IFE Tomcat is out!

[Priller]

Well, you had a good go at that just in time, didn't you

Well yes. For the first time in my life, I felt a form of abandonment anxiety!

Priller

[centuryseries]

There's no carrier crew interaction but i seem to remember having seen that in another carrier add-on. Possibly payware. Does anybody know about that ? ( could be mistaking with DCS, some time ago, can't remember exactly..)

I think you're mistaking the carrier crew interaction with DCS which has the interactive, modelled and animated.

[Mr.Mugel]

The MilTech Supercarrier Pro works very well with the Tomcat. It has animated crew controlled via an ingame app, blast shieds and even useable elevators. All on moving carriers. Sadly no period correct carriers with Tomcats on the deck.

I seem to not be able to work through the complete voice assisted startup, I get stuck where I am supposed to set the flaps to 50. No matter what I do, I can't get past that.

Anyone already got her into a flatspin, too? It is very scripted, basicly just showing you, that you f****d up. Goose wouldn't be happy.

[Javis]

Thanks CS and MM !

Indeed it proved to be the DCS carrier ops that i remembered. Been a while and i actually never looked back no matter how fantastic it was compared to that lump of clay that sits there in the middle of the ocean waiting to be disintegrated.

Sorry bout the lump of clay, thats only because AFAIK carriers still have to sit there like a dead duck, atleast if you want to land on them, quite a disgrace if you ask me. These MS/Asobo boys really have a thing with water, don't they ? They left decent water spray/wake effects for floatplanes en flying boats to a third party as well. I figure (or maybe *hope* would be better in this case) that all will be corrected re carriers in 2024. The Forrestal class carriers do look great i must say, maybe even better than the payware MilTech Super Carrier ?..

No 1970s/80s carriers with animated crew et all is deal breaker. F-18 or F-35 does not float my boat so to say. I always liked the F-14 and certainly not because of Top Gun although the flying bits are fantastic. Kinda like 'The Final Countdown' better (not the song!! Blehh ) you know, "Splash the Zeros ! " the shot of the Japanese pilots face as a Tomcat wooshes overhead the canopy of his Zero is epic !

And yes, i can't get along with this Jester guy all that well neither, i'm trying to write up sort of a start-up checklist via the various videos but thats not easy peasy neisy. One start-up procedure makes use of that various tests button while another seems to completely ignore it and gets away with it nontheless.

Flatspin you say??... I haven't even managed a landing i could walk away from.. It's a though kitty this one !

[StormILM]

So far it's a fine model, many carry-overs from the DCS version but the one I dislike is that Jester ejects when I pull out of a dive for a low level high speed pass and makes the smart-a** comment: "GOOD LUCK!!!" before the F-14 becomes a high speed convertible. lol. I guess there is a way to disable that function.

[Mr.Mugel]

The 1.0.7 version already made Jester a lot less nervous, but you can also disable him ejecting in the jester menu.

[collensr]

Back in 2001 I spent quite a bit of time at NAS Oceana. This was a period when the Tomcat was still fairly numerous in the Fleet and Oceana was rammed with them. I was embedded with VF-41 "Black Aces" documenting the retirement of the F-14A for a number of UK Aviation Magazines. I covered their work ups for their final cruise with the Tomcat - a cruise would culminate with The Black Aces taking the Tomcat to war on the first night of Operation Enduring Freedom. As you can see the squadron was by now routinely carrying the LANTIRN pod which they employed both in their conventional strike and FAC roles.

As we are in Tomcat mood I thought I'd share some of my shots.

[Daube]

Beautiful pictures of a beautiful beast.
Thanks a lot for sharing !

[Victory103]

As a massive and longtime Tomcat fan, I've got just about every book with loads of pics, but thanks for those shots!

[kdfw]

what's a tomcat without mods?
https://flightsim.to/file/65645/heat...light-suit-mod


https://flightsim.to/file/65547/heat...4-lighting-mod

[Javis]

Mods are great ! Thanks !

But what's still missing is a *written* Start-Up procedure. By now there's a truckload of F-14 Start-Up tutorial videos. What's the use ? I can't take a video on board, i have no laptop or I-Pad or any sort of Pad whatsoever. What happend to a normal PDF manual ??....

I payed Jonathan Beckett a coffee for his version of a written Start-Up procedure checklist but there's all kinds of stuff missing ! Give back my coffee, Jonathan !

Can't still get the wing sweep to work for one thing... (just can't get the yellow knob to move from its down position). And how about a Cold & Dark option ? Not there then ??... (i had to learn from a video that the ejectionseat safety pin needs to be down in the safe position, not up because i clicked it.. $#%^%!!Grrrrr )

[DaveWG]

You could try Chuck's guide for the F14. It's for the DCS version, so a lot of the weapons stuff will be irrelevant, but the startup should be useful.

https://chucksguides.com/aircraft/dcs/f-14b/

[Mr.Mugel]

Hey Javis, I agree with a lack of documentatio.

The Heatblur DCS manual should still be a goos input for procedures and layouts:

https://www.heatblur.se/F-14Manual/index.html

[Dimus]

You could try Chuck's guide for the F14. It's for the DCS version, so a lot of the weapons stuff will be irrelevant, but the startup should be useful.

https://chucksguides.com/aircraft/dcs/f-14b/

I second that. Chuck’s guides are really good and straightforward and most of it should sting MSFS.

