Feature Article by Mike Tipping
A note from Geoff…
You may recall that Mike T. does like to add lighting and bases that really make his models come alive and that’s what we have once again here. Remember his excellent 1:32 Tornado GR.1 in Gulf War markings? Check that out and you’ll see what I mean :)
Here’s a sneak peek at Mike’s completed Tomcat – could be a real deck!
A little bit of background
It seems like F-14 Tomcats are the order of the day at the moment, especially with Tamiya releasing their 1:48 all-new-tool F-14A. Add to that the promised F-14D from AMK also in 1:48 and lovers of the type are in for a treat.
But… what about the big kits already available in 1:32? Builds of these either in SMN now or scheduled and so here you can see what Mike T. makes of the Trumpeter offering.
The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is an American supersonic, twin-engine, two-seater, 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 F-111B project. The F-14 was the first of the American teen-series fighters, which were designed incorporating air combat experience against MiG fighters during the Vietnam War.
The F-14 first flew in December 1970 and made its first deployment in 1974 with the U.S. Navy aboard USS Enterprise (CVN-65), replacing the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II. The F-14 served as the U.S. Navy’s primary maritime air superiority fighter, fleet defence interceptor, and tactical aerial reconnaissance platform into the 1990s. 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.
In the 1980s F-14s were used as land-based interceptors by the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force during the Iran–Iraq War, where they saw combat against Iraqi warplanes. Iranian F-14s reportedly shot down at least 160 Iraqi aircraft during the war, while only 12 to 16 Tomcats were lost; at least half of these losses were due to accidents.
The Tomcat was retired from the U.S. Navy’s active fleet on 22 September 2006, having been supplanted by the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.[4] The F-14 remains in service with the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force, having been exported to Iran in 1976, when the U.S. had amicable diplomatic relations with Iran.
