The F-14 is easily the most popular of all the park jets I've developed. Everybody loves the full-scale Tomcat (due in no small part to the movie Top Gun!), and an easy to fly parkflyer version of the Tomcat was bound to be popular. While an absolute pussycat in the air, the F-14 is one of the more challenging park jets to build due to the wing sweep mechanism. But it's not hard to build. If you haven't built a park jet before, I'd recommend starting with the F-15 or similar first to learn the basic techniques, and then try the F-14.
The flight characteristics of this model are excellent. It is very aerobatic, has a wide speed range, and is smooth and predictable in flight. It is well-mannered at both low speeds and high speeds, and with the wings both swept and unswept. As you would expect, there are significant differences in how this model handles with different wing sweep angles. With the wings fully unswept, it responds quickly in pitch but is a little sluggish in roll. With the wings fully swept, it is a little sluggish in pitch but lightning quick in roll. For me personally, I’ve found that a mid-sweep position seems to offer the best control harmony in pitch and roll.
Mixing is required to keep this model trimmed with different wing sweep settings, but it's easy to set up. Just program a 5% mix so that ¼” up elevator is added as the wing sweeps aft. The reason for this is because as the wings sweep aft, the center of pressure moves aft a lot but the center of gravity doesn’t move aft nearly as much. This results in a nose-down pitching moment that requires up elevator to compensate. But with the mixing, you can change the wing sweep at any time in flight and the airplane always stays trimmed.
By the link on the left you can download the archive in which, in addition to drawings, also decals and complete instructions for assembling a radio-controlled aircraft model F-14 Tomcat Park Jet.
In this video we look at the changes made to improve the flying characteristics of this DIY foamboard plane and I also speak to some of the comments that viewers left on the original video
