Furball Aero-Design/Detail & Scale 1/48 Colors and Markings of US Navy Tomcats Part Three Decal First Look
By Michael Benolkin
| Date of Review | November 2016 | Manufacturer | Furball Aero-Design/Detail & Scale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subject | Colors and Markings of US Navy Tomcats Part Three | Scale | 1/48 |
| Set Number | 48010 | Pros | Colorful subjects for the Tamiya kit |
| Cons | None noted | Skill Level | Novice |
| MSRP (USD) | $19.99 |
First Look
Furball Aero-Design continues its collaboration with Detail & Scale and this release covers the Grumman F-14 Tomcat during the early years of its service. This set looks at the F-14A in the mid-to-late 1970s before the F-14 transitioned to low-visibility camouflage, and more importantly, before it started receiving airframe and avionics updates. This set provides a nice range of subjects tailored for the recent Tamiya 1/48 F-14A Tomcat kit.
The nine subjects in this set include:
- F-14A, 159421, VF-14, AB/100, USS John F Kennedy, 1976, CAG
- F-14A, 159008, VF-32, AB/200, USS John F Kennedy, 1976, CAG
- F-14A, 160379, VF-41, AJ/100, USS Nimitz, 1976, CAG
- F-14A, 159013, VF-84, AJ/201, NAS Oceana, 1976, Skipper
- F-14A, 158620, VF-101, AD/144, NAS Oceana, 1976
- F-14A, 159606, VF-142, AE/201, USS America, 1978, Skipper
- F-14A, 159453, VF-142, AE/204, USS America, 1978
- F-14A, 159456, VF-143, AE/100, NAS Oceana, 1976, Skipper
- F-14A, 159453, VF-143, AE/103, NAS Oceana, 1976
In addition to the extensive marking options in this set, there are sufficient airframe stencils for at least two kits. The sheets are printed by Cartograf and the printing is very well done. What's more, none of these decals require the modeler to stack multiple layers of markings atop one another to recreate artwork. This trend by some other decal companies of producing multiple-layer decals is unfortunate as it puts the burden on you to do the work of what should have been done by the decal maker.
My sincere thanks to Furball Aero-Design for this review sample!