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Cockpit done. Just used paint as can’t be asked using all the individual small dial decals they give over raised detail. Also going to leave canopy closed most likely. 
Speaking of which there is a strut marked not for use and location points on sill and canopy framing for it but the instructions will have you build it only closed? 
 

46-CB89-C6-88-CF-42-E2-AED8-9-A0-CCF79-D


B45-A2463-586-E-4-A65-B60-B-A7-F55-A3-C4


EDAC3-E20-A201-4-E25-A5-A4-68-CDAAB090-F


Next is the intake parts. Took so many layers of filler/paint/sanding getting the seams & pin marks out. 
Parts had a light grey wash which isn’t really showing up though. 
 

723-DB361-2-C3-A-435-E-9583-059-F1-B8-E3


7-C613247-8780-44-B2-A607-4-B06163-BDDA5


8-FFFAD62-A3-D5-4-F50-8587-B235267-F0376

 

⬆️ Note eggcat in background 😂

 

Then pit was added and halves closed up with cowls too. Nice positive location points for the tub, ip’s and cowls. 

4136-D493-B65-F-485-C-8-C06-67-CD5-FBC06


C22-EE887-0-D79-4945-8-CE5-1-DF252735-A2

 

Can start on some major assembly now next week. 
 

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17 minutes ago, Ilan said:

Very nice work so far. 

Can you please add a photo of the box? 

as it looks very nice model. 

Thanks. 

 

Just for you from the rumourmongers thread - 

Same boxart as their old 1/48 release. Not confusing at all. 
image.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Done a bit of major assembly. This kit goes together very well. 
Just watch out for the large interference fit pins inside the glove vane area and under the tailfins to help hold the upper and lower fuselage halves together. 
I almost couldn’t get them apart after a dry fit, so I reamed out the female socket to allow more wiggle room. It’s not a snap kit like the new super hornet mind. The mating surfaces along the glove vanes and rear flanks had a light swipe with a sanding stick to help give the extra thin something to bite. Then when glued & squeezed together you get a bit of ooze which makes the joins self sealing. Once dry another swipe across the join with a finer stick and its good to go. Will be spot priming this soon I reckon. 
 

Really like where they have put some of the joins too. The lower centre fuselage/front sparrow well insert part fits really well. Also the beavertail upper and lower halves do have locating pins as such, I made shelves/lips which came out from fuselage halves from plastic card to give them something to rest on and then took my time with extra thin cement. While the plastic card was out I did similar bracing on the inside to help support where the back of the intakes go against the front of the nacelles as this is just a butt join too.

 

There is more done now than these show as just got into the groove with it so to speak.  All that’s left really is the fiddly bits now like u/c leg assembly and cleaning up all the u/c doors from all those pin marks etc. Also the stuff I hate like sorting out the ordnance and need to remove mold seam from centre of canopy. 
 

26-CF3853-DBAE-4-CEA-81-EC-60-DEB9-E2618

3-E3-AE56-E-02-DA-4677-9-B13-37-C0008-B1

47-C58-F4-F-F84-F-42-F1-919-F-7556-CE471

88-BEEF34-FBE4-4352-BC3-D-B55-C87-F0030-


9-E640067-2-C5-E-46-E1-8-C2-B-8-ECA571-D


AA633-EAC-5299-464-E-B527-012833-C897-F2


B3-C52-F93-21-BE-4-B06-8-BE0-26-B7-CBAB6


DD41-E048-95-B0-43-CE-ADC8-20-F29-AFD3-B


FC2-EFAA7-B9-A2-4-BA5-BABD-114-EC5-C8820
 

Thanks for looking 👌🏽

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Hi Tony,

 

Thanks for your pics and description - the fit of the kit generally does look quite good. In the last photo, is that a knockout pin mark in the rear Sparrow well that you've had to fill?

 

cheers,

 

Andrew.

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9 hours ago, Andrew said:

In the last photo, is that a knockout pin mark in the rear Sparrow well that you've had to fill?


Yes mate. Two nasty ones in both wheel wells too on the lower fuselage also...

 

more like sprue/injecting points than ejection pin marks if that matters but need filling nonetheless.  

 

image.jpg

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Thanks very much and apologies for asking the idiot question - you'd already illustrated the injection points in your Rumourmonger posts, but I forgot to look there last night.

 

I think it's a tad cheeky on Academy's part to place an injection point in the Sparrow recess ... still, on balance the kit seems very good and I definitely won't be deterred by these minor issues when I start mine (two-to-four weeks and counting).

 

Andrew.

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Prime time!
 

So it’s having some stynylrez over seams and work on airframe and other joins like drop tank halves and wing leading edges to check the build etc. Smaller one piece bits have had a full prime already. Need to polish canopy seam then hopefully the greys will start over the weekend! 
 

3-A2-C411-D-E3-A9-4-E93-B43-C-B4-F3-DF7-

 

Front canopy piece was easy as framing has nice crisp lines so burnished with a stick then sliced around the edges. Really nice part, avoids seams in area and keeps detail. Enough around there for the scale, just missing hinge detail for when radome lifts up really.  
 

7909-EF93-703-C-4319-8267-0-BABE3-D2-B7-

Thanks for looking 

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This really is a nice kit. Us tomcat fans have been spoilt the last couple of years with the three new releases by Finemolds, GWH and now academy. 
 