[Mr.Mugel]

Double post, sorry

[Victory103]

Can't still get the wing sweep to work for one thing... (just can't get the yellow knob to move from its down position). And how about a Cold & Dark option ? Not there then ??... (i had to learn from a video that the ejectionseat safety pin needs to be down in the safe position, not up because i clicked it.. $#%^%!!Grrrrr )

Probably one of the issues coming from the DCS model that allows for separate flap and wing sweep controls, sadly right now MSFS doesn't allow this. If the bindings can be changed this might make it easier. Cold/Dark load up, take the wings out of oversweep (full forward) after engine start, lock the yellow handle down and press the MASTER RESET pushbutton right above. This seems to help keep the wings in the mode you want, for most of the flight wings in AUTO as you reset the CADC computer.

[collensr]

what's a tomcat without mods?
https://flightsim.to/file/65645/heat...light-suit-mod


https://flightsim.to/file/65547/heat...4-lighting-mod

Great work - perfectly what we needed - many thanks

[Javis]

You could try Chuck's guide for the F14. It's for the DCS version, so a lot of the weapons stuff will be irrelevant, but the startup should be useful.

https://chucksguides.com/aircraft/dcs/f-14b/

Thank you very much, Dave and Dimus.Wow! That's one of the best ever aircraft manuals i have seen sofar. Can we have that for the IFE/Heatblur F-14 MSFS version, please !?

Yes, just paging thru it a bit i already notice lots of stuff i still know nothing about being cleared up in the cockpit. Fantastic! A bit of work to do for my laser printer (one of the best peripherals i ever bought i might add ;-) Thanks again gents, it is very welcome !

The Heatblur DCS manual should still be a goos input for procedures and layouts:
https://www.heatblur.se/F-14Manual/index.html

Thanks MM! That'll come in handy as well once i have tamed the beast.

[Javis]

Probably one of the issues coming from the DCS model that allows for separate flap and wing sweep controls, sadly right now MSFS doesn't allow this. If the bindings can be changed this might make it easier. Cold/Dark load up, take the wings out of oversweep (full forward) after engine start, lock the yellow handle down and press the MASTER RESET pushbutton right above. This seems to help keep the wings in the mode you want, for most of the flight wings in AUTO as you reset the CADC computer.

Thanks, Victory103 !

Where has Jester hidden the Cold/Dark load up ??... Is a Cold/Dark situation even available ? Haven't been able to find it sofar. Main reason i don't get far with start-up, everything possibly in the "On" status. There seems to be no way neither to get the F-14 to spawn on a parking space with everything Off i.e. Cold and Dark (Parking always set in the 'Departure' slot). Always sits on the runway engines running ready for take off... That's fine of course, fly the wings off of it, but i want to learn the proper start-up, that's what most interests me atm.

I can't do nothing with the yellow wingsweep knob, it moves from left to right a bit but that's it (lock ?). (wings are in Oversweep, yellow knob fully Aft, stuck like glue, Cover is open, Only thing that works here..).Tried everything with the mouse including the top wheel. Nothing, nada. My only clue sofar is that i might not have hydraulic pressure enough because i'm not sure how to work with the Hydraulic pressure pumps yet. (must say, i know a bit more now because of Chucks guide but haven't had time to check it out just yet) i'm sure i'll get there sooner or later. ;-)

I am pretty confident everything falls into place once i sit there with the engine start part of Chuck's guide printed and all on my knee.

Thanks again for your help !

[Javis]

Happy to say Two probs solved : Spawn at Parking spot now works ! So Cold and Dark too ! Not sure really but maybe it's because i used a different way to set up the plane. Now via the Parking spot listing. Before i used to click the spot on the map. So i'm a happy Catter but only just, i still can't get that damn yellow wingsweep knob to move !

What could be the cause of that ? (hydraulic power Ok) Anybody else have that ?

Why is it called "Emergency Wing Sweep Lever" ? Doesn't that mean there's a 'Normal' way to sweep the wings too and you shouldn't use that lever in the first place ?...

Wing Sweep Mode Switch is at Manual (doesn't matter where's it at, yellow knob won't move). You know what, i DO *hear* the wing sweeping noise when the knob is in the UP position and turns blue and i rotate my mousewheel. Nothing happening just the noise..

Did the groundcrew forget to remove the safety pins ??....

[Mr.Mugel]

For manual sweep, lift the cover, than click the yellow knob to lift it up. After that, you can move the wings with you flaps up/down commands.
To go back into automatic sweep, ensure the switch on the throttle is in Auto and wing sweep cover is closed (this also puts the yellow knob out of manual mode), before hitting the master reset.

That is generally also described in the FS checklist, the Jester voice checklist and I suppose also in the Heatblur DCS procedures (as far as I've seen, they are pretty much equal to the voice checklist).

In the quickstart manual, it is explained, that in FS they use the flaps also to implement the sweep, which I also expected.

[jankees]

anybody interested in something like this?
RN132 (0003) by JanKees Blom, on Flickr

RN132 (0001) by JanKees Blom, on Flickr

[Kowalski65]

Oh Hell yeah!

[Javis]

anybody interested in something like this?

Ahh! What if, eh !?.. Always interesting ! I'm in ! Thanks Jan-Kees !

Talking bout that, maybe i'm a allowed one special request ?... :



Did quite a nice (if i say so myself ;-) 1/48 model of this FGR.2 many many years ago but still alive ! ( good practise for when IFE/Heatblur F-4 comes to town )

Few more ideas :





I bet they all will look cool and interesting on the Tommy Cat !

[jankees]

just uploaded it, hope you'll have fun with it

Screenshot (8203) by JanKees Blom, on Flickr

Screenshot (8206) by JanKees Blom, on Flickr