DML 1/144 Gulf of Sidra 'F-14A vs Su-22J'

In the first Gulf of Sidra incident, 19 August 1981, two Libyan Su-22 Fitters fired upon two U.S. F-14 Tomcats and were subsequently shot down off the Libyan coast. Libya had claimed that the entire Gulf was their territory, at 32° 30′ N, with an exclusive 62-nautical-mile (115 km; 71 mi) fishing zone, which Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi asserted as "The Line of Death" in 1973. Two further incidents occurred in the area in 1986 and in 1989.

For more info, visit the wiki link at the bottom of the page. 

This is one of Dragon's early releases, but it is still a very nice one. The set consists of two full kits; an F-14A Tomcat and an Su-22J Fitter. They are both swing wing aircraft and from the looks of things, both can have the wings movable. However, only the Tomcat's are geared together, while the Fitter's must be moved independently.

Kits have engraved panel lines which are really a bit much for this scale, but that is really an issue with most 1/144 military jet kits with this feature. There is a single piece interior without crew, which is adequate for this scale. Landing gear are quite nicely done though, again, a bit on the basic side. Each kit has a full weapons suite with some very small parts for the pylons and missiles.

Instructions offer an exploded upper and lower view for each aircraft with painting info in Gunze colors. The decal sheet provides the markings for one of each aircraft with the majority being for the Tomcat. Decals are nicely printed and thoug now over 30 years old, should still be viable.

This is one of the sets that got DML/Dragon on the road to doing a lot of 1/144 military jets. Some, like this one, are well done, while others are not so good (F-16). The kit is well worth picking up if you can find one.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Sidra_incident_(1981)

February 2024

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