F-14, incorrect scaling of altimeter labels?

[Temetre]

Theres been some talk about potential issue with the altimeter; one thing mentioned was that how the text on the "rolling number display" for altitude appears to be scaled too small. Ive noticed a different potential issue with the altimeter; this is a difficult one, but it seems to be evidenced by images:

Problem: The altimeter gauges "labels" (pretty much anything printed on the gauge) appears to be scaled smaller than it would be in real life. I noticed this when comparing the size of numbers on the gauge to the vertical height of the gauge. On the HB gauge, the numbers appeared to be ~10-20% smaller in relation to total gauge height.

I think the issues might lie in the Heatblur F-14s altimeter having a "border" around the print on the gauges edges, which cant be found on the real altimeter. Possible the real altimeter is more recessed than HBs altimeter, and that gave the impression of a border rather than a recess.

Images I found for the IRL F-14: Theses are the kind of images I just found of F-14A/B cockpits and their altimeter; people have made better collections, but I hope this helps:

Spoiler

Im not sure what F-14 Heatblur has used as reference, so even if my idea is right, it might be the wrong plane. Ive heard people say this F-14 was used for reference, among others, it seems to fit the issue:

https://pacificcoastairmuseum.org/aircraft/f-14a-tomcat/f14_d/

Images to show the difference to the Heatblur F-14: Long talk short, here is the ingame altimeter on the left, besides some higher res images of real F-14 altimeters:

Spoiler

What makes the issue harder to grasp is how the IRL F-14 altimeter appears to be a bit more recessed; the upper right image shows that quite well. This recess seems to be in every F-14 image I found, across its slightly different altimeters.

If you ignore the black border created by the side walls, then the label of the altimeter is going up to the edge of the altimeter. You see that especially with the line above the zero, or the lines on on the left and right. All of those lines go right to the edge. On the HB altimeter, there is a border, an empty area around the edge of the altimeter to where the labeling (outer lines) start. Ive marked the distance with three yellow lines.

This is also highlighted how the indicator needle in the HB F14 is as long as the outer edge of the labeling; yet on the real F-14, the labeling goes beyond the needle. The needle itself seems to be scaled correctly, from all I can tell.

 

Personal comment: This isnt too big of a deal, but considering the level of quality of HBs F-14, I think differences like this are notable, in what is probably the most important gauge after the speed indicator. It would also make the use of the altimeter a bit easier and faster, considering bigger scaling might increase size of numbers by 10-20%. In fact, I noticed this (potential) issue because the numbers appeared to be smaller in the HB F14.

Edited May 31, 2023 by Temetre

[Silhou]

Hey Temetre! Thank you very much for your detailed report. I will track this internally for the team to investigate when able  

[Temetre]

vor 8 Minuten schrieb Silhou:

Hey Temetre! Thank you very much for your detailed report. I will track this internally for the team to investigate when able  

Thank you. This one is kinda hard to tell, so im happy someone more knowledgeable can look at it^^