F-14 Tomcat Air Intake Covers (for Academy)

[Mike]

F-14 Tomcat Air Intake Covers (for Academy)

1:48 Aires Quickboost

Intake covers are a great way to hide either the lack of intake trunking in a kit, or to absolve you from having to clean up the seams on any trunking that is present, because let's face it - it is a chore. It's also a good way of making your model look like it's parked up properly with all the covers in place to stop Foreign object Debris (FOD) from making its way into all those expensive nooks and crannies.

The Academy kit is alleged to have shallow intakes, so there FOD barriers will come in very handy at disguising that fact. They are quite a simple set, and arrive in Quickboost's standard flat package, although there is a surprise salted away within the cardboard backing, which is only hinted at on the front. Inside the bag are two sprues of parts in a grey resin. One sprue contains the two large flat covers, with moulded in strengthening spars and locking mechanisms. The other contains eight grab handles, which attach to the face of each guard. Positioning is a piece of cake, because there are pairs of helpful pin-marks where each one must go, so a blob of super glue between these marks will ensure good positioning.

The "easter egg" is that you get a large sheet of decals that provide squadron markings for the covers, plus handling instructions, which totals up to 7 decals per guard. There are full squadron codes, or you can make up your own from the separate digits and prefixes that are supplied at the top of the sheet. There don't appear to be spares of the pre-printed squadron codes though, so be careful not to ruin any, or you'll be putting them down individually! The same can also be said of the handles, so make sure they don't ping off into the maw of the carpet monster while you're removing them from the mould plug.

Conclusion

There are plenty of reasons to add these guards to your Academy F-14, from laziness, realism and subterfuge, so pick which is right for you, and spruce up your Tomcat with a set of rather nice FOD guards.

Recommended.



Review samples courtesy of distributed in the UK by Hannants Ltd.