[Dobber]

How detailed are the wheel wells on these? I can't remember seeing any pictures and I'm still impatiently waiting for mine!

Chris

[David Hingtgen]

Which F-14 is the top pic? The one at the museum of flight in Seattle? (AFAIK, that's the only F-14 on display in VF-84 colors that actually flew in them--I hate it when museums paint up planes in colors they didn't wear, especially when there's really cool schemes it actually did wear to choose from) Bottom one's obviously VF-143's retrojet.

[zed550]

had email from yoshi and as stated defects etc are known about, at the end of the day we must realise its still a fantastic model and 98% accurate.
the company is run as a business firstly so the figures have to add up on low production runs.i would just like to say keep supporting the product to make them a success as you never no what may come in the future

[zed550]

new website under construction now at www.centurywings.com

[STARMAN 352ND]

Zed,
Have you heard how many different schemes Century is planning to do on the F-14's ?
JP

[RJLee]

Originally Posted by Dobber

How detailed are the wheel wells on these?

Pretty detailed. The main structural components are molded along with some assorted actuators and tubing (haven't bothered to compare against photographs). A light wash is then applied to highlight the detail. The wells aren't overly deep or anything, but the result is much better than with Dragon's F-14B or Witty's F-15C or F/A-18E (which are cruder representations and lack the wash to dress things up).

One of the things about Century's unique landing gear pieces is that the wheel well and the gear are both molded into the same removable piece, so the level of detail in the well is the same as the detail in the gear.

I don't have access to any photos at the moment, but I do have an underside shot of the FOV VF-154 release, which has a comparable level of detail. (The nose wheel well on the VF-84 AJ202, with the kneeling nosegear, seems to me to be a little finer, with smaller door hinges -- but that could just be me.) Sorry for the image quality -- original wasn't great and I had to crop heavily.

[RJLee]

Originally Posted by David Hingtgen

Which F-14 is the top pic? The one at the museum of flight in Seattle? (AFAIK, that's the only F-14 on display in VF-84 colors that actually flew in them--I hate it when museums paint up planes in colors they didn't wear, especially when there's really cool schemes it actually did wear to choose from)

I didn't take the pic, but I believe that it's the one at the Boeing museum.

I don't mind when museums use liveries that weren't worn by the actual airframes (although I can understand how it would add some annoying confusion if you're trying to closely track bureau numbers). The reality is that the specific airframes circulated throughout the fleet pretty freely, so unless you have the logbook the discrepancy isn't apparent. I do get a little disappointed when the livery itself is not faithful to the scheme it's trying to represent. A lot of the retrojets have this problem; they're only "inspired by" the original.

I'm fortunate to be within driving distance of three preserved F-14As, though I've visited only one at this point. In the new year it may be time to take a trip.

[David Hingtgen]

Re: gear well pics. Is that the VF-84 release? There's a Phoenix on the wing pylon--I thought that one didn't come with parts to do that, only the VF-154 release.

Re: museum planes.
It's not so much the fact that a particular plane never wore that paint, but the fact that other schemes are passed up in favor of the 2 or 3 super-famous ones. There are planes out there that ARE the former high-vis CAG planes of VF-24 or 32, etc, and then they get to the museum, are stripped of their "real" markings, and get painted up as yet another sorta-accurate VF-84 or 41 1970's scheme (yet in 2005 physical configuration). Do we really need even more fake Jolly Roger Tomcats, when there's real CAG planes available? There's dozens of museum Tomcats, but you'll only ever see the same three paintschemes: VF-84, 41, 1. And often done pretty inaccurately. Ironically, there is a museum F-14 that was actually painted by the Jolly Rogers themselves to ensure accuracy---but it was VF-103, and it's an A model. So it's a "real" VF-103 final cruise, early F-14A. (and they put a few markings on backwards, and had started to put "F-14B upgrade" on it before the curator pointed out they were working an A model) AFAIK there's multiple planes that were VF-111 CAG planes at museums, but there's not a one painted up as such. I fully understand the desire to repaint a low-vis grey "boring" plane into a high-vis CAG for display, but they could at least do a correct squadron.

Worst example in recent history (which really angered a lot of people) was the repainting of the Black Bunny F-14D. Delivered to Oceana as a gate guard in full gloss black---and within a week it'd been stripped and painted as a Black Aces F-14. What a waste. (Never mind the Black Aces never had D models)

[Dobber]

David, it's the VF-154 he said it's the only picture he had available and the Century Wings are pretty compairable to it.

I would also like to know what's comming down the line for Tomcats so I know how much money I need to save !!! I'd love to start seeing some nice F-4's.... D's and E's. McGuire AFB had an Awesome F-4 squadron livery. I'll try to find some pictures, but it had a Tiger on the sides of the nose...very cool lookiing IMHO.

Anyway, I'm hooked on Century Wings Tomcats......just from the pictures I've seen!!! Where's my TOMCAT!! .

Sorry,

Chris

[David Hingtgen]

Ack, that's like twice in 2 pages I've mis-read a post!