COBI Grumman F-14 Tomcat Set 5920

COBI's Grumman F-14 Tomcat is a 1:48 model built from 869 blocks, 39 cm long, under the official Top Gun licence, in the paint scheme from Top Gun: Maverick. The wings sweep, the landing gear retracts, the wheels turn, and underwing weapons are fitted. Two figures are included — Pete "Maverick" Mitchell and Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw — along with a display stand and a plaque with the film logo. All markings are printed; no stickers.

Why the enemy flies an American aircraft

In the film, Maverick and Rooster escape by stealing an F-14 from an enemy airbase, and the aircraft is in unfamiliar colours. That is not a plot convenience. It is the one real-world fact the film is careful never to say out loud.

The United States sold 79 F-14s to Iran in 1976, under the Shah. Three years later the revolution happened and the aircraft stayed. Iran has kept them flying ever since through four decades of sanctions, and it is the only country in the world still operating the type — the US Navy retired and deliberately shredded its own airframes in 2006 to stop spares reaching them.

So a hostile nation with a small number of well-maintained F-14s is not fiction. The film simply declines to name it.

The wings

The F-14's wings sweep from 20 to 68 degrees and, in flight, a computer sets the angle automatically hundreds of times a second. On this model you set them yourself, which is the part everybody plays with first.

In the COBI range

Set 5811A is the F-14A in the original 1986 film's markings with Maverick and Goose, and 5859 the black "MiG-28". Set 5922 is the aircraft carrier.

Specifications

Pieces: 869 · Figures: 2 · Scale: 1:48 · Official Top Gun licence · Swing wings · No stickers
Model dimensions: 39 × 27 × 10.5 cm (15.4 × 10.6 × 4.1 in)