1/72 Hasegawa F-14B

VF-103 Jolly Rogers  -  Last Tomcat Cruise 

by Ming Ho

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Special F-14 Tomcat Sunset Update Sept 2006

 

Officially submitted into the 2005 ARC/ScaleAIR F-14 Tomcat Group Build as the very last subject (according to Steve Filak), this Hasegawa F-14B VF-103 Jolly Rogers 'Last Tomcat Cruise' 1/72 was also the very last 1/72 Tomcat I've built since moving on to 1/48 scale. Everything was created at a very prolific rate because Hasegawa had announce the release of this kit in early 2005 when the Group Build was ending on July 1 2005. Through some freakish supernatural occurance, I received the kit in 12 days via SAL from Hobby Link Japan in late April! Therefore, I only had roughly one month to finish it. Luckily, all participates of the GB was granted an extra 30 days to finish their projects (original deadline was June 1 2005).

Click on images below to see larger images

  

  

  

    All in all, I had a great time building this Cat even under major time constraints. The only aftermarket items used for this kit were Verlinden seats-- everything else including the decals were straight out of the box. It was painted up mainly with Model Master acrylics and certain parts with Tamiya and Gunze Sangyo paints. Along the way, I also picked up some tips from Brian Marbrey and Daniel Perezvertti on weathering models. So I would love to give a big THANK YOU to those fellas!

Finally, I believe truly that we are a very special generation because we all got to witness one of the most loved military aircraft in aviation history. We have all seen the movies, read the books, and watched this extraordinary machine perform before our own eyes. While it is a bittersweet moment, it is also a great time to salute the Last of the Big Fighters as a world-famous identity. All hail the Tomcat! 

Ming

Photos and text © by Ming Ho