Tamiya F-14A - Maj Jalil Zandi

[Cheetah11]

I am a sucker for group builds and decided to sneak this build in. The Tamiya F-14A was purchased in 1987 and have been in the stash ever since. The box is in a bit of a sorry state after many moves. The main thing holding me back on this build was the poor cockpit in the kit, but with 3D cockpit decals that has changed, so here goes.

 

 

 

The ace Maj Jalil Zandi was credited with 11 kills during the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-1988, making him according to most sources the top scoring ace of the conflict. After the war he was imprisoned for a year and then returned to the Iranian Air Force. He died in a car accident in 2001.

 

 

I have managed to collect some AM for the build. I also bought the Reskit wheels but thankfully the LHS exchanged them for F-16 wheels. The early wheel pattern on the Iranian F-14 is only available in the kit.

 

Cheers

Nick

Edited September 23, 2023 by Cheetah11

[Mark P]

Hmmmm......a very interesting build and certainly out of the ordinary for an F-14 project! 

 

Mark Proulx

[Loic]

Welcome to the GB!

Looking forward to this atypical subject 

[Cheetah11]

 

Thanks for the interest gents. I intended to build an F-14D from this kit and was given an old D conversion by a fellow modeler. To do this I has to build the forward wheel bay as the conversion cockpit was not a drop in fit.

 

 

 

 

Time now to de-construct the wheel bay and later in the week onto the cockpit.

 

 

As you can see the Tamiya kit wheel bay is sparsely detailed and many pipes and tubes are not round. To improve the look and make it a bit more interesting I replaced some details. Unfortunately my only reference on this, the Squadron Signal Walk Around only has 4 pages on this, but at least better than nothing. 

 

More next week

Nick

[Loic]

Great start! 

I love this kind of improvement and detailing. 

[alain11]

Hi Nick

another " vintage " kit ??? indeed , the kit needs to be updated in a matter of details ,and nowadays levels....(engraving etc ....), but you can  do that !!! , the enhancements  into the wheels well prove it ......

somethings intrigues me : The Iranian Air Force used F 14 A ! okay !!!! , so why do you convert it to the D version ??? .. did they fly it ?... I wonder 

 

for people interested , I recommend the Osprey book about the Iranian F 14 units in combat 

happy modelling 

cheers 

Alain

BTW , I hope you will choose the  blue / grey scheme ......or not ...

 

[Cheetah11]

Hi Alain

5 hours ago, alain11 said:

 

somethings intrigues me : The Iranian Air Force used F 14 A ! okay !!!! , so why do you convert it to the D version ??? .. did they fly it ?... I wonder 

 

You are correct in that the Iranians flew the F-14A and it was also an earlier version with early gun vents and wheel pattern. Fortunately the kit has the correct parts whereas the later boxings has the later style gun vents.

Apologies on the confusion. I was not very clear in the post. The kit was halfway on its way to be converted to a D and I had to de-construct some parts to make it back into an A again. With the Trumpeter D available now it is pointless converting it. Also after reading the Osprey books on the Iran-Iraq conflict I decided to eventually do an Iranian F-4E and F-14A as they are historically far more interesting. The F-4 I finished around 2012 and now is time for the F-14A.

Cheers

Nick

 

[alain11]

Hi

I will follow your build closely , a lot of work awaits you ( you already know this ... don't you ?), I built the A version yearrrs ago , I remember I struggled into the wheel bays to get something " accurate " or at least " decent " ...and that's not all  I started another one a few time later converted to the D ( well before the Trumpy kits ) .......but I gave up before the amount of work to be done 

cheers 

Alain

[Cheetah11]

Not too much done over the week. The "Honey Do" list was quite long. I did manage some cockpit work and looked at the armament.

 

A hydraulic jack for opening the canopy was added to the rear bulkhead. I also added some detail to the instrument panel covers. The Iranian aircraft seem to keep the original config as depicted in the Tamiya kit, so not much addition was needed.

 

 

 

 

I also found this at the LHS. AIM-9J missiles were impossible to find in any kit prior to Eduard and Reskit released them.

 

 

 

The LAU-7 launchers in the kit are a little short and not detailed at all. I will replace them with ones from the Trumpeter F-8.

 

 

I will use the AIM-54A from the kit but will add the radar fuses to the sides. This is before final sanding down.

 

 

Trouble in Paradise.  I was reflecting on the near perfect fit of this old kit when I noticed the gap between the sides of the rear cockpit and the fuselage sides, I will see which is the best way to fix this. Till next week.

 

 

Cheers

Nick

Edited October 1, 2023 by Cheetah11

[Loic]

Looking good  

[alain11]

hi Nick

as I said, and I repeat, a lot of work, so much so that one can’t decide where to start... slowly, but surely ... go ahead Nick

[Cheetah11]

A bit of basic improvement to the kit. The glove seals are a bit basic and needed attention.

 

 

 

I also added a bit of detail to the cockpit sides as well as cut the opening for the refuelling probe

 

 

The last thing this week was work on the stab and fins. Mostly fixing sink marks and filling the deep panel lines on the fin. Both the stab and fin have smooth surfaces in real life, so minimal scribing required. Priming and final sanding next week.

 

 

Cheers

Nick.

[alain11]

Hi NIck

I could be wrong , but is there not something like a .. "stiffener" on top of the vertical fin.... ? 

Alain

someting like that ( photo from Prime Portal )

 

[Cheetah11]

10 hours ago, alain11 said:

Hi NIck

I could be wrong , but is there not something like a .. "stiffener" on top of the vertical fin.... ? 

Alain

 

Hi Alain

you are right about the stiffeners on the tail. There are also two on the back of the fuselage. I think they were fitted later in the life of the Tomcat as I could not see any on photos of Iranian Tomcats.

Cheers

Nick

[Cheetah11]

A lot of distraction kept me away from this build over the last week. I did manage to paint the intake trunks and do the cockpit.

 

 

I needed a bit of plastic card to fill the gaps next to the side consoles. Not the fault of Red Fox. Just an old kit.

 

 

One piece I could not get information on is the HUD.

 

The earlier Tomcats projected the HUD picture onto the windscreen but Tamiya does not provide colour callouts or even a clear piece of plastic to cover this. Any photos will be appreciated.

Cheers

Nick