TAMIYA61118 1/48 Grumman F-14D Tomcat Plastic Model Airplane Kit

I haven't built it yet, but having watched build reviews, and inspecting the plastic, and instructions in the box, it looks amazing! It's typical high quality Tamiya!

Tamiya engineering, not much more to say. Plenty of aftermarket decals and photo etched parts available.

As expected, it's amazing. So far in my model making "career", tamiya has yet to let me down.Everything fit so well (the canopy looks jank ONLY because of MY mistake that I made when assembling). It practically felt like a puzzle. The panels lines and rivets are excellent. The detail is great for the scale and price.I can't say much else since I'm just a novice but I can say it's amazing.Ignore the wires in my model. They're just lights that I added. They're not part of the kit.Also, the model isn't meant to be made in gear up mode. I had to modify the doors to do that. The front bay doors look odd because I made them removable in order to have access to the lights.

Great price on an expensive kit, all parts, decals, and instructions were in sealed bags and were complete.Box was not shrink wrapped and had signs of wear. May have been a return or from a collection.

Pricey and that is the way of models in 1/48 lately. This one is a good deal at about $75.00 or so but at over $100.00 it is no deal. The model is great in detail and you get four crew members to choose from. The assembly of the wings is a project but Tamiya has made the whole thing smooth. The wings have honeycomb inserts for the swing effect. This is a 5 if you can get it for the right price.

The was possibly the best engineered and detailed kit I ve ever built

I did not assemble this model. I returned it once I opened the box and discovered there was no paint. In the add description they, in my opinion indicated there was paint in the box but it is not. I researched the paint cost and in order to get all the colors needed to paint this per the cover photo, it would take approximately $130 dollars. It also did not include model glue. Also needed is an air brush. I am almost 70 now with a bunch of time to do things like this and remember the days as a kid building car models and loved it. I was willing to pay the price of the model because I like the F14 jets, and from what I could see once the box was opened it appeared to be a really nice kit and would have been fun building it, but I could not justify spending that much on paint, glue and an air brush set up.

Having done only a few prior models, including one tamiya f-117, most were revell and academy, this model was a pleasure to build. At first the amount of parts and sprues can seem intimidating but its actually not that bad. I was able to assemble different sections, paint, weather, coat, decals, etc..then assemble all sections at the final step. This has been the only model that I've built were I could do this because there was very little sanding and no putty needed. Overall it's a great model, a little pricey but like most things you get what you pay for!