I’ve
always been (like many many others here as well) a huge fan of the Tomcat and
regardless “her” decommissioning the Tomcat will always be the epitome of
class and grace in the sky for me. My all time favourite scheme for that bird
has always been the now sadly removed “black suit” of the last ever built
Tomcat “Vandy-1” of VX-9 and this “little” fella here is my personal
little reminiscence to the big black cat. I know she hardly ever carried the
standard missile load of the Tomcat but after all regardless any strike updates
the Tomcat will always be the “most complete fighter “ to me and thus there
just have to be four AIM-54C’s, two AIM-7’s and two AIM-9X’s. PERIOD!
Basis
for this depiction was the 1/32 Revell kit with all the known flaws BUT: The big
advantage of Revell’s kit is that it has in opposite to Tamiya’s version
engraved panel lines (well, at least the ones that are there). Since Revell’s
gear molds are not that nice I decided to do an in-flight version. Heck, Vandy
was such a beautiful bird; she just has to be shown “in action” anyway! A
lot of extra work had to go into the jet: carving the missing panel lines,
adding the screws to the removable plates, adding/removing ECM and TECM antennas
on the spine, the fins and side of the intakes, replacing position lights with
clear parts yadda yadda yadda. I admit I cannibalized one of my Tamiya-kits for
little extras like drop tanks (Revell’s are hideous!), BOL-rails and missiles.
Tamiya’s missiles are way nicer than Revell’s but needed some extra
processing like drilling exhaust holes and screws as well. Other extras were a
Black Box F-14D cockpit including the nose pod and some of Eduard’s ex- and
interior parts but some parts like the cockpit’s air condition, the GPS-box on
top of the RIO’s work place, some extra cables and joints in the cockpit, the
fin’s TECM-antennas, the padding between the wing chamber and the wings or the
square covers side of the engine’s heat covers are scratched just like the
markings on the crew’s helmets and shoulder patches are DIY. Oh and the gun
vents had to be refurbished too.
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Since
a white wall is not the nicest background and a bird just belongs to the sky I
gave Vandy a little Photoshop treatment.
Weathering
the kit was a little tricky. In opposite to VX-4’s F-14A Black Bunny, VX-9’s
Vandy-1 was not just a show bird but a fully fletched test bed for new weapon
systems and was fully integrated into VX-9’s test operations. Thus leaving her
all un-weathered and boring was no option but the gloss black scheme is a bit
ungrateful if it comes to show a little wear and tear. I eventually ended up
using a very thinned washing of flat black which I added to just the most
obvious points and after having that dried I wasted a pencil granulating the
graphite which I dry brushed to some panel lines. This way you get a nice
metallic effect and it doesn’t destroy the gloss of the black scheme. Decals
are from CAM but they are incomplete regarding such details like no
step-markings etc. so this was left to doing myself again. They only provide the
bat symbol for the fins. I used eagle strike’s bunny (which was fortunately
added during Vandy’s last year when some folks in the NAVY eventually showed
that stupid political correctness attitude the finger hehehe).
The
Super Tomcat’s most important feature are certainly the GE-F110 engines. I
originally used other after market molds but later changed them against Steven
Cornett’s engine molds. Those babies are just awesome. As far as I know they
are the most detailed GE engines out there also providing the correct heat
chambers and flame holder rings. To me those babies are THE standard for GE-F110
engines. Steven has also exhibited some of his phenomenal 1/32 kits here at ARC.
Nothing else to say about the lady. Enjoy!
Alexander Breunig
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