I've written so much about the F-14 during the last several years of kit and decal reviews that I cannot think of anything new to say about it. As you know it is now nearing the end of its useful life and will probably be gone from the fleet by 2005. I can recall the first time I saw one. I had only been in the Navy a few years and had heard about but not seen one of these fantastic swing-wing aircraft. One day, at NAS Alameda, I was working on an aircraft in my squadron when a friend came to me and asked if I wanted to see something neat. Being the typical sailor, a number of thoughts crossed my mind and I said 'sure'. 

We walked over to the transient hangar on the far end of the ramp from our hangar and took the stairs to the second deck. There below us was a Tomcat in gull grey and white with red wing, tail, and stabilator tips. It was one of the prototype birds and had broken during a cross country. The squid police wouldn't let anyone in the hangar floor with it, but had no problem with people peering at it from above. I was mightily impressed by the size of the thing. The largest fighter I had seen before was the Phantom, and this one seemed much bigger. Even today, when I see one, I am still impressed. The Navy had a superb fleet interceptor in the aircraft and no F-18 will ever really be able to replace it when it is gone.

This is the second F-14 that they have produced. The original kit was produced soon after the prototype was out and decent measurements were made of it. The kit had raised panel lines and a pretty decent interior. It was considered to be the best around for a number of years, and was still top dog  in 1/72 until the new kits were produced in 1988. This is one of those new kits.

It has all the goodies that were considered necessary at the time. There are options to allow a multitude of variants of the F-14A. Along with that are a plethora of parts, many of them rather small, but such is the case with modern kits. There are so many parts that the box is actually bulging in an attempt to keep them from escaping. You can see the number of bits and pieces from the image above. In many ways, this is just a smaller version of the larger and equally impressive 1/48 F-14 that Hasegawa has produced. Typical of Hasegawa, the kit came with all those sprues in two bags. As a result, there were a number of parts broken off the sprues and the bits have numerous scratches on them.

As demanded, the panel lines are engraved and the kit offers the ability to have the flaps and slats deployed. In fact, to do it otherwise will require a bit of surgery to be done on the slat tracks. You can also position the glove vanes open or closed. Again, some surgery is needed for the closed position. All F-14s have had them wired in the closed position for years. You also have a variety of under nose sensors, the ability to have the speed brakes and entrance steps/ladder open or closed, and two different tails, though one set is not for this particular boxing. So much has the F-14 been modified and updated over the years that you really need to have photographs of the aircraft that you are modeling to get everything right.

As required by its price, this kit comes with a small fret of etched metal. These bits are for the interior, canopy and exhaust. The metalwork is very well done and should really enhance your Tomcat. The instructions are very well done as you would expect. They offer color callouts based on Gunze paint as is the norm with Hasegawa over the last decades. Every option and difference between the aircraft on the decal sheet is given so that you can do a proper job of things. 

Speaking of decals, this kit offers four options. For some reason, VF-84 has always been a real favourite amongst Tomcat builders. I guess it is the skull and crossbones that does it. All four aircraft are in overall FS 16440 Gloss Gull Grey, so that should help ease painting problems. Anyway, there are two schemes for VF-84; one with a black tail and one without it. The third scheme is from VF-31 with the big red tail bands and black radome. Finally, VF-102 is the sole version with the smaller grey insignia as is now so typical with TPS painted Tomcats. The sheet provides not only things like wing walk and instrument panels, but also a zillion data stencils that are sure to keep you busy for quite a while applying them! Typical of Hasegawa kit decals, these are a bit thick and should be applied using hot water for best performance.

Well, the big question is whether you should get this kit or not. The truth be told, it is the best one available. It is also a complicated kit with lots of small bits and pieces. There are others out there that are easier to build, including the older Hasegawa kit, but none can match the accuracy of this one. As with most Hasegawa kits, this one has been reboxed with different decals and a few extra bits at least a dozen times!

Review kit courtesy of me and my wallet!

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