LeVi Tophatter
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Posts posted by LeVi Tophatter
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On 5/30/2018 at 11:14 AM, Giorgio N said:
... small club of Tomcat fanatics
I have severe problems and I don't want help:
I quite like the Tomcat.
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18 hours ago, Tyas said:
...But if it is a more simplified kits like their F-4... hmmm... Perhaps I shall wait until reviews or build progress started to pop around.
The quick build F-4, F/A-18 Super Hoe, and F-15E are very nice indeed, great detail for the most part and they build up quite quickly. The thing for me is that the canopies are moulded shut.
I have to say though, it's a little interesting to see the 'divide' between the Tamiya and AMK kits, based for the most part on the wings... It was a fairly rare sight to see the big cat with everything hanging out on the ground (usually a maintenance or flap/slat malfunction scenario). Anyhow, I see it like this:
Tamiya = Quick build with great finesse
AMK = Involved , super duper detailed showpiece
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On 5/19/2018 at 2:19 AM, DIO said:
Looks like a beautiful kit, nothing super duper about it, no wow factor either!
The fact that they release the D so close to their A is probably to get some market share before AMK takes it all.
Saying that cause I still have not forgiven for waiting for a two seat F-16 so many years after their amazing single seat (probably the best in scale)...
Easy bruv, I too feel your pain, I surely do need an F-16D. Think of all the money Tamiya isn't making (and all the money Kinetic is) by not tooling an F-16A upper fuselage and 'Euro tails' for all those F-16 MLU's us lot love to build.
Of course, this is just a case of Tamiya being Tamiya 😒 ... Their big money maker is RC stuff and they care more for the Pacific/US regions than anywhere else, I don't think they're that bothered by what AMK are up to.
That said, the boxart is stunning IMHO. Slight shame the VF-11 option has no hogs head or the lightning rainbow 😍. An F-14B is clearly on the cards, maybe a final F-14A/B 'Adversary' release with almost all tooled sprues chucked in?!
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On 16/04/2018 at 7:02 PM, Tiger331 said:
Must say I'm a little surprised that Tamiya are doing the -14D variant before either the late A, A+ or B model...
The F-14D kit will (hopefully/should) provide most of the parts for an F-14A Upgrade and F-14B Upgrade in one go:
PTID for the RIO (though not all F-14A/B/D's had this)
TARPS/AAQ-25 LANTIRN hand controller for the RIO
NACA gun bay panels
GPS antenna
TACAN antenna (tall type)
Late wheels
BRU-32/ADU-703 Bomb racks
LAU-138 launchers
AAQ-25 LANTIRN and 'HARM' adapter
Vertical tails (with the '7' shaped reinforcement panels)
ECM antenna on the 'Beaver Tail'
All that's left would be the TCS chinpod, additional ECM antenna on the nose-gear door, wing gloves and Sparrow Hawk HUD for an F-14A Upgrade (Minus the Sparrow Hawk HUD) and F-14B Upgrade. Tamiya did this with their F-16C series. Who knows, if we all behave ourselves, Tamiya might tool a new sprue with 'dirty' wings as an in-box option...
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Can't tell you how long I've been waiting for that road roller...
Seriously though, it's nice to see Hasegawa finally get the TF-104 Starfighter Demonstrator together, I'm sure it was announced as an upcoming release over a decade ago!
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Does anyone have a link to or an image of either a CR or BT coded USAFE F-15 with and ALQ-131 ECM pod on the centreline pylon? Mid to late 1980's was the timeframe. I had a photo on my old laptop before it self destructed and an hour of googling has come up fruitless.
Many thanks.
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7 hours ago, Albeback52 said:
I wouldn't pay more than £35-£40 for this.If it had included features like a detailed interior with open front/ rear loading ramps I might have paid a bit more. For the moment though,I will do without
Allan
You can still get Revell's AN-124 for around £24.99 and that kit has a really good interior for the scale and is a similar size to the C-5 Galaxy. Just my musings, any more than £30 or so for an 1/144 heavy lifter is pushing it, unless it's a B-36 'Peacemaker'...
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Give 'em a few months or so and Trumpter will magic up a C-5 Galaxy family...
Just messing of course, the Revell AN-124 can be had for around £25-30 today and that's one 'big mutha' of a kit, so this Roden pricing strategy does come off as a very late April Fools joke.
