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1/72 - Grumman F-14A Tomcat by Finemolds - released - new boxing in January 2024


Homebee

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Finemolds is to release a 1/72nd Grumman F-14A Tomcat kit and a dedicated weapons set - ref. FP30 & FP-31

Release expected in December 2017.

Source:  http://www.finemolds.co.jp/iroiro/2017THS-new.html

 

2017_THS-new_1.jpg

 

Reports as being the "Air Graphix/FineMolds" F-14D kit with changed parts: https://www.scalemates.com/kits/958331-finemolds-mg-789-2015-grumman-f-14d-tomcat 

 

V.P.

 

Matt-Memory2.jpg

Edited by Homebee
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Be interesting to see the sprues.

 

Having a few of the D's it's easy to see the ones that will be replaced, eg the small ones with the instrument panels/seats/chin pod/wheel hubs and engine nozzles etc. 

They were clever in some areas, like having the D's glove vane leading edge ecm bumps as add on parts, rather than having two upper fuselage toolings like hobbyboss. 

Come to think of it will look for half opened location points for the bumps to be added under the glove vanes in the lower fuselage when I get home later. Although the boxtop shows an earlier spec than this. 

 

Seeing as the NACA gun vents are already on the one of the main sprues with nose halves, They will either have to retool/adjust that sprue or include the early gun gas vents on one of the new A spec sprues with the seats/exhausts/chin pods/glove vane ecm bumps et al 

 

If its the latter then a 'late' naca gun vent A will be able to built rather than the ubiquitous boxtop. 

 

Also looks like the weapons have a couple versions of each missile (with proper live ordnance colour stripes) which is nice to see. Especially with regards to the A & C Phoenix. 

 

👍🏿

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well it's available on japanese ebay.

 

Whether thats now or as a pre order i'm not sure. 

 

Took the plunge and one is on the way... £50ish plus whatever customs add on if they get their hands on it. 

 

Will get pics up as soon as its touched down, watch this space. 

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A very conservative choice of markings but I can understand this, VF-84 and 111 are very popular.

Both aircrafts proposed however should have no ECM on the beavertail. At The same time if there's an ECM antenna on the tail like shown by the model there should be 2 small bulges under the fixed part of the wing. I hope the kit includes parts for all configurations, if not it's an Easy thing to eliminate the antenna on the tail

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14 minutes ago, Giorgio N said:

I hope the kit includes parts for all configurations, if not it's an Easy thing to eliminate the antenna on the tail

 

Yeah reckon that above is definitely how it will come as the tooling for the D kit in that area doesn't have a separate tip like hasegawa and hobbyboss to offer choice of ecm/no ecm. 

 

Unless they re-work the parts but maybe its too close to release date? Or ammend instructions so say to sand that bit off. See frame below. Guess they have kept it all the same. The fuel dump vent and very tip of ecm is separate.  Only things that are 'changeable' for spec on this frame is the separate panel for the gps dome on spine. Aswell as the forward edge glove vane D ecm blisters (on this frame but not in pic) being add on parts which will be 'not for use' in the instructions I assume.  

 

image.jpg

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On 20/09/2017 at 8:18 AM, Tony Oliver said:

Well it's available on japanese ebay.

 

Whether thats now or as a pre order i'm not sure. 

 

Took the plunge and one is on the way... £50ish plus whatever customs add on if they get their hands on it. 

 

Will get pics up as soon as its touched down, watch this space. 

When the Model Graphix D came out I bought 5 from HLJ along with a couple of the weapons sets. Thanks to combined shipping and the fact that they were shipped as printed matter (VAT exempt), they came in at about £35 each. £50 is a pretty steep increase, get stung by customs and it's another £10 in VAT and £8 on the handling fee. I think I may well pass for now...it's a nice kit but it's not that nice.

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HobbySearch has got it listed at about £25 plus shipping. That probably more than qualifies as 'bearable' for those needing just that extra bit of additional Tomcat hardware.

 

 

 

I remember being very excited when those Model Graphix magazines came out, but in the end I could not justify the expense (incl. S&H, VAT and possibly custom fees) for a 1/72 kit. It sure looks very nice, but so do all the Hasegawa, Fujimi, Hobby Boss and Revell Tomcats in the stash, if you ask me.

