Sheet:

Jasmine Model 148001: F-14D Tomcat

Units: VF-31

Price

$8.00 MSRP

Reviewer:

Scott Van Aken

This is an upscaled sheet from a model company out of Shanghai called Jasmine Model. This 1/48 sheet is for an F-14D Tomcat, specifically the last CAG bird operated by that unit when it was disestablished in late 2006. The aircraft has black fins, ventral strakes and area around the cockpits. The rest is FS 36320 and FS 35237. Now I have to be quite honest and tell you that though the artwork for the four view is superb, I cannot tell what part of the plane is which of the two greys. I'm assuming that the upper side is the darker of the two, but am not sure. When it comes to close colors like this, I'm a bit old fashioned and prefer something a bit more clear, even a grey-shade drawing would be nice. Most of the rest of the decals are easy to figure out in terms of placement, but again, some of the smaller ones leave me clue-less as to where they go. I am guessing that Jasmine Model expects one to use the kit instructions as a basis for determining placement of these.

The decals themselves are well printed and quite glossy. The fine print is easy to read on the smaller decals. The reds and yellows seem opaque enough to hold up to the backgrounds, something that is especially crucial for the black fins. The other markings are spot on in terms of registration. No kit is specified, but I'm sure that most will be using the Hasegawa or Revell kit. Those are so close that any differences will be minimal. A nice additional touch are a pair of seat harness decals and decals for the instrument panels.

Overall, a very fine sheet that is most welcome. I particularly like the resealable bag and the inclusion of a large sheet of waxed paper to keep the decals from sticking.  If you can't find this locally, ask your hobby shop to order it for you.

August 2007

My thanks to Jasmine Model for providing the review sheet. You can e-mail them at jasminemodel2007@yahoo.com  as I don't think they have a web site as of yet.

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