Wow, great info TKO, and VMF, your bird is absolutely a masterpiece and all the evidence I need of TKO's ability to make my memory tactile. I am honestly in no rush to get it done, I'd rather see it done right by someone like TKO than try and hack it myself. I've been kicking around the idea of a JSI Tomcat since back when they were first announced, but I waited to see the final production piece (learned my lesson on other pre-orders), and I'm not impressed with the out of the box product for $250. Now that I see someone has the ability to resurrect what could have been a real winner of a display piece, I'm back in the mindset of getting one, and making it represent one of my favorite Tomcat memories just makes it 1000x better. Honestly, I think an investment like what it would take for TKO to Reaper-ize a 1/18 Tomcat is worth it, because I'd probably stare at it for hours. I'd show it off too, but nobody I know would have the appreciation for it that I have, nor would they have the sentimental connection to that particular jet like I do. I can honestly see it sitting on my shelf with 1/18 pilots and a scale American flag hanging out of the cockpit, just like when they rolled by me back in '04.
About me: I'm 26, a registered nurse with a bachelor's degree in science of nursing, and the son of an honorably discharged Lt. Cmdr. from the US Navy Reserves. I'm getting married in less than three weeks, I am an avid diecast collector ( 80+ 1/24 stock cars pf #16 Greg Biffle, and 6 or 7 nice 1/72 planes), NASCAR fan, Ford + Mustang man (I have a well modified 2010 GT that eats up most of my money
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
), and supporter of our armed services. I suck at model building and painting, which is a drag because I actually enjoy it, but I am super critical of my work, and it just never measures up. I'm of the minority who love naval aviation and the F-14 not because of Top Gun, but because it was the baddest thing prowling the skies for a generation. Honestly, I like Top Gun for the Tomcat scenes, and not the other way around. I love seeing old pictures of Tomcats intercepting Soviet Bears and keeping them at bay. Nothing beats a 90 mile shoot-down radius for you and 3 of your bad guy buddies, which in my opinion is why the Rhino is just a bit limp compared to the F-14 it sidelined.
My dad was mostly stationed at now closed NAS South Weymouth, MA and was part of the Atlantic Intelligence Command. I don't know much of what he did beyond that, because he's not really allowed to discuss the details. NAS South Weymouth was kind of a sleepy base, mostly P-3 Orion squadrons and a crapload of A-4 Skyhawks I never saw up in the air, for all I know they were mothballed and just sitting there. Most of my childhood memories from NAS S/W come from the annual summer picnics they used to throw, and I just loved being on base. While stationed there, my dad has said that he looked at recon photos and did damage assessments, and other stuff that he can't tell me much about. Since he was Navy-R, I've always had a love of naval aviation. There's a special something to planting a jet on a rolling deck at night that just says you are the best.
I've been to almost every airshow up this way since I was a kid, and I still do the 2-day cook in the sun every summer to watch them fly both days the RI ANG air show is open. This year the :
![USN Blue Angels - © Britt Dietz :blueangel:](./images/smilies/hornet-2.gif)
are coming to Quonset and I can't wait to see the blue and gold light up the sky, as its been a few years for me. As I mentioned in my post above, my particular love for the Tomcat came as a little kid when we took a family trip down to VA Beach with my dad while he did his "2 weeks a year" part of the reserves. We stayed right on what I think was Atlantic Blvd and I used to plane-spot from the rooftop pool of our hotel until my mother wanted to kill me (because I had to announce what each and every distant shape was). One of the best memories I have of that trip was my dad and I having lunch sitting in the back of his old sixty-something FJ40 LandCruiser. He found a spot where there was a small outdoor air park with several jets on static display, and on the other side of the road was the runway at Oceana. (or atleast close by, I am recalling this from about 18 years ago) After touring the jet park, we parked right at the fence line on the inbound side and had lunch while all manor of Navy jets came in overhead. It was incredible, but nothing was better than when the F-14s would come in and then go full burner on a bolter pass and shake the hell out of us. Another of my fond memories is watching an entire squadron of A-6 intruders come over the boulevard in a giant formation, something I was told later was probably a squadron returning from a deployment and doing a parade flight to announce their return. If you've watched the well circulated video of the "last flight of the Tomcat" with the squadrons returning to Oceana, it looked just like that, except all Intruders, and it was breathtaking, even for a little kid. I can still picture them coming in just above the rooftops...
Anyway, since then, I've loved all things naval aviation to a point where I can identify any aircraft in Naval inventory with nothing more than a pin-sized silhouette on the horizon to reference. I'm that guy who stands around for an hour after the airshow, looking at the static displays and just taking in the sights of the birds. I've actually had the chance to get very close to a Tomcat, as Quonset Air Museum acquired one a few years back. It was actually repainted into a high-vis VF-101 jet that looks drop dead awesome. My fiance kinda found it strange when I stood there and just held my hand against the nose... she tries but she doesn't get it. I had the great chance to tour USS Midway this past year, as I was in Cali for about a year on travel nursing assignments, and my fiance booked us a trip aboard for my birthday. I plan on getting down to USS Intrepid in NYC some time this year since I am back on the east coast. One of the other awesome jet related experiences I had in Cali was while I was in San Diego. I lived outside the city, and more or less on MCAS Miramar's back yard. I know it isn't Top Gun anymore, but to actually be at fightertown USA was a thrill. While every one of my neighbors was cursing the constant overflights by F/A-18s, I was outside drooling as VMFA-225 Vikings and VMFA-232 Red Devils came back from their combat training. It was also fun to watch VMFAT-101 SharpShooters train what the locals called the "new drivers", but their flights were less about high speed carrier breaks and more about low speed dirty passes over the runway. I even got to see a C-2 Greyhound practice carrier approaches on Miramar's secondary runway complete with the meatball, a C-17 do a hot-stop for fuel, and the first V-22 be delivered to Miramar, all from a distance of course. I used to sit on an abandoned overpass left behind from when they redid the highways around the base, and I was dead smack in the middle of the arrival pattern, with hornets circling 360* over my head, and I never got bothered. Well, once a MP came by, asked me to please not take pictures, which I wasn't planning on anyway, and otherwise to be safe and enjoy the show but that where I was was completely safe and legal.
Back to the request for work to be done: More or less the Tomcat is like a hero to me. I know that might sound weird, but some people idolize Babe Ruth, I idolize the Tomcat. The last time I was able to see a tomcat operational was the 2004 RI ANG air show, and the pictures I posted above are from that actual day and flight. I remember feeling a pit in my stomach when they said it was going to be the last demo at Quonset and that the following year the Tomcat was being retired. I still mourn a little bit, so I can imagine what the guys who actually flew her feel. Since I am a collector type, I would love to have a jet done to replicate the aircraft that forever will be my last impression of the Tomcat. It would be a personal centerpiece to a collection that I feel more or less exemplifies me. I'm glad I saw this last flight while old enough to make sure it was imprinted in my memory forever.
Thanks for the responses, pictures, info, and for giving me a chance to remember those great memories!