Modeler's Close-up #6 - VF-31 Super Tomcats: The Final Days

Dataview Publishing has been working some overtime lately. On the heels of their Sea Stallion photo reference, we now have a look at a pair of VF-31 Tomcatters F-14Ds on display. As you know, the US Navy is retiring the Tomcat after 35 years of service.

All of the 60+ photos included in this feature were taken of the two aircraft and as usual, the photographer put the lens into some nice places to catch details usually overlooked by other walk arounds. In fact, there are several nice shots of the LANTIRN-type pod as well as the bomb racks integrated into the forward pallets of these aircraft.

The photos in this title are clearly printed in full color and will provide the modeler with the colors and details from a variety of nice views. Most photo pages contain only one picture per page, giving you essentially an 8"x10" detail shot at your fingertips. What's more, the title is spiral-bound so you can easily prop any page open for reference whilst working on the bench.

This Modeler's Close-Up is cover-to-cover color photography which has been color laser printed on quality paper stock. While the subject aircraft are mostly subdued gray camouflage, the color printing helps to quickly identify those non-gray details.

The only thing I found a little odd was with all of the commemorative artwork applied to the airframe of the CAG aircraft, there are no photos of the overall aircraft to see the whole scheme in perspective. The CAG aircraft carries some nose art for "Sweet Little Miss" which somewhat carries over on other parts of the aircraft like the external tanks above.

This title is definitely recommended!

This title is available directly from the publisher at Dataview Publications (www.dataviewbooks.com).

My sincere thanks to Dataview Publications for this review sample!