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F-14 Cockpit and instrument dimensions

punk

By punk
in DCS: F-14A & B

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punk

punk

Posted
Posted

Greetings,

I know there are many of you who are much more clever than I about how to track down the research needed for all the various dimensions of not only the overall interior cockpit area dimensions, but the various instrument and panel dimensions. I have been drawing a blank and making rough estimates based upon the standard width of the various left and right side panels as a constant for beginning to estimate the correct dimensions. I am trying to build a sim pit and want to get as much realism as I can. Any sources or first hand knowledge would help. I messed up my chance to sit in the cockpit and video various measurements, but in the scramble to take it all in, hurry to not stall the long line of those waiting after me and a general amount of excessive levels of cranial O2 I seem to have made the untimely sin of putting the recording settings into standby rather than record mode. Kicked my own posterior when I got back home and discovered this bit of subversion by my subconsciousness. Thanks for your time and/or consideration.

 

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Punk

Punk

 

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LASooner
LASooner

Think of the stupidest button box you could make for DCS.... yup. I made it. https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/gadget/tape-player-button-box-for-dcs-f-14-tomcat Hey Heatblur, if you're watchi

Yogi8
Yogi8

Gentlemen, Beauty shots incoming! A build video, the parts list and 3d files will be posted sometime this coming week! Everything works, except for the flaps handle, but that’s being sorted (s

LASooner
LASooner

Got a lot of work done this weekend. gauges are non functional, but switches, buttons and pots will work, as well as the 7 segment LEDS.. hopefully Sent from my Samsung Chromebook Plus using Tapatalk

BSS_Sniper

BSS_Sniper

Posted
Posted

One of our guys was an F14 plane captain before he flew S3's in the Navy. I will forward this to him.

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Darkbrotherhood7

Darkbrotherhood7

Posted
Posted
An F-14 home pit would be sensational....

 

.. could possibly also lead to divorce though :P

:lol:

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Mission: "To intercept and destroy aircraft and airborne missiles in all weather conditions in order to establish and maintain air superiority in a designated area. To deliver air-to-ground ordnance on time in any weather condition. And to provide tactical reconaissance imagery" - F-14 Tomcat Roll Call

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punk

punk

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Posted (edited)

Thanks for the input and well wishes fellas.

 

I have been through the NATOPS Kludo, but thanks, maybe I should do so again more slow and diligently.

 

So far I'm safe as I don't have wife-ack problems Grundar. I learned I was allergic to marriage after the second one :/

 

As far as parts, it is really hard to find many real items since the plane is still considered a national security item to try and keep parts out of Iran. I have found a couple similar switches and such from other aircraft which do not have those issues. I have been buying up old aircraft panels and reusing them without the cover panels so far. I am going to try and have some acrylic cover panels cut to shape, painted and laser engraved down the road. You would be surprised how much Dzus railing costs, but there is a guy on eBay selling 5 ft sections for $30 or so, which is the best price I have found so far.

 

I spent a chit load of money to a foreign company to have a throttle made which would have been great if it would not have been put together with plastic and Elmer's glue. That, gentlemen, is what a waste of money looks like. I will try and see what I can salvage of it and rebuild it more robustly and perhaps try to put some stepper motors on it for auto throttle. We will see how much I can learn about those type of things.

 

If your buddy can come up with anything Sniper, that would be great. If not, so be it. It's been awhile since I have went anywhere on vacation, so maybe Pensacola might be a nice place to revisit since it has been a couple decades since the last time I was in that area. I will take a tape measure with me for sure if they still have the trainer cockpit that used to be there.

 

<Salute>

Punk

 

Photo of left console. this is my test bed so far. Mind you, in the future I will be making it look more correct minus superfluous panels.

 

phone%202%20002_zps8wwfpe12.jpg

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Edited by punk

Punk

 

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sBryansGames

sBryansGames

Posted
Posted (edited)

Punk,

I'll have to keep this thread bookmarked.

I hope you'll keep us up to date on the project. I would love to see how it goes. Might give me some ideas. Also if you could link your sources for hardware and what not I would appreciate it.

 

Thanks

Bryan

:megalol:

Edited by sBryansGames

*Social Media*

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Kludo

Kludo

Posted
Posted

Punk,

 

Im sorry the NATOPS didn't have the dimensions you needed.

 

If you can find one of the maintenance manuals called an Illustrated parts break down, it should help out.

 

The only other thing I guess you could do is do a search of your area for museums with cockpits or simulators. I know the one at my base has a roll around Tomcat pit that you can climb into.

 

Maybe you could visit one of the museums and ask if you can take measurements?

 

The last three museums I remember having Tomcat pits are at NAS Patuxent River Naval Aviation Museum, Norfolk Aviation Museum, NAS Pensacola Naval Aviation Museum, and whatever the name of the Aviation museum in DC is called.

 

I know lots of museums have them those are just the ones Ive been to that I remember seeing them.

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SageOT

SageOT

Posted
Posted

I haven't looked at the NATOPS for the F-14 but I assume it's roughly the same as the F-18. If it has the front and side panel fold out at the back... If you blow up the ones in the F-18 NATOPS to 400% they are almost dead on to scale. Might be the same with the F-14...

