Now in the twilight of its career, the F-14 can still be a colorful  & eye catching aircraft.  This sheet highlights both.

      This is the sixth sheet in the Anytime Baby!! Series of F-14 decals from Aeromaster.  The instructions are typical Aeromaster, being full color & showing a large left side profile of each a/c, along with smaller top & bottom drawings of each a/c covered.  This particular set of instructions happen to have full color pictures of the actual aircraft depicted in the instructions, as well as some notes on the condition of the a/c relevant to painting.  This is a pretty complete sheet, with the modeler only needing to supply a second turbine-warning stripe to do both a/c from this one sheet. 

     The first Tomcat covered is the CAG bird from VF-31 “Tomcatters”, one of the oldest squadrons in the navy.  This unit holds the distinction of being the only U.S. unit to score air-to-air victories in WW II, Korea, & Viet Nam.  The a/c is in the standard dark ghost over light ghost scheme.  Without a doubt, the big Felix on the tail & the CAG rainbow flash really makes this a/c stand out.  The yellow disc under the Felix character has not been seen since the unit’s days as an F-4J unit. The vertical fin cap must be painted yellow, & thin black decal stripes are provided for the black border.  Two small Felix figures are provided for outboard side of each drop tank.  The medium gray data is used on this a/c.

     The second a/c from this sheet is the CO/XO’s bird from VF-14, another long serving squadron, dating back to when the navy flew biplanes. The a/c is depicted during Desert Storm while based off the JFK. Its interesting to note the commanding officer of the squadron during this time period is a RIO, not a pilot, hence his name under the rear canopy, & the XO’s name under the front canopy.  The a/c is again in the dark ghost over light ghost scheme, but with non-standard Gunship gray (FS36118) markings. Also of note is the picture of this a/c on the instruction sheet shows it to have the early style gun bay grill vents, not the later NACA style vents. The only color on the a/c is the white disc & red chevron outline.

     VF-31 still operate the D model Tomcat, & VF-14 has transitioned to the single seat F/A-18E Super Hornet.

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