[WGPKlaus]

Question:
Where can I get these? a must have, I'm starting to break out in a cold sweat, I feel the shakes comin' on and I need my Turkey fix!!! point me to the nearest dealer, errrrr I mean supplier...must have new Tomkitties now!

[zed550]

perhaps this thread now needs to move to a new one.have recieved info from yoshi at century that these are a new mould only based on the unimax version.have had a proper look and assembled the model and yes it is a complete new mould,found areas that are more refined and different than the fov release's and will have some pics up in the next few days also the stand is different, my earlier pics show the fov stand the new one is similar but redesigned.it is my understanding that the unimax model was the unfinished design.

[zed550]

thanks to mr urata at century wings AJ 200 VF-84 normal version arrived this morning.will post pics and review later.
another nice release from a master modeller who knows his subject

[STARMAN 352ND]

Thanks for the info Zed....They can send me one ....
But i was not to thrilled with the shipping price ....
I got the Jolly Roger that has the swing wings.
JP

[RJLee]

I also received two of the 1/72 VF-84 "Jolly Rogers" F-14As from CenturyWings this week. The first was AJ202 (with dropped flaps and slats, and with nosegear in tension), and the second, ordered for a friend, was AJ200 (standard sweepable wings). In a word, these are spectacular. These are undoubtedly the finest diecast models I own, surpassing the Witty F-15Cs for that honor (no mean feat).

The paint scheme for these F-14As is the ever-popular "skull and crossbones" of Fighting 84, during their first cruise aboard USS Nimitz in 1978. Every jet modeler knows the scheme: gull gray on top, with white undersides, black-and-yellow chevron stripe under the cockpit, large full-color national insignia, and the world-famous gloss black tails with the large skull and crossbones. This is perhaps the most famous Tomcat scheme of them all. But while everybody can get the black tail and chevron stripe right, CenturyWings (and its designer, Yoshi Urata) has gone further and created an inch-by-inch reproduction of the stenciling on these airplanes. The wings and tailplanes have "NO STEP" and "NO LIFT" markings along the edges, while hook points and drainage vents have their own micro-placards. Tiny stenciling is scattered over the underside, which is next-to-invisible at this scale. The huge AIM-54A Phoenix missiles have paragraphs of material stenciled on their white missile bodies. In the "kneeling" version of the F-14A, the exposed edges of the lowered slats are painted red. The markings are glossy, vibrant, and razor-sharp.

Beyond the livery, this is a very solid model of the F-14A, and the best that exists in 1/72. Mr. Urata was the designer of the original mold for the well-received Forces of Valor VF-154 F-14A. He has taken this basic design and introduced a number of artful refinements, including:

- Hingeless opening canopy. The FOV F-14A's canopy had huge overscale hinges to facilitate the opening action. The CenturyWings F-14A has no hinges, and at first, you'd think that the canopy was fixed closed. However, if you lift and slide the canopy forward (a somewhat exaggerated mimicry of the mechanics of the real F-14 canopy), it then rotates upward. The mechanism is a little tight and the canopy won't lift as high as the FOV F-14, but the aesthetics are beautiful.

- Removable aircrew. It takes a set of tweezers to position them properly, but they fit nicely into the cockpit. Happily, there is no need to amputate their legs to prevent them from rising up out of their seats over time. In another nod to detail, their helmets are painted gloss yellow, consistent with the headgear of VF-84 crews in the 1970s.

- One-piece removable landing gear. This is almost identical to the FOV F-14A's "lego-block" tricycle landing gear, which allowed the gear to be displayed up or down with no annoying "fiddly bits" (there are certain structural refinements that are used to reinforce the gear). The nosegear and each of the landing gear are one-piece parts that are "pluggable" into the large wheel wells. No glue required, and all of the doors and such are in perfect position all of the time.

- "Kneeling" gear. Made to simulate the compressed landing gear of an F-14 "in tension" on the catapult, the AJ202's removable nosegear is shortened. Because the gear is modular, you can actually swap out the "regular" nosegear from another F-14A to display an "upright" AJ202 with dropped flaps. (Let me just say that having a jet with dropped flaps is indescribably cool.)

