Could anyone recommend a good 1:72 scale F-14 kit?

[GunnerX]

Hiya! I'm looking to build a 1:72 scale F-14 tomcat, and am leaning towards a hase kit, but i heard some of them use old toolings? What other kits of F-14's would you guys recommend?

Thanks!

[Omega One]

There are two different toolings for the hase. kits ........one with raised panel lines (very easy kit, cheap and is the one that has the macross zero decals) and the other has engraved panel lines, lots of details, BUT!!! it`s a pain in @$$ to work with ........Prepare your self to do a lot of sanding and filling.....but after all in my oppinion it´s the best F-14 kit.

Then you have two more options to do a nice tomcat, First is the Fujimy ....easy kit , lots of detail (engraved panel lines) and many options.

And second would be the Academy kit ......a cheap model that can become a great model with some work.

I guess that´s all

Cheers

[Akula]

FUJIMI... nothing but FUJIMI

[HWR MKII]

love fujimi it even comes with a compressed nose gear for simulated cat launches. the F-14 kit is also praised by most to be the best 1/72 scale kit on the market to date.

[Tuffskull]

look at my F-14 in the model kit thread...I like it..

[David Hingtgen]

Depends what you want. If you just want "any" F-14, get a Fujimi. If you want an *accurate* B or D, you'll probably want to go with the Hase.

And there's always lots of people who use the Fuji's weapons on the Hase.

[wm cheng]

Hey GX,

After a lot of research and consulting with our resident aircraft expert DH, these are the kits I decided on. The hasegawa kit is outstanding (haven't built it yet - so I'm afraid of the fit and seams - but looking at the detailing molded in - it lives up to the Hasegawa name) This is the tooling with the engraved pieces, in fact, it comes with photo-etched parts - and the proper decal (by Cartograph) squadron for me to display next to Roy's VF-0 and VF-1. I also bought the Verlinden resin cockpit set and TrueDetails seats, I prefer them over the Verlinden seats, but they are still miles ahead of the Hasegawa kit supplied ones.

[wm cheng]

I just did a dry fit of the resin cockpit pieces. The darker resin is Verlinden, and the lighter seats are True Details.

[wm cheng]

A closeup of the seats and the sharp seatbelt sculpts - you can see the console buttons on the side panels, pretty detailed - although a bit out of scale (too large for 1/72) but with a wash and dry brushing, they should stand up quite nicely. 3D buttons will always beat out decals any day - even if they are a bit big.

That's it for this kit for now - I want to get started on a VF-1 for the atmospheric boosters before I get back to the F-14.

[GunnerX]

Hey, thanks all! That F-14 looks sweet! I'll probably have to look into getting replacement seats though!

Cheers!

[HWR MKII]

enjoy that box art and preserve it too because it may be the last time you see an F14 in that paint scheme again. sad really. makes me want to find a copy of the final countdown and do a model of an F14 A. im thinking tamiya 1/32 scale. Doesnt tamiya also offer a 1/72 scale 14D now?

Edited November 28, 2004 by HWR MKII

[wm cheng]

Tamiya offers a 1/72 F-14?? I didn't know - how is it? Any details pics, links or info?

[hellohikaru]

That's not a boxart...looks more like a picture of the real thing to me.

Now this is a actual boxart. Hasegawa may have better ones too.

[GunnerX]

That's not a boxart...looks more like a picture of the real thing to me.

Now this is a actual boxart. Hasegawa may have better ones too.

Hey! That's the F-14 i was looking at! How is the quality hellohikaru? They do give some photoetched pieces rite?

[hellohikaru]

The photo is not of my Fujimi kit. I sold my unbuilt kit ages ago. I remember the kit has also features like weapons, engines, radar and so on. It isn't exactly 100 % accurate looking but you can swing the wings.

[hellohikaru]

Anyway i heard most of the Fujimi kits have been reissued in limited numbers. If you don't mind making nice looking with lots of goodies but slightly inaccurate models then Fujimi may be for you.

[GunnerX]

Thanks! Anyone know which Hase F-14 kits have swing wings and which don't? I assume that they all are movable, but just to be sure...

[HWR MKII]

i did some research and unfortunately tamiya does not offer a 72 scale 14. too bad. one thing to try is mix and match parts from hase and fujimi like the fuselage from hase with the compressed nose gear and flaps from fujimi and see what results happen.

[wm cheng]

Stay away from the Hasegawa kits with swing wings!! They are the old molds with raised panel lines (like the Macross Zero F-14) Horrible!

Unfortunately, the newer molds all have fixed position wings (there is an option to have the forward slats extended and rear flaps extended - then you can't swing the wings in anyways) However, if you chose to retract all the moveable components of the wing - you can make them poseable in two positions (fully over-sweeped - carrier stow mode and fully extended) after your finished - but they cannot swing perse. The kit I showed is one of these - excellent engraved details - all the tiny access panels and revits - but very lightly engraved - lighter than the VF-1. From what I've heard, the Fujimi have fewer engraved details, just the main panels and moveable surfaces - but its a much simpler kit. The Hasegawa kit is an exact duplicate of their 1/48 scale version but scaled down - so there are close to 300 parts for a 1/72 kit (which makes for some pretty small pieces). My kit which I posted earlier does include a fairly extensive set of photoetched parts including canopy frames, mirrors, canopy latch lugs, and all the control consoles. But from what I've heard its not a beginners kit.

[Stamen0083]

Even if Tamiya offers a 1/72 Tomcat, I would recommend staying away from it. As far as I know, all Tamiya 1/72 airplane kits are reboxing of Italeri kits. In other words, they suck.

[HWR MKII]

there are worse companies than italeri. esci being one of them cant even get the hood of a hummer or the geometry of a LAV- 25 front end correct where italeri does.

lately if tamiya does offer something new it is 100% theirs and newly tooled. in the past they have shared molds with italeri like the 25mm bushmaster hummer but lately they have done nothing but their own stuff.

[captkraimer]

is ACADEMY/MODEL RECTIFIER CORP. a good model company, i just bought a mid-21 fishbed ussr at my local hobby shop. what am i in for?

[HWR MKII]

academy used to be attached to minicraft and usually reissued older tamiya kits at half the cost but now they tool their own new kits(I.E. tiger 1 with full interior). normally anything by academy is good. model rectifier is a merging of italeri,tamiya,minicraft,academy and a few other companies that share alot of molds and issue kits with different markings but are usually all the same kit(I.E. academy 1/35 scale blackhawk/italeri 1/35 scale black hawk) the mig is one of the better kits offered by academy.

Edited December 4, 2004 by HWR MKII

[Stamen0083]

So many companies merging nowadays. This really mucks things up. I want a decent F-22 Raptor kit, and between the Tamiya, Italeri, and Revell Germany offerings, I'm still facing the same damn kit, with the same damn inaccurate cockpit and everything else associated with Italeri.

Too bad. I wish Tamiya would make their own 1/72 fighter line instead of reboxing Italeri.

[HWR MKII]

actually italeri,tamiya and revell are sourcing out to DML/dragon for their kits. a good company for large scale armor and acft is trumpeter. i have their 1/35 scale MI-24 hind v and its much better than anything tamiya offers,and their 1/32 A-10 is excellent.