF1 is my friend’s focus on many discussions, especially the early scheme. Thus I’d ignored the later schemes but some pictures in the D&S books started to catch my eye given that their finish was unusual. The mid 80s onwards saw the move to low vis markings with the wolf on the fin (you don’t need me to cover this) and later on some red schemes re-emerged. But what stuck out was the shade of grey appearing in many photos. Whilst the schemes were described as overall Light Gull Grey (LGG) – Fed Std 595 (FS)16440, many images show the grey as very pale. Clearly, some of this will be down to photograph exposure and film stock (contrast variation) but it seemed that a number of photographers were capturing images of aircraft that looked very pale, almost white. I read Tony Oliver’s discussions regarding his Hobbyboss VF-111 aircraft that eventually went for a paler grey: Light Grey FS36495. I think that Tony made the comment that whilst this probably wasn’t applied, it did tend to take on the look of a pale/washed out LGG that might be seen on an aircraft at the end of a deployment. As I said, there are lots of photos in books, but I’m not reproducing these here due to copyright... but here’s a suitable link to another page – 6th photo depicts the pale finish (and period) quite well And My go-to paint at the moment is Mission Models, so I’ve some of this on its way; we’ll do a test and see how it compares. The Matt finish might support the “weathered” finish that would suit my wishes. So, a combination of the pale finish, some colourful but not overstated markings, big colourful star n bars and perhaps a not too often shown scheme appealed. Then it was time to choose a specific aircraft. Of course, once you start looking, you see them (and it) everywhere. There’s even a Hobbymaster model of it although the overall LGG just doesn't look realistic compared to photos of the aircraft.... so that’s not deterring me from Wichita 103, BuNo 162603 that claimed the single F-14 Air to Air during desert storm. As shown above. Markings will require some planning an sorting, but the main ones can (mostly) be acquired from the DXM set that I already have (using markings for Wichita 111, BuNo 162611, but some others will be needed. Markings wise, the most obvious omission from the DXM set is the markings that adorned the fuel tanks, but photos of the aircraft on operations seem to depict unmarked tanks in most cases, so we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. The most popular photos show the aircraft back from ranger at Miramar in February 1991 (interestingly, as I’ve only just noticed, 4 days after I first met the lady that became the first Mrs Hughes). The photo depicts the “Hind” kill marking (although of course it was a Hip) Wolfpack flash adorned fuel tanks and Phoenix pallets (the aerodynamic fairing on the port side being Light Ghost rather than LGG). However, there’s evidence of the phoenix pallets not being carried in operation whilst on Ranger. So these could be omitted. Photos appear in the F-14 Haynes Manual, Tomcat Alley, and The Cutting edge (albeit from years earlier), and the VF1 facebook page is a useful resource too. Armament One further variation is that photos of the aircraft, and others from VF1 on Ranger at the time is that they carried four sidewinders rather than two of each of 9s and 7s; with Sparrows on the body positions; so this would give a variation on the usual equipage of the aircraft. The LAU-7 rail looks like it sits on an adapter under the wing root pylon, but details of that will no doubt follow after more research... and the photos in the original detail and scale book help in this regard. Kit – additional AM bits and fit issues Right , so I set out looking to see what bits I might need to adapt the kit or improve it. A search online suggested the Eduard Big Ed set, Aries exhaust, Aries seats, and a new product from CMK - wheels for this kit, Quickboost seamless intakes (which seemed like a good idea) and quickboost ECM/TCS chin pod. I know the kit has this provided, but the Quickboost one is nice (used last time) and I’d lost track of which options were in which kit when I’d been placing my order; I think the GWH just has the small one. Hey ho. These were ordered and have now arrived. Looking at the Big Ed set, I’m now wondering whether I’ll use much (or any) of it at all. Cockpit wise, I think the panel detail on the kit mouldings looks exquisite so these might suffice (with the kit decals and some careful painting perhaps). I think that the 3D print of companies like Quinta studios and Yahu are likely to end the end the Eduard colour photo etch... but time will tell how they migrate