Small Scale Military Headquarters

Aviatornut will be at Weekend of Heroes and will have the Special F14’s there. If you are in the area come on out and I will give you ten dollars off your purchase.

see you guys there and blackdragon will post some pictures and review.

Awesome, looking forward to blackdragon's review!

as are we all, methinks..

I don't recall any 1/18 release ever coming close to evoking such interest, discussion and passion.

I'm scouring all the 1/18 forums that I know of.

No pictures yet.

I don't recall any 1/18 release ever coming close to evoking such interest, discussion and passion.

Well for me, I've been waiting 5 years for something like this!

I think a lot of the interest stems from the fact that it was announced at a time when the future of 1/18 looked bleak and the fact that it's actually going to be released, unlike many of the other announced projects that never reached fruition.

Hopefully the future of this bird is less "spotty". I want subtle weathering and inked in panel lines, and I really dislike seeing weathering over the markings.

Some pics courtesy of General Hawk59 at Fighting 1/18th forum:
http://forums.fighting118th.com/showthr ... #post28921

Thanks for the link.

I've been trying to stay optimistic. But I'm done. Time to cancel the pre-order.

Unbelievable. JSI really blew it. Very frustrating.

Hopefully they will survive to do a S-2 scheme with a normal paint job.

I'm still "keeping hope alive." If you notice in the pic at the show with 2 tomcats. It appears the Special Ed is much worse "spotty" than the one below it. Mayb e the Speical Eds were first off the line to be ready for the show? Then they "toned" down the spots for the production version?!? Hopefully?
It's probably one of the paintmasters though - although it appears there are some spots on it so maybe not?
Just trying to hope.

In regards to the photo with both tomcats, one is in direct flash of the camera, the one in the back isnt...

Ok, I have to ask. What is the Asian model doing with the... Oh, well, nevermind.

"Oh and by the way there were a ton of extras from the show"

Anyone still wonder why?

The pictures are far worse than anything we've been shown before. Can we agree that this was an epic fail or is the jury still out?

Like I said in the main F-14 thread.

I wanted to eat crow. Hoping and wishing what we saw in Merit's pics was a fluke.
Photo by General Hawk 59


I'm disappointed beyond words.

JSI blew it....big time

To my five year old son:

"What do you think about it?"
"It has big dots on it Daddy"

I just about felt crushed.

bring it on i love it love it ...

Here are some IPhone pictures I took
First off the spots arent that bad and with so tactical airbrashing they can be fixed for those of us who know how to use and airbrush
Secondly Im a little leary of the landing gear and how it will hold up the plane over time so I may make re-enforcements for it
Thirdly I must say overall I am impressed as it is a huge plane and it looks well detailed and with a little work it will be a show stopper






The Carrier tows

Here are some more pictures

ME109 Early model .... nice I will get this for sure





F104 ... better paint than the F14 but still reminds me of a candy cane

That makes me feel so much better! Thank you!

I plan on painting details on the steps and ladders...ladder should have red paint in areas, and steps should have 'grip tape', the very course black stuff.

Thanks again! Diego

I am more concern about the landing gear than the spots. Seems the main gear tends to kind of squat outward, and I wonder how well it will support this heavy model.

The F-104 looks really cool.

The "unlighted" one appears to be the exact same model portrayed in the pictures Merit released of the standard edition production model. (At least it has indentical paint overspray over the red intake markings).

yea that worries me as well, even my dragon 1/72 tomcat has a problem with that, I'd be very happy if my tomcat looks like the one above (not the speacial edition one of course)

you're right, its the exact same one, check out the spots over uss theodore, exactly the same

I'm still wondering why the launch bar is down like that...

I'm still wondering why the launch bar is down like that...