Skymaster/Chief Aircraft F-14 assembly
 

Well my F-14 arrived. Skymaster did a phenomenal job with the packaging and of course Chief Aircraft received it, checked it out and re-enforced for the additional trip to Florida. I paid no money other than what it costs to ship it from chief to my home. Saved me about $1100 to ship this beast. As I mentioned before, not a single problem. All parts ordered arrived, no damage, and the airframe is amazing. I have built many many jets for both myself and customers and this one is a work of art. The amount of engineering that went into this bird is astounding. This is masterfully designed, developed, and delivered airframe.

I didn't call this a build thread because this is an assembly. Anyone who has built an old school Yellow F-18 or other knows this is no build. Most of everything in this plane is done. Doors hinged, all surfaces hinged as well, retracts installed, all major functions are in. This is 90% complete!

Great job Skymaster on another amazing bird.

Kill to have that much free space in my shop! Look forward to your "assembly." Mine is in storage, may be there for quite a while.

What does it mean at the bottom of your post? Tygon tubing------- Really?

Danny,

You'll love this plane!

Wim

What a beautiful plane, eager to see how it goes,,

It means that it is my opinion that tygon tubing does not belong in jets other than in the tank. My personal opinion.


Thanks Wim! Already have a little crush going on! I've wanted this plane since I started flying jets! Loved it since I was a kid in the top gun days!

double

Well its been a couple hours, you probably have it assembled by now with custom weathering. Lets see it!

Got my first look at My buddies F14 and I was very impressed with the swing wing mechanism to wing connection. This is a work of art and makes so much more sense then the conventional through the wing connection. Well done Skymaster!!!!!!

Last night I got a few things done. The interior is not to my liking and in my builds, the interior always needs to be just as neat and finished as the rest of the plane. Tanks were not installed so I had to remove the wing mechanism anyways so I removed it. Before I did that, I made a little kick stand to hold up the main hatches. Got the front painted and also found the location for the UAT's.

Next step is to paint the rear sections and remove the gear for painting white. I already have the front out so should be updated soon.

Well....there goes the F-18 build! :-)

He's just letting us catch up Joe! :cool:

Haha! It'll only be a week or 2 delay. This F-14 is almost done from the factory. If it wasn't for my wanting to paint everything inside, it would probably be done already!

its a good thing u did, i found a bunch of loose bolts today taking mine apart. I tell you what ever they use as a loctite needs to be put on the never use list lol I removed the air cylinders today and cannot get the back speed brake ones off since them nuts are glued on and I cannot get them loose. The airline they use is very stiff, it pulls off very easy.

Danny I can't wait to see it fly in person. I sure you will have it ready for FL jets.

I got my own distraction from the F-18 projects thanks to Chief Aircraft and SM.........just two ARFs , right?

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2065536

Joe, you could put those together in your sleep! Hey, I just found you an extra 9 hrs /day! You're welcome!

Thanks for the info Fender. Luckily I have not found any loose bolts so far. Everything is intact and locked in. I have found that it is a much better option to have them paint your gear. It is tedious work. I will post some pics soon. Theres a lot more space in it than I thought. Lots of pockets of space in random places.

Aces, you dang right it will fly at Florida Jets! Unless something spectacular happens during the maiden and subsequent primary flights. Something super spectacular!

Joe! Those are some sweet looking birds! Glad we could help getting you those Hawks!

Sean! Back to work on that yellow! You only get a few minutes of break time to come on here and read! LOL

Yeah right! Who sleeps 9 hours a day....... only teenagers. Wow, I feel old.

Super busy buy I was able to manage a few more things done today. Was able to assemble the tanks, also cleaned up and painted the front landing gear white. I used BVM tank hardware and the hole that is made by Skymaster is kinda big so I had to reduce them so It wasn't a nice little bead of Hysol. Had to make a donut. I wanted to make sure they did not leak. I will perform a pressure/leak test later on.

I also received my light kit from Dan at Details 4 Scale. Super fast turn around. Literally got it the next day. I am very impressed with the new light controller he has. It is much smaller with more options! all the light plastic corners are molded and the right color. This bird is gonna look sweeeet! ;)

Like your kickstand Danny, they're gonna be really useful!

Barry

I was going to do this as well but I can open my hatches but half of what you did. It cracks the paint and it chips off. I'm seriously considering cutting mine and and adding gear door style hinges.

Danny what kind of paint did you use on the gear? I need to repaint mine and was looking for something that will not yellow.

My paint chipped but its no big deal to me. I will touch it up later. I used Testors paint on the gear. It will be weathered along with the plane.

Thanks Danny, can you tell me at what clock position your tabs are at for the tail pipes. I know they have a outward bend at the end but my pipes were not marked left or right. Plus the tab extends out past the nozzle back plate you suppose to push the pipe against before you twist them on. I dont suppose you can take a pic of yours? Thanks

Hey Fender, you know as much as I do at this point. I have not yet reached that part. I have the pipes laying on the bench and you are right about them not being labeled left or right. I don't even know what direction the angle points to. Anyone who has built this thing already, can you please chime in! Thanks ahead of time.