to 1/72. Externally, there’s a few bits that might be useful, but we’ll see. The kit nose undercarriage bay needs some detailing, but I did that from scratch on the hobbyboss, so maybe something similar will be attempted. As has been mentioned elsewhere, the kit noseleg needs some work, but that will be bits of plasticard and bits from other kits no doubt. Wheels. Ok, these went back to the big H as the resin castings had air holes in them. I wasn’t pleased. I have a spare set of Armoury wheels which are nicely flattened and i’ll use these for the mains and either use the same for the nose wheels or see if I can get some like those I used on Miss Molly which I think were True Details. Seats. Ok, so the Aries seats were my product of choice as what I used before. Painted and adorned with some of the Eduard PE they look quite nice. Horror! The seats don’t fit in the Academy cockpit tubs. Drat (or something like that) The seat themselves aren’t too bad detail wise; a bit basic but probably improvable with some PE... but they’re a bit thin, or perhaps I mean narrow. Time for some alternatives. I dug out the GWH kit and looked at those seats. Does it really need 5 pieces to make a seat(?) Anyway, these are slightly nicer and but lack the ejection handles top and bottom... I have those in the Eduard set, so no problems. I tacked one together and measured it against the Academy tub, and the Aries seats against the GWH tub: Academy cockpit tub base 7.4mm across; Academy seats base 6.9mm across; Aries seats base 7.89 mm across. GWH cockpit tub 8.3mm across; GWH seats at base 7.1mm across. So the plan is to save the Aries seats for the GWH kit and put the GWH seats in the Academy tub. Sorted. They’ll need some detailing and I wish I’d though about fettling and thinning the seat sides before assembly, but I’ll do what I can afterwards. They’re not as nice as the Aries ones, but they’re a better start point compared to the academy ones at least. Seat swapping. by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Exhausts Aries – as before, with one open and one closed nozzle (parked). The Academy kit has a very nice pair of locating pins in the rear fuselage to give a good solid build. The kit exhaust cans are quiet short. Hmmm... is this an issue. By putting one of the exhaust cowlings onto one of the two rear fuselage halfs, measuring the distance aft of the securing stud to the fuselage rear face – 14.41mm. The length of the exhaust cowling is 10.81mm. This is the key distance, because the Aries exhaust, which comprises the nozzle, tube and fan, will have the tube face flush with the opening of the cowl, onto which the exhaust nozzle will attach (just like the Hobbyboss one)... although the cowl inner diameter will need opening it to remove the securing lip. Aries exhaust tube is 24.36mm long, the fan has a lip height of 2.38mm. So, the kit clearance is about 25.2mm; the Aries exhaust is 26.7mm. So, whilst it not fitting is a little annoying for a part that’s marketed for the kit, I think that by shaving a little off the locating lug and the back of the fan piece, it will fit... just... but it’ll be close. But close, is good enough (I hope). Wings Now this has prompted some thought and discussion with a friend... and comparison with other kits. The attachment of the wings is great – onto those little stubs, wouldn’t it be nice to do dirty wings. Thoughts at the moment are whether the different wings could be adapted to fit on the same slot (cut a slot and add framing) so two sets could be made. Then whether another wing set could be adapted to fit the donor kit (possibly). Some thought and planning will go into this to see if it’s worth ending up with two wing sets for this one. The plan isn't finalised and will need some further thinking and considering... at the speed at which I build these, there's no rush. Other thoughts on the Academy kit, whilst I see that Tony O addressed it, the kit is supplied with two temp probes, the one that sits on the starboard side of the nose (aft of the smart probes) and one on the port side at the front of the cockpit section near the windscreen. This is only evident on early aircraft, so it’ll be ignored and the hole filled. This really ought to be highlighted somewhere. But overall, it looks crisp, shape's not bad at all - and it's not too complicated (although I seem to be making it so... such is my way eh!). So... that’s the plan. Academy F-14A as VF1 162603 on the squadron’s last cruise, on Ranger in the Gulf. Painted a lighter colour that LGG (which will give some variation to Miss Molly and other aircraft to follow) Anyway, let’s see how this goes... Thanks for reading Jonathan

