A page dedicated to probably one of my favorite planes; the Grumman F-14 Tomcat.
This is the number one kit in my stash and planned to build a couple of A, B & D versions from different kit manufacturers.
The four 1/72 scale builds on this page are a F-14D from Great Wall Hobby, a new tool F-14A from Academy, a F-14A model from KA-models and a F-14B from Hobby Boss which is a "not that much fun" kit... nuff said.
The GWH kit is a very nice kit but quite expensive in comparison to the others. The only downer with this kit (nr# L7203) that you can't make a bombcat out of it since it's lacking the (smart)bombs, the proper rails etc.. Therefore I used some parts from the new tooled F-14 from Academy.
This is a well engineered kit with nice panel lines and details. But there's a nasty seam on the starboard lower side. Sure it's relatively easy to fix this but still a "meh" considering the high price tag of this kit.
The paintjob was done using Real colors from AK Interactive.
The canopy was enhanced with a PE set from Airwaves.
Decals for this VF- 11 Red Rippers were a pain in the ass since the squadron emblem on the starboard vert stab was mirrored. Aaaarrgghhh.... -.- Bought two decal set to fix this problem.
A very crisp 3D printed boarding ladder is from Model on detail and highly recommended if you want to go all the way!
Tiny little excellent figs are (again) from Reedoak and the tow cart from Dreammodel.
The tiedown points on the flight deck made from Evergreen are PE ones from Brengun.
The Academy kit was almost build straight from the box with seats from Aires, mirrors from Airwaves and sidewinders from Reskit.
The Aardvark decals are from FCM. Lovely kit to build in terms of engineering, details & pricing!
But... the boarding-ladder is closed on this kit and to cover such nice detail is a pity imho.
This is a very nice kit, originally from Fujimi, of the F-14A Tomcat.
Although old the details, engineering and options are very good and KA-Models added masks, etch and metal pitot tube.
The lovely yellow cart is from good old Verlinden and unfortunately pretty hard to get these days. =+/
In fact the KA-models F-14A is the Fujimi kit with extra's like PE & canopy masks. Although this Fujimi rendition of the F-14 is old it's still a very good kit and details and the overall fitting is very good. Used some Aires resin seats, Eduard AIM-9 Sidewnder missiles and very smooth & thin FCM VF-114 Aardvark decals. I made a scr#w up with the air intakes and covered them with mesh intake covers from Flightpath.
Started this one as a D version but made a mistake in the build and swapped halfway the build to a B version. In short I don't like this Hobby Boss kit at all due to the the lack of detail, poor fitting & engineering. Nevertheless I finished this build using PE parts from Dreammodel for the cockpit. I know VF-74 "Be-Devilers" did have B versions but they didn't have Bombcats. But hey... it's a plastic kit and I like it this way. =+) The 2 pilots in the F-14B Bombcat are from Aerobonus.
The airbrush job on this F-14B took me almost almost 8 hours. Started on a black base and build it up layer by layer finishing with some texturing mask effects using the Uschi spray masks. Most of the weathering was done using Tamiya Weathering Master and watercolor pencils. Pinwashes were done using AK-Intreractive panelliner. The VF-74 tail decals are from Hasegawa kit. Unfortunately the double nuts "100" on the nose are positioned a little bit too high... lesson learned..
© 2024 by Marcel du Long