Would love to build the elegant grey/white AMC scheme with the black nose
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38 minutes ago, Phantome said:
Yes, you can do it with the F-15J kit but it's quite expensive: good luck getting it for less than £30
You can get the F-15E for cheaper (imported around £20-25) and in theory could use the K sprue for a F-15C, but you'll still need the tailhook... there's only one and it's used in the E
Very true, I was thinking more of using the updated F-15E kit as a base for an F-15B/D MSIP I/II. It's odd that Hasegawa haven't capitalised on the popularity of this subject and the tooling they have to release USAF F-15A/B/C/D MSIP I/II and IDF/AF F-15A/B/C/D Baz/Baz Meshopar series of kits, or do what they did with the A-10 and just update the easy to obtain base kit.
BTW, soz for derailing the thread with my mutterings... -
On 15/08/2017 at 11:47 PM, Phantome said:
It's such a bugger that Hasegawa never upgraded their basic F-15C kit. Good for *most* Eagles up to the mid-90s but beyond that, mostly useless without lots of scratch work (there is a JASDF MSIP II kit but it's pricey)
...Rule of thumb is to find a photo of the real thing and see if it's something you can squeeze out of the Hase kit....
Sound advice there Phantome, the blade antenna variations and placements are a right headache.
I used to wonder why Hasegawa never updated their F-15 kits to cater for different versions/upgrades like they did with their F-16's, none of their F-15A/B kits came with F-15A/B wheels to match the decal markings.
That said, you can build a Hasegawa MSIP jet in 1/72 from either their updated F-15E or F-15J MSIP II kit, the new tooled sprue K has all the MSIP bits apart from the LAU-128/A missile launchers.
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On 19/08/2017 at 0:55 AM, mungo1974 said:
...total stash is well over 800 kits...
OMG, I thought I had a big stash with a grand total of 34 kits!!! Nice Bitburg Mod scheme, love the cammo coloured stencils and tailcode but that Edwards F-15B scheme is something else!
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42 minutes ago, SoftScience said:
I'd like to backdate this to an F-15A, but I'm still waiting from somebody who knows, to tell me what I need to keep and remove.
Hello,
Good going so far. With regards to 'backdating' your F-15C into an F-15A it's straightforward if you'll let us know:
-What nation?
-What timeframe?
-What unit?
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On 03/08/2017 at 11:39 AM, PhantomBigStu said:
High knowing italeri prices of late higher than youd like, uspect around the 30 pound mark
Listed at £39.99 on the Hannants website... It's a shame Italeri didn't supply the Ferrari badge that went on the intakes of the 4 Stormo option, licensing and all that.
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Well, some nice things are coming from Tamiya land this September/October:
1/35 Archer Self Propelled AT Gun - 35356 (New Tool)
1/24 Mercedes-Benz AMG GT3 - 24345 (New Tool)
1/12 Yamaha RZ250 - 14002 (Re-release)
1/12 Yamaha RZ350 - 14004 (Re-release)
I would have put the 1/32 F4U-1D Corsair in there but it's out in the UK market already. I must say, the 1/12 Yamaha RD's, are a nice sight to see and I believe they include Cartograf printed decals too. UK RRP is set to be around the £24.99 mark as with the current re-releases. The AMG GT3 is a real surprise in some ways, I thought they would have done the road car to go with the lovely 300SL 'Gull Wing' but still, it's most welcome.
Oh yeah, where on earth is that 1/48 F-16D...?
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Yeah-hay...
Really like the Aggressor coloured markings on some of the ANG birds, real nice.
How did you get on with the intake interiors? Only asking as I remember the outside of them being way smoother than the inside!!!
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Nice,
Just out of curiosity, did Astra ever release the rest of the 32nd TFW/FW decal sheet?
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On 31/07/2017 at 2:50 PM, mungo1974 said:
Upgrades. F-15A/B/C/D
... addition of AN/ALQ-135B antennas to nose aft of Radome late 1995...
...Wing strengtheners..not sure on this one,i first noticed them around 2000 but they may have been around earlier...
Just to chime in from Mungo's informative post:
- Some jets of the 58th TFS/33rd TFW had the ALQ-135 upper/lower nose ECM 'pimples' during the 1990-1991 Gulf War. See here.
- Some ANG F-15A/B jets had wing the long rectangular wing plates from the late 1980's. See here.
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18 hours ago, Violet Club said:
I hope that that someone will release the correct dorsal airbrake (smaller on ACTIVE and other F-15 prototypes).
I think folks shy away from the prototype airbrakes as I'm sure the shape of the raised 'spine' is slightly different from the 'standard' production Eagles. I don't think there is much demand for a conversion either, sadly... With this kit, Hasegawa will tell you to fill/re-scribe panel lines to give the impression of the small airbrake, just like they did with previous kits.
