Tomcat Canopy Question

[alexkon3]

Hi! 

 

So I have bit of a weird question regarding to Tomcats canopy...

 

See I have a Hasegawa F-14A kit at home and when I checked the construction plan I noticed something rather weird with the canopy:

 

The Canopy is kinda "double Bubble" or "Butt" Shaped with the RIOs part of the Canopy getting higher in its own weird bubble canopy:

 

Now this ofc probably is some weird error in the plan but it kinda made me a bit restless so I looked at a bunch of Plans of the Tomcat online and in books and I also tried out the DCS model viewer and real life pictures but I didn't come to a conclusion regarding this. Sometimes when I look at the Tomcat in pictures it kinda looks like there is a "double bubble" canopy and sometimes it doesn't.

Does anyone with any vast Tomcat knowledge, maybe SME or maybe someone even from Heatblur (or someone with better eyes then me :o) ) know/can check if the F-14 canopy actually is designed that way? I am almost 100 % certain that it isn't as pronounced as in this model plan drawing but it kinda looks like the Pilots part of the canopy slopes downwards to the frame and then slopes upwards for the RIOs part again on the real bird as well sometimes. Or maybe my eyes are just deceiving me. 

 

I know its a weird question but I have looking into this for some time now (thx COVID for the time for stuff like that I guess)

 

Would be awesome if somebody could help me out here!

 

Best wishes 

 

Alex

[VR Flight Guy in PJ Pants]

You made me dig out my copy of World Air Power Journal…

 

F-14A

This is F-14B

F-14D:

 

Iran F-14A

 

Edited June 13, 2021 by VFGiPJP

[VR Flight Guy in PJ Pants]

Of all the photos in the WAPJ, so do have “double bubble”, some don’t. And it seems to me the feature is not related to the model. 

 

Update: check a recognition guide, there is not mention of the variation in canopy shapes

https://aircraftrecognitionguide.com/grumman-f-14-tomcat

Edited June 14, 2021 by VFGiPJP

[alexkon3]

9 hours ago, VFGiPJP said:

Of all the photos in the WAPJ, so do have “double bubble”, some don’t. And it seems to me the feature is not related to the model. 

 

Update: check a recognition guide, there is not mention of the variation in canopy shapes

https://aircraftrecognitionguide.com/grumman-f-14-tomcat

 

yeah I also have multiple books with side views and some books have it and some other dont. I looked through a great amount of pictures over the months and sometimes i see it and sometimes not. I wonder if its maybe an optical illusion? Or maybe there are different canopy types for the F-14?

[VR Flight Guy in PJ Pants]

It could be illusion or just batch variations, I am not sure.  Most materials I come across do not even mention the various GRs.

[alexkon3]

True. Maybe Heatblur can help here? Maybe something you could see in the scans they did to the old Turkey.  @Cobra847 @IronMike would it maybe be possible for you to ask your visual artists if they noticed anything mentioned here? Maybe this is one of those hidden curves you normally dont really notice in the Tomcat.  

[alexkon3]

Any chance @Heatblur?

[draconus]

You're chasing ghosts here - nothing's there.

[Swordsman422]

Yeah, it's an optical illusion created by the shape of the canopy.

[alexkon3]

Ok, so this whole business didn't leave me in peace so I asked about it in a Model Forum too and I got this interesting answer regarding my question:

 

Quote

 

The Hasegawa Kit (and btw. also the Tamiya Kit) is correct in depicting that "double bubble". The plans might be somewhat exegerrated but the kit itself has it actually rather correct.

A little background: Originally ROHR was the supplier to Grumman for some of the F-14s main fuselage parts such as the intakes etc. including the canopy. The original glass was one flat bow but it was found that the RIO and the seat needed more space and that there was some risk upon ejection so the rear canopy was further bulged out as of block 75 with ammendmends to earlier units later on. ROHR later had a major fallout with Grumman and congress over other issues and was replaced by another manufacturer.

 

All in all: The very faint double bubble is o.k.. (BTW: You'll find a somewhat similar effect on the Foxtrott Super Hornet canopy as well.)

 

 

I find this quite interessting. So the F-14 DOES have a slight "double Bubble" canopy. Another member in that forum also mentioned that he sees the same thing on the twin seat Vipers and I noticed it again on the Su-30 I think its quite visible in these pictures:

I wonder if this is something that ALL twin seat Jets have but I never noticed it before because its actually quite faint.

 

Best wishes,

 

Alex

 

[DSplayer]

I just think this is merely a variation caused by manufacturing the canopy itself and not an intended feature like the Malcolm Hood on P-51s.