Eduard 1/48 "Danger Zone" F-14A Tomcat by Steve Pritchard

Eduard's 1/48 scale "Danger Zone"
Grumman F-14A Tomcat

by Steve Pritchard

Grumman F-14A Tomcat
VF-111 Sundowners

Trumpeter's 1/32 scale F4F-4 Wildcat is available online from Squadron

Summary

Eduard 1/48 F-14 “Danger Zone” in out-of-the-box markings of VF-111 Sundowners (Kit 1192)

Aftermarket accessories:

Eduard F-14A weapon set 1/48 (Catalogue No. SIN64814)

Paints used:

Humbrol enamels 129 for the overall grey,140 for the anti-glare panel/walkways and 60 for the red. Detail painting was also with Humbrol, as well as the gloss coat - clear poly 35 applied prior to decaling. Various Alclad shades including Jet Exhaust and Steel for the engine and nozzle. Windsor &Newton ‘Winton’ oil colours ‘Raw Umber’ and ‘Burnt Sienna’ were used for the panel line and general washes. Finish coat was Wattyl Estapol Matt Polyurethane.

Construction

The kit is of Eduard’s limited edition reboxing of the Hobbyboss kit – see Mick Drover’s comprehensive review elsewhere on HyperScale.

I was impressed with the level of detail provided and wanted to build straight out of the box for a change, having recently completed two 1/32nd models which had had quite a bit of scratch building added. And I nearly succeeded.

Construction began with the cockpit – I was in two minds whether to remove the existing panel detailing – it is very good – and replace with the colour photo-etch replacement. These are well detailed but suffer from being two dimensional. In the end I did replace, but opted to add some small discs punched from plastic card to represent knobs and switches. Some drops of white glue where also used to the same effect. The resin ejector seats looked good with the PE seatbelts added and some careful detail painting, at least to the naked eye.

I then moved onto the radar and radome assembly – I had trouble with the very finely made PE antennae aerials – so much so that I had to make some stretched sprue replacements which are unfortunately a bit overscale.

The instructions suggest assembling the in-flight refueling probe prior to gluing the forward fuselage halves together – a sure recipe to break it off along the way, so I left mine off to final assembly – easily fitted with a slight trimming of the probes base. I also added a small piece to represent the probe extension mechanism, though couldn’t find a decent picture of this, so modeler’s licence employed here.

Next step was the Vulcan cannon and ammunition drum – the real ones are much more complicated than the parts provided, but I was aiming for out of the box and they look quite impressive all the same.

Next up the wings – I was always intending to display with wings extended and flaps deployed, so I cut away most of the circular mounting rings on upper wing parts A3 and A4 – this allowed me to slot the wings home after painting was complete. I added a few small pieces of fuse wire to the upper wing and flap to represent flap actuators. The wings and elevators also have a lot of rivet detail which is not really apparent on the real aircraft – I decided not to fill this detail, rather hoping that a few coats of paint would make them less obvious. I also was careful when weathering not to fill the rivet holes with the oil wash.

Perhaps the fiddliest part of the build was the intakes and associated ramp mechanism – I ended up trimming the ramp actuator parts so the ramps would adopt the look most commonly seen on parked F-14’s. I did end up with some gaps both here and along the intake trunking, but not too difficult to fill and sand.

The undercarriage was next – the kit parts look good as is but I chose to add a few of the more prominent hydraulic lines. Overall painting with Humbrol matt white, followed by a wash of oil paint to bring out the detail, and a final overspray of matt white made the completed units and bays look fairly well used.

The jet exhaust has some very fine PE to assemble, I was pleased with the result though not sure I quite got the correct orientation as described in the instructions.

I was less impressed with the PE for the main canopy – the hooks look overscale and there is some prominent pipe work missing. I trimmed the hooks slightly and added some wire for the piping. I also replaced the supplied access ladder with one from the spares box – I can’t remember who the manufacturer is, but it is definitely an improvement.

Final assembly then took place – including the excellent replacement missiles, though the resin on the Phoenix fins is very thin and several where broken along the way. The instructions call out for a white finish but I prefer the way they look in grey. I also deviated from the instructions which suggest the simpler nose sensor be fitted to the ‘Sundowners’ aircraft.

Thumbnail panels:

Most Tomcats would have eventually received the version with the TV camera and I think this looks more purposeful, so went with that.

Conclusion

In summary, this was an enjoyable build.

I largely kept to the idea of an out of the box build and the detail provided is very good, with a terrific selection of markings. Yes, the kit does have some issues – the excessive rivet detail, fit of the intake ramps, canopy detail, but overall I rate it highly. It will be interesting to see how the newly announced Tamiya kit stacks up against what is probably the best 1/48 scale Tomcat kit currently available.

Steve Pritchard

Christchurch

New Zealand.

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