Hello everyone! Want to warn you that this is my first topic here and English is not my native language, so please excuse me if something is wrong) That's a second HB Tomcat that I'm working on, the model is well known so I don't have much to say about. It has a lot of small problems that need to be fix. I'm going to build it almost OOB, but with some PE parts that were left over from my previous Tomcat build. I've started with a cockpit, put some PE in it. Also, I don't want to use Eduard's colored PE, because its color is not quite right and it's too flat. The cockpit still looks good OOB. OOB seats are very good but I have Eduard Brassin seats I'm going to build VF-124 Tomcat, from famouse TOPGUN school. This aircraft has TARPS, so I do not know yet what armament can be used, maybe I will make 2 Sidewinders Sorry for pictures, my lightbox is very far from me right now, but I'll fix it! I hope you'll enjoy the build!

This is a build for a friend, This is Hobby Boss's outstanding kit, straight out of the box. The Black Aces has to be one of the best Tomcat schemes. Paints used are MRP.

Despite powering through lockdown with a rekindled enjoyment of model building I’ve only just found this forum, so apologies if I miss any detail you’d usually expect, feel free to ask. I’ve somewhat inadvertently started a collection of 1/48 aircraft featured in film and TV - Memphis Belle and Gibson’s Lancaster sit proudly on a shelf and at Christmas the wife cunningly remembered I’d floated the idea of Maverick’s F-14. Sadly, it’s the Revell kit rather than the Tamiya so I struggled to find much aftermarket for the detail I want, so as an experiment I bought the Big Ed kit for the Tamiya model to see if it can be transplanted onto this one. I couldn’t find any info on this so I thought why not post here! The thought occurred to me shortly after starting the other day so there are a couple of ‘before’ pictures missing, but so far the cockpit interior is coming together well - A bit of hacking was necessary as Goose’s footwell was built out for some reason, but the holes made are covered with the photo etch I wasn’t able to fit the rudder pedals exactly as Eduard intended, so I filed down the existing moulded ones to stubs and attached the etched ones to them You might also notice the rather oversized throttle lever - there wasn’t one at all on the revell moulding and it was the best I could do with what was laying around! The instrument panels needed minimal changes to make the etch fit - just a couple of little notches where the backing wasn’t quite large enough Now to let that all dry and start on the seats!

F-14A Tomcat Sets 1:72 CMK by Special Hobby for Academy kit CMK offer us 2 sets for the 1/72 Academy kit, a new complete cockpit, Cannon bay and port side engine bay Cockpit Set 7452 The is a complete cockpit from CMK. There is a large one part cast cockpit tub with molded in side consoles and the bulkheads behind the seats. Two new seats are provided as well with PE handles. For the tub there are new instrument panels with PE and film parts and new coamings for the top of them. There are new sidewalls as well for inside the cockpit and the pilots control column. To the rear of the cockpit the large shelf is also provided as a new part, Cannon Installation Set 7453 The is a complete set for installing the 20mm cannon in your F-14. The set comprises PE and resin. As well as the cannon bay there is the cannon itself and the ammunition bay & drum. The last two parts are the access doors for both areas. Port Engine Set 7454 The is a complete set for showing the port jet engine. In only three resin parts there is the engine bay, engine, and access door. Overall the parts are very well cast. with no issues visible at all. It will be upto the modeller how far they want to go with one or more of these sets to detail their model. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

I've not attempted to build a model kit for decades, since the 1980s actually. Now I'm getting on a bit I decided I best proceed with doing some of the kits in my stash. My main interest is UK based RAF/USAF stuff from about 1970 to 2000, but I've ended up with a few other things in the stash that I can practice on first... And as it's the 50th anniversary of the first Tomcat flight later this month I figured I may as well start there! It's a wheel up OOB build, of a kit I bought second hand, which turned out to have a couple of bits missing... Not done a huge amount to it so far as I was waiting for paints and glue etc. (I tried to buy locally but to no avail... mail order from the big H in Londonshire) Hmmm I set up a Flickr account but the forum isn't allowing me to embed the links. Back in a bit!

Hi all. Just a few shots of my last build. Was started not long after I finished my Tamiya F-14D, as a comparison build. Wish I had built them the other way around. Despite the AMK kit having more OOB options than a Tomcat fan could ever want from a kit, I find the kit falls short when compared to Tamiya's offering. The shape issues on the AMK kit have been well discussed already, but although I realise it's unfair to compare the fit of this kit to the Tamiya kit, I find the biggest shortcoming is the over-engineered approach AMK have taken. By giving literally every pose option you could think of, the fit of the kit suffers, and as a result, this kit fought me every step of the way. The Tamiya F-14D is maybe my favourite kit on the market right now, and I plan to build many more of them. If I were to add another AMK kit to my stash, I would be tempted to use it solely as a donor kit to add the wings to a Tamiya build. The dropped wings in the AMK kit are the real stars of the show. Still, it's a big, well detailed Tomcat with a million options from the box. I built mine OOB, with the exception of the decals which came from the Tamiya kit. Speaking of which, a debt of gratitude is owed to @exdraken who really saved this build by parting with the decals from his kit after a rather embarrassing accident with mine. Finished with Vallejo model air paints and weathered with Windsor & Newton oils/varnishes. C&C welcome as always. Hope you enjoy! Cheers Daryl

