hi all just been to gozo for a week or so but i’m back now! istarted my f-14 a italeri tomcat now and as i was i maskin da canopy i noticed a mouldline so i thought 'ohh ****** ill have to sand it ’ but on closer inspection it turned out that it was on the inside and only 3/4of the way along each half (this is a 2 seater) . what is it and should it be there???
thanks in advance
Hello Masu, dont wanna be the language police officer but we dont wright S*** here…
This forum is “even” for kids, so we adults keep our language.
Any way I built in the past thier 1:48 kit, and I have the same “problem”. It may not be a real problem because canopies are hard to mold in these modern curves. so it is actually forced by the limitaions of todays technology. cleaning these seams should be a pain as we all know.
However I might be wrong and this is somthing on the real thing. It could be the pyrotechenics that explode the canopy when ejecting.
F-14 buffs should give a better answer.
1st : All F-14’s are two seaters.
2nd: There should be no line in the canopy. As far as I know the canopy is ejected by rockets just like on the F-16 but im not sure, so there should be no DTA line in the canopy ( DTA = Detonation Transfer Assembly ), maybe someone hwo knows more about F-14s can confirm this.
I have seen a pic with this line in the canopy. If I recall correctly, it was some kind of lightning protection strip, mainly over the RIO’s head. It looks like a thin strip of metal embedded into the clear portion of the canopy.
Chris Ish
Hmmm…
http://www.news.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id 12570
Go to http://www.navy.mil/ and do a search in the photos section (http://www.news.navy.mil/view_featured.asp) for “F-14” and you can get plenty of ref photos.
sorry bout that but then i am achild ok im 13 but aint that the same
thanks all the same
If I’m not mistaken those strips are the antennae for the AN/ARA-50 UHF ADF nav system. (ADF = Automatic Direction Finder) I’m not 100% sure, though…
Anyhoo, if you take a looksee at this F-14 Walkaround on ARC and scroll down to the section showing the canopy, there’s a few shots which show this area pretty well.
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That line is correct over both the front and back seats. It is an antenna but am not sure what for. The photos in the ARC walkaround show it fairly clearly. I just bought a 1/72 Hasegawa F14D kit that has a 1mm tall ridge down the outside of the canopy from front to back. I’ve shaved it down as much as I dare but it still looks terrible. Other than the canopy, it is a great kit.
Shouldn’t be there in the '14A. If it’s an Italeri kit, it’s probably a mold seam.
Gip Winecoff
It actually should be there. Italeri is the only company I know of that actually got that part of the canopy correct.
Darren
In my 12 years of working around F14s, I honestly don’t remember seeing an antenna or any other device running down the centerline of the canopy on the A or B model. We were the cognizant field activity for this bird, and I got to see a lot of plexiglas replaced on canopies, but don’t remember seeing what you said should be there. It’s been several years since I’ve been around them, and time can certainly cloud memories. I’ve been wrong before, and probably will be again, but if you have pictures or other evidence, I’d love to see it. It could also be that I’m visualizing the wrong thing.
Thanks
Gip Winecoff
Here’s a pic of an A canopy. Your recollection could be right. I’ve always remembered them to be on there, but I’ve never worked on Tomcats. Hopefully, this will work!
Here’s another shot I found on the MATS site. You can see the thin strips on the inside of the canopy.
Okay, one more. Here’s the best shot I could find. It’s a pretty old one, so I know that it isn’t a recent upgrade. I would imagine you just never paid attention to it. It’s us anal retentive people that catch things like this! [:D]
I resemble that remark! [:p] Actually, I always found these thingamajiggers to be rather obvious; they stand out quite clearly…
Anyhoo, speaking of ART’s, I just went through the archives; every shot I have which shows this area even fairly clearly shows these antennae, with the only exceptions being the prototypes. Even the Ali-Cats had 'em.
There are at least two varieties of these things, some thin and some which are wider. I’ve two sources which state that they’re antennae for the ADF. But these two are the only sources I’ve come across which even mention these things and they’re both older ishes of FAOW with very little English, so I’m not inclined to put 100% faith in them without more backup.
I’ve made a few inquiries on this to some folks who may or may not have the answer, so I’m just playing the waiting game…
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chaps italeri werre right look at the canopy on this job.
chaps italeri were right