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These new resin F-14 extended wing bladders from Zactomodels offers replacement parts for the nasty rubber bladder parts included in the Trumpeter 1/32 F-14 Tomcat kit. The rubber parts are difficult to glue, difficult to paint and some have even had them weep oils that ruined their paint. As with rubber wheels, there is the fear that they will deteriorate and completely fail in time. While there are basically 3 positions for the wings, extended, swept and over-swept, Zactomodels decided to only offer two, extended and swept. Those who want to do over-swept will have to do some filing and sanding. Each set includes 2 detailed resin pieces designed to fit with no kit modifications. These bladder parts force the wing glove sealing plates to fit properly, raised at the rear corner, not flush like when using the kit provided bladders.
The bladders inflate using air pressure from the engines so there is some variability as to how much they inflate.
Zactomodels
found pics at cat-launch where they appear over-inflated while in others they have relaxed and the ribs in the under-structure show.
They have made the (extended wing) bladders slightly relaxed to where the sub-structure barely shows. Those who want it to be more prominent can sand away material and those who want them more inflated can add material. Resin casting is of a very high quality and all the detail is very well done with no air bubbles. This new resin set from Zactomodels will permit modelers to improve this area on their 1/32 F-14 and avoid the rubber kit parts and get more accuracy in this area. You can buy this set directly from Chris at Zactomodels and he also has a separate set for the swept wing bladders. Steve Bamford |
Photos and text © by Steve Bamford