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Fighing 1:18th member Fogger1138 brings something interesting to our attention.
According to the website www.warbirdmodelle.de/, JS International is set to release a second series run of the 1:18 scale Grumman F-14 Tomcat they released this past holiday season. Fraught with controversy the JSI Tomcat has been much discussed in the collecting community, and despite the impressive size and detail of the aircraft, it has been universally panned by collector’s for it’s poor paint scheme and it’s flimsy landing gear.
According to www.warbirdmodelle.de the IIAF F-14 Tomcat is set to release this autumn, less than a year after the initial release.
More details as they become available.
To join in the discussion head to The Fighting 1:18th discussion: http://forums.fighting118th.com/showthread.php?t=1690
Background on the Iranian F-14
(Excerpt from Wikipedia)
The sole foreign customer for the Tomcat was the Imperial Iranian Air Force, during the reign of the last Shah (King) of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
In the early 1970s, the Imperial Iranian Air Force (IIAF) was searching for an advanced fighter, specifically one capable of intercepting Soviet MiG-25 “Foxbat” reconnaissance flights. After a visit of U.S. President Richard Nixon to Iran in 1972, during which Iran was offered the latest in American military technology, the IIAF narrowed its choice to the F-14 Tomcat or McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle. Grumman Corporation arranged a competitive demonstration of the Eagle against the Tomcat before the Shah, and in January 1974, Iran ordered 30 F-14s and 424 AIM-54 Phoenix missiles, initiating Project Persian King, worth US$300 million. Only a few months later, this order was increased to a total of 80 Tomcats and 714 Phoenix missiles as well as spare parts and replacement engines for 10 years, complete armament package, and support infrastructure (including construction of the huge Khatami Air Base in the desert near Esfahan).
The first F-14 arrived in January 1976, modified only by the removal of classified avionics components, but fitted with the TF-30-414 engines. The following year 12 more were delivered. Meanwhile, training of the first groups of Iranian crews by the U.S. Navy, was underway in the USA; and one of these conducted a successful shoot-down with a Phoenix missile of a target drone flying at 50,000 ft (15 km).
Following the overthrow of the Shah in 1979, the air force was re-named the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) and the post-revolution interim government of Iran canceled most Western arms orders. Knowledge about F-14 use by Iran is limited; deteriorating relations led to an arms embargo being imposed on Iran, including the last Tomcat built for Iran, which was embargoed and eventually turned over to the United States Navy. Large shipments of spares were held back, and many aircraft were cannibalized for their spare parts.
In January 2007, it was announced by the US Department of Defense that sales of spare parts for F-14s would be suspended, due to concerns that they could end up in Iran. It announced that the decision was taken “given the current situation in Iran”. On 2 July 2007, the remaining American F-14s were being shredded to ensure that F-14 spare parts would not be acquired by governments considered hostile to the US. Iran had an estimated 44 F-14s, with some 20 operational by 2009.
