final November, we reviewed the Brickmania F-4C Phantom II Jet custom equipment, and dressmaker Cody Osell is back again with the massive 1033 F-14 Tomcat Supersonic Air Superiority Interceptor. The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is among the most iconic cold conflict jet combatants, featured in motion pictures like true Gun and The remaining Countdown. The Brickmania equipment includes 1,607 LEGO items and two custom-printed minifigures with accessories. We'll also be taking a look at the NAS Miramar motion Pack add-on that includes 4 greater customized minifigures.
Brickmania kits are available in typical cardboard packaging with glossy printed wrappers that highlight part counts, minifigs, and so on — nothing specifically new here. meanwhile, the minifigure add-on comes in a large blister pack, with the minifigures themselves safely packaged in separate zipper bags.
all the materials are available unnumbered baggage, though the components are generally sorted smartly satisfactory that putting them in a huge tray or two with compartments should be satisfactory to find parts with ease as you construct. That said, Brickmania does additionally every so often separate groups of elements with the aid of module, as they've executed with the enormous B-17 Flying Fortress custom LEGO kit we also reviewed final yr.
Like massive official LEGO units, the guide booklet and decal sheet are shipped together in their own wrapper, guaranteeing they're no longer broken in transit.
the first page of the guideline booklet comprises a top level view of the precise-life fighter's service listing and specs. The 2d web page does anything we haven't seen in different Brickmania units: A materials checklist to build a color-swapped variant of the default mannequin. all over the leisure of the booklet, colour-coded steps give alternate guidance for changing the black aspects with grey, enabling you to construct an all-gray F-14 from the eighty's and later (like the ones featured in good Gun).
Brickmania prints their personal custom stickers, and the stickers are printed on a material that makes them a little more straightforward to follow and remove in situations in the event you should reposition them. This decal sheet comprises a number of alternate designs for the tail artwork in specific — that you would be able to use the sensible skull and crossbones to healthy the livery of the famous VF-84 "Jolly Rogers" squadron or Felix the Cat for the VFA-31 "Tomcatters." individually, i like the option to use a LEGO cranium and crossbones from the basic LEGO Pirates theme of the 1980's.
We've talked about before, and it bears repeating, that constructing custom kits from third-birthday celebration corporations like Brickmania seems like building the better of the forms of custom LEGO fashions by means of grownup builders that we function here on The Brothers Brick general. This F-14 isn't any diverse. The construct uses hundreds of curved slopes to obtain the awesome curves of the jet, whereas a complex indoors mechanism makes it possible for the variable-sweep wings to trade their configuration.
The cockpit and nose cone in particular use studs-out development to obtain the refined curves and angles of the real-life plane. word the stepped construction and sloped 2×four black tile that further make contributions to the shaping.
however lots of the colourful particulars on the aircraft are accomplished with stickers, the cockpit contains 5 customized-printed points — two seatbacks with ejector handles, two handle panels, and the HUD projector monitor. The set also contains a broadcast silver cheese slope for the charred enviornment subsequent to the M61 Vulcan cannon's gun port.
As cramped as the cockpit looks, each the pilot and radar intercept officer (RIO) fit easily within the fuselage's skin.
The build for the airplane itself concludes with four missiles slung on pods connected to the wing sleeves.
although Brickmania sells a separate aircraft Stand for its up to date jet fighters, the F-14 is considerably better than previous jets just like the F-four and modern jets like the F-16C combating Falcon. consequently, this kit comprises its personal stand, with 4 Technic pins that fit into the underside of the aircraft, conserving it at a rakish perspective.
applying the stickers is the ultimate step within the system, with a single page that uses callouts to point out the place the numbered stickers should be applied.
official LEGO stickers are continually sized to be a little bit smaller than any floor to which you're presupposed to observe them. here is no longer at all times the case with Brickmania's stickers — in some situations, they overhang their intended floor a bit. for example, despite the fact that I had applied the cockpit's forward windscreen decal flush with the backside of the trans-blue panel, the curved properly of the sticky label would nonetheless have caught out over the two trans-clear cheese slopes.
yet another situation with the Brickmania stickers is that they don't have the identical "snatch" (to repurpose a LEGO time period) that LEGO stickers and decals do. here is regularly an talents, permitting you to get rid of and reposition stickers for those who make a mistake. however when the part of a sticky label that extends throughout a step is simply too small or if it's applied to a curved floor, the stickers have a bent to peel off, as is the case with the decal for the walkway next to the RIO's place.
