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GROUP BUILD ENTRY no.58
Raffle no.49 

1/72 RoG F-14D, VF-31 Tomcatters
by James Eberling (TomcatFanatic123)
Lompoc, CA USA

This is the Revell of Germany offering of the one and only Super Tomcat. I obviously built this 'cat for the GB, but I chose markings of the VF-31 Tomcatters just for my mom, since she thinks the Felix markings are just sooo "cute". This kit has since been passed on to her, and it sits on her desk at work.

It took me forever to build this thing, basically because I'm slow as molasses. The kit was OK fit-wise and accuracy-wise, but, in my opinion nothing to ride home about. One thing I did like was the engraved panel lines, except one thing - the were too deep. I modified the wings to a Hasegawa-like configuration so I could pre-paint them. My biggest complaint about the whole kit is the molded in AOA probe. When I was joining the front and rear fuselage sections, yes, you guessed it, I was a little too rough with it and it snapped right off. I had to razor-saw off part of the nose, fashion another probe out of some wire I had lying around and re-shape the nose with some Tamiya putty.

I decided not to even bother with the intakes (thank you Darren Roberts and Steel Beach!) and cover them. I know the covers don't really match, but that's what I had lying around.

This is about the 20th model I've started, and the first one I've finished, so this was my very first go-round with Future, finishing methods, etc., so I'm not overly thrilled with it. Personally, I think it's OK for my first kit, but not even close to the quality of the other entries here. Thanks a lot for looking and I hope you all like it!

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