Top Gun F-14s Take Two

[PHArchivist]

The fairing detaching is visible in the film - was the take cut into the final print. Thankfully it had no impact on the flight capabilities of the Tomcat...

I'm not that good at picking up on this stuff - was shown in one of the special features on the DVD...

 

[JNordgren42]

that is pretty wild. I know the F-14s were prone to mishaps which lead to them being grounded at one point

Three F-14 Fighter Jet Crashes Lead to Limits on Navy Pilots (Published 1996)

www.nytimes.com

although one of the known problems I think is that they had a stall risk on certain maneuvers, or at least that is what I think they blamed for the crash at the Willow Grove Airshow in 2000

I remember watching the routine ending in horror as the smoke went up
They were doing a landing wave-off maneuver
The pilot was supposedly able to drop it in just the right spot to miss the houses back there and instead go down in the wooded area behind them

They were also too low and at the wrong angle to eject safely at that point

The Pratt & Whitney TF30's in the F-14A had a lot of issues. They had a high incidence of turbine blade failures which lead Grumman to reinforce the engine bays to contain damage in case the engine ate itself. They were also prone to compressor stalls which could result in severe yaw issues (due to the engines being spaced so far apart) which was the inspiration for the flat spin scene. The GE F110 used in the B & D was a much better engine all around.

 

[JNordgren42]

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Painted the lightning strips inside the canopy.

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Glued on the whiskers : )

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Absolutely fantastic! This has really inspired me, I may have to pick up a Cat and do one up. The classic VF-84 Jolly Rogers scheme was always my absolute favorite, but I just saw this aggressor "Tomcatsky" Red 31 scheme that is also bad ass. Does anyone have any opinions on a great 1/72 kit?

 

[crackerjazz]

Great to hear you got some inspiration from the build, JNordgren42. Go for the GWH for accuracy : ) Wow, that short news report was hard to watch, Analyzer. Feeling totally heartbroken by that tragic event. I didn't know the F-14 was such a widowmaker even off-screen.

Hi PHarchivist that does look like the Salton Sea, good eye : ) Re the access panel, that was intriguing -- just had to rewatch the scene. It does look like something shoots out when he pulls up. Just looks odd it would come from near the nose and the way it shoots straight out like a projectile without flipping around seems uncharacteristic of a flat panel in the air. Although it does travel in a curve shortly after that -- it sure behaves like a UFO doesn't it : ) But judging by the length of that thing it does match the size of the panel, somehow.

 

[Analyzer]

Great to hear you got some inspiration from the build, JNordgren42. Go for the GWH for accuracy : ) Wow, that short news report was hard to watch, Analyzer. Feeling totally heartbroken by that tragic event. I didn't know the F-14 was such a widowmaker even off-screen.

Hi PHarchivist that does look like the Salton Sea, good eye : ) Re the access panel, that was intriguing -- just had to rewatch the scene. It does look like something shoots out when he pulls up. Just looks odd it would come from near the nose and the way it shoots straight out like a projectile without flipping around seems uncharacteristic of a flat panel in the air. Although it does travel in a curve shortly after that -- it sure behaves like a UFO doesn't it : ) But judging by the length of that thing it does match the size of the panel, somehow.

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is it possible it might have been a temporary cover to cover up some real marking or similar. Kind of equivalent to a vinyl sign you slap on a car?

 

[Analyzer]

Absolutely fantastic! This has really inspired me, I may have to pick up a Cat and do one up. The classic VF-84 Jolly Rogers scheme was always my absolute favorite, but I just saw this aggressor "Tomcatsky" Red 31 scheme that is also bad ass. Does anyone have any opinions on a great 1/72 kit?

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in 1/72 the Academy Pukin Dogs kit is a new tool (from 2020) and has some excellent details

It can also be built so the wings are fully poseable instead of having to choose either a swept back or extended position. it also has decals for the "scrapes" where the wings extend

also, while the kit depicts an F-14a, there are actually 2 different style engine parts and other parts to build the later variants, newer engines

Of course you will need aftermarket decals to turn it into a Jolly Rogers one or possibly wait and see if Academy comes out with a JR variant

Note, they have an older, less accurate shape wise 1/72 Jolly Rogers one believe and I am not sure it has all the bells and whistles

 

[PHArchivist]

Great to hear you got some inspiration from the build, JNordgren42. Go for the GWH for accuracy : ) Wow, that short news report was hard to watch, Analyzer. Feeling totally heartbroken by that tragic event. I didn't know the F-14 was such a widowmaker even off-screen.

Hi PHarchivist that does look like the Salton Sea, good eye : ) Re the access panel, that was intriguing -- just had to rewatch the scene. It does look like something shoots out when he pulls up. Just looks odd it would come from near the nose and the way it shoots straight out like a projectile without flipping around seems uncharacteristic of a flat panel in the air. Although it does travel in a curve shortly after that -- it sure behaves like a UFO doesn't it : ) But judging by the length of that thing it does match the size of the panel, somehow.

