ACpilot

I'll let you know when I get it home to compare with my Hobby Master Aardvarks F-4 (note the correct flatter light gull grey due to the 1972 time period).

Dan

tomcatter

yes, the colour saturation is off in my earlier pic. i tried to get it as close as possible to wysiwyg in this pic but then again, it appears accurate in my galaxy s4 and may not be so on your screen. i've posted it together with the black aces for you to make your own comparison so with regard to queries, yes, it is orange but no, not as bright as acp's spook here... but definitely NOT red (compare with ba's red stripes). highly glossed, yes... even more so than the ba. and the whites are brilliant, unlike ba's off white (or is that due to aging?). anyway, as monsieur ukrainian falcon would say, zott is in his factory roll out livery. cheers!

checking6

Thanks for confirming, tomcatter!
It does look quite good though. So, a “fresh out of the factory” look it is. And, this seems to be accurate for the period, as per AC’s post.

Kangaroo

I didn't realize that I had this on pre-order until my dealer contacted me about it lol. Good to hear the the color and gloss are accurate.

Javabean

Hi Dan

My local dealer brought this piece earlier on & I managed to take a peek from casing outside. Notice the grey & white appeared to be thinly sprayed on, leaving the bare metal in panels lines visible. I compared side by side with HM F4 Aardvark that my dealer has in-stock & the HM paints are evenly painted sufficiently. Can you compare whthr this is true with yr in-hands F14?

__________________
Robin

checking6

Doesn’t seem to be much stencilling compared to the B/A. Nothing on the wings and stabs.

17275

Hope that's not CW cutting corners to produce a cheaper Tomcat.

Eagle_Flyer

...but is there less stencilling on the actual airframe for this particular livery? I have been caught out decaling model kits with missing stencil data to then find out it wasn't on the actual aircraft.

tomcatter

don't know, don't care. looks good, i like, i buy

stitching6

Now that is the collector attitude

ACpilot

Nope. Not on my copy.

Orange looks fine compared with the HM F-4J.

Dan

777-300ER

Wow they look great together. Can't wait to get mine.

checking6

Yes, they do look great together. Love how the flat black on the nose contrasts with the gloss paint. Hope mine comes in soon.

How is the canopy hinge mechanism? Is it pretty sturdy and precise or do you need to

steveNfl

did you get abducted?

__________________
Currently Looking For:

checking6

LoL! Note to self: always read your post before clicking on the Submit Reply button!

...what I wanted to write was: is it pretty sturdy and precise or do you need to work it a bit to get it back into the closed position? The reason why I ask is that I have one HM F-16 canopy that never closed properly after I’ve opened it.

tripoli

Ordered through Pete's and apparently he is still dealing with the high water in that flat Texas land. Hoped it would be arriving this week, now hoping it ships this week.
The Hm F-16's have two issues. The pin that holds the canopy can stick out a bit. With it open, use a small flathead screwdriver to push the pin all the way in so it does not block the canopy when it closes. I also have found just applying some inward pressure once it is closed sometimes pops the rear canopy plastic latches into place.

__________________
Jeff

ACpilot

Canopy works well on my the F-14. Check the wing swing mechanism though. Mine won't swing completely back.

The HM F-16 canopy is tricky. You have to pull the hinge forward before opening.

Dan

Eagle_Flyer

I wouldn't have posted a reply had someone else not said there is less stencilling on the model. Just trying to be helpful with offering a possible explanation about their "concern".

Eagle_Flyer

Indeed it does. Both look great as a pairing.

Hkben

After I saw the pictures at here and their homepage, I cancel my preorder. This airplane is too glossy and lazy work (very less stencils). Not worth for the price.

FortunateSon

Orange looks ok, but I can't help but thinking just how much better CWs would be if they want back to panel washing. Thinking about cancelling my preorder as per Hkben for the same reasons.

tripoli

It's a nice looking model, more of an out of the factory or museum display depiction, but very nice.

The early F-14 had the markings/stenciling to warn those not familiar about the air frame the do's and don't s. It is a bit inaccurate without them.
When William was producing CW models at his facilities, he noted he would not do the extra stenciling and wash on HM models due to the extra labor cost involved. So looks like CW decided to cut some cost at the expense of the collectors. If you really want to, it is not hard to add your own wash to a model like this.
Still, it's a beautiful model and it the absence of the markings is much better than a glaring error.

Awesome picture of this sitting next to the HM F-14.

__________________
Jeff

Eagle_Flyer

Okay, I wasn't sure if perhaps the actual aircraft had less stencilling. If production costs are a concern for CW, will be even more interesting to see the effect on Calibre.

TooBeaucoup

Here are my gripes. I've had this model for a few days now and euphoria died 15 mins after box opening. Nothing seriously wrong with the model. It's the quality I come to expect from CW and I'm getting increasingly impatient with it.

1) Fuselage gap is ever present. It's more pronounced on a lighter colored bird.
2) Weapon rail gaps still there but for the first time, my phoenixes stay on without jury rigging anything.
3) Paint chips are present but it's only noticeable if you look hard enough
4) Nose landing gear basically crumbled as i tried to remove it. FYI, it's made up of 4 pieces. Also all ordnance stubs need sanding as the paint coating is too thick to be inserted esp the sidewinders.
5) Wing sweep mechanism is akin to passing motion while constipated. I'm afraid to push further for fear of scratching paint.
6) The gloss is very real. Accurate or not, it needs at least 1 wash. Right now, it looks like Terry Crews glistening with sweat under a hot sun while peddling cheeseburgers in a prison.