- Wide range of stores. Basically identical to the FOV F-14A, except that they are painted white to reflect the period. You get two drop tanks, two live (yellow-stripe) AIM-9s, six live AIM-7s, 4 live AIM-54As, underbody pallets for the Phoenix missiles, and a TARPS pod. (The TARPS pod is something of an anachronism, as it wasn't introduced with VF-84 until 1981, but it's still a nice option.) The surplus of Sparrows provides a number of different loadout options for display. All of the stores "plug in" to the model using the same plastic peg system seen in the FOV F-14A.

- Improved stand. The transparent, fixed-attitude plastic stand that was included with the FOV F-14A has been reengineered so that it may be attached without the need to remove any underbelly stores.

- Detail refinements. With the CenturyWings F-14, diecast is beginning to approach plastic in terms of attention to detail. Among the improvements in this model: nicely-thinned-out yellow-and-black ejection loops at the top of the ejection seats; a canvas texture to simulate the airbag which is covered by the wings in full sweep; and scaled-down and shape-refined probes and aerials. I believe that the "straight vertical" tail fins on the FOV F-14A have also been slightly corrected (but a friend of mine who at first agreed with me, but then after a side by side comparison disagreed and believes that the problem persists). In any event that problem appears less noticeable than it was in the FOV offering.

The model itself is constructed of a zinc alloy, with painted plastic attachments. This is a heavy, very sturdy model. I am embarrassed to say that I unexpectedly tested its sturdiness when I was attaching the drop tanks to the AJ202 F-14 for the first time: to my horror, the heavy model slipped out of my grip and crashed to the carpet in an inverted attitude. The result? Apart from the nose probe, which had snapped off, there was no damage whatsoever. I have since reattached the nose probe with a dab of super glue and the model is, quite literally, good as new. That all of the major airframe parts are of a solid metal alloy had a great deal to do with this.

I will post some pictures later. At the risk of sounding overenthusiastic about a new toy, these models are absolutely beautiful. Yoshi Urata deserves a great deal of praise for a well-engineered model with some elegant innovations in the 1/72 scale (slide-lift canopy, one-piece interchangeable gear, kneeling gear, etc.), along with an attention to detail that is second to none. There are several more F-14As forthcoming (VF-21 later this month, VF-154 and VF-101 next year) -- hopefully we'll see a full array of Tomcat squadrons from the 1970s and 1980s. Also, hopefully CenturyWings will secure a U.S. distributor very soon -- I have no doubts that they would capture the U.S. jet market by storm.

[SKUNKY]

Great review,RJ...Thanks!...I don't buy too many diecast anymore as I really have run out of room and I have other less important things to blow my cash on, but I definitely see a VF-84 Tomcat squeezing in here somewhere..

[Canucklehead]

Agreed Skunky, that was one great review! Thanks RJLee! We'll have to copy it into the reviews section when it's up and running.

I don't collect many jets, but if they do a VF-1 Wolfpack bird I'll be very tempted.

[Shin Densetsu]

Is it possible that FOV brings these over? Call me over optimistic, but I seriously walk into target stores with hope that one day I will see a Tomcat. same goes for Toys R Us. Why is it that the tomcat is the only release to not hit target and TRU shelves? I mean we get the warbirds, the armor, the apache and blackhawk, but no tomcat. Heck I'd take the tomcat over the 1/32 birds@TRU ANYDAY, not to knock them, but if they can sell the 1/32 birds why not the tomcat?

I hope the VF-101 bird is either the sharkmouth or the red tail reaper.

[WGPKlaus]

RJLee -
Thanks for taking the time to do the review, much appreciated. Now that we've heard how nice these are, we need someone here in the US to carry them, or at least an e-tailer that deals with a large US customer base, such as HLJ (HobbyLinkJapan)? or as Shin mentioned, have FOV distribute? or would that be a conflict of interest, in some respect??? regardless, we NEED these to be available here, I can't get enough turkeys, and my Dragon and FOV kitties are getting lonely.

Someone help us, please!!

[zed550]

great review.....new pics and my review got lost in the restructure i think
anyway couple more of AJ 200