Small Scale Military Headquarters

to me both planes looked the same....same weathering pattern .....not sure if the planes that comes out on thursday or friday will look like the weekend of heroes show planes

Johnathan, are you getting a good number of the standard F-14s to sell?

Sabrefan wrote:Kind of reminds me of a railroad boxcar with lots of graffiti on it. Maybe JSI was modeling a Tomcat that was on display for years outdoors, and vandals had their way with spray cans......

I thought the spots were Bondo...

That's true, maybe this Tomcat just had LOTS of bondo work..

Very disappointed in the poor finish job, this puts 21st's " Silver Fingerprint Camo" to shame. I'm seriously considering selling two of the preorders I've got and possibly repainting one for a display piece.

Wow! very disappointing in the finish, and with the time they took to do their homework and pretty much hit a homerun as far as the overall fit, yet they still manage to completely screw the pooch in terms of finish work.

WOW! Those outdoor shots really are the most eye-opening examples of what is on the way. All along I have been thinking to myself how bad can it really be? We are afterall getting a 1:18 F-14 Tomcat right?

Well the optimist in me has just decided that I had better quit lying to myself and just admit that I will indeed need to break out the paints and fix this darn thing myself. My quick thought is simply to mask off all the markings and just give it a good overall grey spray out of the spots all together! Might just have to go with that "Fresh from the factory" look as it would be pretty quick to do. The Jolly Roger scheme is simply too good to ignore so I think this is the best route to take.

I might have to start up a repaint process for those folks who really want an F-14 but want it fixed. I get mine this week and I will take a look at what is involved. I ordered a Limited Edition version as well, which will promptly become a 70's Black Aces scheme. The lights should be really cool once I fix the wild animal kingdom spots it should be GREAT!

The model actually looks really really good just some bad paint. Man I mean it looks BAD in those outdoor pics! I hope to get it done ASAP so that JSI can see what their plane looks like in good paint!

That sounds like a great idea (masking off the decals and over spraying the whole thing again).

You don't have to keep it factory fresh, infact, you can add this easy clay based weathering, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwHP6Tj13DE

I think that is what I'll do (however, I'll first need to get a damn air brush).

Watch that video, tell me what you think, I think it'd work great, it would deff. fill in the panel lines.

Regards, Diego

tko211 wrote:
I might have to start up a repaint process for those folks who really want an F-14 but want it fixed.

I don't want to miss this JR scheme either due to spots. I would definitely be interested after seeing the work and asking price.

sorry for the late reply,,,, just cam home from the nicu... so did not have enough time to review give me a few days and i give a clearer review..

the dots look way better in person... I

i like it .....

right now i have two 12 hours day to get through and i have a little more time ..

thanks..

Boy ! what a desappointement ! after seeing the pictures and almots waiting for 2 years ! I need a PLAN B :



Since i am not a modeler i envision to ask a professionnal or buy some spray can for modelers ...

Do you know if such can exist ?(the illustration above is not right but representative of what i am looking for .... i must find the right color!)

I think Sabrefan is on to something. I might mount my F-14 model on a pole, an make a future diorama of what the Tomcat would look like after many years on display.

By the Way im glad you guys like my pictures.. Please do me a favor when you post pictures that I took and that I posted online give me credit for them.. I dont mind people taking them and using them but give me and the site that they were posted on credit.. thanks

thatf14guy wrote:













IMG]http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n206 ... 18/4-1.jpg[/IMG]

MY gawd is that the new US navy version of WWII Luftwaffe camo???????

VMF115 wrote:MY gawd is that the new US navy version of WWII Luftwaffe camo???????

generalhawk, your right, sorry about that. i figured you were gonna post them soon anyways. hope your not too mad, are you just loving that plane? it looks good even with the spots.

These photos show the truth about this plane. It’s a magnificently designed bird with the most hideous, horrific, disappointing paint job ever made in the world of 1:18th scale aircraft. (I’m sure someone will try to find one worse) The paint is just terrible. They must have been blind or had the lights too dang low in the factory. It’s a true shame that this airplane has to look like this. All the effort and design time that went into it is obvious. If I were JSI I would be finding a new place to be manufacturing these things. They should give us the ground crew and pilots for free after this escapade. My airbrushing ability will be tested on this for sure. I’m very disappointed. But still buying! It's like crack for some reason. Love-hate... Love-hate...

thatf14guy wrote:generalhawk, your right, sorry about that. i figured you were gonna post them soon anyways. hope your not too mad, are you just loving that plane? it looks good even with the spots.

no one mention engine detail,u can see the fan blade,, great landing gear design..air brake top and bottom... it is a beautiful plane

missile detail great

The people crying the loudest are ones that haven't even seen the real deal just pics on the intardnet. Yes the paint in the pics doesn't look all that hot, but every person that has seen it says it looks better in person. The detail looks fantastic so instead of being one of the many snivelers I'm looking forward to receiving my tomcat and the rest of you can go pound sand.