Just a quick question regarding typical weapons load whilst carrying TARPS. I'm just finishing up VF-2's CAG bird (Bullet 100) ~2003; I have it with the TARPS slung underneath, but at present I only have 2 AIM-9 on the pylons... I've only seen a couple of pics of this a/c with TARPS, and only carrying this load, so I'm pretty much basing the load it's carrying just on one or 2 pics for now. Is it within the realms of possibility that they would also have carried AIM-7 on a typical mission too? And what about the AN/ALQ-167 pod? I've seen pics of Tomcats carrying this with TARPS, and others without. I haven't seen the specific a/c I am depicting with the pod, but can anyone confirm/deny whether it would or wouldn't have flown with it? I'd like to add both, but not at the expense of accuracy. Thanks Daryl

F-14A & F-14D Wheels (Q72377 & Q72378 for Academy) 1:72 CMK Quick & Easy by Special Hobby Academy’s recent F-14A in 1:72 could always use new detail. What kit couldn’t? The quickest way to improve kit detail is to replace the kit wheels with resin ones that add detail, obviate seam hiding and usually giving the modeller a better representation of any tread patterns on the tyres. You might also get manufacturer’s name, raised tyre stencils and additional hub detail into the bargain, depending on what’s there on the real thing. With these two sets you get all the above in resin, including two main wheels and twin nose gear wheels, all on their own casting block that are quick & easy to remove. A little wash in warm soapy water, and they are a drop-in (quick & easy?) replacement to the kit parts. They arrive in the normal Quick & Easy packaging, consisting of a header card with the parts held between that and the outer plastic bag, held closed by a staple, and with instructions on the other side of the green paper as you can see in the above photo. The brake and hub front detail is exceptional at this scale, and would be best painted carefully with an airbrush to preserve the detail by avoiding flooding it with thick layers of paint. Q72377 for Academy F-14A Q72378 for Academy F-14D Conclusion You can’t beat resin wheels to quicky & easily improve your models, and these have such flimsy attachment points that there will be almost no clean-up, other than a quick rinse in warm soapy water. It’s also a Tomcat, and if you like F-14s in 1:72, this is a great way to improve your model without breaking the bank. How many times did I say "quick & easy" in this review? Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

This was an absolute joy to build. No filler, no fit issues, minimal mould lines. I am really quite proud of this model. i did accidentally destroy the right side roundel, so i had to replace it with a spare one from the other scheme, its not the best but does the job. I gave this a dark umber mixed with black oil wash, enough weathering to show it is used, but little enough not to over power the model. Not much went wrong, and i do really think anyone, from any level will enjoy making this one with no hassle. So here it is:

To fill in some time for when the heron is put to the side (although it will be coming back shortly), I decided to start a kit that I had heard good about, and that is the Revell 1/144 F14 D 'Super Tomcat' Im not the biggest fan of fast jets, but i decided to give this a go. I had always thought that the F14 was a little over rated, but now i know why, it is an absolutely gorgeous aircraft. Despite the small scale of this kit, the engineering of this is fantastic, no fitting issues, no filler (apart from filling in some heavy handedness from my blade) and not hardly any join seams. Now being a small kit, its been quite a quick build, i started the kit on Monday afternoon, and now it is all pre-shaded ready for paint. Cockpit The only issue i have with the kit at the moment, is that the side instrument panels are ever-so-slightly over scale and it has good amount of detail. The build Like i mentioned earlier, absolutely no problem with this one, it went together like brickwork. I have decided to make this one in flight, so i drilled a little hole in the nottom of the plane to place a piece of sprue to act like a stand. Here yo can see the starts of a stand... it is mostly built by now. And, with another stand, I'm probably gonna change it to something better, but for now it is fine.

