F14B Tomcat Fighter Aircraft

I'm rating this overall GOOD, I had some issues, the parts detail is outstanding! the instruction booklet leaves allot to be desired. For example you will need to research the armament locations on the interweb, other than the AIM 54s there is zero guidance on how to mount any others! and pay attention to the inside of the wing root/fuselage as there are holes to drill to mount anything! I missed two and had a heck of a time! as usual on most Jet aircraft the engines are very detailed with zero access panels to show them off, I ended up realizing this after the first engine and just made a shell of the second. you must use them for the intake/tailpipe/afterburners which you get a choice of variable exhaust open/closed. I found the cockpit to be well detailed WATCH OUT TAMIYA! TRUMPETERs COMING FOR YOU! The landing gear have metal rods inside to help with load/weight a nice touch. I did not like the variable wings to be glued in pre determined location and with a bit of planning they can be made variable, just glue the inner flaps in the neutral position. the decals are decent, 3 variations of units. tons of missile markings, the jet intake decal has been mirror produce so one side has the letters backwards. the only dud decals I found were the yellow horizontal stab tips they fell apart, this can be easily painted on. install the pitot tubes and nose dart last as there very fragile (I didn't take my own advise) nice rubber tires as well! Oh and test fit the canopy as there are many pieces for the canopy to lay on, I ended up not needing them all. Don't get me wrong this is a very nice kit and well worth the money! One last complaint for a few fellow modellers, PLEASE STOP opening your boxes and writing a review on what a cool kit you have in front of you before even gluing two parts together! VERY ANNOYING! Hobbylinc does a great job of supplying pics of the trees so your opened the box review to obtain points is worthless to us! Happy Modelling!

In the final assembly of my kit! Fits together quite well-I wanted the proportions of this plane to look very scale and so far it is looking great.Surface detail is great.Pluses:Cockpit detail, shape, and construction is solid. Good enough:landing gear are large and could use a bit more detail. Minuses:Decals:Is there really almost no nomenclature for later model F-14's (otherwise they are crisp and appropriately thin).As usual Trumpeter ordinance load and placement enigmatic. Otherwise I am very happy with the kit and recommend it! Large kit and I am focusing a lot of extreme weathering of the many 'flat' surfaces and it is taking it quite well. This is my 5th 1/32 Trumpeter turbine