History

VF-111 has been around since January 1959 when they were created at Miramar through the re-designation of VA-156 equipped with the F11F-1 Tiger. In 1961 they then became the first Navy unit to receive the F8U-2N variant of the Crusader, with the coming of 1971 it saw VF-111 re-equipping with the F-4B Phantom. VF-111 returned to Miramar in 1977 to begin the transition from the F-4 Phantom to the F-14 Tomcat. Its first deployment with the F-14 took place in 1979 aboard CV-63 USS Kitty Hawk.

In Brief

The decals and instruction sheets arrive in a clear A5 sized zip lock bag and comprise of complete markings for 6 F-14A Tomcats of VF-111. This set has been designed to be used with either of Revell’s 04021 or 04029 F-14A Tomcat kits.

The Instructions

These consist of one double sided A4 sheet in colour of port side profiles, a colour table and a list of references used. On an additional A5 sheet is a plan view of scheme 3 plus scrap views of the wings for the other schemes. The reverse of the sheet also has a 3 view stencil layout for all versions.

The Markings

Scheme 1) F-14A-100-GR Bu.No.160673 NL203 USS Kittyhawk 1978.
Finished in all over Light Gull Grey (FS-16440) with Hi-Viz markings but no sun burst on the tail. I have a problem with this one, as checking my references (Tomcat Alley – David F. Brown – Schiffer) it would appear that these markings are on Bu.No.160672 not 160673 which was delivered to VF-51 in September of 1978. This is backed up by a photo of 160672 in this scheme.

Scheme 2) F-14A-100-GR Bu.No.160664 NL213 USS Kittyhawk 1982.
Finished in all over Light Gull Grey with Hi-Viz markings including the sun burst tail.

Scheme 3) F-14A-100-GR Bu.No.160686 NL212 USS Kittyhawk 1981.
Finished in Dark Ghost Grey (FS-26320) over Light Ghost Grey (FS-26375) with Lo-Viz markings including sun burst on the tail.

Scheme 4) F-14A-100-GR Bu.No.160668 NL213 USS Carl Vinson 1986.
Finished in all over Light Ghost Grey with Lo-Viz markings.

Scheme 5) F-14A-110-GR Bu.No.161152 NL200 USS Carl Vinson 1988
Finished in all over Light Grey (FS-36495) with Hi-Viz markings including sun burst tail.

Scheme 6) F-14A-135-GR Bu.No.162594 NL200 USS Kittyhawk 1991.
Finished in all over Light Grey with Hi-Viz markings including the sun burst tail.

In Conclusion

Overall this is a good set of colourful and attractive markings for this much loved squadron. All the decals appear to be in register with not much in the way of carrier film in evidence. There is a slight question with the Bu.No. for scheme 1 which may require further research but the references listed on the instructions are not available to this reviewer.

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