F-14D Upgrade Sets (for AMK) 1:48 Eduard Brassin After much delay the AMK F-14D was released (reviewed here), and here we have some rather nice detail and upgrade sets to go with it from Eduard, who have a long history of first rate resin and Photo-Etch (PE) sets for those hungry for more detail in their models. As usual with Eduard's Photo-Etch (PE), small resin and Mask sets, they arrive in a flat resealable package, with a white backing card protecting the contents and the instructions that are sandwiched between. The larger set arrives in the new shallow Brassin cardboard box, with the resin parts safely cocooned in bags, and the instructions folded around acting as padding. F-14D Seats (648535) The Tomcat is a two-seater, and both SJU17A NACES seats (AKA Martin-Baker Mk.14) are supplied in the set with additional resin parts for the canopy breakers; seat cushion; umbilical, and a full set of pre-printed PE seatbelts, pull-handle and leg restraints. The instructions include painting guide with Gunze Mr Color call-outs, and after main painting the stencil decals are applied for the ultimate in realism. The seats are identical, so applying the seatbelts in a slightly different pattern will assist with realism, giving the impression that the crew have just departed for the mess. F-14D Wheels (648530) Kit wheels are generally in two halves, which means you have the resultant joins to deal with, possible mould-slip issues on single part wheels, and sometimes less than stellar detail due to the moulding limitations of styrene injection technology, especially in the tread department. That's where replacement resin wheels come in, with their lack of seamline and superior detail making a compelling argument. They are also usually available at a reasonable price, and can be an easy introduction to aftermarket and resin handling, as they are usually a drop-in replacement. In this Brassin set you have two highly details main wheels with separate brake detail and a duo of smaller nose wheels to cope with the harsh carrier landings. You also get masks for the hubs/tyres to cut perfect demarcations. Upgrade Set (491053) Two frets are included, one nickel plated and pre-painted, the other in bare brass. A complete set of new layered instrument panels, cockpit wall and side consoles are the primary parts on the painted set, with new rudder pedals and floor skins; boarding ladder; chaff & flare boxes; refuelling probe covers; slate end skins; canopy internal structure and rear-view mirrors; fold-down foot pegs for the pilots; slime-lights on the nose and sides; additional vents with backing fans, plus a set of delicate, detailed afterburner rings to slip inside the two exhaust trunks also supplied. Seatbelts STEEL (FE1054) The new ultra-thin and bendy steel frets are becoming common in the Eduard line, and if you aren't going for the resin seats, you can get the PE from that set separately to improve the kit parts with pre-painted belts; anti-flail leg straps, and ejection actuation hoops Tface Masks (EX673) Supplied on two sheets of yellow kabuki tape, these pre-cut masks supply you with a full set of masks for the canopy, with compound curved handled by using frame hugging masks, while the highly curved gaps are in-filled with either liquid mask or offcuts from the background tape. On the second sheet there is another set of canopy masks tailored to fit the interior of the glazing so that you can paint the interior and give your model that extra bit of realism. It's especially useful on kits of this level of detail, as it will simplify painting enormously. Review sample courtesy of

New Academy mold, furball decals...

New Academy mold, furball decals...

Howdy all, I am a new member here and just getting back into modeling after a 20 or so year hiatus. I am open to any critique, tips, tricks, etc. Cheers! On the workbench at the moment is the new 1/72 Academy F-14A Tomcat, but I will be building a (D) version as Academy has supplied all the necessary parts for almost any version you want to build. I will also be setting this one up for in-flight display. This is not an option OOB and will likely provide some challenges, but should be fun. First up is putting the cockpit together. Nice amount of detail and decided to just use paint rather than the supplied decals for the instruments. Cockpit coming together. As I am building the F-14D I utilized the alternate dash panels provided in the kit. Cockpit assembled into the nose cone. This kit really goes together beautifully with hardly any fuss. Major sub-assemblies completed. Also bought some resin pilots and bang seats as the kit does not come with pilots and this will be displayed as in-flight. Starting to come together. Most seams are non existent. The interior side of the intake trunk will need some cleanup. Now to figure out how to piece the landing gear doors closed. Gear doors in-place. Will need a bit of putty and sanding but came together better than expected considering it wasn't designed this way. Vertical Stabs and various weapon pylons are in place. And this should bring us to current. Weapons loadout - 2x 2000# external tanks, 2x AIM-9M, 3x AIM-54, 2x GBU-12, and Lantirn Pod. That is one plus to the Academy kit, they have supplied so many different parts for displaying almost any Tomcat version you would want. Including various weapons and targeting pods. Thanks for taking a look and as always, I welcome any feedback!

Hello and welcome. Here's my first finished kit this year, Academy's new offering in a livery from circa 1984. A real pleasure to build despite the few little shortcomings. Academy #12563, Aires seats and exhausts, Reskit wheels. Hataka LGG over black surfacer. Decals from MYK/Furball/Hasegawa/kit. Duet pictures with a Hasegawa kit built in 2018.

