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F-14A Tomcat - Hobbyboss 1/48


POMPEO

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The kit:

The kit recently released by Hobbyboss in 1/48 scale represents the A version, the initial model designed and manufactured by Grumman. The model is injected into dark gray plastic, contains 24 trees of pieces, plus the two halves of the fuselage has separated in a special box to avoid damage.

The model has more than doubled over the parts from Hasegawa Tomcat. These parts make it possible to build the model with the gun bay open, and this session has all the separate parts for its construction which allowed a detailed assembly and the use resin sets without need to cut the kit.

The panels and sessions of the fuselage has a great riveting, which caused suspicion at first, but that proved to have been a settling of hobbyboss. The kit also has pieces for assembly of both engines in full parts, something unprecedented in the F-14 on this scale. I particularly enjoyed the novelty.

Flaps and ailerons as well as the geometry of the wings has to be maintained in variety of positions. The cockpit has a good level of detail, the panels are correct for the second block of the A version. The highlight of the kit and what makes it a real candidate to beat hasegawa kit is the diversity of external loads, are missiles AIM-9, AIM-7, AIM-54, tarps and designators pods, these pods are not used the versions of the box, to use him had buy the aftermarket decals, the kit also had option for two external tanks which allows for a full operational TOMCAT without relying on extra sets as in the kit hasegawa.

The seats are nicely detailed and the PE sheet that came with the kit gives the modeler has belts and buckles for the seats. The PE foil behind piece still catching canopy and small antennas for the body of the model.

One thing I did not like, and which is repeated in this and the kit hasegawa, are the rubber tires, that why they tend to crack over time (if anyone has a remedy for this, please share pro)

The decals contained in the template option to bring two aircraft, belonging to vf-41 based on the Nimitz in 1978 and another (the box) of the vf-32 J. N F. Kennedy in 1976. The decal sheet also gives all stencils for one aircraft, and stencils for weapons tbem.

The canopy is injected into and fully transparent plastic lens has a small seam at the top, something common in hobbyboss kits.

Comparison: HOBBYBOSS x Hasegawa

Taking advantage of the fact that I have here the hasegawa F-14A Tomcat, I decided to do a little comparison between both models.

The Hasegawa kit has a shape of the 90's, but neither is it a model quash, by contrast, is still the best of the scale, although it now has a competitor that yes you can take the front of the modelers preference.

Regarding hasegawa kit, the model of hobbyboss has roughly the same size, so that i had overposted parts of the fuselage a nd wings of both kits and you could noted that the size is exactly the same, so there is no difference in scale problems.

The hobbyboss kit, I seem to have finer details of cladding and well sculpted, however the plastic hasegawa is still my favorite. Parts of the cockpit is another advantage, the panels of the hasegawa tomcat are wrong for the A version, but the side panels are more detailed.

The gun bay of the hobbyboss comes with exterior parts for assembly, while in parts hasegawa injected is already there (I personally dislike) which takes some of the realism of the area.

The canopy are similar in type of injection and quality on both kits.

The big difference is precisely the news that hobbyboss behind compared to its pair of hasegawa. The engine and set of arms and external loads can put in front of hobbyboss hasegawa the will of the modelers.

The decals are an advantage of possessing hasegawa tomcats of several squads just by the modeler will choose what to buy.

Conclusion:

In my opinion the Hobbyboss kit is a excellent news, because in addition to bringing innovations in one of the most popular among hobbyists, he joins the fight against a strong market competitor, which he could be equal or superior in quality, and still will result in a greater supply and price reduction by considering that hobbyboss model is being marketed at a low price in relation with hasegawa on hobbyeasy.com.

I liked what I saw, in my opinion there is no longer an owner of the Tomcat scale, from here hobbyboss (already announced that F-14B and D in 1 / 48) and hasegawa will have to fight for the domination of the world of tomcats sale by sale. Good for modelers who incur great new options on the scale.

Aftermarkets: decals, resins and P.E.

The aftermarkets for the F-14A Tomcat is perhaps one of which has the largest number of options and diversity, are dozens of sets of resin, decal sheets and photo etched parts.

Resins

The leading manufacturers of resin sets for the Tomcat is the Aires, the Wolfpack and Avonix, these three brands together sets ranging from the cockpit, from the basement up to sets of wheels with weapons and pods, the Wolfpack this case. The resin market is varied and the prices too, so worth keeping an eye open, searching the Web for good prices, the aftermarkets is the branch of modeling the prices have gone up.

