Huge $55,000 F-14 Tomcat RC Jet. Tour & Demo Flight

Yeah, it's fast. It'd be 350k an hour, I think. Oh my god. Scares me every time. So Levi, did you build this yourself? Yeah, it came as a composite shell, and then it's up to you how far you'd like to go with the detail of it. And I went a long way, that's the thing I enjoy. All the oil stains, all the rivets. And this jet, I've modelled it off the 2004 Tomcat demo jet. So it used to travel the airshow season in 2004, and it was at the end of its service life. Hence the poor condition, which I like. The writing is rubbed off the side, and there's a lot of oil, a lot of grime. So two years after that demo, the Tomcat was retired. So how much time is spent actually building a Tomcat? There's a couple of years involved in this. Again, because I did want to go further than most people do. Even now, two days ago I was doing some more weathering on it. Adding some oil to the areas that need it. Just the little detail, like the pilots that move, and the vents that weren't on the original model. So I don't think it'll ever be finished. Do the wings fold out? Yep, so the wings fold out and retract. And set-up's tricky because in flight, with the wings out and the wings back, it's like flying two totally different jets. You'll make the set-up good with the wings out, but then it will ruin the set-up with the wings back. So there's a fair bit of chasing it to try and get it in the zone for both. And we've done that now. When the wings go back, we have to disable the flaps. Because if you accidentally put the flaps down with the wings back, you're going to break them off and that'll be game over. That'll be a disaster. Exactly. So Levi, your Tomcat, it is huge. So how long is it actually? It's 3.7 metres long. But with the Tomcat, it's sort of not the length that's impressive with this. It's the girth, and the weight, and the size. So we've got models that are longer than this, but weigh half as much. It's about 48 kilos dry. Then we've got 12 litres worth of fuel, which is about 12 kilos. And then 2.5 litres worth of smoke oil. So take-off weight is way up there with this thing. So you've got smoke oil on board too, so it's going to make a trail. Yep. This thing looks like it would just whip anything. So how fast does it actually go? Yeah, it's fast. And obviously with the wings back, it just wants to go faster. So it'd be 350 km an hour, I think. Oh my God. It is quite a draggy jet as well, big intakes. But yeah, I reckon about 350 km an hour. Is this like one of your fastest jets in your fleet? It's not the fastest, but it's by far the most impressive, the most demanding, the most time-consuming. It scares me every time. What everyone would like to know is, how much would a jet like this actually set you back? I try to be ignorant to that, otherwise I wouldn't fly it. Probably $55,000. Oh my God. Lucky I'm no good at maths. It's going to be an awesome thing to watch fly. I hope you don't crash it. So do I. Yeah, and I hope you have a good flight. Thank you. It's going to be an awesome day. Thanks, mate.