Pappy121 Posted January 1, 2022 Share Posted January 1, 2022 (edited) G'day, I have a couple of Q's for the F-14 'experten'. I am currently building the Hasegawa 1/48 F-14 as an F-14A+/B. I don't want to type that each time so I will just refer to it as an F-14B from now. I know that the glove vanes were de-activated on the F-14A+ and were not incorporated on the F-14D. Since the F-14B started out as an F-14A, I presume that the glove mechanism was still installed. Question 1: Were these glove vanes faired over on the F-14B or did they look like the F-14A just not operational? The Hasegawa canopy has the correct 'Omega' cross section but it comes with a moulding seam that needs to be sanded off. It looks like there is thin grey strip in the top of the canopy on the real jet, perhaps some form of MDC strip? the strips do not extend the full length of the canopy, they seem to start at the back and extend forward enough to cover the area over the rear ejection seat then there looks to be a gap to the centre canopy bow and the strip starts again to cover the area over the seat and then another gap so it does not appear to be one continuous length. Question 2: Should the F-14B canopy have these strips present and does anybody have some clear pictures? cheers, Pappy Edited January 1, 2022 by Pappy121 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tapchan Posted January 1, 2022 Share Posted January 1, 2022 (edited) #Q1: #Q2: Detonation strips. Source: https://www.seaforces.org/usnair/VF/Fighter-Squadron-102.htm Edited January 1, 2022 by Tapchan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dave Williams Posted January 1, 2022 Share Posted January 1, 2022 The F-14Bs were not all new build. Some were converted from F-14As. Similarly, some F-14As were converted into F-14Ds (marked F-14D(R)) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GW8345 Posted January 2, 2022 Share Posted January 2, 2022 Question 1; The A+/B's did not have glove vanes, they were fair'ed over during mod. Question 2: The lightning strip on the canopy was the same as the A's and D's, the A+/B used the same canopy as the A's and the only difference between an A/A+/B canopy and a D canopy was the thickness of the plexiglass. BTW, the strip in the canopy was NOT a "detonation" strip (SMDC), it was for lightning protection in case the canopy was struck by lightning. For the A/A+/B, the canopy had to be jettison before the seats would fire, for the D, there were "canopy breakers" on top of the seats that would shatter the canopy when the seat came in contact with it. SMDC - Shielded Mild Detonation Cord, i.e., the strips you see on the AV-8B, T-45, etc that shatter the canopy in order for the seat to pass through, the Tomcat never, NEVER had that. hth GW Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pappy121 Posted January 2, 2022 Author Share Posted January 2, 2022 8 hours ago, Dave Williams said: The F-14Bs were not all new build. Some were converted from F-14As. Similarly, some F-14As were converted into F-14Ds (marked F-14D(R)) 6 hours ago, GW8345 said: Question 1; The A+/B's did not have glove vanes, they were fair'ed over during mod. Question 2: The lightning strip on the canopy was the same as the A's and D's, the A+/B used the same canopy as the A's and the only difference between an A/A+/B canopy and a D canopy was the thickness of the plexiglass. BTW, the strip in the canopy was NOT a "detonation" strip (SMDC), it was for lightning protection in case the canopy was struck by lightning. For the A/A+/B, the canopy had to be jettison before the seats would fire, for the D, there were "canopy breakers" on top of the seats that would shatter the canopy when the seat came in contact with it. SMDC - Shielded Mild Detonation Cord, i.e., the strips you see on the AV-8B, T-45, etc that shatter the canopy in order for the seat to pass through, the Tomcat never, NEVER had that. hth GW Thanks very much gents, that has answered my questions. I did not realise that some As were converted to Ds. Also thanks for clearing up what the canopy strips (lightning protection) actually are, cheers, Pappy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Reddog-03 Posted January 2, 2022 Share Posted January 2, 2022 Here's another post on the subject. http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?/topic/179443-f-14-canopy-question/ Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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