F-14D Mask (D48009 for AMK) 1:48 Galaxy Model Our friends at Galaxy Model have been beavering away making this useful set that includes other items rather than just masks. They’re taking a leaf out of their own book and adapting their Tamiya Tomcat set for the new AMK kit, which we’ll get to shortly, we promise. This set arrives in a ziplok bag, and under the cover sheet you will find a glossy A4+ sheet of instruction that uses photos heavily, which is a very good thing IMHO. You also get two A5 sheets of pre-cut kabuki tape masks with numbers printed in red next to each mask part. There’s also a clear transfer sheet of sticky-backed plastic that you can use to carefully place the masks without puckering or stretching them, which is another deft touch. Penultimately, there are two small pieces of a semi-reflective sheet that is tailored to fit the front windscreen panel, which has a particular sheen that is replicated by the coating on the sheet, with a choice of smoke grey or gold deposition, so check your references. This will do a lot for the realism of your finished canopy once applied. Finally there is another small bag containing a turned brass pitot tube and angle-of-attack probe, which are excellent bonuses in this useful set. The masks go further than just a comprehensive set of canopy masks, adding masks for the walkways on the intakes next to the canopy, vents just aft of those, more at the base of the twin tail fins, air brakes, the gun port under the nose, intake lips, the tail feathers for the inset sections between each petal, and a comprehensive set of masks for the weapons with stripes for the JDAMs, “corset” masks for the GBU-31 JDAMs, plus fin base masks for the AIM-7 and AIM-9 Sidewinders. It’s details like these that will both speed up your productions and make for a better finished article with crisp clean lines if you burnish the masks down properly. Conclusion I have a lot of respect for Galaxy Model’s sets, as they’re clearly designed by modellers for modeller, and think of the helpful things to assist us in making better models that other companies often don’t. They’re excellent sets. Extremely highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Hi Here is my latest build done for the "In the Years I was born GB" 1975 - Operation Frequent Wind - First F-14 Cruise Grumman F-14A Tomcat Hasegawa 1/72nd with Verlinden cockpit

Hi all, Some advice needed. I was in the process of removing some maskol from the clear plastic canopy of the tomcat I am working on. Being a bit impatient I decided to use some Mr Tool cleaner to spedd up the process. Big mistake. Some sort of reaction took place and to cut a long story short, the canopy is FUBAR. No way to recover it, the plastic has just messed up completely. I have been working on this tomcat for months and so I am understandably freaking out! The model I am working on is a Hasegawa F-14A 1:48 tomcat, model number 51508, as seen here: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/48-hasegawa-14a-plus-tomcat-special-1854032403 This model was made in 1989 and so the chances of finding a "spare" canopy sprue for sale anywhere is virtually zero. Hasewaga do not seem to have a presence for replacement parts? Is this the case? Does anyone know where I might be able to get a replacement canopy sprue for this model? I don't want to have to fork out for a whole new model just to use the canopy sprue! (But ultimately, if I have to, I probably will, as I have laboured on this model for a long time and it looks great). Thanks in advance.

So, I started this model back in 2017, lost interest and left it half built. I came back to it a month or two ago, completed the building of the kit and again lost interest. However I managed to finish it a couple of weeks ago now. Had some problems with fit, notably the canopy, the rear side joins near the burner cans and the sparrow missiles. Decals were another problem here and there, particularly on the Phoenix Missiles, for some reason after I had them on the missiles almost all the stencil data decals came off and rolled up on me as I was trying to handle the missiles to apply microset (or is it sol? The red one)! Lost the 2nd vane on the dorsal area also, I was so close to not losing any small parts! I also managed to scratch/damage some of the MRP insignia white paint I put down, during handling, whilst painting (and possibly decalling), I'm calling it weathering/bird strike! There is some oil weathering on it, but you can't really see it in these photos, and it didn't turn out quite as good as on my Airfix 1/72 A-4 Skyhawk (although I fogged the canopy on that one so hey ho). If I were to build this kit again, I'd buy a Master brass pitot for the nose (I had a terrible time with the kit supplied part, it still isn't attached properly or straight!) and try to get the canopy to fit nicely, or fill the gap, before painting commenced... Due to limited space, and my camera not being very good I found it quite awkward to get the photos I wanted and I'm not really sure why, so these are the best I could do at the time... Thank you for looking.

Excuse the kitchen worktop. Nearly completed the Tamiya 1/48 F-14A, having used Eduard PE cockpit,Brassin jet exhaust and Furball Sundowners Anthology decals. Not happy with the gap between the nosewheels, I will work on that before completion. I’ve not posted for some time now, hope you like the work.