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HobbyBoss 1/48 F-14A 'Persian Cat' question


Dazza

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The Persian Car box includes all the "structural" parts of the  standard box and varies only in the weapons: included are 2 Hawk missiles and relative adaptors for the pylons. Not included are however the other standard missiles that were included in the original box.

Now this choice is IMHO not great, as the Hawk was tested, probably even fired in combat, but did not become standard issue while the Sidewinder, Sparrow and Phoenix remained part of the standard load for Iranian aircraft. Of course the Hawk missile makes for an unusual and interesting load, while the other missiles can be found in several aftermarket sets. A small detail to keep in mind is that Iran did not use the L variant of the Sidewinder but rather the AIM-9P, a derivative of the USAF J that features the same characteristic shape of front surfaces

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Thanks, Giorgio, that's the info I was after as I intend (at some stage) to build an 'early' USN F-14A. My knowledge of all the myriad external differences between F-14As over the years is somewhat lacking to say the least but, I do know the HB kit represents an early F-14A...

 

-Daz

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 12/17/2019 at 11:13 AM, Giorgio N said:

The Persian Car box includes all the "structural" parts of the  standard box and varies only in the weapons: included are 2 Hawk missiles and relative adaptors for the pylons. Not included are however the other standard missiles that were included in the original box.

Now this choice is IMHO not great, as the Hawk was tested, probably even fired in combat, but did not become standard issue while the Sidewinder, Sparrow and Phoenix remained part of the standard load for Iranian aircraft. Of course the Hawk missile makes for an unusual and interesting load, while the other missiles can be found in several aftermarket sets. A small detail to keep in mind is that Iran did not use the L variant of the Sidewinder but rather the AIM-9P, a derivative of the USAF J that features the same characteristic shape of front surfaces

Sorry Giorgio but I have to disagee reg. the MIM-23. Due to a shoratge of thermal batteries for the AIM-54As and the shortage of AIM-7s, the Hawks became indeed a quite common interims solution as of the mid-90s for the IRIAF fleet till the R-27 was integrated and recently a (apparently!!!) working Phoenix-derivative, namely the Fakkur-90, was introduced (and let's face it, even nowadays there's only little credible source of them out there). Hence the Hawk is still used as a medium range replacement in the current fleet. Heck, there are awesome images of blue Persian cats equipped with 2 Fakkurs / Phoenixes, 2 AIM-9s and 2 MIM-23s. Apparently the Hawk still is very much in service with the fleet. It might not be as common as the standard missiles but lets face it, the Phoenix was not as commonly used as the other missiles with the Navy as well.

Edited by bushande
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4 hours ago, bushande said:

as of the mid-90s for the IRIAF fleet till the R-27 was integrated 

Was the R-27 ever operational?

I saw one photo where one was mounted.. but integrated with the Tomcat's radar?

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Well, it is at least claimed by Iran that it is operational. That alone might mean nothing but for whatever it is worth, even Janes seems to have acknowledged that the missile has been succesfully integrated. I only ever saw a rather low quality movy snipped of on of their F-14s firing one of them. So I guess it's 50/ 50 on that as with most of the info you gather from there.

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On 12/30/2019 at 5:20 PM, bushande said:

Sorry Giorgio but I have to disagee reg. the MIM-23. Due to a shoratge of thermal batteries for the AIM-54As and the shortage of AIM-7s, the Hawks became indeed a quite common interims solution as of the mid-90s for the IRIAF fleet till the R-27 was integrated and recently a (apparently!!!) working Phoenix-derivative, namely the Fakkur-90, was introduced (and let's face it, even nowadays there's only little credible source of them out there). Hence the Hawk is still used as a medium range replacement in the current fleet. Heck, there are awesome images of blue Persian cats equipped with 2 Fakkurs / Phoenixes, 2 AIM-9s and 2 MIM-23s. Apparently the Hawk still is very much in service with the fleet. It might not be as common as the standard missiles but lets face it, the Phoenix was not as commonly used as the other missiles with the Navy as well.

 

If you have primary sources that confirm that the Hawk was actually used as part of the weapons on operational Tomcats, then I'm glad to hear this. My sources claimed that the project kind of worked but this missile was seen as a better than nothing solution to be kept there just in case rather than being a fully operational weapon. My sources are however all secondary, so I'm happy to stand corrected if better sources differ

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On 1/4/2020 at 8:46 PM, iainpeden said:

I have a nasty feeling we might soon be finding out what are/are not operational on Iranian F-14s.

Interesting thought, but very unlikely. At the end of the day, despite all the bluster, Iran has no intention of becoming involved in an all out shooting war it knows it cannot win.

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