Looking for tactical paint scheme decals (grey on grey) for a 1/48 Hasegawa F-14A. Saw one on Flightdecks.com but noticed that the CAG designator letters on the starboard inboard vertical stabilizer were reversed (EA instead of AE I think). At any rate, since I have noticed that there are slight actual size differences between manufacturers, I’m wondering if these would even fit. Hopefully someone out there will have purchased a set from an aftermarket supplier and could point me in the right direction?
Its been a real long time since an F-14 wore the AE tailcode, so I’m taking an educated guess from the info you provided that its the CAG bird from VF-31 from the early 90s. Looking through my decal scans, Eagle Strike Decals #48-141 has TPS-painted A model, but the sheet pretty much only has basic data in terms of stenciling. Fightertown Decals #FTD-48DATA has a lot more of the stenciling you need. Another great F-14 data sheet, if you can find one, is from VF-Decals, #48-010.
From the “Never too old to learn from others” file, I’ve been an F-14 fan & modeler for 30 years now, but I never noticed that the sheets I have in my stash for the bird/unit/timeframe you brought up have the “AE” incorrect for the inboard right tail. Good catch.
Did some more searching through my scans, and came up with Superscale #48-293, with CAG markings for an overall light gull grey bird, red tail bands and black radome (the famous flying pencil scheme). This is an old sheet, but SuperScale (Microscale?)has been known to re-release their decal artwork on newer sheets. I think Squadrons website might be a good place to start.
OK, checked again, Superscale #48-851 has decals for a VF-31 CAG bird, overall flat gull grey, red tail bands, hi-viz markings, with the correct placement of the “AE” tailcode. Only basic stenciling, but as a starting point, this might be your best bet.
Not looking for a specific squadron. Just want to do one in TPS and need a good set of decals/stencils. Thanks for the manufacturer names you pointed out, Ish, and by the way the set I mentioned earlier is put out by Eagle Strike, Tomcat Part Vl, VF 31 side No. 205 aboard USS Forrestal.