This place is getting unreal in the amount of whining that takes place. You are never satisfied with anything. If you all are not bemoanig the end of 1/18, you are nitpicking every little detail of the models that are released. So you all can take comfort in your little den of misery I'm done.

toyktdlgh wrote:These photos show the truth about this plane.

In-a-better-mood-revision-to-prior-comment: agreed, not particularly to my liking, hopefully next effort is improved.

Killerf6 wrote:The people crying the loudest are ones that haven't even seen the real deal just pics on the intardnet. Yes the paint in the pics doesn't look all that hot, but every person that has seen it says it looks better in person. The detail looks fantastic so instead of being one of the many snivelers I'm looking forward to receiving my tomcat and the rest of you can go pound sand.

This place is getting unreal in the amount of whining that takes place. You are never satisfied with anything. If you all are not bemoanig the end of 1/18, you are nitpicking every little detail of the models that are released. So you all can take comfort in your little den of misery I'm done.

"Lighten Up Francis"

All the people I know that saw it in person are all selling these and have lots of money invested and an interest in making it not as bad as it is. If you like Spots you'll like it and buy it. You don't have to be "rivet counter" to see that this is ugly. This is the first model I've ever really complained about and I own about 50, even some with sagging wings, missing screw covers, etc...

I love angry rants. They always make me laugh.

On the other hand I do realize that this topic is very polarized. Thankfully we are all allowed to voice our opinions even if they sometimes annoy others that feel differently.

his place is getting unreal in the amount of whining that takes place. You are never satisfied with anything. If you all are not bemoanig the end of 1/18, you are nitpicking every little detail of the models that are released. So you all can take comfort in your little den of misery I'm done.

I've seen worse elsewhere. Right here, everyone is getting along. Seems like everyone is in agreement here that the paint job could have been better without the spots.

I showed a co-worker the pics this week.

HIM: hey that's some odd camo on the F-14. Is that right?

ME: Pause (say nothing)...

HIM: Looks weird. Like a fish or something. Is it supposed to have spots?

ME: Um, not normally.

HIM: Your junk looks better. You should give it a paint job...

ME: That's what she said!

tko211 wrote:I showed a co-worker the pics this week.

HIM: hey that's some odd camo on the F-14. Is that right?

ME: Pause (say nothing)...

HIM: Looks weird. Like a fish or something. Is it supposed to have spots?

ME: Um, not normally.

HIM: Your junk looks better. You should give it a paint job...

ME: That's what she said!

show her the real deal..it looks way better in person..

Black_Dragon_One wrote:

tko211 wrote:I showed a co-worker the pics this week.

HIM: hey that's some odd camo on the F-14. Is that right?

ME: Pause (say nothing)...

HIM: Looks weird. Like a fish or something. Is it supposed to have spots?

ME: Um, not normally.

HIM: Your junk looks better. You should give it a paint job...

ME: That's what she said!

show her the real deal..it looks way better in person..

Don't get me wrong. This F-14 is gonna be cool! I don't need to see it in person to know that it's a beautiful model with lots of attention to detail but there is no fooling about the paint. The spots are bad, they look, well... bad.

The quote "that's what she said" is from the TV show the office. But- I did show my wife the pics on this site and said see- that's what we are getting in a few days. Gonna take up your whole kitchen table!

HER REPLY: Cute, it looks like a jungle cat. Reminds me of your Yellow Tiger Jet.

ME: Yup! (As I start a list in my head of what I will need from the Hobby store this weekend!).

Seriously though, I can appreciate the optimistic approach. And, you are right- It's a great plane and JSI did a good job on every bit of it except this weathering. Unfortunately, the paint is indeed bad and hard to overlook. It's not subtle at all. Not a deal breaker for me. I bought 2! -Super excited about them in fact. One thing I know for certain... I am gonna like it even more with out the spots!