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F-14A Tomcat


Jabba

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This will be my entry for this GB. I will be using the Fine Molds kit (For the first time) to make a model of an aircraft that was operated by VF-154 during OIF, but not from a carrier but from Al Udeid in Qatar. For the markings I will be using the Fightertown sheet, which unfortunately is not the aircraft with the red on the tail. More later.

 

The kit

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Kit instructions.

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Fightertown Decal sheet.

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10 hours ago, Ale85 said:

I have ordered the same kit and i'm still waiting for it from japan. Hope to receive it soon and start my gb! 

ciao

Ale

 

I got mine on a recent trip to Hong Kong, and although it does look a good kit it does come with no weapons.

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yes i saw in the review... but for me is not a problem!

a) for me painting and decaling missilies and weapons is a very very boring process :D:D 

b) i want to show my aircraft in full open configuration (radome and panels) as in maintenance, and in this case it has no weapon

BTW i understand your disappointment, it's not a cheap kit and if you want a full armament, you have to spend other money

enjoy your Tomcat, i will follow the progresses

ciao

Ale

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I will be honest I am not too disappointed that there is no armament in the kit because for the aircraft that I am going to build it does not require much of the normal Tomcat weaponry, and that which I do need I can source from my own stuff. As you say though it is disappointing that you pay such a price for the kit only to find that weapons have to be bought separately. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

In my first post I did not give any background about the subject. Shortly before hostilities commenced in OIF VF-154 sent 5 aircraft and 5 crews (plus groundcrew) to Al Udeid Qatar to be a forward close air support (CAS) element and conduct missions with and in support of (but not limited to) CTF-20, the special operations Task Fore operating inside Iraq. Still classified these missions were instrumental in supporting forces on the ground. These missions were largely CAS and were a "high ops tempo". Between 21 March and 14 April shore based crews flew over 300 combat hours, dropped 98 GBU-12s and continued to develop and employ FAC(A) tactics hat became the benchmark for the F-14 late in its career. I am looking at building A/C No 107 which was the only V-154 aircraft to fire its gun.

 

I have started to build this model with the cockpit, some of the intake structure and wings built up. Also in the last picture there is some of the info for this actual build, and I do have more books of the Tomcat for other information.

 

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Thanks for those words.

 

I have got one of the intakes fitted, one thing though with the bit of sprue removed (still fitted to the unfitted intake side) the lower fuselage is very flimsy and requires to the handled very gently especially when removing the bits remaining after the sprue is cut away. With the intake fitted though the fuselage becomes very sturdy.

 

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It does look that way, but I am actually building by following the instructions more closely than usual and the parts really do seem to clip together and then add a little glue. The real test will come when I put the Fwd fuselage together with the rear part, but test fits so far have been good.

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I have now got the majority of the fuselage together, just the top part to go. This has gone together very well and only few places where it has not quite matched up and only just not. This is more than likely down to my inept modelling rather than the kit itself, and to me it goes together much better than the Hasegawa kit which I have built several of. Hopefully the open panels that I will fit closed will also fit perfectly, unlike another kit that I am currently building.

 

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10 hours ago, Gremlin said:

Oh, good project, I planned some similar (but Modex 101, with red lines on tail) on OIF from USS Kittyhawk 2003.

 

Regards

 

Thanks. I too was looking at doing that aircraft to add a splash of colour on the tail, but unfortunately this was not ne of the land based aircraft.

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with Telford over it is back to modelling. The areas that I found that were not quite glued in the right place were carefully prised apart and when clicked back into their correct positions were glued. I have also fitted the upper part behind the cockpit, and I must say that after building several Hasegawa kits this fits superbly. The parts that I had to re-stick were my fault not the kits.  I have also got the exhausts together, the inner parts fitted well but when I fitted the outer parts I was not sure what had happened but they did not fit right one the first engine that I put together. So I took apart and then fitted them as per the instructions (part numbers wise) and hay presto the fit again was very good as you can see as these exhausts are handed as to where they fit. I have also fitted the nozzles with one open and the other closed as per when the F-14A shuts the engines down. 

 

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Some more bits added such as the tailfins and the ones under the engines. I have also filled and sanded as required, and after building several Hasegawa kits was not that much at all. There are still a few bits and bobs to add including the ECM lumps by the air intakes, which for this kit have no precise location only a vague pointing of an arrow in the instructions. I think that I have this sorted so they should be fitted soon.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

A few more bits added and a bit more sanding done. Almost ready to start painting soon. I have also started on the weapon pylons, and am on the lookout for some BOL sidewinder rails as only normal ones are included in the kit which this aircraft did not use in the timeframe of which I am modelling it in. I am also deciding upon the weaponry to fit it might be a mixture of early and late missions so that I can include a Phoenix missile, but I shall see.

 

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Thank you.

Some more progress in that I have added the wing glove pylons. I have decided to have a slight compromise in that I will have a Phoenix missile added to one of these pylons and x4 GBUs fitted to the under fuselage weapon stations, which according to the decal instructions was not a weapons load that was carried during OIF. For the lantirn pod pylon I have used one from a Hasegawa weapons set, which was slightly smaller and thinner than the kit upper part of the pylon. So a little fettling was done to get it to something that looks alright. I still have to source some BOL Sidewinder rails which I may have to buy, but would rather not as this is all I would want from the set. Still ever onwards and upwards.

 

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