F-14 decals - Trumpeter or Tamiya?

[phasephantomphixer]

'Tis a shame they don't fit both - which would the Revell kit be a closer fit with?

[jenshb]

Personally, I prefer the Tamiya kit.  It's got it's faults, but at least it won't require extensive modifications to fix those horrible intakes of the Trumpeter kit.

[Avenger2614]

Is it possible to do schemes which would fit both kits (I.E. tail markings that are just codes and unit markings, and the end user paints the tails a certain color)? Just spit-balling here. There are lots of great schemes to choose from for the Tomcat, and I hope they sell well for you if you do produce them!

[Marcel111]

Tamiya

[Tomjw]

Yep, Tamiya

[Starfighter]

Tamiya all the way. 

[Rick Griewski]

Tamiya 

[riffer]

Tamiya

[Dave Roof]

2 hours ago, Jennings Heilig said:

While I have zero interest or intention of building a 1/32 F-14 in my life, I have to say - the only thing that would require a decal to fit a specific kit is one that completely covers an edge-to-edge portion of the airframe.  About 99.999% of decals will not do that, and will thus be fine on any kit you put them on.  I can’t really think of a single F-14 decal that would require that.  

 

There are actually several markings that won't be fine "on any kit you put them on". 

[Rick Griewski]

Dave, you are talking about existing decals that need improvement? Or the or the 1:1 markings on the original air frame.  

[Tony T]

12 hours ago, Jennings Heilig said:

While I have zero interest or intention of building a 1/32 F-14 in my life, I have to say - the only thing that would require a decal to fit a specific kit is one that completely covers an edge-to-edge portion of the airframe.  About 99.999% of decals will not do that, and will thus be fine on any kit you put them on.  I can’t really think of a single F-14 decal that would require that.  

 

I don't have a Tamiya kit to measure but, just for starters, I seriously doubt if the diagonal between the cockpit sill and forward missile pallets, or rudder measurements, are identical on both manufacturers' kits. That's probably more like 40% of the decals for most 1970s glossy light gull grey over white schemes. 

 

Tony

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Neo]

I would say Trumpeter. Its more available i have a D i cant wait to build

[Dave Williams]

If you’re doing only the F-14A, I’d definitely pick Tamiya.

[Breaker]

Trumpeter. You can do the A/B/D and it'll go on the kit. Tamiya is only the A without external

 

[jenshb]

20 hours ago, Jennings Heilig said:

While I have zero interest or intention of building a 1/32 F-14 in my life, I have to say - the only thing that would require a decal to fit a specific kit is one that completely covers an edge-to-edge portion of the airframe.  About 99.999% of decals will not do that, and will thus be fine on any kit you put them on.  I can’t really think of a single F-14 decal that would require that.  

VF-111 with the suburst on the tail is one that definitely needs to be matched to a specific kit.  Not only does the leading edge and rudder trailing edge need to match, but the chord and span of the rudders too as many Carrier Air Wing codes are either on the rudder or following the slope of the rudder.  Examples are VF-1 and VF-33 and VF-142 rudder stripes.  1:48 decals sized for the Hasegawa kit won't fit the Tamiya kit - I've tried using scans of the decals.    Then there is the added consideration of the ventral fins that will probably be different in outline and are often decorated with pinstripes.

Edited January 14, 2022 by jenshb