F-14 Cockpit and instrument dimensions

[Woody81]

Afternoon Gents, hope all is well.

     Finally getting around to getting some bits done for the cockpit, although at the moment, it is only drawing the panels up in Inkscape. I've completed the HUD warning light set (both sides) and most of the panels for the right side console. Currently got the Tacan and Radio left to do... Radio was almost complete yesterday but inkscape decided to crap itself and I hadn't saved it I've just made a decent little find on ebay which a CD that has full scale images of the A and B model pits. They can be printed out and measured up to give accurate dimensions on all panels, dials, and just about everything else. Its a little pricey (£45 with postage to the UK) but I am considering it.  I've just been looking at the sketchUp file that Ausmumbles so kindly provided as I had hoped to maybe start on the ejction seat this weekend, but I can't quite figure out how to pull everything apart in order to get measurements. Any advice on that would be greatfully recieved I've had a flick through theis thread again today and it looks like there is being some good work done! Definitley Inspiring me to get on with it!

07

James

[AusMumbles]

Heya Woody,

I when I get some time this weekend I'll post a broken down model here for you and some instructions on how to pull out parts from the model for when you get to the frame.  

This might be a dumb question but does the UK use anything different with regards to standard timber thickness? (Aus uses mm in 3mm, 6mm, 9mm, 12mm, 16mm, 18mm, 25mm, 32mm sheets as standard) If so, I can tinker with the seat to make it work for you. 

Mumbles

Edited October 11, 2022 by AusMumbles

[Woody81]

5 hours ago, AusMumbles said:

Heya Woody,

I when I get some time this weekend I'll post a broken down model here for you and some instructions on how to pull out parts from the model for when you get to the frame.  

This might be a dumb question but does the UK use anything different with regards to standard timber thickness? (Aus uses mm in 3mm, 6mm, 9mm, 12mm, 16mm, 18mm, 25mm, 32mm sheets as standard) If so, I can tinker with the seat to make it work for you. 

Mumbles

 

Hi Mumbles, That would be amazing, thank you so much! In terms of Lumber, plywood here I think you can get in 3mm, but more common is 6, 12 and 18mm. I've not seen 24mm advertised anywhere. I think MDF comes in 6mm, 12mm, 9mm and 18mm. We also get OSB which is oriented strand board in 11mm and 18mm. The price of plywood here has pretty much doubled since COVID. I used to get a 1200x2400 sheet of 12mm for just over £20, it's now around £40, which is just crazy, However, if that is what will give me the best quality results, then that is what I'll be using. MDF doesn't really like any level of humidity variation being as it's just sawdust held together with glue. Anyway, I'm rambling again! Hope you have a great day and thanks again

Edited October 11, 2022 by Woody81

[LASooner]

Were or how were you able to get that throttle

It's the Throttletek one like Mumbles said

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[Woody81]

1 hour ago, LASooner said:

It's the Throttletek one like Mumbles said

Sent from my Samsung Chromebook Plus using Tapatalk
 

How do you find it? I've looked around a bit and they seem to be the only one producing an F-14 throttle at the moment. Obviously price is a consideration and I'm aware that it's about $800 which I wouldn't mind spending if the quality was excellent, but I've heard some mixed reports. 

[AH_Solid_Snake]

I can only add to the mixed reports, because its only made to order it does seem like little changes and improvements are being made so YMMV.

I bought one at the end of 2019 and used it for 6 months before the frustrations were enough to rebuild it from scratch, the only bits I retained was the outer casing and wing sweep / flap levers.

In my case the issues were

jittery pots on all axis

grips undersized by roughly 30% compared to real ones

mushy and jittery switches, particularly the push buttons on the front

not very positive AB gate, its there but only about 2mm thick so was far too easy to push through rather than go outboard 

[LASooner]

19 hours ago, Woody81 said:

How do you find it? I've looked around a bit and they seem to be the only one producing an F-14 throttle at the moment. Obviously price is a consideration and I'm aware that it's about $800 which I wouldn't mind spending if the quality was excellent, but I've heard some mixed reports. 

Basically what snake said, your mileage may vary. I went with the hall effect pots and find that aspect to be great no issues there. Mounting is kind of a pain because there's not really any screw holes, just threaded resin and not like standardized for say a Warthog mount. The handles are smaller than they should be, but the throw of the throttles feels right, and my afterburner gate won't allow me to push through I do have to push them out to get into the zones. My wing sweep is not an axis but several leaf switches in the associated sweep degrees printed on the cover. It works for me, but in game the manual sweep visually jumps from each spot instead of smoothly moving because it's digital button presses. The wing sweep cover has a button press for up and down. And the base is back lit with a switch. The front buttons are pretty bad, the speed break is just a 2 way switch instead of a momentary, and initially my hat switches were analog thumb sticks wired to send a digital signal, ultimately that crapped out and he sent me some digital hat switches which have worked perfect. Mixed bag, can't recommend due to the cost, but I like mine and had stupid money to blow a few years back. If you get one, just know it's like something you'd get on Etsy. The guy at Throttletek acts like he has a bunch of guys working on these things, but it feels like a one man show. He was cool with me when I had to replace those hat switches, but I know some others on this board have had issues with him.

As for my cockpit, I worked on a few things today

 

 

Edited October 13, 2022 by LASooner

[Chronocidal]

On 10/10/2022 at 12:20 AM, AusMumbles said:

LeBryce, 

I reckon that's from https://throttletek.com/gf-14-throttle/

From a couple of the dudes in the F-14 fourms here, it's a bit of a hit and miss. LASooner might be able to give you some more recent data. 

Bout time I chucked an update in as well. 