P.E.

The photo etcheds, popularized by Eduard in his series "zoom color", have become over the past year almost a necessity for many hobbyists, has the advantage of allowing a faithful representation of the interior and exterior parts of the model for a time lower cost than a set of resins. It is worth remembering the modellers requests by P.E. makes the Aires to put pieces of PE in almost of her sets of resin.

Decals:

The market for decals is perhaps the most varied, the U.S. have about a dozen companies working on decals for F-14, the most famous being the Fightertown, Twobobs, Afterburner and superscale. However, these American companies have mostly represented aircraft based on the same theme, the famous Final Cruise CAG Birds and Birds. These aircraft are repeatedly viewed and reviewed on forums and modeling sites around the world.

However for those who do not want more of it, a Brazilian company is breaking with the sameness of the decals market for tomcats. FCM decals of Mr Felipe Miranda has worked in a new niche of market for tomcat decals. Decal versions are unusual but no less beautiful than the famous CAG birds represented by U.S. companies. FCM currently owns two market-sheet versions of sundowners VF-111, in a high viz and other low viz, one for the VF-301 devil diciples, and one for the VF-114 Aardvarks. The latter has a second part. But the projects, FCM does not stop there, Felipe Miranda expects to release at least ten sheets with new versions of the painting to tomcats in scale 1/48, some of them may be given in the profiles yielded by it and posted to the bottom.

The FCM decals are now printed by microscale, the same that makes the impression of fightertown, the graphic quality and history is great, Felipe Miranda has worked to expanding the market possibilities and some versions of the decals for Tomcat . Your decal can be found at the best stores in Brazil, as well as Hannants, sprue brothers and shops in Eastern Europe.

My F-14 will be builded using the set 48-36 representing low viz aircraft of the VF-111 Sundowners, these decals were, according to Felipe Miranda, designed based on material given by the official historian of this important USN squadron.

The news announced by FCM Decals is a victory for the Tomcat aftermrkets branch and for all Tomcat lovers around the world.

Special thanks to Hobbyeasy.com and FCM Decals

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I don't know whether to thank you for this or not.

I was holding off buying the Hobbyboss kit as I have to many Hase kits to do.

now I am going to have to buy one (or two..three...oh bugger!!)

Thank you for a great comparison review.

Steve

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Thanks for the very interesting review !!

Can I ask what you think about the intakes ? These in the 1/32 trumpeter kit attach at a very wrong angle to the test of the fuselage, I'd like to know if these are correct in the hobbyboss kit.The FCM decals are very interesting, looks like they are doing a lot of subjects that other manufacturers have not touched yet, expecially a lot of '80s tomcats.

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Thanks for the very interesting review !!

Can I ask what you think about the intakes ? These in the 1/32 trumpeter kit attach at a very wrong angle to the test of the fuselage, I'd like to know if these are correct in the hobbyboss kit.

Scroll down to post 56. The HobbyBoss kit does share the same problem as it's larger brother. Aside from that, you can make a goodlooking model of it.

http://www.zone-five.net/showthread.php?t=12120&page=3

Jens

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Can't see it as I've been banned from the site, and it says no reason given :(

Same thing has happened to me Daz. I don't believe its personal, it seems there is a problem with spammers stuffing things up on that sight. Anyway here's what I managed to find on the sight:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

G'day All,

Sorry for putting this in here but I thought it was the most likely place for most people to see it, and it seems that some may still not be reading the "sticky note" posted above.

There are still 70 or so people who I am still trying to get registered here who haven't responded to the many emails I keep sending out to ask for their help. If you're still waiting, please check the email address you used to register here at Zone Five, or contact me directly at Zone5email(at)googlemail(dot)com

I have tried several different methods to try and contact these pending members, using different emails and other attempts, trying to explain what I am asking for to try and validate these accounts but most do not respond to my attempts (in some cases, since January). It seems that some may not be getting my emails, no matter how I send them so, if you are still waiting for your account to be fully activated, this is what I have been trying to email to you;

--------------

If you are waiting to have you membership at Zone Five activated;

We currently have a problem with spammers trying to access the site, and we are taking measures to try and ensure that only valid members are allowed access.

