OK.. admit it (F-14 RolePlay Edition)

[Black Assassin]

Who else has secretly bought real-life Tomcat/USN gear to enhance your DCS F-14 experience?

 

Did anyone else here play games as a little kid in the 80s like F-14 Tomcat on the Atari 2600, Afterburner on the Genesis etc - wearing a bike helmet and an army jacket to feel a bit more 'real'? Now 30 years later the next best thing to the real thing is almost here baby!!!

 

Disclaimer: I realize there are serving members here on this forum, and I do not mean to take away from their service by seemingly promoting imposter-ing. This is meant only for role-playing during gameplay. Anyway, playing DCS F-14 in one's around-the-house getup will simply not match the game and experience.

 

I bought:

 

 

• a Tomcat-used green VF-213 flight jacket
  
• a sage CWU-27/P flight suit
  
• Nomex flight gloves (sage)
  
• Three VF-213 patches (triangle Blacklions arm patch), VF-213 fist & bolt patch and a Blacklion 'roar baby! Tomcat arm patch (all for flight suit)
  
• an embroidered custom USN aviator name-patch for flight suit
  
• a VF-213 baseball cap
  
• a USN officer's cap (for sitting on my Rhodes piano)
  
• Silenced (with black rubber) dog tags (I know this is going a bit far but I got medic-alert info printed on it and I'm working out and practicing at indoor beach volleyball... all the while chasing sunsets)...
  
• A no.0 short back & sides haircut
  

Because I live in Western Australia, we have a ton of picturesque beaches that I can walk along bopping my head to Kenny Loggins and the Top Gun soundtrack while beach-bodies sizzle in the sun, but summer is nearly over here...

 

Anybody else care to share any F-14 RP items you've bought in preparation for this game?

Edited February 22, 2019 by Black Assassin

[Harlikwin]

[Void78]

 

 

You bought volleyball?Is his name Wilson by any chance?

[hvymtal]

I see no APH-6, HGU-33, HGU-52/P or HGU-55/E on that list. You're doing this wrong

Edited February 23, 2019 by hvymtal

[Swordsman422]

I started collecting flight gear back in 2006 and have been generally adding ever since. It's a labyrinthine hobby, and the F-14 was my focus jet (which you really should have, else you'll go quite broke), with expansions into the F-4, F-8, and A-6. Generally I have 1968-2002 US navy tacjet gear covered. But I do not use it in my flight sim hobby. Below is a list of what I currently have.

 

Helmets:

HGU-68s for VF-143, VF-213, and VF-211

HGU-55 for VF-41

HGU-33s for VF-143 and for my D*C Maverick cosplay, and two I mean to restore to VF-1 and probably VA-34

APH-6s for VF-84 (CAG Owen cosplay), VF-162, VA-196, and VMFA-122.

 

Masks:

2 grey MBU-14s.

2 green MBU-14s

1 MBU-14 grey with green hose

2 MS22001

2 REDAR hoses

1 CRU-79 high-pressure mini regulator

 

Survival gear:

3 LPU-23s Life preservers

1 LPU-33

1 Mk. 3C

 

2 SV-2B Survival vest

1 SV-2A

1 CMU-36

 

3 late MA-2 torso harness w/ Koch parachute fittings

 

2 CSU-13 g-suits

1 CSU-15

1 Mk. 2A

 

1 set Martin Baker Mk. 7 leg restraint garters

1 set Martin Baker Mk. 5 leg restraint garters

 

6 green CWU-27 flight suits

2 desert CWU-27s

2 green K-2Bs

1 tigerstripe theater-made K-2B

1 duck hunter camo K-2B

 

And finally one CWU-36 lightweight flight jacket.

 

I'm not even the worst that I know. Lol.

[hvymtal]

God help anybody trying to collect stuff from the 40s and 50s. The sheer variety of Korea alone is enough to drive people mad

[Capn kamikaze]

Got a Topgun patch for my Warthog covers :)

[Void78]

You guys are really big on the whole role playing thing. That's commendable.

 

 

I just hope that you don't install working ejection seat in your pits.

 

 

In that case I would hate to be your upstairs neighbor.

[Harlikwin]

You bought volleyball?Is his name Wilson by any chance?

 

Mainly this...

 

 

 

But also this....

 

[Harlikwin]

You guys are really big on the whole role playing thing. That's commendable.

 

 

I just hope that you don't install working ejection seat in your pits.

 

 

In that case I would hate to be your upstairs neighbor.

 

Its a long flight from moms basement. :megalol:

 

 

Edited February 24, 2019 by Harlikwin

[Void78]

 

Its a long flight from moms basement. :megalol:

 

 

 

Hilarious:megalol::megalol::megalol:

 

 

On another note:

 

 

That does it.