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The incident (if you can call it that) was well known by the Navy contingent involved in the film. The DVD special feature interviewees cite precisely what the part is / was, but I can't recall the part name.


Geez, all the F-14 chat has us distracted from the main thrust of this thread (pun intended)...!


That being said, here's a fun little video:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2248944281908893

 

[PHArchivist]

And, if I may indulge in one more slightly off-topic post (apologies), here is my one-and-only F-14 build, from back in the late 80's. Was about 19 at the time...

Reference to the Jolly Rogers catalyzed this post; otherwise, I respect that this is your build thread, and not my show-off thread!

The poor quality photograph I always thought leant to realism (except there is no driver and RIO!).

 

[crackerjazz]

Cool build! Makes me want to revisit The Final Countdown : ) I remember building a Revell one in 1/48 : )

 

[PHArchivist]

Cool build! Makes me want to revisit The Final Countdown : ) I remember building a Revell one in 1/48 : )

Just watched it in 4K...

Arguably perhaps better imagery of the F-14 than Top Gun!

 

[JNordgren42]

Cool build! Makes me want to revisit The Final Countdown : ) I remember building a Revell one in 1/48 : )

Digging into Jolly Rogers F-14 reference today I had that exact same thought. It would be super cool to do a pair of Cats and convert a couple of T-6 Texans to look like Zeros as they did in the movie (the Texans were actually converted originally for Tora! Tora! Tora!).

There's a very interesting article about the conversion here:

TORA! TORA! TORA!

The story of the CAF TORA! TORA! TORA! Airshow act.

warbirdsnews.com

 

[crackerjazz]

Now is actually the best time to build those Final Countdown "silvery arrowhead shapes" with the advent of all these accurate kits. Like this Tamiya kit that already comes in Jolly Rogers markings, for instance. It took Tamiya just 40 years to fulfill our dreams : )

Tried making some rear-view mirrors.

Aaawww..the mirrors are not even too visible.. all that work for nothing, lol.

 

[PHArchivist]

The mirrors look great! I'm seeing the shot in the film where he places his palm on the mirror, hesitates a moment, then slides it shut.

 

[Analyzer]

One of the best builds and paint job I have of an F-14

 

[crackerjazz]

I contacted one of the guys who helped with the research for repainting the USS Lexington F-14 display -- Matthew Lawlor. He's a historian and artist and he made some helpful drawings for restoring the F-14 as it looked in the movie although that didn't really happen in the end as he says it wasn't cost-effective to add faux weathering when it was repainted. But the drawing is a really good reference for duplicating the touch-up patterns on Maverick's jet. He's updating the drawings right now -- will post them when he's done. According to Matt the F-14 on the Lexington is one of the actual jets used in the film.

Here's the video from four years ago when the plane was still in Jolly Rogers markings: Link

And some pics during the restoration a couple years ago:

Just wondering why they replaced the gun ports, though.

And they painted the nozzles black.

 

[JNordgren42]

Now is actually the best time to build those Final Countdown "silvery arrowhead shapes" with the advent of all these accurate kits. Like this Tamiya kit that already comes in Jolly Rogers markings, for instance. It took Tamiya just 40 years to fulfill our dreams : )

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Tried making some rear-view mirrors.

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Aaawww..the mirrors are not even too visible.. all that work for nothing, lol.

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Superb! I love the attitude of both jets together on the stand. Extremely dynamic!

 

[Analyzer]

I contacted one of the guys who helped with the research for repainting the USS Lexington F-14 display -- Matthew Lawlor. He's a historian and artist and he made some helpful drawings for restoring the F-14 as it looked in the movie although that didn't really happen in the end as he says it wasn't cost-effective to add faux weathering when it was repainted. But the drawing is a really good reference for duplicating the touch-up patterns on Maverick's jet. He's updating the drawings right now -- will post them when he's done. According to Matt the F-14 on the Lexington is one of the actual jets used in the film.

Here's the video from four years ago when the plane was still in Jolly Rogers markings: Link

And some pics during the restoration a couple years ago:

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Just wondering why they replaced the gun ports, though.

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And they painted the nozzles black.

I guess they painted them black so they did not rust figuring it was never going to fly again?

 

[crackerjazz]

Probably, yeah. I think if they gathered volunteers who are scale modelers I'm sure they could do some weathering on that thing : ) They'll need a couple hundred bottles of Model Master Light Ghost Gray, a couple hundred of Dark Ghost Gray, Medium Gray, lots of Black and white for blackbasing and mottling.... : ))

Some more flex shots : )

Still need to work on the loadout and a little paint fixing. I bent the pitot tube on Maverick's jet, by the way. I did my best to bend it back into shape but another slight touch and it'll fall apart for sure.

 

[PHArchivist]

One aspect that really sells these are your pilot figures; the realism and accuracy of the helmets just works....

 

[JNordgren42]

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I bet you could composite this one onto a shot from above the clouds and it would be difficult to distinguish from the real thing.