1/48th F-14D

[RupertTheBear]

Hello boys and girls,

today I'd like to show you my latest finished kit a.k.a. the reason I almost gave up.
It's AMK's 1/48th scale F-14D Tomcat I got in my local hobby store after watching Top Gun one too many times. I had to choose between this and the Tamiya kit and decided to go with AMK because it was 40€ cheaper but now I know why. AMK stands for Avantgarde Mojo Killer and with Tamiya I'd probably not only get a kit but peace of mind.
In short - this kit is a mixed bag. Beautiful fine details, great display options, two colorful liveries & sharp decals stand against a bad instruction and grave fitment issues. 
The long version - the kit is unnecessarily over-engineered. For example the various positions of the air intakes are a nice touch but in the end hardly visible and only create a source of mistakes to be made. The area around the intakes is just a complex mess with a lot of parts to be installed in a rather cramped space and even after several attempts of dry fitting & sanding, I never got the forward fuselage to align properly. That was the most tricky part but the rest of the kit wasn't that enjoyable either.
In the end it went from "I'll give my best" to "Let's get this over with" as my patience ran thin and it can be seen in the finish. Tamiya primer and mostly Vallejo, Tamiya and Mig colors were used and also Mig washes for the weathering. The whole thing was sealed with Tamiya gloss varnish.

That said, this kit in someone else's more skilled hands than mine will look fantastic and the build will probably feature nothing out of the ordinary, I was just expecting more of a kit in that price bracket, also because the last kit I built before it (ICM's MiG-25) was way more enjoyable and relaxing















































Still - hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Until next time

[Steve27752]

A very nice Tomcat.

[SAT69]

For all the difficulties, you've still produced a very nice finished model!

[exdraken]

the outcome looks rather respectable!

 

 

 

I guess I will tackle mine soon... 

 

 

[RupertTheBear]

12 hours ago, exdraken said:

the outcome looks rather respectable!

 

 

 

I guess I will tackle mine soon... 

 

 

Thanks!

Looking forward to yours!
Was looking at your Bison WIP the other day and it's a very interesting read, that is also turning out very nicely! Can't wait to see that beast finished