Great Wall Hobby (GWH) F-14B Tomcat 1:48 – build review

Full Review with Dave Coward
Kit Ref: L4828
Get this kit now at Tiger Hobbies

Includes: VIDEO DEMOS

Before I get started on the build here are a couple of pictures of my finished model

Background

This was GWH’s first version of their 1:48th F-14. They have subsequently released an F-14A and D model. In my opinion this was a good initial choice by GWH as there were no F-14Bs available in 1:48th, and there still aren’t as far as I know. I have previously made several F-14’s by a variety of manufactures such as Tamiya, AMK and Hasegawa (several are here in the Finished Now sections of SMN) so it will be interesting to see how this kit compares to their F-14s. I will mainly compare it to the more recent Tamiya and AMK releases rather than the old Hasegawa kit which is now showing its age.

A few initial observations about this kit are it allows the modeller to have a lot of options such as:

• The wings moved as required to display them in all positions form fully forward to over-sweep
• Deployed flaps/slats/spoilers
• Early and late HUD options
• Intake rams in various positions
• Open or closed air brakes
• Open or closed exhaust nozzles
• Extended or retracted undercarriage
• Radar that can be displayed with the nose in the open position
• Extended or retracted AAR probe
• Extended or retracted boarding ladder and steps
• Front undercarriage in the extended or launch position

On the downside, the weapon selection is very limited and only includes AIM-54 Sidewinders, AIM-7 Sparrows & AIM-9 Sidewinders. There are no options for air to ground weapons or their associated targeting pods. This is a bit of a disappointment given the F-14B was the first of the Tomcats that had an air-to-ground capability.

The kit has 4 decal options covering both early and late F-14B:

• VF-101 Grim Reapers 2004
• VF-102 Diamondbacks 2004
• VF-103 Jolly Rogers 2002
• Vf-32 Fighting Swordsmen 2005

References used:

DACO Uncovering the F-14A/B/D
Detail in Scale US Navy F-14 Part 1: Atlantic Coast Squadrons
Detail in Scale F-14 Tomcat

Aftermarket extras:

DXM F-14 Tomcat 21-4157

The Plan

I planned to do this build as much from the box as I could without the use of aftermarket parts. This was so I could get a good comparison of this kit when compared to the other F-14s on the market in this scale. My only deviation from the box was to be the use of aftermarket decals for a very colourful VF-101 F-14B that I had always wanted to do. I still planned to use some of the kit decals for the stencilling so I would get an idea of the quality of these.

Construction…