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GROUP BUILD ENTRY no. 99
Raffle no. 90

Fujimi 1/48 F-14+ 'Super Tomcat' Prototype
by Jeremy Housdan  (Skull Leader)

Materials Used

1/48 Scale Fujimi F-14D “Super Tomcat” prototype

1/48 Scale Revell/Monogram Dual IR/TCS chinpod



Pretty much everyone laments the 1/48 Fujimi/Testor’s kit (where Fuji’s 1/72 tomcats are total gems) and I am no exception. This build was more of an attempt to see if I could make the Fujimi kit presentable. I can honestly say it wasn’t my best effort, but a LOT of work went into this kit.

1. Cockpit detailing: I built bulkheads to go behind the pilot seat and the RIO. I used the rear wall of the true-details cockpit set as a reference and built from there. I also added seatbelts to the ejection seats (such that they are). Even with all of this, the cockpit still isn’t fit to be displayed in an open position. Where the stock cockpit was HORRIBLE, now it’s actually “slightly bearable”. I also cut off the empty TCS housing/ALQ-100 chinpod and added a dual IR/TCS chinpod (the A+ prototype began testing this in early 1990s)
2. The beavertail underwent a serious mod. The stock beavertail sticks out way too far. The flat air-brake housing should extend just short of the end of the afterburners while the kit molded one goes further out. I chopped the fuel dump pipe/ECM assembly off (with encouragement from a friend J ) and cut a few MM off of the airbrake housing. I then glued the ECM/Fuel dump piece back on. After that I puttied and sanded to match. I rescribed the end of the airbrake to fit more correctly.
3. I rescribed the engine fairings for the GE F-110 engines. The kit comes with the original pratt & whitney fairings molded on there (which would’ve been appropriate for the ORIGINAL 1970s F-14B prototype, but not the later GE equipped F-14A+/D proto)
4. I sanded the ridged surface off of the leading edges of the wings… I don’t know why the felt the need to add detail where none previously existed (while avoiding adding detail in some areas where it SHOULD be). I also had to grind into the wing glove sealing plates so when the wings are swept back they would sit an an acceptable angle (before if they were swept back they would sit way too high)

Some parts of the kit were totally unusable. More specifically, the weapons pylons. The forward phoenix-missile pallet fairings were too short and stubby, while ALL of the pallets were pretty much devoid of detail. The Glove pylons stuck out too far to the rear. These can be modified, but I didn’t want to mess with them. These problems didn’t worry me so much because 157986 was just as often photographed WITHOUT weapons as it was with.

At some point I misplaced (or destroyed) the nose probe piece, and until I research the probe enough to fabricate a replacement, it will go without. All and all, I’m pretty happy with the results. Nevertheless, this kit is not an experience I would care to repeat any time soon!


-Jeremy Housdan (Skull Leader)

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