[SKUNKY]

Originally Posted by stalag8611

So now I wait, with baited breath, for the Queen of my hanger fleet arrive. Long may she rule.

Hopefully the queen will arrive with a complimentary bottle of Scope...

[Dobber]

Not trying to make anyone feel bad but after seeing those pictures the Witty just dosen't do it for me. I'm an avid F-14 fan so that's probably why, but the front windscreen framing is all wrong and while I agree that Witty does make the best F-15 out there their F/A-18E and F-14 just have really soft panelines. It "looks" like too much paint was applied and now the panels are barely visible. I also like the detail that Century puts on it's misiles. I'm glad to see that Witty started painting there misiles grey again and not white, but they just look bare, why couldn't they just use the missiles that they used on their F-15. It seems like after their F-15's and F-16's they just went down in quality, IMHO. It's just not for me, but if it makes you happy there is nothing wrong with that.

Chris

[zed550]

hey everybody was probably a bit harsh calling the dragon and witty cra !
but in reality all the points have been covered now why century and the fov mould are better than the rest.
no matter how well witty or dragon get the the paint scheme or camo right will it correct a bad model.i will stand by witty on nearly everything they have released bar the f-14 i cant understand the difference in quality and build between witty's f15 and tomcat.the eagle is almost flawless with none existant joints and good camo and printing whilst the tomcat is the other way entirely some of the joints on the tomcat are not too clever for a model that retails in the uk for £30-£34.
at the end of the day buy what you like or what you think something is worth.

[TopHat]

I just gotta say that you guys have convinced me to go and buy at least one CW Tomcat. I was really trying to avoid the slippery slope of a new scale (I collect the larger scales), but you done convinced me.

BTW, thanks!

[Dobber]

I don't think you'll regret it.

BTW, I got my shipping confirmation from the FM that my Century VF-154 '101' and the Century VF-21 have shipped! I'm really looking forward to getting them. They'll make numbers 3 and 4 for my Century line up. I already have both the VF-84 birds! I'm addicted to these things!!!

Chris

[PappyB]

Originally Posted by Dobber

Not trying to make anyone feel bad but after seeing those pictures the Witty just dosen't do it for me. I'm an avid F-14 fan so that's probably why, but the front windscreen framing is all wrong and while I agree that Witty does make the best F-15 out there their F/A-18E and F-14 just have really soft panelines. It "looks" like too much paint was applied and now the panels are barely visible. I also like the detail that Century puts on it's misiles. I'm glad to see that Witty started painting there misiles grey again and not white, but they just look bare, why couldn't they just use the missiles that they used on their F-15. It seems like after their F-15's and F-16's they just went down in quality, IMHO. It's just not for me, but if it makes you happy there is nothing wrong with that.

Chris

I don't know, I think Witty's panel lines look perhaps the most realistic -- looking at photos of the real deals (at least with the F-18). I think other brands' are too pronounced most of the time...

I'm admittedly unsure with the F-14, and I certainly bow to the high degree of 'cat knowledge in this thread -- these birds often look "well used" in photos and perhaps the models should reflect that more. Though I think FOV is WAY over the top in this regard, and I won't pick up their 'Cat for this reason. Just my $.02.

If I'd paid full price for the Witty I'd probably be a bit irked -- figure $45 plus another $6 for the stand and you're within $10 of the Century, which to me makes price a non-issue.

However, for $25 it's a whole different ballgame... Another thing that irks me with witty is the fixed gear -- to me, they just look wrong with the gear down in the (very cool) stands.

(And it sux they've started to not include a stand with the model!)

Personally, I think the "colorful cat" looks really nice, but I'm definitely not as discerning with my modern stuff as I am with my props.

The good news for me is it's not an "either or" situation for me. I'll likely add a Century sooner or later.

[Phantom Phan1200]

Some better pics of the colorful cat.

[David Hingtgen]

Ah, THAT Witty F-14.

Here's all I have to say:

The real plane was an F-14A. Like all F-14A's, it had TF30 engines and nozzles. Here's a bunch of pics of it: http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.co...2/walk070b.htm

Now, if the #1, most distinctive, visible-from-hundreds-of-feet-away feature of the different types of F-14 isn't important to you---then you should find EVERY diecast model ever perfectly acceptable, and you can confidently buy them all without seeing even a single photo of it.

[zed550]

think the bad joints show up better on the last set of pictures

[RJLee]

Originally Posted by David Hingtgen

Ah, THAT Witty F-14.

Here's all I have to say:

The real plane was an F-14A. Like all F-14A's, it had TF30 engines and nozzles. Here's a bunch of pics of it: http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.co...2/walk070b.htm

Now, if the #1, most distinctive, visible-from-hundreds-of-feet-away feature of the different types of F-14 isn't important to you---then you should find EVERY diecast model ever perfectly acceptable, and you can confidently buy them all without seeing even a single photo of it.

Well, but for this to be noticeable, you'd have to know that the original airplane was an F-14A. Which, I think, is an entirely separate and much more minute piece of trivia than the TF30/F110 nozzle distinction. You can care about the latter without caring about the former.

I think it's silly to say that if you don't care that a particular airframe was assigned to a particular unit at a particular time and painted a particular way, then your apathy knows no bounds and you might as well just buy an F-14 Lego kit. There is general airframe accuracy (to variant specs) and then there is specimen-accuracy (names on canopies, paint schemes at specific timeframes, correct BuNos, etc.). Personally, I feel that there are very few examples of F-14s that are famous or historically significant enough to get overexcited about specimen-accuracy.

That's just a personal view...but obviously people buy (or don't buy) diecast models for many different reasons.