I still like the bird but i suspect i'm giving CW a pass on these issues due to their choice of doing vibrant liveries or popular ones. This is what i feel HM is doing with their 3rd release in the JR.

steveNfl

Finally got this in after an 11 day ship...pretty crazy even by Mule standards, but it arrived safe and sound and that is all that matters. It does have a glossy coat under light which I wasn't entirely fond of as others mentioned, but once I moved it over to the shelf unit the gloss "went away" it blended in quite nicely with the rest. So as long as you don't have it directly under a light source it does go away. Fortunately my copy's wings will sweep fully and I noticed the Stabs are angled out more and not almost straight anymore. Not sure when CW did this as I passed on the last few releases, but it is a nice change. The Orange does change color ALOT in pics from light orange to red. In person it is a nice bright orange though.

Pics

__________________
Currently Looking For:

radarman_1589

Very nice steveNfl. Mine was shipped by Petes today. I'm looking forward to it.

steveNfl

Its tough what that area has had to deal with, we are supposed to be getting a tropical system today, but not feeling any of it here in Tampa...just rain and light gusts. Haven't even turned on the weather channel.

I decided I didn't want 3 in flight Tomcats on the same shelf so put it on the gears and the gloss made its appearance again. Its still no where near as bad as under the direct light but it is noticeable from when it was in flight. Strange...but looks good. Very happy with it

__________________
Currently Looking For:

checking6

Looks great, Steve, especially in the “in-flight” position with its wings swept back.
Yes, it’s true that the finish shouldn’t have been so glossy —*a scaled down effect with a satin-gloss finish would have been in order here. But despite that it really catches the eye. The orange colour also looks good.

Can’t wait to get mine...my first Tomcat!

firefighterpilot1

you guys really need to provide specifics about what stencils are missing because I have not seen any additional stencils in any picture I have seen of VF-114 during this time frame. Just because you want more stencils doesn't mean there should be more stencils.

radarman_1589

Looked trough several photos. I haven't found one with stencils.

tomcatter

but there are obvious black lines that separate the orange from the greys

[runs away]

17275

Dan, yours seems to have quite a big gap at the wing root, specially compared to Steve's photos.

steveNfl

not sure which stencils you are looking for? Look at the pic from above that I put up. The rest of the pics the colors tend to hide the stencils, the only clear picture is the one taken above on the kitchen table.

__________________
Currently Looking For:

steveNfl

That's awesome checking, can't wait to see what you think about it in the flesh and when you put it with the rest of your collection

__________________
Currently Looking For:

jetster13

Just got mine from the Mule, and the fuselage gap is just terrible! The decals are not even aligned! Going to try to send this back!
If CW is getting this sloppy in their QC, I won't be getting many in the future!

FortunateSon

cancelled preorder. happy for those who like this. my rationale is that with up to 3 tomcat producers out there and 40+ tomcats in the colletion, I dont need to spend money on ones that dont do it for me.

jetster13

To be fair, Eric at the Mule says they have had no such problems with this release, and will take the model back. Good people to work with!
Looks like I got an isolated lemon...

Jumper

^ Got any pics? I wonder if I can get yours.

jetster13

Took a couple phoyos to send to Eric at the Mule. I will see if I can post them here...haven't had much luck in the past.

jetster13

All my photo files are way too big to post here, sorry.

steveNfl

can send them to me and I'll post them gargerst@yahoo.com

__________________
Currently Looking For:

38 Tiger Bty

Mine arrived today but it seems I have an example of Century Wings QA fail


The forward fuselage is misaligned with the main body of the aircraft, has a significant gap and along with with a misaligned orange stripe, produces a horrible look.


The price that CW now charges for these models make these kind of awful errors unacceptable - surely a collector should expect a near perfect model - or am I being unrealistic?

I've contacted my supplier in the hope they have a replacement available.






.

Attached Thumbnails

   

Eagle_Flyer

The occasional QC issue is bound to happen. If another five and more posters came long reporting similar problems then yes you may be inclined to think something major has gone wrong. This was the case with the Pukin' Dogs F-14 where many forum posters reported problems with the model they received.

I hope those that have contacted their retailer get a replacement model without the issues they've posted.

tomcatter

well some people may say yours is perhaps the only one, as cw gets the other 1,199 perfect. oh wait... jetster13 said he got a lemon also, so that makes 2. at least they got 1,198 right. i'd say cw is feeling the heat from hm... and it's scorching! incorrect gun vents notwithstanding

nah, no worries folks... cw listens. they'll definitely close that gap by their 20th anniversary version

Eagle_Flyer

Glad to hear you're happy with your CW Aardvarks F-14 model.

tomcatter

yeah... must've been one of the 1,198

HoveringCheesecake

The more I look at mine, the worse it is. Mine has the mismatched orange stripe, a small paint imperfection (paint bubble during application?) on the right inboard flap, and the silver leading edge of the wings is much thicker on the right than the left. Very disappointed and I'll be hesitant to purchase more CW models in the future.

I will also say that my most recent HM purchase, the Pukin' Dogs F-4, also has a poor paint job, so this isn't a CW only issue. It seems that as the price increases, the quality declines. Perhaps it is time for me to downsize again and dump these newer releases.

firefighterpilot1

May come as a surprise to most of you, but I'm actually pretty happy with mine. After reading these comments, I was expecting the worst, but overall my copy is pretty tight. No paint issues, gear fits fine. I thought the shine was going to be overdone but I think it looks fine in person. The orange is nice and sharp. I actually cancelled one of my two preorders because I wasn't sure this one would turn out so well but I was relieved to see that it turned out fine. (for me, at least) I think I might give it a panel wash, to bring out the panel line details.

TooBeaucoup

FFP1, do show us the post-wash photos and maybe a step by step guide on how to do it. Tks!

tripoli

Mine arrived and it had more glaze on it than a Krispe Creme donut.

__________________
Jeff