F-14 Cockpit and instrument dimensions

Mumbles, can you spread some light on your seat cushions? What are they and have they held up?

Here are the photos, I keep thinking I have posted them and end up not... :doh:

1. Mumbles Q 1 3/4"

2. Mumbles Q 6 1/2"

3. Off to Mil ~ 3"

4. Off to Idle ~ 1"

5.Off to Max AB ~ 5 1/2"

6. Width of Flaps and Throttle face ~ 3 1/2"

7. Length Wing Sweep Side ~ 6 1/2"

8. Hgt Wing Sweep ~ 4"

9. Entire Flap lgth including Emergency Up/Down ~ 5 3/4"

10. Flap Up/Down slot ~ 2 3/4"

11. Flap Emergency Up/Down slot ~ 2"

The following are just various shots trying to show some markings and inner workings.

Salute,

You are THE man, Punk! Thank you SOO MUCH! Thats exactly what I needed! I can start working on them and get it integrated into the panels. Got the vertical panels fabbed up today. Sides tomorrow.

I know how it is to have a lot on your plate so thanks again!

Heya Mariner,

So the seat cushions are made from high density foam in 20 and 10mm cuts made to measure for the seat. I was going to make up the pads to sit in a pouch so that they could be removed to be cleaned, however my current seat was a test build so I just stapled fabric over the top under tension to hold them in place.

They are holding up fine.

The inherent problem is that ejection seats are inherently uncomfortable for long durations due to the requirements of positioning a body for ejection. The more padding in the seat, the greater the peak instantaneous g your body will be under during the cartridge and motor firing. This is because the seat will accelerate into your lower body before the cushon fully compresses and you start accelerate up to speed with the seat. If done wrong the list of injuries are extensive.

Because we hopefully don't need the seat to function we can mod it a bit for comfort. I'll need to tinker with the new one a bit when designing the SKU-12A again to make it a bit nicer for longer use.

Hows ya build going anyway mate?

Cheers,

Mumbles

G'Day Mate!

Glad the seats are good. I haven't looked into where to get the foam yet, is there a certain style or type of high density foam? I would assume it would be automotive in nature. Did you buy online or local?

I read somewhere about the trade-offs between safety of ejection and pilot comfort during extended missions. I use a dining room chair with panels attached to it for both left and right. It was built with the Cat in mind. I have the panels almost ready to be pre-fit and mounted. The throttles are going to be pretty heavily modified and will function very much like the originals. I will put in the switches, rotary's, and levers I think I need then add to them over time as I discover which are actually useful and which aren't. I am in VR so that makes a big difference.

Hey Dino, what happened with this?

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=194249&page=6

A little progress!

Hey guys,

 

found this thread about the cockpit project a few minutes ago. At the moment I´m reconstructing the panels of the F-14. They will be laser cutted and text etc. can be lightened from behind. Looks like I have started the project from the other end he does :D :D :D

 

 

Hey Victory! Could you share the files to get those panels cut? How is the Pit coming? Any pics??

Heya Mariner,

 

So the seat cushions are made from high density foam in 20 and 10mm cuts made to measure for the seat. ....

 

Because we hopefully don't need the seat to function we can mod it a bit for comfort. I'll need to tinker with the new one a bit when designing the SKU-12A again to make it a bit nicer for longer use.

 

Hows ya build going anyway mate?

 

Cheers,

Mumbles

The seat cushions were made of broken glass, rusty nails and roofing tacks...

Make sure you get that right...

Well that was helpful, thanks SO much!

Is the fan there for the added wind effects?

Is the fan there for the added wind effects?

Probably so he doesnt sweat his ass off in VR. I use a fan too.

The question of how I did my panel prints has come up and as those before me, I simply used Paint to clean up and resize the images in the NATOPS picture.

I have attached the files as I printed them. Use Print Preview to see what you will get. Take the page margins in the print page settings or advanced settings to as close to zero as it will let you, Don't use the fit to page check block. Instead use a setting of 100 to 102% depending on what you want.

The actual side switch panel widths are about 11 inches so you want to use Landscape mode. Be aware that printing them is a little trial and error. Use a tape measure to verify the panel width is around 10 1/2 inches and that the top of the vertical panels are about 5 1/4 inches. That will make you very close to the actual panels in the Tomcat.

After printing the panels images, I trimmed and taped them together. Then I used spray adhesive to cement them to the wood paneling that will be the cutouts on top of the switch mounting plate. I sprayed the back of the paper then laid them on the panel which was larger than the cutout. After the paper layout was on flat and smooth, I trimmed the edges of the wood panel of any excess around the paper.

I did it that way because it was easier to lay the paper down and flat then trim than getting the paper perfect on the trimmed panel. It makes life easier to build in a little slop that you can take out later. It really enhances accuracy.

