POST ALL JSE F-14 QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSION HERE

[tmanthegreat]

got my F-14 today from WWII Attic. It's certainly a bo-hemoth. Very nice overall but mine had these wierd purple spots painted all over it....anyone else have that?

ahem....some of the spots are going to be tricky to touch up, being over top of maintainance stencils etc but i think leaving some of the spots partially exposed will look decent and give a more realistic weathered look....as opposed to the peppered with purple and grey spots look it has now.

who in hell thought that was a good idea??????

To mask the markings, carefully apply tape along the edges of the markings so that you can get the paint as close to the edge of the marking as possible.

On my plane, however, I simply left some of the spots partially showing where they interefered too greatly with the markings (look at the number 201 on the nose in the picture below). The tactic made for a good weathered look. Afterall, my goal when repainting was not to get rid of the spots completely, but to obscure them and work them into the weathering:



Judging by how some of the spots on my plane originally consisted of the dark paint with a lighter gray superimposed on top leads me to believe this was the effect JSI was trying to go for, only they did not get it right.

[snake]

Great looking stands pizzaguy.

That F-14 one looks particularly good.It will help a lot of collectors that have gear problems,or are worried about future problems.

I have a couple of stands from pizzaguy,including the F-16 one,and they are really good.

Highly recommended.

[CessnaDriver]

Check how nasty these birds could get!...

[Black Lion VF-213]

That's a great photo of AJ210. That one was taken around July 1978 towards the end of their 77-78 Med cruise. VF-84 had that paint scheme for only a year and it was already beginning to show wear. Amazing how fast paint jobs can weather while out at sea....

[ww2collecter]

My solution to the broken landing gear issue. One of mine was broke out of the box. A spring and pin was missing. Crazy how that would happen. I made one stand basic and one deluxe.

THAT LED ONE IS AWESOME !!!!

PM sent

[DEVGRU]

[skyraider]

Hi Guys. My F-14 model will be here Monday, and I would like some pointers on things to look for as I put it together. Just don't want to over look something. Thank you for your help.

[tmanthegreat]

The model should assemble easily, but here are a few pointers:

Installation of the cockpit section: It will be a tight fit, but should go in there. There are grooves along the side so you can see where to line it up.

Nosecone: The nosecone will fit on a special hinge so that it can open and close. Use care when putting it on by applying a little force. The hinge is not tight enough to allow the nosecone to stay up on its own in the open position, though using glue to create some sort of friction may solve that.

The rest of the plane (tail surfaces, elevators, missile racks, and missiles) is pretty easy to assemble. They just go into their proper slots on the main fuselage.

Landing Gear: This is the most fragile part of the model in many respects. They will arrive in the box retracted or at least partially retracted. Carefully pull out the main gear while twisting them into the correct extended position. There is a tab on the rear of the gear that fits into a slot on the fuselage, and there is another tab that extends to fit into a slot on the side of the fuselage. With those in place, unfold the main pushrodand extend it into place. A little peg will fit into the hole on the roof of the landing gear bay. There is another little rod that can then be extended to provide support to the main pushrod. The nosegear will simply pull back out of its bay and then you fit the rear door onto the little hook on the back side of the main gear strut.

Merit International has posted directions on how to properly extend the gear: http://www.merit-intl.com/month/vf-84%20landing.htm

Additional moving features: the upper and lower airbrakes on the rear of the plane all function, but do not stand up on their own. A little glue to provide friction on the pushrods for these may do the trick.

The glove vanes and cockpit steps are difficult to get out. You may have to use an exacto knife to open those pieces.

The cockpit canopy will stand up on its own. There is a pushrod behind the rear ejection seat that when pushed back, will rest on a ledge and hold the canopy up.

The canopy itself stays closed tightly. Use care when opening it.

Thats all I can think of now off the top of my head. Be sure to look over Merit's landing gear instructions from the link above. The landing gear tend to be fragile. While I've not had a problem with mine, other members have.

I'm sure other members will be able to contribute more info on the do's and dont's about the F-14

[skyraider]

Thank you very much, that is great info on the model.

[general hawk59]

hey that ladder is awesome.. Were did you get those parts to make that. I want to do the same to mine.

[Coreyeagle48]

i had the same question about the ladder?

[DEVGRU]

[Beeavision]

DEVGRU where did you find that pilot ladder? Is it from Wolfpack design or is it a custom? I see that you had cut out the bottom panel so that it opens downward allowing the pilot ladder itself to extend straight down. Nice work!!

[vulgarvulture]

Has anyone tried fixing the tails not being canted outward yet?

[CessnaDriver]

[CessnaDriver]

Has anyone tried fixing the tails not being canted outward yet?

Yeah that is nagging me too.
Now that spots are not on my table, I can think about how to fix that.

[mountian-man]

Anyone take a measurement from the top of the gear to the ground?

[parrish333]

The F-14 madness is settling a bit, but I'm still waffling on getting it. Here's a question for all you F-14 owners - that is, if you could go back and do it all over again, would you:

Still buy it now -or- wait for an S2 release? This assumes of course, that you have the patience for the latter

My reasons for BUY IT NOW: The F-14 is pretty much my all-time fav aircraft, and the spot correction seems do-able, I've got the cash saved up, and it sounds like JSI did A LOT right. Also, maybe there will be no S2 release b/c of wary e-tailers or JSI going the way of 21C.

My hesitations: I have a bit of patience, and figure the S2 would fix the paint and other things like simplifying/strengthening the gear, inclusion of pilots, etc.

I suppose I didn't include option 3 - never, ever buy anything from JSI at any point in past, present, or future I happen to think the P-38 I got from them for Christmas was pretty sweet though.

[CessnaDriver]

I wanted in now no matter what.
I can live without lighted ones and all that, but I didn't want to be left out in the cold if they go belly up and there is never another Tomcat in this scale.

If another comes out with better paint and lights, I'll probably buy that down the road.

[Beeavision]

Has anyone tried fixing the tails not being canted outward yet?

Plan A:
This could work but I would try it on something similar first with a painted finish. Once heated, using a simple jig (set at the correct degree matching the picture below) bend the vertical tail stabilizer just above its base. Since the stabilizers only cant a few degrees outward it shouldn't take that much time and heat to finish the process. The jig will help it bend properly while preventing it from bowing during the heating process. Again this idea works but I would recommend experimenting on a test sample first just to be sure the results match with what you want. I'm working on this myself and if all goes well I'll share with you all my findings along with pictures of the jig itself for better clearification.

See the video down below regarding the heating process.


Plan B:
Another idea is to just heat bend the tabs a bit. And with a little minor sanding along the under side of the base of each vertical stabilizer (so that it connects flush with the body after assembly) you should have it. This way you don't jeopardize the paint on each tail.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHLS3P820ZM

[CessnaDriver]

I was thinking maybe building up the inner part with stryrene might be enough to angle it properly.

[raymond woods]

Could somebody please post the dimensions of the box for me?

Thanks!

Mine is 35" wide x 22" long x 7.5" deep. 15 lbs. full of temporarily spotty F-14 parts.

[iflabs]

Is the main body of the F-14 shaped correctly? For some odd reason, when the wings are swept all the way back, it looks off.

[CessnaDriver]

Is the main body of the F-14 shaped correctly? For some odd reason, when the wings are swept all the way back, it looks off.

Do you mean all the way back until they stop? That is not a flight configuration and it will look a bit funny like that.

Move them forward from that position so that the leading edge of the moveable wing is lined up straight with the leading edge ahead of the pivot point of the wing.

All the way back is for maximizing space on the carrier.