alexkon3 Posted September 9, 2021 Share Posted September 9, 2021 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" 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 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, (or someone with better eyes then me :o) ) know/can check if the F-14 canopy actually is designed that way? Maybe someone has seen original plan drawings? I am almost 100 % certain that it isn’t that way 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 in some pictures sometimes. Or maybe my eyes are just deceiving me or it is an optical illusion that I only see because i‘ve seen those weird plan drawings. 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 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bushande Posted September 9, 2021 Share Posted September 9, 2021 (edited) 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.) Edited September 9, 2021 by bushande Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JackMan Posted September 9, 2021 Share Posted September 9, 2021 7 hours ago, alexkon3 said: Or maybe my eyes are just deceiving me or it is an optical illusion that I only see because i‘ve seen those weird plan drawings. I feel the same way about the canopy of the 2 seater F-16s. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
alexkon3 Posted September 10, 2021 Author Share Posted September 10, 2021 On 9/9/2021 at 2:43 PM, bushande said: 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.) Wow I never thought that my eyes are right here. Thank you! From where do you have this information? Is this in some kind of book I could buy? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
alexkon3 Posted September 10, 2021 Author Share Posted September 10, 2021 22 hours ago, JackMan said: I feel the same way about the canopy of the 2 seater F-16s. I also see it on the Su-30 and since the Tomcat has this too maybe we are seeing it the right way. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
alexkon3 Posted September 10, 2021 Author Share Posted September 10, 2021 1 hour ago, alexkon3 said: I also see it on the Su-30 and since the Tomcat has this too maybe we are seeing it the right way. Here it is quite visible on the Flanker: I wonder if this is a normal feature on double seated Jets I did not notice before. Best wishes Alex Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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