[djjeffhall]

Starman 352nd,
First off, thanks for posting the great pictures.

Secondly, how are you able to get the landing gear from splaying out. I got one of these birds when they first came out, then heard about (And saw photos of.) Dragon's F-14 gear problems and decided to hold off putting it out.

One thing leads to another and I don't see the bird for a year. I stumbled upon it recently when I was digging out birds I had displayed in a while and held off giving this tarmac space.

Do you have something propping up the bird? Did you do something to strengthen the gear? Thanks

[STARMAN 352ND]

Originally Posted by djjeffhall

Starman 352nd,
First off, thanks for posting the great pictures.Secondly, how are you able to get the landing gear from splaying out. I got one of these birds when they first came out, then heard about (And saw photos of.) Dragon's F-14 gear problems and decided to hold off putting it out. Do you have something propping up the bird? Did you do something to strengthen the gear? Thanks

I knew that Dragon had these problems with the gears and other things as well.
I'm not done fooling around with this one yet i have some things i still want to do to it
to make her look better.
As for the gears i lucked out on this one...It had a tight fit for the gears and had to press a little harder
to get it to fit and added a little glue to it took a rubber band and wraped it around both gears and the next day took it off
and look no more problems with the gears..nice and straight.
Next up will be the nose probe...Have to find a extra one first.
I'm still getting the Century one when they come out with it too.
But hey for $30 from my friend ...It's a good deal i think.
I also believe this is the only Miss Molly F-14 with the nose art on it in a diecast.
These were also made just last year too.
JP

[STARMAN 352ND]

Originally Posted by FormerViperDriver

Is the lack of nose probe accurate on this model?

FVD

First and most visible were nose probes on the very early F-14 prototypes. These were approximately 3 meters long and equipped with several pressure probes and angle of attack/wind direction indicators.
Fleet F-14s have no such nose probes. The first fleet Tomcats were not equipped with any nose probe, but todays F-14s carry a small nose probe to gather air pressure data to calculate the angle-of-attack.
Miss molly is suppose to have a nose probe as well.
JP

This is a picture of the early ones....Yikes

[David Hingtgen]

There's a lot more things than the nose probe to be concerned about with this model. (But I'll keep specifics to myself based on fall-out from the last time I commented on a VF-111 model, PM me if anyone wants to know)

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by STARMAN 352ND

I knew that Dragon had these problems with the gears and other things as well.
I'm not done fooling around with this one yet i have some things i still want to do to it
to make her look better.
As for the gears i lucked out on this one...It had a tight fit for the gears and had to press a little harder
to get it to fit and added a little glue to it took a rubber band and wraped it around both gears and the next day took it off
and look no more problems with the gears..nice and straight.
Next up will be the nose probe...Have to find a extra one first.
I'm still getting the Century one when they come out with it too.
But hey for $30 from my friend ...It's a good deal i think.
I also believe this is the only Miss Molly F-14 with the nose art on it in a diecast.
These were also made just last year too.
JP

so does that mean they are glued in and you can't have gears up version now?

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by STARMAN 352ND

I knew that Dragon had these problems with the gears and other things as well.
I'm not done fooling around with this one yet i have some things i still want to do to it
to make her look better.
As for the gears i lucked out on this one...It had a tight fit for the gears and had to press a little harder
to get it to fit and added a little glue to it took a rubber band and wraped it around both gears and the next day took it off
and look no more problems with the gears..nice and straight.
Next up will be the nose probe...Have to find a extra one first.
I'm still getting the Century one when they come out with it too.
But hey for $30 from my friend ...It's a good deal i think.
I also believe this is the only Miss Molly F-14 with the nose art on it in a diecast.
These were also made just last year too.
JP

actually, with their last VF-213 D model, they decided to address the problem by taking out that rubber piece altogether. The problem is, that it is really really loose and its quite an effort just to get it in place. But once you did, the weight of the plane keeps it in place straight. Well I think thats how they addressed it, or they just forgot to put the rubber parts in the gear wells in mine hehe

[STARMAN 352ND]

Originally Posted by Andrew

so does that mean they are glued in and you can't have gears up version now?

Heck no.....I did not use super glue.....I used plastic model glue.
When i want to take them off some day and put it in flight all i have to do is take the blow hairdryer
to the landing gear area and heat it up a little and pull the gears off and it works every time.
JP