POST ALL JSE F-14 QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSION HERE

supersonicfifi · Post by **supersonicfifi** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 3:47 am

may I say that this model is "SPOT ON" ?

gouchy · Post by **gouchy** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 4:54 am

Wha?!

I missed the forum for 1 day and...

the Buffalo Dung has hit the Rotor Blades??

Though everyone has their opinions and likes/dislikes and some will be swayed in their decisions by the opinions of the rest,
ultimately the decision to buy or not buy is down to you and you alone.

But sales results will be a collective indication to JSI and it will definitely factor in whether they did a good job or not.
Did they meet sales expectations and recoup their investments regardless of Spotgate?
The final tally would definitely influence what they would do in their next business decision.

We could end up with either,
- No more new products, JSI cuts n runs, i.e. no flanker

- Much improved quality/paint in next series/items
- or price increase

/ decrease

with same and/or better quality

Privately I beech to myself about the price but I'm can't risk letting this one go.

I absolut suck at painting so I guess I'll just mount the tomcat on top of my car and drive along the beach for more additional weathering to hide the spots

gouchy · Post by **gouchy** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 4:59 am

supersonicfifi wrote:PRODUCTION MODEL :

I zoomed into the picture on the canopy,

I might be wrong but the reflection shown seems to me like some houses across like a suburb street. It seems this photo shoot was set up on some car porch/garage front in daylight?

Any expert photographers would like to comment on how this would affect the actual versus photo accuracy of the paint job?

I cant really tell from the shadows cast whether its flash or natural sunlight

Stug45 · Post by **Stug45** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 5:46 am

Where are the DROP tanks???

Post by **aferguson** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 8:58 am

why spots? why not at least streaks?

They just airbrushed grey dots all over the thing; the thing which is a $200 high quality collectible. To have done nothing would have saved them money and been 100 times better.

I gather nobody has heard back from Merit?

NWarty · Post by **NWarty** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 9:21 am

No, I haven't heard back from Merit.

tkjaer21 · Post by **tkjaer21** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 9:43 am

Stug45 wrote:Where are the DROP tanks???

I bet those are with the accessory sets that come out along with the tanker/feuler and pilot sets.

NWarty · Post by **NWarty** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 10:01 am

Man I hope that isn't the case. I may have to up my blood pressure meds.

Here's a copy of my email that I sent to Merit:

Merit,
The final assembled production photograph of the JSI Tomcat does not show the belly drop tanks. Do you know if they included them and were not fitted to the model in the photograph? The drop tanks were indeed fitted to the paint prototype Tomcat shown at the various shows. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

V/R
B**** *******

Heck, I thought I was polite enough to get a response

toyktdlgh · Post by **toyktdlgh** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 10:14 am

Man, I don’t think they are going to answer you. I wouldn’t mess with them on it. They are probably ignoring every darn email that is related to this plane. I would try a retailer first. I’m sure someone at B-Cat would know.

thatf14guy · Post by **thatf14guy** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 10:17 am

STARMAN 352 · Post by **STARMAN 352** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 10:51 am

I have kept out of this since the debate about the spots but i feel i was let down by JSI and sitting here and wondering what the outcome is going to be for this 1:18 Tomcat,
Cancel order or get it and just be happy they made it and re-airbrush it a little to make it look a little better.

One thing for sure is the price is really high for this sort of workmanship on the F-14 Jolly Rogers Tomcat and the fact Merit /JSI has not responded any emails is bad customer service on their part and they need to be honest about things. Really wish they had not rushed this product out so fast because i have a feeling that is just what they did and why collectors don't like the weathering job on it. Who ever came up with the idea of spots?? This will cause collectors in the future be leary about them now because of this.

KKH · Post by **KKH** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 1:19 pm

Drop tanks are shown in the box pictures on Merits website under toy shows for the Hobby show in October. Assuming that is how it is going to be packaged. I just think they were left off for this hurried production picture, and I mean hurried!!

Birddog · Post by **Birddog** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 1:35 pm

Stug45 wrote:Where are the DROP tanks???

Bad Cat's blog now says that the Drop tanks will be included according to Merit. They just were not put on the aircraft for the picture.

