Nine lives of the Tomcat
A Tale of Two Kitties.
Here, Kitty.
Nine Lives of the Tomcat.
Of course a bunch of silly project names came to my mind when I thought about doing a scale model celebration of the F-14 Tomcat. In the end, I chose the most ludicrous option: the one that required me to build nine models.
In what free time? Nobody knows. Using what budget? Nobody knows. To be stored where?
Practicality has not entered the stage yet, but here I am.
It’s because the plane was historically good
When you spend 30+ years in any kind of service, all sorts of change takes place around you. That’s what happens when an aircraft (or a boat, or a software, or a recipe) proves itself adaptable enough to stay put.
F-14D of VF-31 Tomcatters. You got a little schmutz on your wing. (Credit: U.S. Navy)
When the F-14 entered U.S. Navy service in 1974, it was a fleet defense interceptor. Take off, haul ass in a straight line to intercept formations of Soviet bombers, and destroy them—and even the individual missiles they might fire—at very long range before they can threaten the carrier group. The Tomcat’s signature weapon was the Mach-5, 13-feet-long Phoenix missile, six of which could be launched simultaneously from one F-14, tracking different targets.
This is how I got to know the Tomcat back in the 80s.
Then the Cold War ended, the Soviet bomber threat went away, and the Tomcat remained. So it received air-to-ground and powerplant upgrades that finally took that big, great airframe to its fullest potential. Like, 1:1 thrust/weight ratio potential. The Tomcat was now a Bombcat—a legit multi-mission platform that many people missed dearly when it was retired in 2006, leaving just F/A-18 Super Hornets.
Turns out Hornet is a good name: It’s smaller, limited to a lighter load, and doesn’t stray too far from the nest. It does what it can.
Nine lives
These nine models of the F-14 will reflect a significant evolution or phase of the Tomcat’s career. There were more configurations and advancements than I can capture, of course, but this roster gives me a fascinating storyline to put on a (long) shelf:
F-14A early, hi-vis paint scheme
Hobby Boss F-14A kit + aftermarket VFA-41 Black Aces decals
F-14A midlife, light gull gray scheme
Academy F-14A kit + aftermarket VF-21 Freelancers decals
F-14A Iranian export version
TBD
F-14A aggressor (splinter scheme)
Fine Molds kit, out of the box
F-14A late life Top Gun (1987) movie markings
TBD
F-14A Black Bunny scheme
TBD
F-14B last cruise markings
Academy F-14B kit, out of the box
F-14D end of service configuration
Great Wall Hobby kit, out of the box
Wild card option
TBD
(Provisional kits and markings provided for you nerds.)
This lineup will cover at least the period from 1977 to 2004. I’m thrilled about it, in part because the F-14 is one of my two favorite planes of all time, and in part because I’ve never taken on a project like this.
Hopefully it doesn’t take me 30 years to build.