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1/32 F-14D Teknics Superset/Tamiya in Trumpeter F-14D? + my kit thoughts


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Im curious, i does the Trumpeter Cat compare to lets say the Hasegawa Cat in 1/48? Because Hase was the norm for F-14 dor so long , and ive built 2 of them and well lets just say that its far from an easy build. 

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Regarding the comments about Tomcats getting "over-weathered": I would recommend that folks look for images of later-model F-14's that have been on a carrier for several months. Many of them look like they've flown through a paint-factory backwards. The salt-water dousing they were subjected to wrecked merry havoc with their paint-schemes and the fresh-paint "patches" used to hide blemishes stood out by about a mile. They started to look like a patchwork quilt after a while. 

 

I read some time ago that the US Navy has ordered that all aircraft that spend most of their time at sea must be thoroughly washed down by the maintenance-crews at least once a week, to help prevent salt-water corrosion. 

 

Still, I appreciate that not everyone digs aircraft models being heavily-weathered and I respect their opinions. Let's face it, this hobby should be enjoyed at peoples' own, personal levels. If it's pleasing to your own eye, I would say "go for it". 

 

Cheers. 

 

Chris.  

Edited by Confusionreigns178
Correcting a typo.
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Hi, not being a Tomcat expert (by far) but i bought the Trumpeter F-14D Super Hornet a couple of years back, still in the stash (ofcourse dahh), and it has the 2015 inscription on the inside of the lower fuselage part, but i found the info on the metal inserts interesting, especially either it being the long or short metal insert being only one of the two provided in the trumpeter kit, but i checked the box and discovered metal inserts for the gear, and also two provided for the nose gear, long and short.

Could this have been a "short" release on this kit before they changed the inserts into styrene ones?

 

Just curious,

 

J.

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15 hours ago, Confusionreigns178 said:

Regarding the comments about Tomcats getting "over-weathered": I would recommend that folks look for images of later-model F-14's that have been on a carrier for several months. Many of them look like they've flown through a paint-factory backwards. The salt-water dousing they were subjected to wrecked merry havoc with their paint-schemes and the fresh-paint "patches" used to hide blemishes stood out by about a mile. They started to look like a patchwork quilt after a while. 

 

I read some time ago that the US Navy has ordered that all aircraft that spend most of their time at sea must be thoroughly washed down by the maintenance-crews at least once a week, to help prevent salt-water corrosion. 

 

Still, I appreciate that not everyone digs aircraft models being heavily-weathered and I respect their opinions. Let's face it, this hobby should be enjoyed at peoples' own, personal levels. If it's pleasing to your own eye, I would say "go for it". 

 

Cheers. 

 

Chris.  

 

I was referring to weathering on 1970s-1980s subjects in general, but yes the USN Tomcats, Corsairs etc got very spotty with paint touch-ups, including primers, and F-4s always had horribly grubby bottoms. 

 

Personally, I think matt finishes and weathering are a fantastic way to hide paint or build defects. Quick spot sand, squirt of paint. To do an immaculate finish — such as a Blue Angels paint scheme — is arguably much more challenging. 

 

Weathering or dirtying-up to one side, I am amazed by the matt finishes on some models: how do you get that without the milky look from modern formula milk bottles clear finishes? 

 

Tony 

 

 

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On 6/27/2022 at 4:34 AM, Jack said:

Hi, not being a Tomcat expert (by far) but i bought the Trumpeter F-14D Super Hornet a couple of years back, still in the stash (ofcourse dahh), and it has the 2015 inscription on the inside of the lower fuselage part, but i found the info on the metal inserts interesting, especially either it being the long or short metal insert being only one of the two provided in the trumpeter kit, but i checked the box and discovered metal inserts for the gear, and also two provided for the nose gear, long and short.

Could this have been a "short" release on this kit before they changed the inserts into styrene ones?

 

Just curious,

 

J.

 

I cannot be sure of the limited release part, on Trumpeters website it is still listed as metal parts, also there is no correction (sticker) in my instruction manual to say the UC legs are styrene.

you are lucky to have an early kit where the metal legs are included, i remember when i built the 1:32 Tamiya 1980's version there was a significant amount of lead that needed to be added to the nose to keep the front UC on the ground, it was a fairly heavy kit with metal bracing for the wing mechanism, although a static display i dont think it would have taken much for a disaster to happen resulting in 1 or 2 Greens instaed of 3 Greens lol

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