JSI F-14A Options

general hawk59 · Post by **general hawk59** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 7:58 pm

You guys have to see this in person... Not only is it the first and only 1:18 scale tomcat out there it really dose rock.. I have to admit im not a huge fan of the spots but it kinda grows on you and there is so much more detail that you kinda forget about it.

diegomenendez · Post by **diegomenendez** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 7:59 pm

As sad as I want to be for JSI and the likelyhood that they won't continue in the 1/18 scale, I can't be. They made false promises, were horrible with customer support, and have ruined what may have been the most beautiful rendition of an F-14A Tomcat to this date. They RUINED it because they were cheap asses who hired 12 year old children to do what should have been done by people far more skilled.

"Ohhh, but it would have cost alot more money if they were to do it the same as the paint master one"

Know what I say to that? Shut the fuck up, because had I known it wouldn't have come out like the paint master, I wouldn't have coughed up the 250+ dollars.

I know, had it been 400 dollars, and we were guarenteed it would come out like the paint master, we would all be able to find the extra funds, I mean, look at the paint master, it's good enough for a museum. So all these arguments about 'what a great deal we are getting for 250+',

yea, it's a great deal, but do we deserve to be ass fucked just because we recieved a 'great' deal? NO!

Coreyeagle48 · Post by **Coreyeagle48** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 8:00 pm

Greetings:

I did some research on this. I looked through that wonderful hardcover special F-14 book that was released to honor the Tomcat which has a ton of color pictures of various Tomcats. In JSI's defense, there are pictures of several Tomcats in that book that show a spotty weathered appearence. I have also seen spotty weathering on CF-18's at airshows that come in from Canada. Have also seen a few other aircraft with that type of appearence, especially ones used hard such as Supercobra gunships and A-10's from the 111thFW wing nearby at Willowgrove and out at Fort Indiantown Gap.

The problem here is that when you attempt to weather a light glossy finish like this aircraft it gets ugly. And this is exactly what happened. The weathering isn't really the problem, it's the combination of colors and application. If they would have just gone over the panel lines that wouldn't have helped either because then everyone would be upset the panel lines would be too pronounced. JSI honestly probably thought it'd be cool to give this plane some weathering, but it didn't work out like they wanted. Maybe this is why the plane was delayed, who knows how much worse it was before. Probably no weathering was best in this case.

Another problem is that with all the airplanes in low viz these days, the weathering appears less pronounced. On some aircraft they are painted so dark it's hard to tell if there is weathering. Take the weathering on the BBI F-18 for example, it's not at major because the whole plane is darker, so it stands out less. If that F-18 was a glossy finish like this F-14 is, it would stand out much more. Very similar to exhaust stains on chrome aircraft and that sort of thing. I've also seen very few aircraft from the glossy days with lots of weathering. I think they must have been more polished or something back then. As the aircraft today really look like they are used hard. The low viz schemes really did away with the appearence, except for the demo birds which the crews touchup and polish.

These things do happen and they shouldn't, but they do. I help with a local car show here and Ertl made banks for us to sell at the show. Ertl spelled the name of the town wrong on the car! They didn't fix it for us either! I also remember a McDonald's airplane bank many years ago Ertl painted the wrong color, LOL.

All we can do for those that aren't pleased is hope JSI improves their stuff and makes you happy.

diegomenendez · Post by **diegomenendez** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 8:02 pm

General, please awnser these questions.

1. Do the ladder and steps work
2. Is the inside of the ladder painted (not just white, it should have red as wel)
3. Does the ladder come all the way down as does the real thing
4. Why is the launch bar so flimsy and hanging down? It should be pointing up
5. Does the radome open to reveal the Radar

Thanks in advance for your awnsers, and thanks again for the photos

Diego

Coreyeagle48 · Post by **Coreyeagle48** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 8:03 pm

There is no need for cursing on this forum, bleeped out or otherwise either. Let's keep it clean.

diegomenendez · Post by **diegomenendez** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 8:04 pm

Check this out

Update on Saturday, December 5, 2009 at 05:55PM by Bad Cat Rob
It's worth noting that the further down the production run you go, the lighter the weathering spots. The Special Ed F-14 will have the darkest spots as it was the first produced. It is my understanding that some corrective action was taken as production progressed. The pic below at the bottom of this page of an F-14 standard was taken of a bird made at the end of the production run, I am told. BCAT's batch of standards will look closer to the sample shown below. The Special Ed will have darker spots like the one shown here, above.

