As a member of the IPMS-USA Review Corps, I have had the wonderful opportunity to review a few items now from the Polish company Master Model. The topic for this review is a new set designed to upgrade your 1/32 scale Tomcat. Unlike most of the sets that I have reviewed, there is no one recommended kit to use these new parts on, so I compared the items to what Revell, Tamiya, and Trumpeter kits offer in plastic. As I have these kits sitting in my stash, I decided to show how all three big-scale Tomcats can be improved with these new parts.

Once again, I have fallen upon the opportunity to review something related to my favorite aircraft, the venerable Grumman F-14 Tomcat. When I saw this item hit the review list, I knew that I could make a comparison to several different kits, allowing modelers owning any one of them to make an informed decision regarding the addition of these parts. Over the years, I have managed to obtain the original Tamiya F-14A (I have seen reviews that called this the first “super kit”), the Tamiya F-14A (1994 version), the Trumpeter F-14D, and the Revell F-14A.

This new release from the Air Master line of Master Model detail sets comes with an Alpha Probe (the one that sticks out from the nose cone) as well as an Angle of Attack Probe. The Alpha Probe was not present on the original Tamiya F-14A release, but the other three kits had this probe present. None of the kits provides an Angle of Attack Probe, although all provide pitot tubes. In short, the Master Model Alpha Probe will replace kit part 79 for the Revell kit, part B25 for the Tamiya 1994 kit, or part H35 for the Trumpeter offering. Replacement will be part-for-part with the Revell and Tamiya kits, but some work is required to use the probe on the Trumpeter kit. The instructions with the Master Model items walks you through this.

For my hits of this detail set, I again will mention that the parts show detail for this scale that provides a nice upgrade to the plastic items provided in the different kits. As mentioned, the Alpha Probes will be a one-for-one replacement, so it is an easy upgrade for less experienced modelers, with the exception of the Trumpeter kit. As none of the kits provides an Angle of Attack probe, you simply drill a 0.5mm hole, and then install the new part. The Master Model directions alone will provide adequate detail to the builder, including the drill bit sizes that are recommended if needed.

I had no misses for this detail set; just follow the directions and you will end up with improved looking Alpha and Angle of Attack Probes.

Overall, I would highly recommend this detail set to anyone wanting to improve his or her 1/32 scale F-14 Tomcat, no matter which kit you are building. The only challenge that I could see in using this detail set would be the work needed to replace the Trumpeter Alpha probe. If you start with the Revell or Tamiya 1994 kit, the Master Model items will simply drop into place, so there will be no styrene surgery required.

I would like to thank the folks at Master Model for providing this set to the IPMS-USA for review, to Steve Collins, who runs the review corps, for selecting me to assess this detail set, and to you for taking the time to read my comments.