Small Scale Military Headquarters

Oh, no. Not this thread... 2009 all over again

I regret posting the link to it in the other new Merit releases thread, but that one member seemed to have no idea the JSI F-14 had ever existed when its release caused a near meltdown among some members on this board nearly 5 years ago.

The JSI F-14 came practically out of nowhere in late 2009, built up a lot of expectations in the months before it was released, and then caused a lot of disappointment. It was coming during a time of uncertainty in the 1:18 scale hobby in the year or so after 21c had folded, BBI was apparently non-existent for the moment, and the few other items JSI had previously released had been repaints of repaints of 21c models - but for a higher price. Then comes the F-14 - a big and popular jet and something most collectors would never have dreamed of seeing.

But then after all that hope and anticipation, it comes with this very poor spotted weathering, broken pieces and other QC issues. Add to that the fact that it cost over $200, which made it one of the most expensive new 1:18 models to that date. For a collector population still reeling from their loss of $40 planes at Wal Mart and many of them without modeling skills, it was a kicker to pay a high price and get a poor product in return.

At the same time as the 48-page complaint thread, there was also another thread with a completely different character where members shared ideas on how to "de-spot" the F-14 and repaint it. From there, the whole cottage industry with the metal landing gear, afterburner parts, resin pilot figures, etc. sprang up - so the F-14's faults did in fact spur quite a bit of creativity and sharing that reflected the best aspects of this hobby

For the record, my S1 JSI F-14 came with spots, but no other issues. I was able to successfully "de-spot" it with knowledge gained on this board. I made custom pilots for it until BBI released the loose version of their US Navy pilot figure in 2012. Mine sat for a year on its original landing gear, which never broke, until I decided to hang it. It still hangs to this day, looking big and impressive

Still want the Knights version with lights.

I still get a chuckle from the: "Spots are part of the weathering process" bit on Merit's site back in 2009 when showing the factory photos of the Spotcat being assembled in China.

We can all laugh about it now, but man, that was a very heated time in 1:18 collecting and yeah, I poked the hornets nest a good bit

Yeah, the spots had me a bit disappointed too but I soon got over it once I received my first one in the mail. Now I have three of them hanging in my office and couldn't be any prouder. The first two I repainted and then properly weathered a bit to cover over the spots. This was all thanks in part to the incredible wealth of information that was shared here on this site by its staff of knowledgeable and talented members. The third was their Black Knights second edition release which was perfect so I left it as is. The way I see it if it weren't for the valiant efforts of Merit and JSI I would be still staring to this day at the photos of the F-14 model over at the HPH website that go for about 10 grand a piece only to wish I had the money to buy just one.

Is JSI going to release any more F-14 repaints?

If I recall correctly Jim at Merit did say something earlier about another repaint following the previous Black Knights & Jolly Roger schemes but its unclear when or if we will ever see another release. I think either the VFA-31 Tomcatters or VFA-14 Tophatters were tossed around a bit as being one of the likely choices.

BEEAVISION

Since JSI didn't release the Sundowners or any new F-14 in 2013, I was wondering if the F-14 has bitten the dust for future releases.

Your guess is as good as mine. Jim at Merit may have an answer however I'm assuming the final decision primarily rests on JS International.