VF-1 Size and Scale

A long time ago, I set out to make a 3D model of the 1/55 Ban Dai Valkyrie. I succeeded. I had a perfect toy size replica that needed to be scaled up to human size. Before I added the cock pit I mocked up a 6' pilot in the seated position (back then he looked like the Minecraft guy) and scaled up the VF model until he looked like he fit. The size I settled on was 63'10" long. This was years ago, it did not occur to me to look for the official specifications. I did look up the specs for the F-14 and at 62'9" my VF has 13" on it. That made sense to me. Bigger. Badder.

Now.
Look at a model of the star of the movie "Top Gun" the F-14 Tomcat. That pilot is not tom cruise, this guy is 6' tall. You see how it looks like the cockpit works? It looks like a pilot will fit and a REO too. There is room for the landing gear and everything.

Look at the VF model at the specified "official" length of 46'.7" (14.23 meters) compared to the F-14. At first glance I would buy there is a guy in there and that this thing can transform into a giant robot.

But look at the pilot in this scale. It doesn't look like it works. He barely fits. The pilots feet and legs end up in the wheel well. We still need room for a seat (maybe two), instruments, landing gear and robotics. I am all for advanced miniaturized technology but this doesn't work for me. In my tests it just looked ridiculous and not realistic.

Take a look at the VF at F-14 size 46'.7".  It starts to look better. The cone sizes start to match up. The pilots feet aren't on the floor. There is even room for my super awesome cockpit!

In my measurements and test many, many years ago I arrived at the length of 63'10" have a look. The cockpit and ejector seat details are in the picture and it looks like it works.

Compared to the F-14 in this scale the VF-1 looks more imposing , more bad ass. It looks like it can kill some aliens.

Interestingly the wingspans also matched up at this length.

Has this been an issue with anyone else making a 3D model? I can't imagine any of the other Valkyrie toys would do much better at 64'. Other specifications need to be reexamined, Weight and Thrust to weight ratio? There will definitely be new measurements when the model transforms to ger-walk and battle-oid mode.

Well there you go. I put it out there for discussion. Should I petition congress to make it official? No. They can't get anything done. Internet gets stuff done.

Revised measurement;

        63'10" Long     63' wingspan  24' Tall