Tomcats Forever ! Even though the F-14 is in the twilight of its career, it still remains a sight to behold.

In its early days in the fleet, Tomcats carried a lot of color, & this sheet is representative of that time period. Both a/c are in the gloss gull gray over white scheme, with the wavy gray/white demarcation line, full color markings, natural metal leading edges, & black and white tail hooks. There is only enough common data to do one of the aircraft, & no national insignia is provided, though the instruction sheet tells you what size to use. The stenciling can be read on some of the decals, but the smaller writing is unintelligible.

The first a/c is from VF-211 "Fighting Checkmates" from 1976. The squadron carried over its checkerboard markings form its days as an F-8 unit, when they scored the most MiG kills of any F-8 squadron. The red/white/blue stripes that ran from the tip of the radome to just behind the canopy on my sheet were a little off. The width of the blue stripe was so narrow at one point, it almost totally disappeared into the white stripe. The ventral fin decals look to be the right size for a Monogram kit, but might have to be trimmed to fit the Hasegawa’s narrower ventral fins.

The second a/c is from VF-114 "Aardvarks". Their markings hardly changed when they transitioned over from the F-4J. The decals depict the markings carried during the ‘varks first cruise with the F-14 in 1977. The marking consist of a orange aardvark standing on a black shadow on the tail, with broad fuselage stripe in the same orange, trimmed with black. The fin caps, wing tips, & ventral fins all get the same orange trimmed with black treatment. The modeler must paint these areas orange, and then apply the thin black decal stripes. No F.S. number is given for the orange color.

VF-211 is still flying A models, after briefly flying the B model in 1989. VF-114 was a victim of defense budget cuts, & was disestablished in April 1993.

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