CT Modeller Posted May 8, 2018 Share Posted May 8, 2018 F-14A Tomcat VF-143, Carrier Air Wing 6 (AE), USS America 1976 The 1976 Yeovilton Air Day was for me memorable for one thing – the flying display by a Grumman F-14A Tomcat. I had seen the VF-143 CAG Bird at that year’s IAT at Greenham Common, along with a VF-142 line bird and that was special too, but for some reason the appearance of 159457 / AE 112 at Yeovilton made a greater impression. Here are a couple of photos taken on that day, September 4th, 1976 : For the model I chose a kit of similar vintage, namely the original Hasegawa kit complete with raised panel lines and simplified detail, which had been in the stash for the best part of 40 years! I rescribed much of the upper surface detail, including of course the spoilers (can’t believe they moulded the spoilers in raised relief). Decals came from lots of F-14 sheets. There’s still no VF-143 decal out there in 1/72 except for the CAG bird decal from Microscale. I used the ‘pukin dog’ marking from that sheet but the blue and white trim was painted on. Good to have it in the collection after all these years. Chris 30 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bearmatt Posted May 8, 2018 Share Posted May 8, 2018 Hello Chris, Lucky you to have seen this bird in real. Your Cat looks spot on and even greater respect for you choosing an old kit and rescribing it, while there have been better and newer releases just recently. Again, fantastic job - an absolute beauty in your collection 🙂 Cheers Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thud4444 Posted May 8, 2018 Share Posted May 8, 2018 (edited) Great looking model. It's weird to see a clean Tomcat. How was the build? Edited May 8, 2018 by Thud4444 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jean Posted May 8, 2018 Share Posted May 8, 2018 Fantastic model. One of my favorite F-14 units, and it looks perfect! Congrats!!! JR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philtheplanetinker Posted May 8, 2018 Share Posted May 8, 2018 Really nice clean build of one of my childhood favourites Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted May 8, 2018 Share Posted May 8, 2018 Excellent Dogs Tomcat ... I have a 1/48 in almost the same markings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parabat Posted May 8, 2018 Share Posted May 8, 2018 Excellent work, fantastic looking Tomcat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spitfire31 Posted May 8, 2018 Share Posted May 8, 2018 Great looking 'Cat in very adequate spit'n'polish finish, considering the occasion. Superb work with an old kit! Kind regards, Joachim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT Modeller Posted May 8, 2018 Author Share Posted May 8, 2018 22 minutes ago, Spitfire31 said: Great looking 'Cat in very adequate spit'n'polish finish, considering the occasion. Superb work with an old kit! Kind regards, Joachim Hey guys it's not that clean really! The photos don't show it that well but there's a fair bit of dirt around the airframe, particularly around the spoilers and flaps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dermo245 Posted May 8, 2018 Share Posted May 8, 2018 What they all said - great looking Tomcat and those older Hasegawa kits still look good. Dermot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andwil Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 Love those colourful USN birds before they went low-viz and nice to see a Tomcat that's not all faded and patchy. Great model. Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-32 Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 Sooooo good, I do love a good 'Cat and yours is top notch work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark4700 Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 Excellent Tomcat. Your work has paid dividends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Moore Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 We had this squadron aboard our carrier (USS Constellation CVA-64) back in the 60s in Vietnam. The flew F4bs at the time. Great looking model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bearmatt Posted May 13, 2018 Share Posted May 13, 2018 Just came across this one: https://flic.kr/p/24m2efs it’s not “112” - but anyways ;-) Cheers Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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