Headrest just came off the printer.

Cheers,

Mumbles

Nice, that definitely looks like a nice option for getting the shape.  I think my printer might even be able to do that, though I'm honestly tempted to just try sanding down a block of balsa.  

I've been too busy with the other cushions to worry about the headrest, I just want to get the seat in a place I can sit on it to test out hardware placement.  It's comfy as-is, but I'm going to have to either come up with a better covering technique, or invest in a sewing machine before these will last a long time.  I'm pretty okay with this as a temporary solution though.

[MAXsenna]

@LASooner
Thank you for the "review"!
The pictures on the website looks so nice, but now I know I'll pass.
Cheers!

Sent from my MAR-LX1A using Tapatalk

[Woody81]

@MAXsenna

  It is my hope that someday Virpil decide to make one. 

[LASooner]

Got a bunch of the engraving done this weekend, and of course ruined the longest panel to print.
 

 

 

[MAXsenna]

@MAXsenna
  It is my hope that someday Virpil decide to make one. 

Agreed!

Sent from my MAR-LX1A using Tapatalk

[AusMumbles]

Heya Woody,

Sorry about the delay Mate. 

I've modified and broken down the seat for you.

If and when you want to break down more parts from the SketchUp model, let me know and I'll provide some more detail. In a nutshell all I do is double click on the part I want, copy it and then paste it onto a flat area like I did in the attached file. If you install the FaceSVG extension you can convert all the parts to .svg if that helps you at all.

3d modelling an printing has been continuing slowly.  

Cheers,

Mumbles. 

 

Seat Rip Down.skp

Edited October 23, 2022 by AusMumbles

[Woody81]

On 10/22/2022 at 9:28 AM, AusMumbles said:

Heya Woody,

Sorry about the delay Mate. 

I've modified and broken down the seat for you.

If and when you want to break down more parts from the SketchUp model, let me know and I'll provide some more detail. In a nutshell all I do is double click on the part I want, copy it and then paste it onto a flat area like I did in the attached file. If you install the FaceSVG extension you can convert all the parts to .svg if that helps you at all.

3d modelling an printing has been continuing slowly.  

Cheers,

Mumbles. 

 

Seat Rip Down.skp 336.96 kB · 5 downloads

 

Ah you're a good man! Thanks so much. Hopefully it doesn't rain tomorrow and I'll get the tools out. Finally get some physical progress with this thing. I'll add some photos as soon as there is progress! Thanks again, really appreciate it

 

[PSYKOnz]

Does anyone know the seat back angle relevent to the vertical?

Im trying to get my seat mounted but can't fina any conclusive numbers on it anywhere, to be clear I'm looking for the actual ange of the bit your back touches. If I can get that right everything else will fall into place 

[AusMumbles]

Heya PSY, 

Just to confirm you want the angle of the parachute pack mounted to the seat vs the vertical? 

If so I can pull it for from the 3d scans for you tomorrow afternoon. 

[PSYKOnz]

That would be awesome! Yea so I'm looking for both the angle that the parachute pack and the angle of the seat back that the parachute attached too, if that makes sense lol, I guess same for the seat pan while your at it, thanks so much for taking a look at this!

[The_Schtick]

Hello Gents, I stumbled upon a gold mine here! Im glad to see the passion we all share for the tomcat. I'm also starting a pit build. Im digging the 3d print route. 

[PSYKOnz]

Does anyone have exact dimensions of both the flap leaver handle and the wing sweep handle?

Exact specs would be good but a 3d model would be epic

[PSYKOnz]

So the reason I ask is, I was about to go and make one as true to life as possible but then I got lazy an found these 

 

https://www.jaycar.co.nz/duinotech-10k-ohm-slider-potentiometer-module/p/XC3734?pos=1&queryId=a8d61465f5e98bf18909ea19a7be4881

 

So now what I want to do is turn the nob into the same as the top of the 2 aforementioned handles just for fell more than anything else, I have some mates with a 3d printer so I have my fingers crossed lol

[The_Schtick]

AusMumbles do you have the stls for the left and right dash guages? 
 

Newest run of panels coming through, a little bit of over paint and smudging to give it that dirty, 60 year old warbird look. 

Edited November 13, 2022 by The_Schtick
Added pictures.

[AusMumbles]

Heya PSY, 

You are looking at 5.5 degrees aft from Heatblurs laser scans for the parachute pack. My actual seat and plans are at 6 degrees aft. 

The SKU (seat pan) is 7 degrees aft. 

Schtick, kinda. I'm making them as 3d printed buckets, then laser cutting acrylic sheets as the front panel to mount on those buckets with pre-cut holes. 3d printed and laser cut instruments will mount into that panel from there. All the files will be chucked up here once I've build them so I know I'm not posting sub par designs. Hopefully that makes sense.

Cheers,

Mumbles.

Edited November 14, 2022 by AusMumbles
Additional of seatpan tilt

[PSYKOnz]

Awesome! I didn't realize that they sit up so streight! So that laser scan is accurate on both the horizontal and vertical axis I presume? Just making double sure cause once I get this thing angled correctly I won't be able to go back and change it lol, thatnks a ton for getting me that info I appreciate it very much 

[AusMumbles]

Yeah mate, the data Cobra provided way back when, is to my knowledge the most accurate data available to the public. 

I've used them in my seat and they came out fantastic. The GRU-7A isn't the most comfortable bang seat as it is. But to be honest, not alot of them are.

[PSYKOnz]

Dude truly thank you so much, time to get out the old angle gauge and start adjusting hahaha

Yea I've herd over the years the saying it's job is to save your life, not be a sofa