F-14D Tomcat Sunset #4
US Navy's Last Fighter

Crossdelta, 1/32 scale

Reviewed by Rodger Kelly

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New water slide decals from Crossdelta, in their Tomcat Sunset series.

DEC009 is a 1/32 scale decal sheet that provides markings for a single F-14D Grumman F-14 Tomcat Bureau number 164350 of VF-31 ‘Tomcatters’ that took part in the Tomcat Sunset ceremonies at Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia Beach, Virginia USA in September 2006 to mark the retirement of the F-14 from US Navy frontline service.

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The aircraft is in the old gull grey over white scheme which the F-14 wore when it first came into fleet service in October of 1972.

The provided decals include large ‘Anytime Baby’ insignia modified to include the words ‘U.S. Navy’s Last Fighter’ across the top and 1970-2006 across the bottom, Grumman insignia, and 03 modex for the vertical stabilisers, a set of high-viz national insignia, NAVY titles, bureau number blocks, ‘Anytime Baby’ scripts for the leading edge of both wings, yellow ‘blocked’ stencil data, red intake warnings, 103 modex, for the nose and top sides of the flaps, a set of slime lights, a pair of turbine warning stripes, ejector seat triangles, and a pair of small Felix insignia and yellow chevrons to use for the crew’s helmets.

The decals themselves have been printed by Cartograf.  They are of the silk screen print variety and are thin and in perfect register.  You get a 16cm x 10cm one as well as a tiny errata sheet that holds two small 03 modex.  No mention is made on the placement guide as to why these are provided.

The placement guide/information sheet is a large A-3 sized sheet folded down to A-4 in size.  It shows full colour left and right hand profiles of the aircraft as well as large plan views of the upper and lower surfaces.  One small gripe with the artwork is that it shows that the rudders on the inner faces of the vertical stabilisers to be grey whilst all of the images I found on the net of this aircraft show them to be white.  The sheet also provides you with a guide of what aftermarket kits to buy in order to convert the suggested F-14A Tamiya kit into an F-14D to represent Bureau number 164350.  The sheet also suggests that you use the Crossdelta self-adhesive metal sheet CD32002 (available separately) to further upgrade the Tamiya kit to more accurately represent the aircraft.

The two decal sheets and the placement guide/information sheet come packed into a cellophane baggie that is sealed across the bottom by a gummed flap.  Whilst it may protect the decal sheet and the placement guide during shipping it is not conducive to being re-used and there is a real danger to damaging the decals if you are not careful.

These are good quality decals with good quality support material but be aware that you will have to convert you chosen F-14A kit into a –D if you want to use these decals to accurately portray the featured aircraft.

Text and Images Copyright © 2009 by Rodger Kelly
This Page Created on 13 January, 2009
Last updated 13 January, 2009

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