I recently picked up a 1971 model of the F-14 because the decals were for the carrier I was on. I know what color a Tomcat was painted in the 90’s but don’t know what it was in 71. The kit says white and silver, mostly silver and that doesn’t sound right to me. Can anyone help me out, thanks
From 1970 until the early 1980’s the F-14s were painted on the top surfaces with a light gull gray (FS 16440) and on all underside and control surfaces with white (FS 17875). These were the days of high-visibility colours in the US Navy and squadron insignias were bright as were the national insignias (insignia red (FS 11136), insignia blue (FS 15044). Anti-glare panels were black (FS 37038), non-skid walkways dark gull gray (FS 36231), some radome and rain erosion coatings were painted with radome tan (FS 33613). Bare metal areas without any paint were the leading edges of wings, stabilizers, fins and edge of intake ducts (lower portion) as well as the blast shield in front of the gun port, the engine area and the engine nozzles.
Directly from this website http://anft.net/f-14/f14-detail-colours.htm
Thank you
O/T, but I am curious as to which kit you have. I’m not aware of any F-14 kits before about the mid-70’s. (Airfix and Matchbox 1/72 scale kits)
The first 1/72 F-14 kit that I can remember was the Monogram kit from the early 70’s. It was actually based on the original Grumman mock-up of the Tomcat. It had ficticious decals from the USS Constellation.
It was one of the models that adorned my room in the frat house at Purdue in the early 70’s.
Mark
That’s the one I bought the Monogram kit. There was no date on it, when I bought it off ebay I figured it was from the late 80’s and not 71. If this kit came out before the plane officially went into the navy, then that explains why the color scheme seemed so weird.
also this kit came with Monograms current (1970) catalog which I thought was pretty cool.