16 hours ago, Whirly said:If the box photo is to be taken as reference I doubt they will include the 3D nozzles: that would mean a major conversion and Hasegawa cunningly chose the IFCS configuration which allows them to apply the stunning colour scheme adding only the canard foreplanes.
They really should, you can see the different nozzles in the pending box photo... But then again, Hasegawa was notorious for flogging kits without the parts needed to build them as per the box art/photo! Most reference material I have shows the IFCS configuration with the 3D nozzles. I reckon Hasegawa will wing it and just supply a pair of resin (?) nozzles, after all the engine area with the 3D nozzles isn't massively different from the standard F-15's at a quick glance...!!!
The F-15 ACTIVE with 2D nozzles on the other hand is a major job... This creative fellow has managed to custom build it though, using the Hasegawa 1/48 F-15D kit
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Well, this is a surprise indeed... As seen on Hobbysearch. I've been wanting to build this for eons but the thought of doing the canard mounts and 3D nozzles left me dreaming instead. No idea of the release date but apparently it's able to be put on pre-order, I'll bet it'll have the metal nose probe from the Streak Eagle kit with resin canards and nozzles. The price tag points to that!
Very nice. Would love Hasegawa to do a NASA bird too...
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21 hours ago, Albeback52 said:
I confess to being slightly puzzled here. The AMK F-14 will feature wings with everything hanging. Why then would anybody who wants this feature go to the expense of a Tamiya kit together with the added expense of aftermarket frippery when all they need to do is buy the AMK kit in the first place?. Is this merely a case of Tamiya snobbery or something else? Funny people modellers!.Have I missed something?
Allan
A 1/48 F-14 is a big mama when built up, even with the wings in their common 'oversweep' guise.
To add to the above replies, it's nothing to do with us lot being funny or even supposed Tamiya snobbery, it's just a simple case of the aftermarket folks catering for aftermarket tastes. If you want down 'n dirty wings, KASL will give you that option if you don't feel like doing the conversion yourself. It's just the hobby. We all know at some point the aftermarket folks will pile out detail sets, etc. for the AMK kit(s), regardless of OOB quality and they will sell well.
Now... where's that 1/48 F-16D Mr T?
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On 14/09/2016 at 6:40 AM, JMChladek said:
They seem to be targeting USAF bombers, which is nice. The company is still an unknown quantity as I don't know of any kit that they have done yet. But, if this kit ends up being better than the Testors subject (which isn't hard given how the Testors kit tends to be a warp and a half in the box) it will be most welcome.
Is the Testors plastic as soft as that in the ESCI/Ertl kits? That put me off buying their Hercs and -135 jets. BTW, with a lot of time and skill you could make transform the Testors kit into this super-detailed marvel:
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On 10/1/2016 at 2:14 PM, riffraff said:
Seeing this thread has been resurrected, does anyone know if there are aftermarket decals for the red and white prototype in 1/72? My kit only came with decals for the gray scheme.
Cheers, Lee
Hi,
The only company I've seen over the years that has done the red and white scheme in 1/72 is Hasegawa, in two different releases. The easiest one to get hold of is the F-20 'Tigershark Combo' kit, mercifully the decals are actually top notch and not armour thick...
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Most of Hasegawa's current line-up of kits have their origins in the 1990's, 1980's and even 1970's... Just new sprues, slight tooling mods and maybe some resin, white metal and PE to keep them up-to-date.
Sometimes in the plethora of re-releases, Mr Hasegawa doesn't even bother with updates and just sticks new decals in with a really outdated kit... The tools really do get worked for all their worth.
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It would be great if it was something 'exotic' but I reckon it will likely be a Hornet/Super Hornet 'family'. Kinetic haven't done the Hornet yet plus it fits in with all the modern US Navy stuff and accessories they've churned out to date:
E-2 Hawkeye
C-2 Greyhound
S-2 Tracker
A-6 Intruder
EA-6B Prowler
T-45 Goshawk
Deck/Hangar deck tractors, fire engines, weapons sets, deck crew, etc, etc. (via Skunkworks).
Pretty logical to me. Also paves the way for that mysterious new tool 1/48 F-14 'family'...
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New Tamiya 1/48 Grumman F-14 (A, Late A, D) Tomcat
in The Rumourmonger
Posted
There is no wife but there was a girlfriend... My collection of 'Cats was nothing compared to her 'collection' of Converse All Stars, which lived in the spare room naturally...
If you're feeling like a hero, you could do this conversion yourself, I'm very sure KASL Hobby had an entry on Facebook showing how they cut up the Tamiya wings to made the resin masters.
Or just wait for the AMK kit😋.