 

f14-tomcat-animated-gif-1.gif

http://bestanimations.com/Military/Planes/F-14/f14-tomcat-animated-gif-1.gif

 

:cowboy:

 

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Interesting. 

 

Here we can see the new sprue of all A parts to replace relevant bits in the D kit. Nice. 

 

Also the weapons sets looks like the same one frame of what already is available, just decals to differentiate between between the 54 A & C - little black retangles to depict the 4 target detection bumps around the body of the A. 

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Released: http://www.finemolds.co.jp/FP/FP30.html

 

Quote
4536318720300_01-1.jpg
製品番号FP30  アメリカ海軍 F-14A トムキャット
希望小売価格(税抜き)4,500円
新製品 12月12日出荷
初回生産分完売しました
(現在流通在庫のみ)
F14 TOMCAT® is a registered trademark of Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation and is used under license by Find Molds Corporation.
 
F-14Aトムキャットの実機について
F-14トムキャット™はアメリカ海軍が装備した複座型の超音速双発ジェット艦上戦闘機で、揚力を得られる独特の胴体形状と可変式の主翼が大きな特徴です。1974年より空母に配備され、主力艦上戦闘機として制空・艦隊防空・迎撃に加え偵察ポッドを装着した戦術偵察など、各種用途に従事しました。2006年9月をもってアメリカ海軍からは全機が退役しています。
キット内容
1/72スケールF-14トムキャットの“A型”が新金型追加にて登場!こだわりの優美な機体ライン、細部まで精密に再現しました。さらに各部の外部点検扉は開閉選択式とし、その内部まで緻密に再現しています。マーキングはスカル&クロスボーンで有名な米海軍第84戦闘飛行隊(VF-84)“ジョリーロジャース”と、沈み行く太陽の米海軍第111戦闘飛行隊(VF-111)“サンダウナーズ”から選択できます。
完成写真
写真をクリックすると大きい画像をご覧になることができます。
※写真は試作品を組み立て、塗装したものです。製品とは若干異なる場合があります。ご了承ください。
4536318720300_11-1.jpg
4536318720300_12-1.jpg 4536318720300_13-1.jpg
4536318720300_14-1.jpg 4536318720300_15-1.jpg
以下の完成品画像は金型改修前のパーツを使い組み立てた物です
4536318720300_02-1-2.jpg 4536318720300_03-1-2.jpg 4536318720300_05-1-2.jpg 4536318720300_04-1-2.jpg
4536318720300_06-1-2.jpg 4536318720300_07-1-2.jpg 4536318720300_08-2.jpg 4536318720300_09-2.jpg
付属マーキング アメリカ海軍第84戦闘飛行隊(VF-84)“ジョリーロジャース”
アメリカ海軍第111戦闘飛行隊(VF-111)“サンダウナーズ”
F-14Aside-coller1.jpg
F-14A TOMCAT is a trademark of Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation and is used under license by Fine Molds Corporation.
キットの特徴
★当社初となる現代ジェット戦闘機の一般流通キット。
★機体のラインは実機確認を踏まえたこだわりの設計。
★機首周り各部の外部点検扉は開閉選択式。
★点検扉内部のレーダ、バルカンなども精密に再現。

★コクピット、エンジンノズル、尾翼他A型の特徴を緻密に再現。
★主翼は塗装のしやすい後ハメが可能な設計。可動式。
★マーキングはジョリーロジャースとサンダウナーズが付属。
★完成時の全長約268mm、全幅約170mm、全高約70mm
★部品点数 246点+デカール

F-14APOP2-OL-1.jpg

 

V.P.

Edited by Homebee
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  • 1 month later...

It is possible to build a late A from one of these as some parts from the D kit are still present, plus some new A parts included that are marked not for use eg under glove vane ecm bumps and tcs chin pod. 

To make one of the last upgraded A types then you will need a square screen for the RIO’s IP as in the D kit. Where’s my silicone? 