I have yet to build the GWH kits but have them queued up for the Navy GB. 
 

This academy kit is currently my favourite as seems to have the right balance of detail, price availability and ‘buildability’

 

There are a couple of frustrating areas or bits that I prefer the style of the other kits but we can’t have everything. 
 

So my perfect tomcat kit would be based on the academy F-14 in terms of the 4 general points above. 
 

Certain highlights for me are - 


Very good fit. 

Pretty much all parts for any variant in box. 
Weapons included both air to air and air to ground with necessary bombcat parts. 
Front windshield design. 
Intake ramps - enough there but not overly fiddly to build. 
Wing attachment stubs are great (like tamiya 1/48 kit?). 
Main canopy attachment point/hinge is very positive yet well hidden. 
No fiddly glove vane parts. A decal for the panel lines if applicable. (I did something similar on my hboss builds) 
Nice well represented one piece intake fans for both engine types. Same with AB faces but a bit undersized- see further down. 
 

 

So for the bits I would change - 

 

Inner trunking one piece like Gwh kit.

Option of Dirty wings like GWH kit. 
Option of open airbrakes like either GWH or FM kit. 

Engine cowls/shrouds and side farings separate parts like FM kit. 
Better wheels/tires - in terms of detail not options. 

Not saying either is more accurate but prefer the style/depth of the engraved detail on the FM kit. 

Not too bothered about open maintenance panels like the FM kit. 


A major bad bit is the funky ejection pin marks both raised and sunken that need sorting for detail or to aid in assembly. 
Wheels are ok. All three main hubs provided as separate parts with good detail. No tread on tires. 
Front wheels are very poor though - seem too small, soft detail and three pin marks on the back of each. 
The exhaust tubes are short & tapered which is inaccurate with small afterburner faces. I think this was to increase the perceptive depth when looking down them? 
 

So what don’t I like about the others - 

 

As said not built the GWH kit just yet but looks nice enough in the box with enough options and some air to air ordnance. Has dirty wings, open airbrakes and a radar for open radome. Speaking of ordnance my D kit came with A version 54’s and the A with C’s which ideally should be the other way around. Also some of the engraved details are of an inconsistent detpth especially if the parts aren’t parallel with the mold split/halves. Will show a pic of that come the GB. Instructions are atrocious though for both A & D kits. Very all over the place and loads of correction sheet inserts and lazy or not updated CAD drawings from the D to A kit. 
Main wheel tires are strange with made up detail. 
Exhaust parts both A & D - well detailed nozzles if a little thick on the edges  One piece slide molded straight tubes with some detail inside. Good afterburner faces, (academy ones have more detail but are small)

GWH has poor intake fans though, the worst out of all three kits. 
 

The Finemolds one is lovely as we all know but some parts are a little fussy and perhaps over complicated? Had some fit issues and they certainly didn’t build as easily as this academy kit. 
No weapons with this one like hasegawa and the least build/variant options. Also seems the kit is geared to having the panels open but the panels themselves could be alot thinner. They do fit ok closed however.

Intakes and ramps are well detailed but very fiddly in assembly. 
The FM kit has the best ‘two layer‘ intake fans for both engine types. 
They use same two layer approach for AB faces but being plastic the flameholders are too thick and obscure most of the detail on the part behind them. Exhaust tubes have the most detail inside them but that’s because they are from two halves and due to said ridges you’re never going to get a clean seam inside them. Cans are ok, P&W ones perhaps the best of all three kits for finesse and detail, but the GE ones are only average. 
 

Wow this is alot of waffle. Sorry 😐 

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14 hours ago, Tony Oliver said:

Wow this is alot of waffle. Sorry 😐 

Not at all Tony. I've found all your Tomcat kit insights really helpful, and I've bought an Academy kit on the strength of them. Looking forward to seeing your Academy cat finished.

Cheers,

Terry

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2 hours ago, 71chally said:

Great to see this detail about the kit Tony, will definitely get the Academy kit based on your findings.

 

Can all versions be made from the box?

Just about mate. 

What can be made from box as it is - all A/A plus/B production tomcats with the standard beavertail, so no prototype Jets or wide beavertails. 

 

The only other thing lacking for a full range OOB is the complete D seats. They give the two cushion types on the sprues but the seat ‘frames’ are slide molded type things in a separate bag. The frames in this boxing are for gru-7 only so A/Aplus/B. 

I imagine when they release the D kit these are the only things that will be included to be different unless they do any updates to sprues between now and then. 

The box art, instructions and decals are the other things that will obviously change. 
 

So one could make a D from this, you just need seats and decals. 
 

Any A/A plus/ B you fancy one would just need decals. Apart from beavertail exception noted above. 
 

And a knowledge of which build features to use for the jet you wish to depict. 
 

Tony. 

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2 hours ago, 71chally said:

Many thanks for the info, I really like the Tomcat, but haven't a great knowledge of the variants and differences.

 

Looking forward to the rest of your build.


Ok mate well if there is a particular jet you have the decals for that you want to build, PM me and I will tell you which parts in the kit you need to use. The new academy kit has loads of parts ‘not for use’ which have the potential be really useful... 
Tony

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