Coreyeagle48 · Post by **Coreyeagle48** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 1:37 pm

Greetings:

This was a hurried shot. The photo looks terrible and looks like it was hastily set up. As I've said numerous times, I think this was a rushed production model just to get it into Merit's hands so that they could photograph it and show people.

I remember taking a photo of my car once in sunlight and the whole thing looked like it was bleached out. If someone did take this picture in the sunlight it could be very well bleached out. I think the actual model is darker than the pictures portray. Just my interpretation of the photos posted up to this point.

I am sorry I still don't see what I would call spots. It looks very similar to the weathering pattern on my Golden Dragons Hornet. I think the lighter color is making it look worse. And interestingly enough, I saw a CF-18 Hornet parked at an airshow this year that had a similar weathering pattern as this jet is portrayed, but I do not have a picture of the top side. I've looked through a lot of my photo files trying to find an example of weathering, sadly, most airshow planes are given a fresh coat of paint, especially the demonstration aircraft. I'll keep looking. The CF-18 I saw was pretty close to what this model looked like, especially on the sides. I could not get a shot of its top side because it was a static only and you weren't allowed very near it

I do have a photo of a Jolly Rogers F-14 but since it's a museum piece it's been redone and has no weathering but looks kind of goofy as a result.

If I were Merit I wouldn't answer any emails either. People are jumping the gun here and if they are getting haggled with the same email time after time, they probably are annoyed. I also doubt any response anyone there would write would help the upset people anyway. They would just be upset about what Merit told them.

I still say make your own judgement when this comes out.

Corey

Shin Densetsu · Post by **Shin Densetsu** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 2:12 pm

I mainly want this because I've personally been hoping we'd get a 1/18 Tomcat for years, some of you may remember my old wishlists and polls and the numerous discussions we had on this very subject.

I've got the means to add my own weathering to the model so I might do that once I get it.

King O' Fools · Post by **King O' Fools** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 2:25 pm

It will be interesting to see if the afterburners in the real thing bear any resemblance to the paint master. I'd be shocked if they do considering the epic fail 'spotgate' has turned out to be thus far, weathering-wise. Wonder why Merit hasn't released any picture of the production model taken from behind.

NWarty · Post by **NWarty** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 2:33 pm

Birddog wrote:
Stug45 wrote:Where are the DROP tanks???
Bad Cat's blog now says that the Drop tanks will be included according to Merit. They just were not put on the aircraft for the picture.

Phew!

And now back to your regularly scheduled program "Spotgate 2009"

King O' Fools · Post by **King O' Fools** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 2:56 pm

Coreyeagle48 wrote:Greetings:

This was a hurried shot. The photo looks terrible and looks like it was hastily set up. As I've said numerous times, I think this was a rushed production model just to get it into Merit's hands so that they could photograph it and show people.

Well, if it was indeed "a rushed production model" it was a real PR SNAFU from beginning to end. The whole idea behind releasing pics of an actual production model to assuage your potential buyers concerns over 'spotgate' is to show them how the real deal is actually going to look like when it shows at their doorstep. You don't go and snap a picture of a half-assed model hurriedly put together. I mean, why not just shoot yourself in the foot while you're at it?

And then, of course, there's the question of WHY ON EARTH would JSI need to come up with "a rushed production model" when containers full of finished, ready-for-sale F-14s were said to have left China a couple of weeks before that. It's not like they didn't have a sample production model lying around somewhere. So why would they need to rush one? (And it took them one whole week to rush it, BTW.)

Coreyeagle48 wrote:I do have a photo of a Jolly Rogers F-14 but since it's a museum piece it's been redone and has no weathering but looks kind of goofy as a result.

If I were Merit I wouldn't answer any emails either. People are jumping the gun here and if they are getting haggled with the same email time after time, they probably are annoyed. I also doubt any response anyone there would write would help the upset people anyway. They would just be upset about what Merit told them.

They "are getting haggled with the same email time after time" because the production model pics they released look nothing like the paint master(s) they had shown in the past. Simple as that. If they did rush the assembly, painting and/or completion of the plane shown in the latest pics, that still would be the manufacturer's and, possibly, even the distributor's fault. Certainly, not the customers'.

exether_mega · Post by **exether_mega** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 3:24 pm

phil

c44588 · Post by **c44588** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 3:41 pm

"I dont see No Stinkin' Spots.....?!?"