My thanks to GeneralHawk59 for the pic of his Special Ed F-14.

I ordered mine off ebay from BoomingIsland...I hope they get the last ones

NWarty · Post by **NWarty** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 8:10 pm

The steps do fold down, one of GH59's photos has them in the down position.

Haven't seen the ladder though.

And how the heck does BCA know their standard SpotCats for retail are later production runs. I call B.S.

Coreyeagle48 · Post by **Coreyeagle48** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 8:11 pm

Greetings:

Just curious how to the lights work?

Are they batteries or what?

Don't really want one with the lights, just wondering

Corey

diegomenendez · Post by **diegomenendez** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 8:13 pm

NWarty wrote:The steps do fold down, one of GH59's photos has them in the down position.

Haven't seen the ladder though.

And how the heck does BCA know their standard SpotCats for retail are later production runs. I call B.S.

cool, just saw he added more photos

snake · Post by **snake** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 8:43 pm

The latest picture really does look terrible.

If this is what they are shipping,I am seriously considering sending my second one back.

I am still holding off on judgement until I have it in hand,but this latest picture does look horrible.

How could JSI "drop the ball" on this so badly.
Anybody that wasn't connected to the factory would have raised the red flag on this immediately.

There is no way that this should have been shipped "as is"

Post by **aferguson** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 8:50 pm

well, i love that paint scheme.......on Ju-88's and He-219's. On the Tomcat it looks ridiculous.

JSI really blew it indeed. Unfathomable.

jdowd1 · Post by **jdowd1** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 8:53 pm

That sure is a sorry paint job! Whether it is authentic or not I am glad I didn't order this version and if the regular version looks anything like that I will surely sell it on ebay or try to return it. Very disappointed. JD

Coreyeagle48 · Post by **Coreyeagle48** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 9:02 pm

Greetings:

Everyone take a breath, it's Christmas! We had snow today!

Here's a couple points to make:

*I do buy the store the special editions were done first. I'm wondering if perhaps they were made special editions because they came out badly. I mean in all fairness, if you are going to make a special edition for this show, you better get it out in time for the show.

*Again, some of these photos are terrible. Not to upset GeneralHawk here, but it'd be really nice if a photographer with professional equipment took a picture of this bird so we could get an accurate representation of it.

*The one plane looks so much better than the one on the round table that is elevated. And that photo is one of the better quality photos. It's not nearly as spotty as the other one. So perhaps there was indeed some corrective action taken.

pickelhaube · Post by **pickelhaube** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 9:09 pm

If they would have put the spots on the panel lines it could have been easier to fix.

Are you guys sure that this is how the production planes will be ?

Welcome aboard Diego but please watch the verbage and profanity.

There are youngsters who frequent this board.

Forget about them , I kind of do not like to see it myself.

Post by **aferguson** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 9:24 pm

the best way to fix the spots would be to find a solvent that will make them runny and then brush them along the panel lines, like what we were told was going to be done. Whether such a solvent exits (i imagine it does) but that won't ruin the overall paint scheme...

But i have no intention of paying over $200 for a plane i have to do a major amount of very tricky work on just to make it look not laughable.

This is going to cost JSI dearly.

diegomenendez · Post by **diegomenendez** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 9:31 pm

aferguson wrote:the best way to fix the spots would be to find a solvent that will make them runny and then brush them along the panel lines, like what we were told was going to be done. Whether such a solvent exits (i imagine it does) but that won't ruin the overall paint scheme...
This is going to cost JSI dearly.

I was thinking about this...who is going to be the brave soul and see what works?

Post by **aferguson** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 9:38 pm

hydrochloric acid will probably work.

I wonder if all the JSI executives are hiding under their desks right now..

