Great Planes F-14 Tomcat
 

Great Planes F-14 kit is on order at Tower Hobbies. $119.95.

I built one back in the 80's. Super Tigre S.90, Mac's pipe and mechanical retracts.

It was knee shaking fast back then. Flew it twice and sold it.

Now fast is WAY FUN!!! My knee's don't shake anymore.

To up the WOW factor at the field, it has to have swing wings!!!

Has anyone done a swing wing mechanism that might be applied to the F-14?

I have been told that there are foamies that have swing wings, but I have not seen them myself.

Should not be to difficult to figure out. However, it would be easier to apply or modify a proven design that someone would be willing to share.

Put your thinking caps on. We could all look very cool this summer as we swing in the wind and the crowd goes WOW!!!!!!

RE: Great Planes F-14 Tomcat
 

Yea, I saw that yesterday Roadtripessentials. I even made mention of it farther down, but not about a swing wing version. I would think that would be interesting, but make it very weak and suceptible to breakage under high G. If you figure it out though do tell!!!!!!! I am in line for one. Looking forward to them being in stock.
Alan

RE: Great Planes F-14 Tomcat
 

Way back in the day, Model Airplane News or RCM had a "how-to" article from a guy who converted the GP F-14 to swing it's wing.

All I can say is, it has sucessfully been done but I don't keep old issues so I don't remember how he did it.

Don

RE: Great Planes F-14 Tomcat
 

Thanks, Don

I think that built properly, the swing wing should not be any weaker than the non swing wing plane.

The Navy seems to fly them just fine swinging the wings!!!!!!!!

Change is a good thing, it keeps the mind SHARP!!!!

Tony

RE: Great Planes F-14 Tomcat
 

I had this airplane.I bought it from a guy at the perry georgia swap meet back in 2008 for $120 and it had the swing wing done to it. The guy that i bought it from had told me to use a 100 ounce servo in it but i could not for the life of me to get it to work properly the wing would stay forward but when i flip the switch to move the wing back it did and it still flew really great but i didnt notice an increase in speed from using a super tigre .90 but the deal was when i slowed it down to bring the wing back forward the wing would not do it, it stayed to the back and i will tell you that was not a nice flyer when it slowed down and it landed really fast say maybe in the 40 or 50 mph and when it was on the ground it tore out the nose gear and one of the mains landing gear rails and it had permanent gear down no retracts. Well i fixed the model and just left the wing forward and a guy showed interest in the model saying that he wanted to try it so i sold it to him for the same price that i bought it for several months before and i have not heard or seen him since and i dont know why. I really wish i still had the model. The wing had a pivot point and the wings when they moved the meshed together using a 1/4 plywood fingers that resembled a gear if you will. the whole thing was suppose to move with the help of an airtronics 187 ounce servo and that servo would not pull the wing to the front if you swept the wing back so that was how the wing was set up. I never took any pictures of that wing set up but i see it in my head and if you need i can try to draw the setup in the next couple of days but just imagine that you have a center part and then each wing panel has a pivot point and they mesh together in a way that looks like you drew a couple of gear teeth out of plywood so the wings would move together from one servo or other method to make them sweep but i was limited to a servo

RE: Great Planes F-14 Tomcat
 

I have not seen one with swing wings, but I do know they fly just great as is. I have one in my stable now and just ordered another from Tower. The only knock with them is the landing speed is quite high but it is manageable. Just need a long runway. I love them. Good Luck, Dave

RE: Great Planes F-14 Tomcat
 

Here is the pdf on the swing wing for the F-14 model.

Jim

RE: Great Planes F-14 Tomcat
 

Thanks Jim!!!

Tony

RE: Great Planes F-14 Tomcat
 

And just that quick, they are discountinued. Figures, I have one on back order with Tower. Can't wait to find out if I am really going to get it. Dave

RE: Great Planes F-14 Tomcat
 

Damn, that's gotta be some kind of record!!!!! [X(]

Ken

RE: Great Planes F-14 Tomcat
 

I am thinking they cleaned up the warehouse and found a dozen of them. I have not heard if I am going to get mine or not. I really hope so. Dave

RE: Great Planes F-14 Tomcat
 

I asked for email notification when they arrived.

I guess I should have backordered a couple.

No email, imagine that.

Say they made a thousand kits, order pending, they recommend you backorder to ensure you get one.

In one week they sell all that order, now discontinued!

HELLO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MAKE A BUNCH MORE!!!!!!!!

People want them.

RE: Great Planes F-14 Tomcat
 

nice thread!;)

RE: Great Planes F-14 Tomcat
 

Now this takes the cake. I just received an email from Tower telling me the F-14 order has been canceled and I will not be getting it. What really ticks me off is that I ordered the kit as part of a $300.00 order so that I could get $60.00 off my order. I have already received the other part of my order and was billed full price being told that the $60.00 discount would be applied when the F-14 shipped. I was supposed to be billed $60.00 for the F-14 when it shipped, which would have given me my discount. So as I sit here I paid full price for all the parts that I got and got taken in on the F-14. Tower has really come up with a way to not have to honor the discounts on this one as well as get my hopes up of getting a really nice plane. All this comes on the heels of them shipping my Christmas present that my wife ordered for me and instructed them to send to my neighbors house, to my house. I called Tower on this and was told in no uncertain terms tough. They are not responsible for shipping errors, even though they shipped it. I am really going to need a real good reason to order from Tower again,as they appear to have gone into the customer don't count mode. I do hope they enjoy keeping my discount money.... Dave