Anyway... So there they are.... I found that using a pilot hole through the wood paneling through the sheet steel, then the required size drill work well if there is a good solid wood underlayment to drill into. It gives a sharper look.

F-14 side panel dimensions.pdf

The yellow/black marked locations are the buttons/switches I think I need to put in first. Any thoughts on additions or deletions?

Thats a truckload of switches....

Here are the tracings of the panels I built with measuring marks so you can blow them up, have them printed, whatever...

Did anyone ever find a reference for the throttle HOTAS grips? diagrams / orthos / 3d model with any dimensions?

Im psyched to have my own attempt at a VR oriented sim-pit so priority is really the HOTAS as most buttons / switches are not really useable / applicable in VR.

This will be a great tool https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=218861

Did anyone ever find a reference for the throttle HOTAS grips? diagrams / orthos / 3d model with any dimensions?

 

Im psyched to have my own attempt at a VR oriented sim-pit so priority is really the HOTAS as most buttons / switches are not really useable / applicable in VR.

I posted this in another thread for one of the guys building their own controls I think. I believe it is on page 3. Mind you, it is for the F-14D model, but should be the same size as the A and B models, just with an extra button/switch as far as I know.

Salute,

Punk

MASON throttlegrips.pdf

Thanks! That's exactly what I needed.

As a bit of an aside, does anyone know what all the extra buttons for the -D are for? By my count the A/B have a total of 14 switch positions. The D model swaps 1 switch push buttons for a new 4 way hat, transducer with a push button and an extra 4 way hat on the side, we've jumped from 14 buttons to 21 + 2 more axis.

To my knowledge all the weapons / sensors etc were integrated into both the A/B and D fleet so I'm pretty intrigued to know what all these buttons are for.

Thanks! That's exactly what I needed.

 

As a bit of an aside, does anyone know what all the extra buttons for the -D are for? By my count the A/B have a total of 14 switch positions. The D model swaps 1 switch push buttons for a new 4 way hat, transducer with a push button and an extra 4 way hat on the side, we've jumped from 14 buttons to 21 + 2 more axis.

 

To my knowledge all the weapons / sensors etc were integrated into both the A/B and D fleet so I'm pretty intrigued to know what all these buttons are for.

If I remember right, the extra four way coolie hat above the Wing Sweep coolie is for the Pilots Radar Mode selector. I don't recall any other extra switches. They did change the type of switch for the Speed Brakes though, which is the long toggle in front of the Radar Mode selector. You probably should go through the NATOPS for more info.

Salute,

Punk

RIO pit dimensions

Nice!

 

Also; trade you more 3D data for more pics of the Dog. :)

Hello Cobra, congrats on the release of the Tomcat! I don't have any dog pictures to trade but I would be happy to trade cat pictures with you. Specifically, I was hoping us RIO cockpit builders could receive some 3D data love! All the best to you and your team, tack så mycket.

I posted this in another thread for one of the guys building their own controls I think. I believe it is on page 3. Mind you, it is for the F-14D model, but should be the same size as the A and B models, just with an extra button/switch as far as I know.

 

Salute,

Punk

It's fantastic! Thanks:pilotfly:

Congratulations to those who are building full scale models for an immersive experience.

I would actually just like to know know some dimension that I could use as a reference for my field of view level. Sorry but I haven't read the Whole thread, it's so long by now... .

Sometimes zooming in is useful, but I'm afraid it's not realistic.

For instance, if I know that the diameter of the airspeed dial was, let's invent, 10 cm, I could place a ruler on the monitor, measure the dial and keep the field of view so that the dial measures 10 cm, because if I did that in the real aircraft, I would get the same result.

Having the dimensions of rudder pedals, for example, would not be useful because they are supposed to appear smaller due to perspective; what I see on the monitor should have the dimensions of what I see on the instrument panel.

Am I right?

Congratulations to those who are building full scale models for an immersive experience.

I would actually just like to know know some dimension that I could use as a reference for my field of view level. Sorry but I haven't read the Whole thread, it's so long by now... .

Sometimes zooming in is useful, but I'm afraid it's not realistic.

For instance, if I know that the diameter of the airspeed dial was, let's invent, 10 cm, I could place a ruler on the monitor, measure the dial and keep the field of view so that the dial measures 10 cm, because if I did that in the real aircraft, I would get the same result.

Having the dimensions of rudder pedals, for example, would not be useful because they are supposed to appear smaller due to perspective; what I see on the monitor should have the dimensions of what I see on the instrument panel.

Am I right?

You can start with this I guess, but I would go through the whole thread when you get time and you may find more info:

The airspeed/mach indicator is 3 1/4" Square and each individual side panels are a standard width of 5 3/4".

Salute,