Revell 1/48 F-14A Tomcat

The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is an American carrier-capable supersonic, twin-engine, tandem two-seat, twin-tail, all-weather-capable variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft. The Tomcat was developed for the United States Navy's Naval Fighter Experimental (VFX) program after the collapse of the General Dynamics-Grumman F-111B project. A large and well-equipped fighter, the F-14 was the first of the American Teen Series fighters, which were designed incorporating air combat experience against smaller, more maneuverable MiG fighters during the Vietnam War.

The F-14 first flew on 21 December 1970 and made its first deployment in 1974 with the U.S. Navy aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, replacing the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II. The F-14 served as the U.S. Navy's primary maritime air superiority fighter, fleet defense interceptor, and tactical aerial reconnaissance platform into the 2000s. The Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared for Night (LANTIRN) pod system was added in the 1990s and the Tomcat began performing precision ground-attack missions. The Tomcat was retired by the U.S. Navy on 22 September 2006, supplanted by the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. Several retired F-14s have been put on display across the United States.

Having been exported to Pahlavi Iran under the Western-aligned Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1976, F-14s were used as land-based interceptors by the Imperial Iranian Air Force. Following the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force used them during the Iran–Iraq War. Iran claimed their F-14s shot down at least 160 Iraqi aircraft during the war (with 55 of these confirmed), while 16 Tomcats were lost, including seven losses to accidents.

Revell came in 1978 with its 1/48 F-14A, issued three years before Monogram (which was a different company at that time) issued its own, more detailed  1/48 Tomcat. In 1986 the two companies merged, so the now Revell-Monogram company logically marketed the more advanced Monogram mold. So, these two molds are different and must not be confused.

The specific kit is the original 1978 pure Revell tooling, belonging to a deceased, beloved local club member and was handed to me by his wife. For the size of the model, the kit comes in a surprisingly small, good quality (but beaten by time), top opening box, carrying a box art of a finished model. Upon opening the box, I was greeted by just 80 light grey styrene parts arranged in four equally sized sprues that barely fit in the box. The kit had been merely started, with almost all parts still attached to the sprues.

Molding is old school, with the plastic itself being shiny and hard. Apart from some mold separation lines, no flash is apparent. Panel lines are a combination of raised and engraved. Cockpit is minimalistic, containing only two instrument panels and two ultra simplistic seats. Instruments and side consoles are represented by average looking decals. At least, Revell could have provided two crew figures to blank the emptiness.

Landing gear is also simplistic (towards toyish), with no detail in the main bays and minimal depth on the nose bay. Same for the exhausts, which are simplistic and shallow and for the intake trunking which is totally void. The wings are geared and include working canards that extended once the wings retracted (a nice touch, though, to my understanding, this feature was deleted in reality and the canards were wired shut). Two Phoenix, two Sidewinders and three Sparrows are included, all simple looking.

Transparencies are at least well molded and clear. Apart from not providing color shades throughout the build but for the final scheme, instructions are otherwise well done, coming in the form of a 8-page b/w booklet. Construction is nicely spread in 67 simple and concise steps, with around one third of them dealing with different options (gear up or down and the like). Only one scheme is catered for, the classic #202 “Jolly Rogers” bird. Color shades are provided in Revell codes and in generic form. Decals, reasonably printed back then, badly show their almost 50yo age, being very yellowed. At least they are not cracked, so taping them on a window facing the strong Greek sun might give them a chance…
 
Instructions want you to first assemble the interior, the wings, the elevators and, together with the canards and the exhaust faces, trap them between the fuselage halves. The intakes are next attached, followed by the ventral strakes, the rudders, the exhausts and the nose. No front weight is mentioned and, I believe, none needed. Landing gear installation is next, followed by the ordnance and, finally, the canopy (which is positionable), ending a simple and straightforward looking build.

The fact that Revell discontinued this kit and marketed the Monogram one soon after merging with Monogram says it all: this is clearly an old school, simplistic mold, with the overall detail reminiscent of an average 1/72 kit. While passable in terms of molding, basic shapes of parts, surface details and clear parts rendition, cockpit is spartan, landing gear is void of details (with the parts leaning towards the toy-ish side), intakes are empty and exhausts are oversimplified. The fact that only one decal scheme is provided is only a theoretical minus, as few would attempt using those 50yo decals.

That said, there is nothing really wrong in putting this Revell mold together and coming up with a reasonable representation of a quarter scale Tomcat. Though simply engineered and with the construction definitely looking straightforward, one can only really tell about its ease of construction upon building it. Very scarce to find nowadays, but I noticed a couple on the net priced quite low.
 
Happy Modeling!

Spiros Pendedekas

June 2026