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The VF84 marking for 1978 should do OK if you want a dogfight double with a heavily modified T6. I fancy one for that reason. Saw 'The Final Countdown' one afternoon as I had leant my flat out for a completely legal reason to a local artist for a meeting. Saw the film, went around the corner afterwards to Beatties and bought the Hasegawa Tomcat and then ordered some decals by post from Hannants. Even won something at a well known model show in the East Midlands with it. Ah! to be youngish and single. Still have the painting he gave me as payment BTW, worth a bit now I understand. 

Edited by Martin T
Tidying up
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Guys , I have a couple of questions regarding this item -
1. Is this the best kit of f-14 that is available on market right now ?
2. Is it appropriate for an Iranian scheme - I am fine if there are minor differences from whatever version they used . 

 

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I'm pretty sure that Iran F-14 didn't come with ECM blisters and flare dispensers,not sure about tail stiffeners,if anything you have to remove them and also find a spare nose fairing and maybe a different radome too

 

Due me hoarding back Hasegawa Tomcats I'm going to stick with them,I doubt Fine Molds will ever release a early beavertail Tomcat or something appropriate for a Iran version,so I would rather fix Hasegawa drop tank holes and some other things allocated around the fins and Phoenix launchers than hoarding 16 FM kits just to crosskit them

 

Luigi

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3 hours ago, Basuroy said:

Guys , I have a couple of questions regarding this item -
1. Is this the best kit of f-14 that is available on market right now ?
2. Is it appropriate for an Iranian scheme - I am fine if there are minor differences from whatever version they used . 

 

 

Is the best Tomcat kit ? Maybe... or maybe not. I'm basing my judgement on the D variant, but the A is so similar that it doesn't matter. In any case the FM kit is very, very good. At the same time the Hasegawa kit is still better from certain points of view. IMHO both can be made into great models of the Tomcat straight from the box, some may like more certain details of the FM and others certain features of the hasegawa.

 

Is it appropriate for an Iranian scheme ? Yes it is ! The aircrafts received by VF-84 were practically identical to the Iranian machines, with the only differences being internal.  The aircrafts proposed by FM are from Block 95, the Iranian ones were divided betwenn Block 90 and 95.

 

To add some more to Luigi's comment, the Iranian aircrafts did have the flare dispensers and had the same ECM antennas present on the Block 90/95 aircrafts (aircrafts from these blocks are identical). They didn't have stiffeners on the tail but these were not present on US aircrafts when first issued, they were a later retrofit (actually carried out in steps). Iranian aircrafts never received the stiffeners. Later US Tomcats had ECM blisters under the glove vanes and on the boat-tail, these were however never retrofitted to older built Tomcats. The B/D style gun vents on the other hand were retrofitted on all US Tomcats. Iranian Tomcats never got this style of gun vents.

The radome of the Iranian aircrafts was the same used from Block 90, that is the style with the pitot tube on the tip. Iranian aircrafts retained the original ALQ-100 antenna under the front fuselage, US Tomcats later replaced this with the TCS.

One final small detail: Iranian aircrafts used a different Sidewinder variant, the AIM-N or P, export variants of the USAF AIM-9J that had a distinctive design of the forward fins. These were never used by US Navy Tomcats

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Hi all, 

 

My 1/72nd scale Tomcat fleet now il a mix of Hasegawa and FineMolds kits (Tamiya, GWH, AMK in the future??). Until then... 

Both are very good.

 

Can I add to the Iranian issue that, additionally, IFR probe doors generally were removed on actuel Iranian F-14As.

This is a built in feature of the FM Kit. Not hard to do on a Hasegawa Tomcat (a 20mn job - I did it on an F-14D model) but still the FM kit comes with the parts IIRC

 

Eric B.

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Good point re. the IFR probe doors Eric !

This was done as it was found that the doors tended to interfere with the baskets used as extension of rigid booms, that was (and still is) the system used by the Iranian tankers (KC-707 and 747).

As the same type of basket is used by USAF tankers when refuelling USN aircrafts, the same happened to USN Tomcats, that had the door removed in every campaign with USAF support, for example in operations over Iraq and Afghanistan

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