Hi, I'm about to share my done up Hasegawa 1/72 F-14A Alantic Fleet.  This is the new re-boxed version which featured recessed panel lines and a set of photoetch unlike the old version which is rised panel lines.  The decals provided give the choice to do a few squardon choices like Jolly Rogers, Tomcatters and Diamondback etc.  Since Hasegawa's F-14 has been a popular subject, the mass production of this kit has defaced the mold.  The few boxes of this kit that I purchased experienced distortions, mass amount of flash and missing panel lines.

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Despite so many flaws, this is still one of the most motivated builds as you can already imagine the amount of detail on this aircraft after completing it.  These pictures show my F-14 completed totally out-of-the box.
Nevertheless, during construction I had to alter each part to make them fit properly due to the flash issues.  The left intake piece was so distorted that the entire panel lines in this area was re-scribed based on the right side intake.  Furthermore deepening of panel lines was done on the whole aircraft as they were quite shallow.  One problem with all of Hasegawa's F-14 is when joining the nose section and middle fuselage section, a wide gap will appear.  I managed to fill it up using some placards of uniform thickness followed by putty to smooth out the filling.

As I mention, the details are good on this 1/72 scale with comparison from the Daco F-14 book.  The photoetch provides cockpit panels, canopy hook, engine details and some small vents details.  The cockpit panels when aligned nicely with the decals will look like Eduard coloretch with popup color buttons.  No weathering has been done on this aircraft because I wanted it to look like a trophy-like display.

Lastly it is about the type of presentation I decided to use.  I selected a standing mirror and have the stand removed to look like a base.  I masked the mirror with my crossbone image and sprayed the surrounding area with a layer of matt coat to make it look like crystal effect. Somehow matt coat paint is not so adhesive to the smooth surface but then, lesson learnt and maybe I would go with glass frost next time. The base is simple and cheap yet the finished product is very well presentable.

Ray

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