About the plane:
This aircraft is an F-14D Super Tomcat, an upgraded version of the 
original F-14A Tomcat that entered U.S. navy service in the 
'seventies. The Tomcat is a carrier-based interceptor/ air 
superiority fighter, known to a large audience as the fighter flown 
by Maverick (Tom Cruise) in the 1986 blockbuster movie Top Gun. 
Tomcats have seen combat in every major conflict involving the U.S. 
Navy, from the evacuation of Saigon in 1975 to 'Iraqi Freedom'. In 
the last decade the aircraft's mission has changed from it being a 
long range interceptor to a multi-role strike fighter, equipped with 
precision guided weapons against ground targets. This particular 
example was the last Tomcat delivered to the U.S. Navy. It has served 
its entire carreer as an operational test aircraft by VX-4 
'Evaluators' and later by VX-9 'Vampires' Det. Mugu. Ever since VX-4 
painted one of their F-4 Phantoms in gloss black the squadron had at 
least one black fighter and for the last decade this paint scheme was 
carried by this Tomcat. It was retired from service in 2004.  
Due to its role, uniquely for a U.S. Navy fighter, this particular 
aircraft never made a carrier landing.


About the aircraft's weapons:   
The weapons attached to the aircraft are a mix of air-to-air missiles 
and laser-guided bombs, reflecting the Tomcat's task as a multi-role 
fighter. On the wing stations it carries a single AIM-54 Phoenix 
radar-guided long-range missile, two AIM-9 Sidewinder short range IR-
guided missiles and a LANTIRN targeting pod. On the fuselage stations 
it carries two GBU-12 laser-guided bombs, as well as a center-line 
AIM-7 Sparrow medium range radar guided missile. In addition to these 
weapons, under the intakes it carries two external fuel tanks. In 
service this particular aircraft rarely carried live weapons. As such 
the weapons displayed here represent dummies as well, as indicated by 
their blue colour/ blue rings on the missiles. 

About the build:
I've had a LEGO Tomcat since I was 12. Over the years it was rebuilt 
several times. The overall shape gradually evolved into this. In 
October 2006 I undertook a fairly substantial rebuild. I had finally 
collected a sufficient number of LEGO's newer wing parts, which 
enabled me to give the wings the proper shape. This also required 
enlarging the tailplanes and slightly extending the fuselage. 
LEGO purists are likely to be horrified by my use of flexible plastic 
for the cockpit canopy, but I am not so fond of LEGO Tomcats that 
have Star Wars canopies instead. They would be too small anyway. 
Since my supply of transparent plates is rather limited I chose this 
compromise, which looks fairly convincing. As can be seen in the 
pictures the model has a number of movable features, including a 
retractable landing gear (including functioning doors), operable 
trailing edge wing flaps, operable air brakes, an opening cockpit 
canopy and last but not least functioning variable geometry wings. 
The wings are connected to ensure that they both have the same angle.