Geez, my computer screen must be all F...ed up I guess....looks like a spotcat to me!

Anyone else seein' spots? I mean, anyone who aint drinkin'?

How do you say 'bait and switch' in chinese? 'Daily Lunch Special No. 69"...

BTW....that reminds me of a funny joke....you see, there was this lady...

NWarty · Post by **NWarty** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 3:47 pm

BCA has a new blog posting up about the prototype vs. the production model. Some of my thoughts:

Rob states that the model is gorgeous yet he doesn't like the spots. To me that is a huge contradiction. Any decent modeler can build a 1/32 Tomcat straight OOB. What sets the plane apart is the finish. Go to http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com and their gallery and pull up F-14's, all eight pages worth and look at the models.

A Revell 1/32 Tomcat can look just as good, if not better than the Tamiya Tomcat, IF....well painted by an advanced modeler. I'm talking OOB, no aftermarket junk. Look at Narita's Tomcat (google it) and then go look at Joe Blow's Tomcat. It's all about the finish.

So yes, IMO the model lines and features are important in this day and age when we come to expect industry-standard things. But a sub-standard paint job, no clear lights, really hurt this model IMO.

There is little doubt in my mind that this plane was built and painted by first-timers, not the crew who did the Corsair and Lightning.

[EDIT] I'm starting to ramble at this point.

King O' Fools · Post by **King O' Fools** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 4:29 pm

exether_mega wrote:

phil

Stug45 · Post by **Stug45** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 6:00 pm

exether_mega wrote:

phil

great post exether_mega

Coreyeagle48 · Post by **Coreyeagle48** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 6:06 pm

Greetings:

Unfortunately, it seems this model has been targeted with criticism since its inception. In reality, since this model has been announced, there have been constant complaints about it. First it was the paint scheme, then it was the lack of pilots, then it was the angle of the tails, then it was the price tag, now the weathering appearence of the model. Seriously, does the complaining on this board ever stop?

It seems JSI and Merit were both dead before this started, no matter what they did, no one here was happy. That is really a shame in many respects. This is the first truly new 1/18 aircraft in a few years and people were constantly complaining about something with it. It seems complaining is starting to run rampant on this forum about anything and everything. I remember a time when there was uproar over the BBI 1/32 F-4, which was one of the nicest paint jobs and best quality 1/32 models that had been made by either 21st, BBI or FOV. Yet people complained about its price point and anything else they could think of.

I have my complaints too, don't get me wrong. I have long hated the folding wings on both the Hellcat and Avenger. I don't like the sagging rotors of my Apache and don't like the flat finish of the Blue Angels BBI F-18 Hornet. With every model produced, from a kit to a prefinished product, you can find something you don't like. Some models are better than others. Perhaps another company will come along and make a better F-14 or the next paint run will have a better finish. Only time will tell.

As far as Merit goes, I wouldn't answer any emails either. Every time they release something about this plane, people jump down their throats about it. I can almost promise whatever they release next there will be no production shots, no production model shots and no information about the model. I promise that. The way some folks decided to conduct themselves has effectively ruined that for everyone else. Constructive criticism is always good, but I think some of this went too far and out of control before anyone actually had a model to hold in their hand and review.

I only hope people did not scare off JSI into doing more 1/18 planes.

And it's been said many times before, if you are truly that upset about this airplane and its paint finish, cancel your preorder. If they oversold by 10 percent as was claimed, I'm sure there is some child or collector who would want this under their tree and finds the finish acceptable and it will bring enjoyment to them.

Corey

pcoughran · Post by **pcoughran** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 6:17 pm

If you think the JSI version is expensive, what would you pay for a Lego 1/35 scale F14?

Would you guess $300? There are some other cool kits here (courtesy of Beeavision's post on Fighting 1/18th):
http://www.mechanizedbrick.com/mb.html
The P3 Orion 1/48 scale will set you back $600. I guess you're paying for the "joy" of getting to assemble them.