F-14D VF-101 Grim Reapers

1
May 11, 2022
I'm cutting out the various screens, and will be replacing them with transparent styrene. The goal is to backlight all of these screens
2
May 11, 2022
3
May 13, 2022
Some cockpit details
4
August 31, 2022
I inserted some transparent green styrene to act as screens. They will be backlit by green LEDs
5
August 31, 2022
The backlighting is a bit too bright for my liking. I will need to mess with the voltage to dim the LED, since I’ve already installed it and can’t paint over it
6
August 31, 2022
I thought of cutting out the area molded for the HUD lighting, but I think that might be getting a bit too ambitious
7
August 31, 2022
In order to get the RIO radar screen round, I ended up creating a makeshift lathe using one of the 5v motors I bought for a different project. This one will probably be even trickier to backlight
8
September 3, 2022
Previously, I was considering using multiple LEDs attached directly to the plastic, to light the navigation lights. Now, I am replacing the plastic with thicker fiber optic strands. By sanding the inner and outer areas, the fiber emits light on its side, rather than at the ends of the strands. This should mean a lot more light passes through, than my original plan
9
September 4, 2022
LEDs for the navigation lights are seated
10
September 4, 2022
Cockpit has been glued in, and all LEDs work
11
September 5, 2022
Front navigation lights are installed. I had to drill out the plastic, and decided to use a single piece of optical fiber for the upper and lower nav lights
12
September 5, 2022
Why is the f-14 such a gorgeous airframe
13
September 5, 2022
Rear fuselage position lights installed
14
September 5, 2022
Remaining lighting are the anti collision lights on the vertical stabilizers, the position lights on the vertical stabilizers and wings, and the navigation lights on the wing tips.
15
September 5, 2022
Original plan with the wing lighting was to make a sort of T junction with some fiber strands. That unfortunately won’t work, so I may need to order some smaller LEDs and position those the same way I’ve done the other position lights
16
October 17, 2022
17
October 17, 2022
Took quite some time to get the smaller .5mm fiber properly connected for the wing tip navigation light.
18
October 17, 2022
19
October 17, 2022
20
October 17, 2022
Even with the black primer, there’s still some light bleed through the plastic
21
October 17, 2022
22
October 17, 2022
The green LED behind the RIO instrument panel has been darkened to show a more accurate level of light. Joining all of the pieces and keeping the wires out of the path of the swing mechanism will be difficult
23
October 26, 2022
Starting on the right wing
24
November 9, 2022
I was painting some parts an unspecified light gray color, so I decided to match the gray used for this projects intakes and kill two birds with one stone. This will let me close up those two gaps in the intakes, and should prevent light from bleeding into that area
25
November 13, 2022
Filling in the gap between the instrument panel and the housing. This way there isn’t any light bleed
26
November 13, 2022
27
November 13, 2022
Seats and controls installed
28
November 13, 2022
Filler painted and cockpit almost completed

Kommentarer

25 11 May 2022, 17:47

Ferenc Sarka
Awesome! I am in. If you can share the type of electric parts, that will great for me. Maybe i will try it with my recent project. Good luck!

5 September 2022, 19:50

Reaper_lead
Sure Ferenc, all leds and fiber is from evandesigns.com/
I'm using 1.5mm optic fiber for all of the position lights (sanded to emit light along the surface)
The LEDS for all the main fuselage position lights are the nano size.
The cockpit and all other LEDS so far are the Z size. You could probably use the Pico size as well for these. It might make positioning them a little bit tougher, but they're less likely to break.
The navigation lights on the wing tips will likely use Z size LEDS, and 1.5 or 1mm optical fiber.
I haven't given a ton of thought to the anti-collision and navigation lights in the vertical stabilizers, but those will likely be .5mm fiber with the LEDS actually being housed within the main fuselage. There's a taxi light on the nose landing gear, but I assembled the nose before adding the light (plus, it looks like that taxi light is off during a cat launch anyways).

One final detail I'm adding is a set of the wired connectors. This should make plugging/unplugging the model easy, if I want to move it etc.
A dremel and micrometer will come in very handy

6 September 2022, 16:08

Ferenc Sarka
Thank You for your detaild answer. I saved your text. I will take a try with that leds. Good luck. I am curious of the result.

7 September 2022, 19:53

Roy McKay
Some cockpit instrument decals would look cool and knock the brightness down a tad. Worth a try?
Brilliant work, by the way...

17 October 2022, 19:46

Finn
Looking really interesting, best of luck!

26 October 2022, 13:55

Reaper_lead
Thank you! I think the cockpit decals are a great idea, but I don't think I'm gonna be able to fit them in since I've already assembled the nose section

27 October 2022, 01:05

Erik De Smet
I have added some leds to a few of my models, but this is far beyond my skills. Very impressive!

9 November 2022, 07:59

Reaper_lead
Thank you @Erik. I'm going to put this project on hold for the time being. I need to order some replacement LEDs, and I might order replacement parts for the wing currently under construction

16 December 2022, 18:41

Skyhiker
Anyone have any tips on how to learn how to work with LEDs? I have zero experience with electronics.

16 December 2022, 20:46

Project info

Grumman F-14D Super Tomcat

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Grumman F-14D Super Tomcat

US Navy (1794-now)
VF-101 "Grim Reapers" 164/164342
2004 - NAS Oceana, VA
grey, Light grey, Black

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