A MODELMAKER’S LIFE: TAMIYA’S 1/72 F-14D TOMCAT, DONE AND DUSTED…

21st January 2026

A nice simple day today as I completed my F-14 and then had the chance to take the final images for TMMI.

Having built three of Tamiya’s 1/48 Tomcat kits I was unsure how this one would stack up against the excellence of this earlier releases. I shouldn’t have worried though, this new kit being every bit as sensational as those seen before.

As mentioned in an earlier update on this page, don’t be fooled by the smaller size and scale of this new release. The number of parts, complexity and detail is almost identical to its larger siblings, so you can be sure of an involved and lengthy project should you wish to tackle this one head-on.

The model was built from the box, focus being on getting the finish as close to the way this aircraft looked at the end of its final cruise. As such I used everything in the box – except the LGBs that I decided to leave off – painting it all with the Tamiya paints and their mixes suggested in the kit’s instructions. Even though I took that route, the resulting model is every bit an F-14D, just as I hoped it would be.

I hope you enjoy seeing this one complete, every bit as much as I enjoyed putting it together.

See you tomorrow.