Just curious as to who makes the best F-14 Tomcat, preferably late version. As a kid I always wanted the Tamiya 1/32 kit, but was always just out of my reach. So I guess now I want to build a F-14, so which one? Is the Tamiya kit worth the big bucks they are still asking? Or is there a better kit out there now...either 1/48 or 1/32. I would think 1/48, due to display space, but if there compelling reasons to go bigger.....

Thanks

That Tamiya kit is getting long in the tooth these days, and the cockpit's never been something to write home about; blank consoles and decals are your detail options out of the box. There was a Revell kit back in the day which had much better detail.

In 1/48 the most detailed kit is probably the Hasegawa. But I incline toward the Revellogram kit because you get a model nearly as good as the Hasegawa for about a third the price. Even after dropping in a True Details cockpit and aftermarket decals you're still ahead of the game.

I have the 1/48 Hobbyboss F-14A,itlooks great in the box.I have some folowed some blogs and the builders have recommended it.
It is an early version however.

In 48th:
-Hasegawa
-HobbyBoss
-Revell/Monogram
-Italeri
-Academy
-Fujimi

In 32nd scale, overall Tamiya has a more accurate shape but lacks a lot of detail. You'll need plenty of AM to get a well detailed cockpit and Exhaust. You're alos limited to the F-14A varaint and thus will nedd B/D conversion to make the later variants.

The Hobbyboss kit is better detailed and comes in A-D variants, but the intake profiles are hosed up something bad.

Hasegawa but get ready because the intakes are a major headache on all of there f-16's

Ah.. Hasegawa's F-16 Intakes aren't that bad, but their F-14 intakes are

Thanks all for the replies, looks like Hobby Boss or Hasegawa, I guess now to figure out how much the Chief Financial Officer(wife) will allow for procurement, would like to deck it out in full AM. So let me think like the goverment and see how I can get this one past.....

Ha yeah f-14 my bad

Harper's trick of two sets of books might work.

Once.