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F14A Tomcat - PART ONE

The parts are numbered in the directions from 1 to 18. They break down as follows:

Click here to see all of the pictures for this project.

• #1 is the main cockpit tub. You have to see this tub to appreciate it. There is detailing just oozing from every corner of this piece. This includes not only the instrument panels, but also the area below the instrument panels, on the rear walls, and up where the pilot's feet would rest. The floor of a Tomcat is not just a flat slab. This tub correctly captures the stepped floor.
• #2, #3, and #4 assemble together to make the ejection seats. There is two of each part. #4 is the rocket tube that attaches to the rear of part #2 (the seat). I am unsure why they made this separate from the seat. The amount of flash on part #3 (the overhead ejection rings) was going to be a nuisance to remove without breaking the pieces, so I replaced these pieces with the ejection rings from the kit. The kit ones looked as good and were flash-free. While cutting free the kit ejection rings, I also cut free the lower ejection ring that goes between the pilot's (or RIO's) legs. Black Box missed these items in their set. My only real complaint is that the seats have nearly identical seat belt layouts. They are different from each other, but the difference is not pronounced enough in my opinion. This is especially true for the shoulder harnesses on the seat backs.
• #5 and #6 are the front and rear main instrument panel hoods (respectively). Each has the upper main instrument panel instrument details molded into the rear side. #7 and #8 are the lower portion of the front and rear main instrument panels (respectively).
• #9(L/R) and #10(L/R) are the front and rear side wall detail pieces. These are wonderfully detailed and correct. They are also sorely needed as the Hasegawa kit has no molded side wall detailing.
• #11(A & B) assemble the make the front control stick. These are extremely fine and a little tricky to assemble. I needed to check my Tomcat documentation to be sure I got them assembled the correct way.
• #12 is the center pedestal for rear cockpit holding the RIO's radar control grip.
• #13 (2 pieces) are the front rudder pedals.
• #14 (2 pieces) are the rear cockpit floor footrests. They mount on the rear cockpit floor with the short side down. The instructions do not label them as left and right, but they do have a left and right placement. Looking at them closely, there is a small dimple in the upper corner of each. These rests hold the RIO's microphone and intercom switches and that little dimple is the actual switch on each footrest. The dimple on each foot rest should be on the inboard sides of the rests when they are mounted to the cockpit floor.
• #15 and #16 are various cockpit details that should have been molded in place in the cockpit tub but were not. Attach them as shown in the instructions, although the location of part #16 is not real clear. I decided to leave it off, as the rear wall of the rear cockpit (where the instructions seem to indicate it goes) had no real place to put it. I felt that leaving it off was safer than putting it in the wrong location.
• #17 is the rear decking in the back of the cockpit, where the canopy hinge is located. The instructions say to use a piece of the Hasegawa kit to create the lifting plunger for the canopy. For added strength, I decided to use comparably sized brass wire for this part.
• Lastly, #18 is the pilot's throttle control. Black Box kindly molded "protectors" into the slag of this part to help keep the fine "neck" portions from being broken off in the packaging. Trouble is, they are so fine that I broke them the first time a handled the part after removing it from the slag. A better approach is to just remove the "necks" and drilling some small holes in the part. Then use some fine brass wire to mount the part and represent the "neck" of the throttles. I used some .005" brass wire for the job.

You can check out various F-14 cockpit photo reference pages for more details concerning the accuracy of this Black Box set. I posted an extensive set of Tomcat cockpit pictures in the Walk Around section of ARC. But, take my word, the set is extremely accurate. At the time I was working on these Tomcat cockpits, I spent an entire morning photographing the cockpit of a real F-14A. I was amazed at the level of accuracy in this Black Box cockpit set.