| Re: Century Wings & FOV what makes them different?
The Century F-14A has a number of refinements over the FOV equivalent, including:
- probe detail (metal and in-scale, as opposed to oversized plastic probes)
- corrected and reinforced nosegear (the FOV model filled in a large area behind the cat shuttle)
- removable pilots (FOV's are fixed)
- refined ejection seats (including overhead ejection loops that are in the proper scale rather than the clumsy plastic exaggerations in the FOV model)
- innovative canopy mechanism that hides the hinge (as opposed to oversized plastic hinges)
- higher-quality paint
Some of these are subtle but make a noticeable difference, mostly related to the handful of oversized components on the FOV that make it clear that this is a model rather than the real thing. Century also obviously has a greater variety of available schemes and loadouts (to date, only the FOV VF-154 has been readily available in the U.S.).
Are they worth the extra cost? I think so. I don't know that a casual collector who already has an FOV F-14A will notice a huge difference with the Century F-14s (except for the greater number of liveries), but the Century is definitely a finer piece in all the details. I was a great booster of the FOV F-14 mold, but honestly at this point will find it very difficult to buy any more of them now that Century has entered the picture. |