Tamiya 1/48 F-14 release date?

[DDELK]

Anyone have a exact release date yet? Just a little curious..

[Zaggy]

Unless they fix the nose up and sort out the other smaller issues, the release date wont matter to me

I had such high hopes for that kit....


Dan

[rod mcq]

The UK importer does not yet have a confirmed release date, the only know that the kit is expected by the end of the year.

[jasper15]

Hi Zaggy,

Just curious about the nose and other small issues.

Could you please elaborate?

Regards

Stephen

[horrido109]

Stephen,

I wouldn't worry too much about such comments now if I were you. Wait until the kit comes out. Those who have seen it claims it's one hundred percent accurate. Which is probably more accurate given Tamiya's history.

Victor

Edited July 22, 2016 by horrido109

[DDELK]

Victor

I can't agree with you more.. Tamiya isn't known for screwing to many things up.. I can't wait to get my hands on it, I've been waiting for a new modern jet from Tamiya for a long time. The downfall, is that we probably won't see another modern aircraft for a long long time.,

Dave

[Parabat]

Victor

I can't agree with you more.. Tamiya isn't known for screwing to many things up.. I can't wait to get my hands on it, I've been waiting for a new modern jet from Tamiya for a long time. The downfall, is that we probably won't see another modern aircraft for a long long time.,

Dave

Hmmm, 1/48 Fw190D-9 springs to mind!

[Zaggy]

Parabat - yup the D-9 is s bit....iffy...

But yeah, my impression of the Tamiya Tomcat from the trade fair photos, was that the nose looked very "pointy". Final judgment is reserved until I have one in hands (as that may have been an early shot), but I'm on guard - some ppl also question the toy-swing-wing. But as long as you can get the wings to oversweep and the bags fit, that's not as big an issue.

We shall see tho - can't be worse than the Hobbyboss a Tomcat!

Dan

[horrido109]

You see what I mean Stephan?

[Zaggy]

Firstly, I think this chap here is having a go; to that I say, whatever... Tomcat's are an obsession of mine. At least I have the balls to put my name to my critiques of something and also give credit where credit is due!

And thus, because I have now seen more of the kit, there is some credit that needs to be given!

Wings: These initially terrified me, but now having seen how they go together as well as the surface detail, all I can say is WOW! It appears the wing sweep mechanism within the fuselage, exits as a 'stub' on each side, allowing you to paint the a/c and wings separately, then put them together afterwards. That will make life SOOOOO much easier and is actually a really clever (I thought) way of do it. Then a saw the wing upper surfaces and to be honest, my jaw dropped! SPLENDID is the only word to describe this!

My remaining concerns about the wings with have not been answered is, do they go just to full sweep (sad face) or do they go to oversweep (happy face); because oversweep is the most common config that you'll see on the ground.

Stabs: appear to be movable, so again, I can pose the jet in it most common on the ground/deck config

Config: There are a number of 'not for use' parts so far, including what is obviously a TCS Lense, the Phoenix Pallets are hollowed so a BRU can be fitted, the cockpit panels are all seperate, etc; which one can really only conclude means that later variants of the A are planned. Maybe even B's and D's. There is huge empty area's for optional panels for gun gas vents and etc also!

Nose: Still my area of greatest concern, and because what I saw was still on the sprue, really hard to tell (because of the way the windscreen part fits - which BTW is really cool!) if the initial photo's that showed a 'pointy' nose are reflective of the latest test shots.

I REALLY want that to be right and as previous, final judgement reserved for when I have plastic in hand AND clipped from the sprue AND taped together.

I am getting excited tho!

Markings: Didn't have a long hard look at these, as I have so many aftermarket tomcat sheets, that I have lost count! But there are early VF-1, VF-2 and IIAF markings (or was it IRIAF markings), which all look pretty good - never had much in the way of hassles with Tamiya decals, thus I dont forsee issues there!


So, I'm still worried about the nose, but the surface detail is AMAZING - especially the wing tops around the Spoilers and Flap guides. That area is a work of art! The only other worry is the Price; Aussie resellers are doing Pre-orders for like $125-ish! I'm hoping that'll just be a bit of cashing on on those 'must have right now' types (as a comparision, my pre-order Airfix Meteor's, cost $55 each INCL. post), and being into the LATE Tomcats, I'm lucky in that I can actually wait and see.

But as is, I'm looking forward to this *crosses fingers the pointy nose was just an optical illusion, from a macro lense or whatever*


Dan

Edited August 9, 2016 by Zaggy

[DDELK]

Dan,

From what I've read so far, the Tamiya kit was solely based on what it looks like when on the ground and parked. So we can only hope that the wings will have the over sweep. I spent many years on the flight deck and you are correct. From the pictures I've seen, the nose section is really kind of up in the air as far as being pointy. I'm just glad to see Tamiya finally brought something back after to many years. I agree with you also on the wings, it is absolutely great engineering. And people need to reserve judgement until they have one in hand. It's ok to have concerns but until I've got one in my hand I'm going to assume Tamiya will give us a quality product..

Dave

[Zaggy]

Dave - saw more pictures today of one being review built. I'm becoming more convinced my initial assessment was a) either of early plastic that has since been changed or macro-lense distortion making things look pointier, as what I have now seen looks much nicer and 'righter'.

Looking at the thing, it seems to currently model a factory-fresh F-14A-85-GR; so it has no TCS or Concrete Bullet (which looks like it'll be added to a later release), no glove ECM bumps and the early Hexagonal Fintip reinforcing. I think from F-14A-100-GR or F-14A-105-GR blocks, the TCS-compatible mount (which came out of the factory with the concrete bullet in place) was factory fitted, as was the later type of fin tip reinforcing plates (the layered 'T' shaped ones), so I'll be interesting to see what Tamiya does with the Tails for later jets... I reckon its good someone is doing early tails, so I can do an F-14A-95-GR from VX-4, for the AIMVAL/ACEVAL trials, with the TVCS (early TCS), front and rear HMCS sensors on the canopy rail for the motorless AIM-95 rounds they flew with (dual rails on 1A and 6A) and the Splinter Scheme on the 6 jets they got.

Looking forward to that... Fingers are still crossed!!!!


Dan

[jasper15]

Hi Dan,

Have been reading a few reviews on the new Tamiya release and this issue seems to come up time and time again.

What I don't understand is how/why people pass judgment on a kit based on photos and/or videos.

I realize in this day and age that people are expecting a lot more "accurate" bang for their buck, but just because the opening on the cockpit happens to be two scale inches too long, the manufacture has not giving us the option of dropped flaps and/or slats or the colour call out happens to be 36256 when it should be 36257 aren't reasons to condemn it to "fatally flawed" hall of shame.

After all, isn't that what modeling is all about? Let's see some modeling skills at work

At the risk if conjuring the likes of Mike V, let's wait till the kit is released, and let people buy/build according to their budget and skill level

All the best

Stephen

[DDELK]

Stephen,

If I may chime in, I also agree with you assessment. Everyone seems to criticize this kit based off a few reviews. Time and time again I see people fix other kits with amazing accuracy. I do many many commission builds and what I miss the most is that people have lost sight of the fact that sometimes a challenge is not a bad thing. From what I've seen so far, it looks like a great kit and to bash Tamiya right out of the gate is a little premature. Dan's post seems to make a lot of sense to me so I'm just waiting with sweaty palms to have a go at it..

Dave