F-14A/B/D Spine Detail Set

Kazan Model Dynamics, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

Eduard's 1/48 BRASSIN Spitfire Vb Gun Bays are available online from Squadron.com

Kazan Model Dynamics has released a rather unique upgrade for Hasegawa's 1/48 scale Tomcat family - a multimedia F-14 Tomcat Spine detail set.

When complete, the set will allow you to display the entire spine of the aircraft from the back of the cockpit all the way to the beaver tail.

The set comprises 52 parts in light grey coloured resin, a large photo-etched fret and instructions on three double-sided letter-sized sheets.

The bulk of the conversion is resin, comprising sidewalls, interior detail and separate access hatches.

Casting quality is perfect and detail is beautifully done. Most of the parts are cast onto strips and should be fast and easy to remove and clean up, but some of the fine plumbing (supplied as separate hoses) will need some time and care to free from their casting strips.

The photo-etched fret contains another 20 parts, which are mainly frames for securing the access hatches.

Instructions are supplied on three double-sided sheets of US letter-sized paper with diagrams, photos of the conversion in progress, and detailed text acrioss eight construction steps.

A PDF version is also available from the Kazan website.

Some surgery to the kit's upper fuselage is necessary with the removal of most of the plastic spine and some related areas. This will be the trickiest part of the project.

To quote the instructions however:

"Some who have degenerated into being satisfied with wanting it all with as little effort as possible will call this ‘fiddly‘, but removal of the demolding films is not all that difficult, thanks, in most part, to the resin we use. It’s not very brittle at all, and a bit of patience, care and new knife blades, the removal of the films is a simple affair Their attachment is confined to the botton invisible areas of the components, meaning they don’t need to be cleaned up to any military tolerances. You’ll find that the resin lends itself well to this procedure, is quite resist- ant to breakage, and the biggest danger is inadvertantly slicing through a part all the way, severing it. Again...care and patience. Oh yeah.... almost forgot.... new blades".

I confess to sometimes being one of these degenerates who want it all with minimal effort, but the care and patience required to complete this conversion will certainly be worth the effort in terms of detail and sheer uniqueness.

This set will deliver a striking conversion of your 1/48 scale Hasegawa F-14 Tomcat kit, either as a standalone display piece or as the centrepiece of a maintenance diorama. Detail and casting is exquisite.

This gem will be best suited to moderately experienced modellers. If you have a Hasegawa 1/48 scale Tomcat hanging around your collection - and who hasn't? - this will be the perfect way to use it!

Thanks to Kazan Model Dynamics for the sample.

Review Text and Images Copyright © 2019 by Brett Green
Except images of the completed conversion from Kazan's website
Page Created 6 March, 2019
Last updated 27 June, 2019

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