In order to help us with this, it would be greatly appreciated if you could include some relevant information, of your own choice, in the personal details section of your profile. This will help us confirm and activate your membership as soon as possible.

We have mentioned this request in the main forums as well.

http://www.zone-five.net/showthread.php?t=6934

And you can see some of the reasons why we are taking these measures in this thread.

http://www.zone-five.net/showthread.php?t=6864

Some have indicated that it is not clear how to add the information we are requesting, so this is an explanation of where to find it.

First, you need to log in. When you have logged in, you will see a list of menus across the top of the page (below the "Zone-Five.Net" header). The one on the far left is "User CP" which means User Control Panel.

When you click on this, you will see a list of controls down the left side of the page. Things like "Your Profile", "Settings & Options", "Subscribed threads" etc. The top one should be "Your Profile" with sub-headings of "Edit your Details", "Customize Profile" and "Edit Profile Picture". Click on "Edit Your Details".

At the bottom of this page is a section titled "Additional Information" with fields for "Biography", "Where you live", "Interests" and "Occupation". It would be very helpful for us if you could enter some information (of your own choosing) in some or all of these fields. You can delete it as soon as we have activated your membership if you have any privacy concerns. We are only interested in trying to confirm legitimate members from possible spammers. Nothing else.

We hope this helps and if you have any problems, please contact us for assistance.

If, after a certain time, you still haven't added any info, your account may be deleted as a suspected spammer.

We are very sorry for the inconvenience and delays but we hope that it helps make for a better time for those who use the forums legitimately.

Thank you very much for your help in this matter.

Regards,

The Zone Five Admin Team.

------------------

I have reason to believe that most of the pending members that are on the "waiting list" are probably genuine, but I would simply like a quick response as requested above to confirm. I will then fully activate your account and you will be able to fully participate in the forums and have access to all the boards features.

Also, some people who have contacted me, have expressed concerns about providing personal information to gain entry to the site. I have tried to make it clear that I'm not asking for anything you are not comfortable to provide, or anything particularly sensitive. There must be something simple that you can add that would just illustrate that you are a genuine member and not a spammer? I can't say what to add because the spammers could just read this and find another way through. It's not so much about what you add or about "vetting" members (I probably spend less than a second looking at it), but purely an effort to keep out unwanted spammers. Nothing else.

If you wish to contact me directly about this, please use Zone5email(at)googlemail(dot)com

I would really like to get as many people on the waiting list joined as soon as possible.

Cheers,

Motty.

I have emailed as suggested and await a response.

Cheers

Richard.

http://studiogekko.blogspot.com/

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thanks friends for the comments...

about the FCM decals, you find him on Hannants...about air intakes here some pics for comparison:

here some pics of the both kits

hasegawa kit

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two from hobbyboss

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a real tomcat

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the both kits after build made by Dave

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in my opinion, or both are right or both are wrong, because the diference is minimal between two models

cheers

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Are there any other areas of concern on the Hobby Boss kit? I can live with the intakes if that is all there is wrong.

As the signal to noise on this kit has been low I'm assuming that it's one of Hobby Bosses better efforts.

My impressions from looking a the plastic in the box is that it looks superbly moulded. Certainly nicer than the Hasegawa kit (acknowledging there is a few years between them).

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in my opinion, or both are right or both are wrong, because the diference is minimal between two models

cheers

I don't agree with that. I would need to look carefully at the Hasegawa kit to see if the upper lip is not parallel with the lower lip - and I wonder if that can be down to the modeller. I will certainly check this when I get around to making a Hasegawa Tomcat. The geometry of the Hobbyboss kit is so out that it jumps out at you. To me this spoils the look, and I will be happy with the six or so Hasegawa kits in the stash.

Jens

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Calum,

in my opinion, the intakes(right or wrong) not change stetic beautty of the model, as i sad this ill be a personal choice of each modeller, for me hobbyboss loks great and very better than hasegawa. but this is just my opinion.

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Jens,

as i said on the review, both kits are nicely represents of the grumman Cat, i prefer the HB kit, but the hasegawa is a nicely and beautty kit, and i want to build many tomcats, could be HB or Hase kits, is no matter the manufacturer, if is Tomcats. :D:D:D

cheers

Pompeo

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