Monogram 1/72 Grumman F-14 Tomcat

I found this old Mongram kit in a bag, boxless, with no instructions. I have no idea where this kit came from, I only know it is Monogram because of the stamp on the sprue.

With Top Gun: Maverick fresh in my mind (small spoiler alert!), I was thinking the only F-14 he could have stolen from an enemy air field would have to be Iranian since they are the only air force in the world flying the F-14.  So, I wanted to do it in Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IIAF) colors.

The kit is pretty simple, not much detail (raised panel lines, etc.).  It does feature working variable geometry wings (always fun) and it actually fit together fairly nicely.  You can see above that I put some lead shot in the nose to ensure it would sit properly on the tricycle landing gear.

I spray painted the underside using Revell Flat White acrylic.  This is not the greatest paint — it comes in a strange cubic “bottle” and became lumpy fairly quickly.  However, I diluted it for airbrushing and it worked well enough providing good coverage and did not come off when masked.  I airbrushed the top with Tamiya XF-57 Buff (a tan color) then XF-64 Red Brown and then accented with a little  XF-26 Dark Green.  

After removing the masking tape, it doesn’t look too bad.  The glare panel in front of the canopy could have been a bit sharper and the canopy itself had a bit of bleed that I tried to fix by removing excess with a toothpick.

I made a set of decals for the IRIAF markings, some roundels, flags for the tail, and IRIAF for the nose.  I had to paint a little white under the decals for the roundels and flags because the decals are printed on transparent decal paper and there is not such thing as white ink.

The kit came with Sparrow missiles, so that is what she got.  The actual original Iranian order included AIM-54 Phoenix missiles, but it is unlikely that too many of those remain.  In fact, no one is sure if any of the F-14’s are still flying (Iran claims 26 of them are still airworthy).  

Tamiya Acrylic

XF-1  Flat Black
XF-2  Flat White
XF-26 Dark Green
XF-57 Buff
XF-64 Red Brown
XF-66 Light Grey

Revell
05 - Matte White