F-14A VF-124, HobbyBoss, 1/48

[Utkonos22]

Hello everyone! Want to warn you that this is my first topic here and English is not my native language, so please excuse me if something is wrong)
That's a second HB Tomcat that I'm working on, the model is well known so I don't have much to say about. It has a lot of small problems that need to be fix. I'm going to build it almost OOB, but with some PE parts that were left over from my previous Tomcat build.
I've started with a cockpit, put some PE in it. Also, I don't want to use Eduard's colored PE, because its color is not quite right and it's too flat. The cockpit still looks good OOB.




OOB seats are very good but I have Eduard Brassin seats


I'm going to build VF-124 Tomcat, from famouse TOPGUN school. This aircraft has TARPS, so I do not know yet what armament can be used, maybe I will make 2 Sidewinders



Sorry for pictures, my lightbox is very far from me right now, but I'll fix it!
I hope you'll enjoy the build!

[Utkonos22]

I started working on the air intakes, there's some bad engineering, so there's going to be a bunch of putty and sanding
 

[dnl42]

I'm very interested in following this. 

 

And your English is fine!

[Utkonos22]

2 minutes ago, dnl42 said:

I'm very interested in following this. 

 

And your English is fine!

I'm not sure that I can regularly update the topic, but I will try)
And thank you for the compliment 😀

[jean]

Hi,

this is going to be a big baby in 1/48!

Th cockpit detail is fine and you are right, the Eduard color PE is somewhat off. Actually they often are, for some weird reason.

Shame about all the putty in the intakes! 

 

Have fun!

 

JR

[Utkonos22]

Are there any Tomcat specialists here? I have a quastion regarding a possible armament. Since this is a training aircraft with TARPS, would it be appropriate to use the AIM 9? If not, what then?

[Doom3r]

41 minutes ago, Utkonos22 said:

Are there any Tomcat specialists here? I have a quastion regarding a possible armament. Since this is a training aircraft with TARPS, would it be appropriate to use the AIM 9? If not, what then?

Under one wing it would probably have training versions of AIM-7 and AIM-9 on the other it would have training pods like here http://www.anft.net/f-14/f14-detail-tacts-01.htm

Another possible loadout: http://www.anft.net/f-14/f14-detail-eca-01.htm 

[Utkonos22]

3 hours ago, Doom3r said:

Under one wing it would probably have training versions of AIM-7 and AIM-9 on the other it would have training pods like here http://www.anft.net/f-14/f14-detail-tacts-01.htm

Another possible loadout: http://www.anft.net/f-14/f14-detail-eca-01.htm 

I found a lot of pictures of Tomcats in NAS Miramar without any weapons or with training pods but since my board has TARPS I think not to put any weapon  

[Utkonos22]

Or something like this 

[Doom3r]

Ah, didn't realize you are ok with the "clean" configuration.  The latter picture is more to what I had in mind and is probably more close to actual combat configuration: you have here TARPS, chaff dispenser, countermeasures, training AIM-9 and ACMI. However this picture is from 90th or 2000nds: looks like it is F-14B.

[Utkonos22]

2 hours ago, Doom3r said:

However this picture is from 90th or 2000nds: looks like it is F-14B.

Yep, that's B, but I think it will be ok if I put AN/ALQ 167, TARPS and TACTS on A

Edited March 29, 2021 by Utkonos22

[npirnia]

The F-14s of VF-124 and VF-101 typically flew in a totally clean configuration for the vast majority of training flights. No tanks or Phoenix pallets and the glove stations were usually set up with 4 LAU-7s (2 per side). Often a CATM-9 was mounted on the upper LAU-7s, but that would be all.

 

For ACM hops, they might carry an ACMI pod, but not always since many ACM hops were not on the instrumented range. 

 

Mounting CATM-7s on the glove stations reduced yaw stability a little as did tanks (and to a lesser degree the Phoenix pallets) so the majority of training flights were done clean to maximize the safety margin and fuel endurance. Plus, mountable hardware was not available in excess and the fleet squadrons always had priority.

 

If you mount the TARPS pod, you also need to mount forward ballast to keep the Cg in parameters. The FRS squadrons used 1000 lb ballast in a CATM-7 body mounted in the forward AIM-7 recesses. Fleet squadrons sometimes used these when ashore, but usually mounted the Phoenix pallets when on cruise. 

 

Best,

 

Nick
 

 

Edited April 4, 2021 by npirnia