Hasegawa

1/72 F-14D Tomcat 'VF-31 Tomcatters'

Kit Number: 831

Reviewed by  Dennie Adams, IPMS# 34396

MSRP: $43.50 Review kit provided by Dragon USA (www.dragonmodelsusa.com) This kit is a rebox of the venerable Hasegawa 1/72 scale F-14A+. What you get is a good kit of the Tomcat in this scale. This is the later edition of the kit with separate flaps and slats on the wings and photoetched details for the cockpit and the afterburners as well as the canopy rails. Molded crisply in light gray styrene with engraved panel lines and no flash. A decal upgrade is included to do two versions of a VF-31 bird, squadron markings and a CAG bird. A LANTIRN pod is included as well but no weapons of course. The build is as straight forward as you get with a Hasegawa kit. There are no real problems with the fit that an average builder cannot get past. What you get is a good looking model of a great airframe with little fuss. I did have an issue with adding the boat tail at the rear of the fuselage. In their 48th scale versions of the Tomcat, Hasegawa includes a stiffener piece to go between the upper and lower parts of the tail piece at the fuselage connection, this helps to avoid a step where the tail is added to the fuselage. It would have helped to have one here. Other than the issue of working with photoetch this small, my hands are getting older and less cooperative, (my problem, not Hasegawa's) it's worth it. The decals look great and only needed a little Solvaset to settle down. Hey folks, no surprises here. A good kit, a good plane and it belongs in any 1/72 builders collection of modern naval airpower. If you can get past the retail price of $43.00, easily recommended. My thanks to Hasegawa and Dragon Imports for the review sample

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