These issues apart, the stickers add dramatic flair to the accomplished mannequin — the "vagabonds" strips and the tail paintings notably.
despite the fact totally iconic due to its appearance in traditional 1980's American motion pictures like accurate Gun, the F-14 Tomcat certainly not noticed the intense wartime service with the U.S. Navy that its predecessor the F-four Phantom II did right through the Vietnam warfare and its successor the F/A-18E/F tremendous Hornet has in Afghanistan and the Iraq struggle. sarcastically, the F-14 did see extreme air-to-air combat right through the Eighties with the Islamic Republic of Iran Air drive, because of a start of dozens of F-14s to the Shah of Iran in advance of the 1979 Revolution. Iranian F-14s allegedly downed greater than a hundred and sixty Iraqi plane, together with dozens of Soviet-made MiGs. This Brickmania package activities the color scheme of early F-14s in US Navy service, matching the black sections, "vagabonds" fuselage strip, and cranium and crossbones on the tails of the VF-84 "J olly Rogers" fighter squadron aboard the plane provider united statesTheodore Roosevelt.
The jet facets a number of working points, most exceptionally the variable-geometry wings, which will also be swept back fully for supersonic flight (don't are trying to get your LEGO F-14 to really fly at Mach 2.34 as we suspect it's going to fly aside). The wings can also be extended for decrease-velocity flight (notwithstanding we additionally don't suggest throwing your F-14, considering the fact that with the intention to seemingly have identical consequences).
Cranking a small apparatus within the jet's tail connects to an extended, strengthened Technic axle that strikes a pusher mechanism inside the valuable fuselage, which in turn connects to a pair of 1×eight tiles on hinges, which slide from side to side internal the wings to lengthen or retract them. It's outstanding, and works flawlessly.
The tail area also includes a number of extra useful points — the speedbrake flips up, and the arrestor hook flips down. The all-moving tailerons or stabilators rotate on Technic friction pins so that you can position them as you love.
The wings even have moveable flaps, even though they wouldn't be used at high speeds.
The landing apparatus aren't quite as purposeful, although. The instructions encompass steps for doing away with and stowing them, but they don't retract on their own — you should eliminate the wheels, flip the struts up, and stow the wheels manually earlier than closing the flaps. however when you do, the jet looks much more sleek on its stand.
regardless of their removability, the touchdown equipment are also sturdy adequate for the heavy aircraft to face on them on a flat floor.
universal, the shaping, particulars, functionality, and livery from customized stickers all come collectively in a superbly exact, highly sturdy LEGO F-14 Tomcat that you just wouldn't need to face in the air. I also recognize that the Brickmania team chose to provide their kit in late 70's ~ early eighty's "Jolly Rogers" squadron livery, which is a good deal more enjoyable to analyze as a model than the flat gray livery of later jets. Of direction, you could at all times decide to construct your all-grey excellent Gun version with the alternate elements listing and directions.
See a great deal extra pictures of the finished model in the gallery at the conclusion of this text.
The minifiguresThe Brickmania F-14 package itself comes with two identical minifigures representing the pilot and the Radar Intercept Officer (RIO). Brickmania customized-prints their minifigs in-condominium, and this is the primary equipment we've reviewed that also elements custom add-ons produced by way of Brickmania — in the past, they've relied on third-birthday party defense force add-ons from makers reminiscent of Brickarms and Minifig Cat. consequently, this is the primary equipment in a very long time that looks to be created a hundred% in-apartment (aside from the common LEGO bricks, of direction).
I've cited in the past my personal preference for pad printing, which produces flat designs practically indistinguishable from reliable LEGO items, such as the customized minifigs and accessories from Citizen Brick. however, the digital printing system that Brickmania makes use of does have a few benefits, together with the means to print three dimensionally off of the floor of the underlying LEGO. This works well to create textures like straps and belts on defense force uniforms, however we're mainly impressed with the oxygen masks printed on the minifigs' heads. (We'll come back to the brand new customized helmets after we study a larger pattern of them with the add-on minifig pack.) The glare on the visor is basically printed right onto the pinnacle and isn't simply from our photography setup — a enjoyable detail.
The cleverly titled NAS Miramar motion Pack (For F-14 Tomcat) comprises 4 greater customized minifigs that complement the custom jet kit. This add-on package is priced at $one hundred twenty five (we'll address price in our conclusions later). As we stated earlier, the minifigs are available in their own blister pack with an insert, and the minifigs themselves are packaged of their personal small luggage inner.
anybody who's seen appropriate Gun will of direction instantly appreciate the 4 protagonists from the movie. Left to appropriate within the picture under, the ill-fated LTJG Nick "Goose" Bradshaw (performed by Anthony Edwards of ER repute), LTJG Ron "Slider" Kerner (played via Rick Rossovich), LT Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (performed by Tom Cruise), and the inimitable LT Tom "Iceman" Kazansky (performed by way of Val Kilmer).
