this is all really very impressive. I'm learning a lot about mold making, which is gonna be important whenever I get to my Jaguar.............."IF" I ever get to my Jaguar. LOL.

Rich

Top Rear half of the fuselage is molded and curing now..... Maybe i'll post a picture later

Ooooooooooooooooooo..... fuuuusseeelllaaageeee and a ACP composites order!





Youtube VIDEO!!!!!!!!!

How to Build an F-14D Tomcat #53 (11 min 57 sec)

Awesome stuff Thomas! The stuff you purchased from ACP looks cool. So I assume you have a CNC router for cutting parts out of those composite sheets. Did you build your own or buy a prebuilt one? (Sorry if I missed it earlier in your thread.)

Thanks!

Paul

Thanks paul! No cnc router yet, thats the next big tool purchase for this project. Ill be cutting the prototype parts by hand unfortunately. When it comes time for the actual production parts, i will probably farm that work out so its one less thing for me to have to focus on

This is getting really exciting. I can't wait to see how the fuselage molds turn out after you have put so much effort into the details.
How many pieces will actually make up the fuselage though? Is it one top and one bottom, then the cover over the wing... or are you doing multiple pieces for top and/or bottom?

Originally Posted by android78

This is getting really exciting. I can't wait to see how the fuselage molds turn out after you have put so much effort into the details.
How many pieces will actually make up the fuselage though? Is it one top and one bottom, then the cover over the wing... or are you doing multiple pieces for top and/or bottom?

The fuselage mold will be in 8 separate pieces.... Atleast

Haven't done to much on the F-14 lately... Mostly been waiting on parts, and been spending time with the family, and doing allot of research on my next project, a 26.5% GeeBee R2 which is the test bed to a 53% GeeBee R2 that will utilize a stainless steel fuse frame and construction like the full scale.

Anyways, back to the Tomcat.

I finally received all the stuff (well i thought all of it) for my vacuum bag setup. So i went about and built it up. The only things i have to get are a few PVC pipe cap's for the sub-reservoir (this makes it where the pump doesn't a vacuum on it during start up) and the vacuum manifold for all 7 vacuum connectors (this should be here tomorrow), So here's a picture of the setup.

Specs:
10CFM in Free air
26" hg
20gallon vacuum resevoir
Auto-cycle's on/off to keep the vacuum within 4"hg of its set point.


Now I just need some stickers to "bling" it out. haha

Originally Posted by invertmast

...and doing allot of research on my next project, a 26.5% GeeBee R2 which is the test bed to a 53% GeeBee R2 that will utilize a stainless steel fuse frame and construction like the full scale.

Now THAT I can't wait to see!!

Originally Posted by Sammy70

Now THAT I can't wait to see!!

The 53% will be a difficult project... more difficult than finding documentation on Luftwaffe aircraft from WW2. Original drawings are hard to come by, and their are very few (if any) photo's of the original's during construction.. So the reason for it being a long ways out before its done is 1. F-14 has priority, 2. I've got to find someone with those original drawings (they are out there) who is willing to let me have a copy for the construction.

If I'm not mistaken the New England Air Museum have the drawings for the R1 Super Sportser and have used them to build the replica R1 they have on display. This is the aircraft Delmar Benjamin was given permission to study in detail as it was under construction by museum staff when he started on his R2 replica project. He was not given access to any of the original drawings though as the Granvilles did not give permission for this, but in the end he and builder Steve Wolf got to measure and photograph the R1 under construction in the museum so his R2 replica should be as close to scale as possible. I highly doubt you would be able to get hold of drawings though but you never know, I'd start by contacting the museum.

http://www.neam.org

That looks like a serious set up you got there! I'll be interested to see how you make out. I am still trying to figure out the best way to do it. Rope caulk for sealing windows did not work well. Left a lot of residue that was hard to get off the flange. Plumbers putty left a residue, but was much easier to get off and is re-usable. I have the sealant tape I have not tried, but it's expensive and don;t think its possible to pull off the bag if you need to make adjustments which almost always have to do.. The best option is making a full bag for the smaller molds, but for big molds it gets tough I thik.

Brian

Originally Posted by invertmast

Haven't done to much on the F-14 lately... Mostly been waiting on parts, and been spending time with the family, and doing allot of research on my next project, a 26.5% GeeBee R2 which is the test bed to a 53% GeeBee R2 that will utilize a stainless steel fuse frame and construction like the full scale.

Anyways, back to the Tomcat.

I finally received all the stuff (well i thought all of it) for my vacuum bag setup. So i went about and built it up. The only things i have to get are a few PVC pipe cap's for the sub-reservoir (this makes it where the pump doesn't a vacuum on it during start up) and the vacuum manifold for all 7 vacuum connectors (this should be here tomorrow), So here's a picture of the setup.

Specs:
10CFM in Free air
26" hg
20gallon vacuum resevoir
Auto-cycle's on/off to keep the vacuum within 4"hg of its set point.


Now I just need some stickers to "bling" it out. haha

Yea i'm not sure how i'm going to do bags yet either, but i have a feeling i'm going to have to attach them to the flanges..

we use the bagging sealant tape at work ,it can be reused if your careful to keep the paper that peels off ,and recover it after you remove the bagging material.now some time the bagging comes off easy by giving it a reall hard jerk,sometimes it wont depends on temp and humidity.we always use a mylar flash breaker tape on the mold flanges to put the "dum dum" on (thats what we call it )but you need to be careful to seal the mylar tape overlaps.

I just bead resin on the flange and push the bag into it.