Zeeb, nice looking cat, I don’t know if it was a better than F-18, the F-14 was insanely high cost to maintain due to maintenance. That being said it’s definitely a cooler jet and without it just think of all the pilot dreams that started with top gun! lol
I replaced all my air cylinders with ultra precision, I gave the SM stock stuff a try but even after pulling all of them and pressure testing/fixing leaks they still ended up leaking. I have done the same on my SM f-18, their air cylinders minus the landing gear are junk.