with Eagle Design resin upgrade set

VF-2 ‘Bounty Hunters’, US Navy, USS Constellation 1997

This Hasegawa F-14D was built alongside my F-14A. The same comments regarding construction apply for this Tomcat, including the replacement of the plastic nose pitot tube with brass tube and wire. The kit comes with metal wheels and vinyl tyres, which are nicely detailed. I wanted to depict the F-14D as a ‘Bombcat’, so I purchased and used the Eagle Design upgrade set. This provides, in resin, a couple of additions for the cockpit, a LANTIRN pod (which I replaced with a pod from the Hasegawa Weapon Set D) and adapter pylon, two LGBs with the Navy ablative coating and bomb pylons, and the correct gun door (which is unnecessary as it comes in the version of the kit I was using). Photo-etch is provided in the kit for various canopy details and the boarding ladder. As well as the air-to-ground ordnance I added a Sparrow in the rear fuselage bay and a Phoenix and two Sidewinders on the wing pylons, plus two fuel tanks. I painted the model in Humbrol enamels and used the kit decals, which were great but crazed a bit with Microsol.

Year bought: 2002 (R&D Models, Cambridge)

Year built: 2003 (Maid’s Causeway, Cambridge)

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© Copyright 2004. All Rights Reserved. Jonathan Bryon.