 

From this day forth you shall be known as a GIF. Master

 

P.S:How come i have never seen Total Recall (1990) - Two Weeks GIF. by now?

Edited February 24, 2019 by Void78
addendum

[Harlikwin]

Hilarious:megalol::megalol::megalol:

 

 

On another note:

 

 

That does it.

 

From this day forth you shall be known as a GIF. Master

 

P.S:How come i have never seen Total Recall (1990) - Two Weeks GIF. by now?

 

 

P.S. Check the release date thread...

[KiraTheCat]

Did anyone else here play games as a little kid in the 80s... wearing a bike helmet and an army jacket to feel a bit more 'real'?

 

 

Guilty as charged. We even did the whole 'Jump out of your (tandem placed) chair(s)' thing when ejecting. The game was Jetfighter II. Good times. Naturally, my favorite mount was the F-14.

 

 

Here it is in a DOS emulator, right on the web page:

 

 

https://classicreload.com/jetfighter-ii-advanced-tactical-fighter.html

Edited February 27, 2019 by KiraTheCat

[panton41]

Did anyone else here play games as a little kid in the 80s like F-14 Tomcat on the Atari 2600, Afterburner on the Genesis etc - wearing a bike helmet and an army jacket to feel a bit more 'real'? Now 30 years later the next best thing to the real thing is almost here baby!!!

 

When I was a kid I'd bicycle down the streets of my neighborhood at unsafe speeds with the other kids pretending to be a pair of F-14s. I painted my bike helmet to look like a fighter pilot's helmet. (I also pulled a "Goose" and destroyed that helmet when I wrecked into my neighbor's house.) I'd also swing *really* high at the park pretending to be dogfighting and jump out to ejecting.

 

Closest thing I have to authentic flight gear is a civilian CWU-45/P aviator's coat from Alpha Industries. It's just plain a nice looking coat that gets comments all the time.

[Swordsman422]

For me, it's just a collection of cool stuff (that I keep in my own basement, thanks) and will probably end up donated to museums when I'm dead. I use some of it when I go to DragonCon every September, but that's about it. Too much hassle getting all of it on to sit in my chair and play a game.

 

Growing up, I was always a fan of Navy jets, but I preferred bombers and strike fighters like the Intruder and Hornet. I didn't really start paying attention to the F-14 until it was strapping bombs on started playing the multirole game. Until then, I thought Tomcat fans were all Jolly Rogers/Top Gun fanbois. Now, it's my favorite fighter.

 

Jeeping around at breakneck speeds on our bikes pretending to be fighter pilots is exactly something we did. This was Tulsa, Oklahoma at the turn of the 90s, so no helmets. That wasn't the law yet. We even had "dogfights" while riding and shooting nerf darts at each other.

 

I don't RP while I sim, though. If I feel like making it feel real, I just go to the airfield and go flying.

Edited February 28, 2019 by Swordsman422

[Grundar]

 

Its a long flight from moms basement. :megalol:

 

 

 

Rocket chair, the R.A.A.F banned theirs, or i guess under OH&S laws it was banned for them, too many spinal and other injuries.

[izzyssm]

My wifes a naval instructor at Mirmar and I still have all my navy stuff. But if I do ever want anything I got the hook up!

[Black Assassin]

HGU-68 for VF-213

 

 

Hey hit me up if you're ever short of cash, or wanting to fill some space on your will. Cheers

[F900EX]

Hard to believe its been 31 years .... I used to love playing it

 

[Black Assassin]

Hard to believe its been 31 years .... I used to love playing it

 

This game was my life for so long. It's actually what got me so in love with the Tomcat to start with (from about 1991), then came the buying books etc. I actually watched Top Gun because I loved the Tomcat, not vice versa - and not until 1992 (I was 11, and was not previously allowed to watch 'propaganda' movies - mum's rule).

 

The highlight of all this was going on board the USS Ranger in January 1993, in my home town of Fremantle, Western Australia. It was soon after the Gulf War (and the Ranger's deployment there), and as a PR thing there was a VF-1 Tomcat completely out in the open, and you could touch it. I was caressing it for AGES while my dad talked to the driver who was there to speak to the public. My late father even lifted me up so I could put my arm down the Vulcan's hole.

 

It's true that tactile contact makes you MUCH closer to an already revered symbol/object.

 

It was a very special time, and at this time there was an Afterburner2, same as pictured above, in the town arcade. This is why DCS F-14 is such a momentous event for me.

 

Tell me you're not going to try and play DCS F-14 with this track playing:

:D Edited March 8, 2019 by Black Assassin