LittleFoxStudio on DeviantArthttps://www.deviantart.com/littlefoxstudio/art/F-14-Tomcat-1019385651LittleFoxStudioDeviation Actions
Description
Tamiya 1/48 F-14A Tomcat built by me.
I've loved the Tomcat since I was a kid. I don't know if it was because of Top Gun, but it's possible. Still in my top 3 favourite jets.
I had a t-shirt of a VF-84 "Jolly Rogers" Tomcat when I was a kid that was my absolute favourite shirt. Back when Sarnia still had airshows. So the markings are nostalgic for me, on top of just looking awesome. I didn't actually see Final Countdown for the first time until last month. So you can't blame that.
Note: The only thing I used not from this kit was the big Phoenix missiles. Those I used from my first ever Tomcat kit that my dad buit for me when I was a kid. It got messed up when I moved out, but I still had the missiles. So I cleaned them up and used them on this one.
I'm so happy with how this turned out. I'm sure there's plenty more I could have done. But I like how it is.
----- INCREDIBLE ... VF-84, The "Jolly Rogers" were assigned to the USS NIMITZ (CVN-68) when my ship, USS JOHN F. KENNEDY (CV-67) in-chopped to the Med' in early July, 1978 ... WE were the NIMITZ's relief... You think YOU 'loved' the Tomcat?? ... I TALKED to them - an Air Traffic Controller - OC DIV, AIR OPS aboard JFK ... WE worshipped those birds - our two embarked squadrons were VF-14, the "Tophatters", and VF-32, the "Swordsmen" ... One of the VF-32 pilots, Lt. Rusty Chiasson, a pretty good acquaintance of mine, used to come by AirOps over the mid-watch for his early-launch mission weather reports ... We used to scuttlebutt for an hour or so; what a GREAT guy and superb Tomcat pilot - I didn't know his back-seater at all ... After we retuned stateside, and I had left the Navy; was at home reading the St. Louis Post when I caught an article buried in the back pages ... Two F-14 Tomcats during a training exercise off Guantanamo Bay, Cuba had hit each other in a midair collision ... Two aircrew were killed, - one of these, Pilot USN flight Lt. Rusty L. Chiasson ejected with his 'RIO' - both men's chutes malfunctioned, possibly from collision damage, both were found deceased in the waters of Gulf of Mexico & picked up by SH-3 helos... I was deeply hurt by it ... I had a painting once of a VF-32 "Tom" in a power climb, with the famous aviation poem "High Flight" written across it ... I dedicated it to Rusty - a TRUE "Top Gun" and one HELL of a Navy officer ... His unit call sign was "Gypsy" - when I hear the Allman Bros. ballad of the 70's "Melissa"- uses the word "Gypsy" often ... I always think of Rusty when I hear that song ... GREAT MODEL, by the way ... It does awesome credit to the airplane and the legacy ... And SO LONG, "Gypsy" - R.I.P.