Revell 1/144 F-14D Tomcat

With powerful F110 engines, a contemporary glass cockpit, digital avionics and the potent APG-71 radar, the F-14D Super Tomcat was the final and most advanced version of the legendary US Navy carrier fighter. It greatly increased the US Navy’s air-to-ground precision strike and multi-role capabilities with systems like LANTIRN and JDAM integration. Its service was short-lived as the Navy switched to the F/A-18 Super Hornet.

Revell came in 2004 with their new tool F-14A Tomcat, followed by the F-14D Super Tomcat in 2006 with the addition of some extra parts. Both molds seem to be periodically released ever since, either as kits (also twice by the Japanese Ace corporation) or model sets (which contain glue, two brushes and basic camo paints).

 The specific kit is the 2006 F-14D super Tomcat edition and was a prize to my young sons from my small but beloved local club (Paneuboean Miniature Club, Chalkis, Greece). It comes in a petite, good quality but side opening blue box, carrying a nice boxart of artist Jaroslav Velc, depicting a shark mouthed VF-101 Grim Reapers machine.

Upon opening the box, I was greeted with 56 light gray styrene parts, neatly arranged in two bigger and two smaller sprues. The three of them are common with the “A” version, while the small fourth one contains parts specific to the “D” version (like the different exhaust nozzles) and also a quadruple of Phoenix missiles.

 General shapes of parts look correct, molding is crisp with no flash whatsoever and features nicely engraved panel lines. Cockpit is well appointed with instrument panels, side consoles, control stick and quite good looking seats. All instruments, including the side ones, are represented by nicely printed  decals. Apart from the possible addition of seat belts, the kit supplied cockpit is perfectly acceptable for the scale.

Landing gear is also very well represented, with molded on details within the bays. Wheels up or down option is provided. The intakes have sufficient depth, while the exhausts are on the shallow side (something not uncommon at this scale). The wings are connected via a study looking gear mechanism and are moveable. Typically for an F-14 kit, the fuselage is divided in front and rear sections, with the front one split vertically and the rear (which contains the horizontal stabilizers) horizontally.

The one piece canopy is well molded and crystal clear (I would like to see it placed in a bag, though, rather than floating unprotected with the rest of the sprues). Instructions are nicely done, coming in the form of a 12-page A5 b/w booklet, containing a short history of the type, a color chart, a sprues map, with the construction spread in no less than 26 simple and concise steps, with color callouts given where needed.

Three schemes are provided, for two VF-101 Grim Reaper machines stationed in NAS Oceana in September 2004 and a VF-213 Black Lions example, as it stood in Persian Gulf in February 2006. Colors are given in Revell codes and in generic form, so, unless you use Revell paints, have your conversion charts ready! Decals are superbly printed and, despite being almost 20 years old, look to be in usable condition (of course, one can only be sure upon using them).

Instructions want you to first assemble the cockpit and trap it between the front fuselage halves. No weight is mentioned and I believe none is needed. The wings are then interlocked and trapped between the rear top and bottom fuselage halves. The front and rear sections are then joined (some extra care there, in order to achieve good alignment ,will not hurt), followed by the intakes, the vertical stabilizers, the arresting hook and the exhausts.
Landing gear is next (you have the option of extended or retracted), followed by the canopy (you may wish to add it at final stages), the wing tanks and the missiles, ending a relatively uncomplex build. 

This is a very nice kit of the iconic Tomcat: looks accurate, molding is very good, panel lines are nicely engraved, details are more than sufficient for the scale, the canopy is well molded and crystal clear and instructions are great, as are the decals.

Albeit being 1/144 scale, its level of detail easily matches that of good 1/72 kits and Revell has to be credited for this. Construction looks uncomplicated, with some care needed to tackle the smaller, more delicate parts. The kit can be found for less than $10 and the finished model will fit in the palm of your hand. If you want a petite yet detailed F-14, this is a kit worth tackling.

Happy Modeling!

Spiros Pendedekas

January 2026

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