All four minifigs are custom-printed on every point, together with their palms and the backs of their legs. each and every of them incorporates their flight helmets so you can swap their heads and helmets onto the default pilot and RIO's bodies from the F-14 kit. Maverick wears his iconic bomber jacket with patches from far and wide the realm, while Iceman wears a flight go well with that's greater designated than the version on both minifigs covered with the F-14.
in the meantime, Goose and Slider are in a position for a day enjoying volleyball on the seashore (notwithstanding I don't bear in mind them donning their helmets in that scene…). Goose wears board shorts with a T-shirt that includes his squadron emblem, whereas Slider wears grey sweatpants to sing their own praises his ripped physique. The consideration to aspect on these less usual characters is mind-blowing — Slider's hand and ankle are wrapped in the seashore volleyball scene, and that's accurately captured with a white hand and little bit of white bandaging on the minifig's left leg.
ultimately, the packaging insert contains a complete sticky label sheet for recreating the seem of the F-14 Tomcats featured within the film, assuming you follow the all-gray alternate guidelines broadly speaking set's guideline booklet.
We've at all times been impressed with the high satisfactory of custom add-ons from BrickArms, and we have been in a similar way impressed with the best of the Minifig Cat add-ons covered with the pilots within the F-4 Phantom package we reviewed final 12 months. however, there are a number of concerns with the helmets that Brickmania has produced in-apartment for this set. First, the plastic doesn't seem to have had ample dye injected, leaving the helmets semi-translucent. 2d, the helmets have just about no seize, and simply fall off the minifigs' heads. Neither of these issues is a great deal of an issue in case you've put the helmets on the minifigs and positioned them within the F-14's cockpit (which you could't see the translucency and the cockpit cover continues the helmets in area). but these considerations make the new accessories believe definitely low cost, which is in fact counter to the overall "top rate" consider of the relaxation of the product.
Conclusions & suggestionhigh-quality concerns with the customized components produced in-house (stickers and helmets) definitely detract from what might otherwise be an fully best customized LEGO equipment. At $725 for the large F-14 Tomcat and $125 for the four minifigs within the NAS Miramar add-on, words like "cheap" shouldn't appear alongside a complete cost of $850. Let's be clear, even though: The Brickmania F-14 Tomcat and the customized minifigs are each fully spectacular — the Tomcat is fabulous, and seeing the hyper-severe naval aviators from properly Gun decreased to chunky minifig form is frankly hilarious. It's simply disappointing that minor however incredibly visible details just like the stickers and helmets don't meet the identical high bar set via the Tomcat principally.
Do these concerns have an effect on our suggestion? definitely, no. The $725 expense tag for the Tomcat covers now not simply the 1,600 LEGO bricks that Brickmania sources on the secondary market just like the relaxation of us, but additionally their design workforce, customized printing (each stickers and customized-printed LEGO aspects), packaging, etc. I've argued in every Brickmania evaluation that it's a good rate for what you're getting, besides the fact that it's no longer something each person is going to be inclined to spend their LEGO money on.
lamentably, I don't think we can fairly say the identical for the $125 NAS Miramar add-on minifigure pack. For greater and for worse, $20-25 has develop into a reasonably standardized fee for customized-printed minifigs, in spite of printing fashion. It's additionally a fairly accepted fact (about which I'm satisfied to be corrected if I'm incorrect) among customized LEGO enthusiasts that digital printing tends to can charge less than LEGO-like pad printing. So for $125, you get four totally custom-printed LEGO minifigs, plus custom Brickmania helmets with some nice considerations, plus a single sticker sheet. the mathematics doesn't reasonably add up.
Having widespread Brickmania CEO Dan Siskind for over a decade, I'm assured that his crew will work out these styles of first-rate concerns ultimately. And on the equal time, they're in reality minor (if incredibly visible) considerations that don't in fact detract enormously from the specific comprehensive product. at last, if cost is the basic subject, Brickmania runs pretty prevalent storewide income that knock off 10-20% from any given cost. combine that with the annual Brickmania Elite commonplace purchaser software (which usually expenses $50 for a permanent 10% discount), and you'll possible discover a window should you can pick up a big set like this for as little as $522 in its place of the complete expense of $725 (sticker expense minus 10% for Elite minus one more 20% for any given sale).
For me in my opinion, regardless of the F-four Phantom II being my favourite jet fighter, and regardless of minor satisfactory concerns with helmets and stickers, this might definitely be my favorite Brickmania customized equipment thus far.
Don't miss our outdated studies of Brickmania airplanes:
Brickmania is a Premier Sponsor of The Brothers Brick and sent The Brothers Brick a duplicate of this set for review. besides the fact that children, advertisers have no affect over editorial content material and presenting TBB with products for evaluate guarantees neither coverage nor high-quality studies.
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