B-29 · Post by **B-29** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 9:43 pm

Well, it looks like JSI may have a grim future. Not only did they give us a spotted F-14, but they couldn't even assemble their own plane correctly! The wings on the F-104 are upside down! The future is not looking good...

pcoughran · Post by **pcoughran** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 9:59 pm

Coreyeagle48 wrote:Greetings:

I did some research on this. I looked through that wonderful hardcover special F-14 book that was released to honor the Tomcat which has a ton of color pictures of various Tomcats. In JSI's defense, there are pictures of several Tomcats in that book that show a spotty weathered appearence. I have also seen spotty weathering on CF-18's at airshows that come in from Canada. Have also seen a few other aircraft with that type of appearence, especially ones used hard such as Supercobra gunships and A-10's from the 111thFW wing nearby at Willowgrove and out at Fort Indiantown Gap.

I've been looking at a lot of pictures lately too. The problem with JSI's version is that they really aren't "random" spots. Every single panel had a big spot in the middle. If it is a larger panel it has 2 or 3 spots. On all the pics of real tomcats I've seen with anything close to a spot it was random and not all over the plane, they also were not "uniform" in size like all of these on JSI's seem to be.
I thought when weathering you're suppossed to spray a "lighter" color than your base in middle of the panels to make the outer edges appear darker - where grime naturally collects so instead of dark spots they should have at least had lighter spots. But like has already been stated a factory paint no weathering would have been better.

Jolly Roger · Post by **Jolly Roger** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 10:06 pm

I really hope when mine arrives I can post a huge thread titled " I told ya so"

and I hope we will all look like Fools when the F-14's come out looking like the Production pic on Bad Cat's blog.

I HOPE.....

general hawk59 · Post by **general hawk59** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 10:08 pm

1. yes the ladder and steps work.. I will post pix soon.
2. no the ladder is not painted on the inside.. Infact it was very hard to open.. i had to use an razor blade to open.
3. Kinda. I will post pix
4.im not sure why its so flimsy.
5. yes

Also for anyone who buys the exclusive ver it took me about 15 min to find out were the battarys go.. you need 3 AA battarys and its the large panal under the cockpit.. You have to be carefull but it dose come off with no issues..

diegomenendez wrote:General, please awnser these questions.

1. Do the ladder and steps work
2. Is the inside of the ladder painted (not just white, it should have red as wel)
3. Does the ladder come all the way down as does the real thing
4. Why is the launch bar so flimsy and hanging down? It should be pointing up
5. Does the radome open to reveal the Radar

Thanks in advance for your awnsers, and thanks again for the photos

Diego

Airacobra · Post by **Airacobra** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 10:38 pm

Man, I just wish I could afford one right now. Bad timing with the holidays so close. The spots look bad, but not bad enough to scare me away. Hopefully there will be some left over come spring, but I really doubt it. Spot Cat or no Spot Cat, I just want one.

Shin Densetsu · Post by **Shin Densetsu** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 10:40 pm

the best way to fix the spots would be to find a solvent that will make them runny and then brush them along the panel lines, like what we were told was going to be done. Whether such a solvent exits (i imagine it does) but that won't ruin the overall paint scheme...
This is going to cost JSI dearly.

I wonder if rubbing or isoproyl alcohol will work

vulgarvulture · Post by **vulgarvulture** » Sun Dec 06, 2009 12:07 am

For those who can work wonders to fix the weathering, more power to you. I don't have those skills.

But I have to just say that IT IS NOT OK to have to tweak a $250 plane to make it right. Bottom line.

Coreyeagle48 · Post by **Coreyeagle48** » Sun Dec 06, 2009 12:11 am

Greetings

The production version usmcchet posted does look 100 percent better than the special edition version Tomcat. The weathering is there but much more acceptable.

The special edition in my opinion was a bit of a dumb idea. Especially when they put the name of the show on it. The light up idea was nice, but the name of the show was a little odd. If you must put the name of the show on it, put it somewhere a little less noticeable like on the bottom, just my opinion.

But the regular version does look much better.

Corey