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punk

punk

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way more smarts then i have. if you'd be down to building a second once its complete i may be interested....

 

Not really, the side panels are pretty easy so far. Just connecting the switches to a circuit board that plugs into the computer by USB I got from Desktop Aviator or something like that. There are a lot of things I will have to do for the instrument panel and warning/advisory light panels that will be hard. Honestly, the actual hardest thing to do is find parts at reasonable prices. But we will see how I feel when it is done, it is kind of fun Savage.

 

 

Thanks Kludo and Sage, I will check it out.

 

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Punk

 

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Cobra847

Cobra847

Posted
Posted
I haven't looked at the NATOPS for the F-14 but I assume it's roughly the same as the F-18. If it has the front and side panel fold out at the back... If you blow up the ones in the F-18 NATOPS to 400% they are almost dead on to scale. Might be the same with the F-14...

 

The Panel drawings in pretty much every NATOPS manual are unfortunately very inaccurate. (shape/placement/size)

Nicholas Dackard

 

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SageOT

SageOT

Posted
Posted (edited)
The Panel drawings in pretty much every NATOPS manual are unfortunately very inaccurate. (shape/placement/size)

 

Cobra, I'm sure they are for the level of detail you all have to deal with.

 

For a home cockpit though, that can stand to be off scale a bit, the F-18 NATOPS worked very well. I have a too scale F-18 DDI and the NATOPS fold out blown up to like 398% was just a mm or two off when you laid that DDI bezel over it.

 

As there is no tomcatpits.org like there are hornetpits.org and viperpits.org. Figured it might at least give the OP a starting point. EDIT: Come to think of it... OP join both of those sites I mentioned. I just remembered at least one person on one of them... I -think- it was hornetpits.org was working on an F-14 'pit. He might have what you're looking for, and everybody on those sites are very open and helpful.

 

Looking forward to the release Cobra, can't wait to see this beast you guys have created in game, and especially in VR!

 

Sage

Edited by SageOT

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SageOT

SageOT

Posted
Posted
An F-14 home pit would be sensational....

 

.. could possibly also lead to divorce though :P

 

Grundar, Divorce?! It's going to be a functioning MP shared cockpit. Just build out the RIO seat and plop her in it. Family fun day! :smilewink::pilotfly::joystick::joystick:

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Grundar

Grundar

Posted
Posted
Grundar, Divorce?! It's going to be a functioning MP shared cockpit. Just build out the RIO seat and plop her in it. Family fun day! :smilewink::pilotfly::joystick::joystick:

 

 

You Sir, are a genius! :thumbup:

 

What could possibly go wrong!!?!?!? :D

 

In all seriousness I would love to build something like this as well, going to keep an eye on this thread with some interest.

BSS_Vidar

BSS_Vidar

Posted
Posted

As a modeler, you my find modeler resources very helpful, I.e., F-14 Tomcat Walk Around, F -14 In Action, and F-14: Lock On to name a few. They have great referances of the cockpit.

 

V

punk

punk

Posted
  • Author
Posted
As a modeler, you my find modeler resources very helpful, I.e., F-14 Tomcat Walk Around, F -14 In Action, and F-14: Lock On to name a few. They have great referances of the cockpit.

 

V

 

Thank you Sir, I will check it out.

 

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Punk

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
punk

punk

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Posted
Man my project has stalled and is going no where atm. Can't wait to see how yours goes. maybe it will inspire me to keep going. Keep up the good work bud!

sBryansGames

 

I know how you feel. I managed to pick up some great switches, but am scared to start cutting some of the panels up without a cnc machine and no idea how to use one, or more importantly, how to use the software.

 

I have come to a decision that exact replication will not be my goal now unfortunately. I found a light switch panel from an A-6 I was initially going to part out, but now I think it will be easier to use it as is even though the layout is backwards than the Cats for the most part.

 

Hang in there and take breaks when needed so it doesn't burn you out. Something like this is a long term project when not a commercial venture.

 

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Punk

 

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  • 3 months later...
punk

punk

Posted
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Christmas came early this year. Will need to finish off new grips, but I hope to turn this into a usable piece or basis for building a better throttle from.

 

F14%20Throttle0_zpshtxbhxs6.jpg

 

F14%20Throttle00_zpsgi8td1js.jpg

 

F14%20Throttle1_zps1cuqipfp.jpg

 

Salute,

Punk

Punk

 

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punk

punk

Posted
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Posted
Are you going to build that sucker into an actual throttle peripheral for flight sims??

 

In a perfect world I will. Not sure, I have a ton of ideas going through right now, but ideally, I hope to convert it and perhaps add some servo motors for auto throttle if possible. If worse comes to worst, I might use it as a blue print to reverse engineer a usable controller using this and the POS F-14 throttle I had a company make for me at an outrageous cost that started falling apart the first time I tried to use it. We will see what happens, it will be a project for next year I think.

 

Salute,

Punk

Punk

 

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