Yellowhammer Models 1/48 F-14D Tomcat Farewell Sheets
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There's a couple new Yellowhammer decal sheets out, focusing on the
retirement of the Grumman F-14 Tomcat from US Navy service (don't fret,
'Cat fans, as rumor has it that Iran will continue to fly their F-14s
for a while yet, although seeing them could be a bit of a challenge).
As the Navy often does, the final Tomcat units painted up their final
flight aircraft in some colorful schemes. The first sheet, YHD48031,
handles VF-213's F-14D Tomcats.
There are two VF-213 aircraft on this sheet. The first, finished in
overall FS 16440 Gull Gray, carries a blue rudder and fin cap with yellow
stars, a blue upper spine, and a diagonal blue line on the forward fuselage.
VF-213's twin-tailed lion adorns the vertical fin, and the nose number
is fittingly '213'. The second aircraft is camouflaged in FS 35237 and
36320 over 362375 and is a bit more sedate. The lion is on the tail,
and the fin cap is blue. The spine is painted in a two-tone scheme consisting
of two shades of blue, and there is a set of vinyl masks included to
help paint this. The various rescue markings are also in blue.
The second sheet covers two other squadrons, namely VF-31 and VF-101.
The VF-31 Tomcat is finished in FS 35237 and
36320 over 362375, with lots of black highlights. The vertical fins,
upper fuselage spine, and ventral fins are all painted black. On the
outside of the vertical tail is the classic VF-31 cat emblem, while the
inside has the Air Wing 8 emblem. The VF-101 aircraft takes a more classic
approach, finished in the original Gull Gray and white scheme, with broad
red bands on the tail. This is very much like the original scheme worn
by the first Tomcats of VF-101.
Both of these sheets are well researched and include lots of detail
markings in addition to the main scheme decals. The quality is quite
good, with solid colors throughout and excellent register.
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