Tony Hill
Tech Sergeant
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DUE TO A PHOTOBUCKET PROBLEM please see page 44 for a "cooks tour" of the missing photos and onwards for all updates. APOLOGIES!!!!
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
This seems to be the place (rather than "Basic") so here goes:
It was good to finally get the fuselage off the paper and onto some wood. The plans needed a fair bit of "managing" as they came in a single sheet of paper. That meant that the various sized frames had to be traced out and from the plan after it had been cut up, making some bits harder (having to join plan bits together). Someone more organised may have worked backwards from the biggest bits to the smallest, hacking off sections as he went……I didn't. Two reasons, really. First, hey, I'm just not that organised. Second well, er..see point one……
The seat frame, the frame behind the instrument panel and the plan. The seat frame was extended at the bottom to be square as it is the rear frame of the sim. This forms the "feet" and is rationalised away by the fact that there is a wing at the bottom anyway. The IP frame is the correct curve at the bottom. I will probably build a "wing stub" on the left side (for mounting the sim) and leave the right side with the curved base.
The seat frame is, at the moment cut fully rounded…this was going to be the frame at the back of the radio compartment but that made the sim too long. So now that top area will be cut down to the right shape and the angle aluminium frame above will form the canopy frame above the seat back. I actually formed it around the top of the seat frame with a rubber mallet, so it is nice and smooth and even.
I just need to cut a pattern for a curved aluminium plate to rivet onto the side which needed to be cut to allow the angle alu to bend.
How not to draw a pattern on to wood, measure twice, cut once…but probably best to remove the markings of the first (unsuccessful) measurement. …the firewall (front frame of the sim) also with "feet". The spars on the side are the "main" spars (longerons) which run the length of the sim. There are two more which will run either side about 8 inches from ground level.
The Instrument panel full mock up is next to be made because this will determine the placement of the main spars (which are not on the plan I bought) as they pass through a small "notch" cut in the bottom edge.
Cardboard pattern cut by my wife to be used for mapping out the short frames that make up the cockpit area and door. There are now two of these which will be cut up into the smaller sections that brace the actual cockpit seating area and mount most of the equipment.
All of the pieces from this weekend. (the silver objects are the bracing plates..I have to make the cockpit in two halves to fit through my doors.
A couple of detail shots to finish…the start of my IFF switch and destruction buttons unit and my brand new shiny fire engine red boost gauge. The flash made the metallic paint look blotchy and pockmarked. It is actually silky smooth after spraying a priming coat and four red coats over the already painted aluminium bezel but looks "bulky" like the original bakelite bezel was.
All in all a satisfying weekend's work and proof for the wife that I don't just spend money on parts!
I couldn't leave the pit alone last night after work. When you are on a roll, I guess it is better to keep going. I decided to ditch the wood IFF Destruction and Control Unit and build it from aluminium instead. This required a few extra things…firstly I had to draw a pattern (unheard of) secondly I had to cut metal (NOT my thing) thirdly I had to fold and file it (bloody impossible for me) lastly, I had to get over my pathological fear of working with metal, drilled into me by a sad old man who liked nothing better than to crush young boys in his class.
Here are the results, with which I am pleased enough.
It is now all primed and ready to be painted that sickly cockpit green colour that I will have to have the local paint supplier mix especially for me.
The gauges that I have received so far are now all calibrated and are performing to the pilot's notes and various first hand sources that I have.
Finally, the guy building the controls has once again excelled himself with the control column, U/C Lever and rudders:
The real thing:
The rudder bars slide back and forward and the brakes will be operated from the control column "bicycle lever". Basically there will be a limit switch behind each rudder which at full travel will trigger the differential brake for that side, provided that the "bike lever" is on at least half way. If the bike lever is at less than 1/2 travel then no brakes, if it is on "full" then the "both brakes" command will be generated. Not 100% acurate but pretty close and as good a compromise as FSX will allow
.
DUE TO A PHOTOBUCKET PROBLEM please see page 44 for a "cooks tour" of the missing photos and onwards for all updates. APOLOGIES!!!!
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
This seems to be the place (rather than "Basic") so here goes:
It was good to finally get the fuselage off the paper and onto some wood. The plans needed a fair bit of "managing" as they came in a single sheet of paper. That meant that the various sized frames had to be traced out and from the plan after it had been cut up, making some bits harder (having to join plan bits together). Someone more organised may have worked backwards from the biggest bits to the smallest, hacking off sections as he went……I didn't. Two reasons, really. First, hey, I'm just not that organised. Second well, er..see point one……
The seat frame, the frame behind the instrument panel and the plan. The seat frame was extended at the bottom to be square as it is the rear frame of the sim. This forms the "feet" and is rationalised away by the fact that there is a wing at the bottom anyway. The IP frame is the correct curve at the bottom. I will probably build a "wing stub" on the left side (for mounting the sim) and leave the right side with the curved base.
The seat frame is, at the moment cut fully rounded…this was going to be the frame at the back of the radio compartment but that made the sim too long. So now that top area will be cut down to the right shape and the angle aluminium frame above will form the canopy frame above the seat back. I actually formed it around the top of the seat frame with a rubber mallet, so it is nice and smooth and even.
I just need to cut a pattern for a curved aluminium plate to rivet onto the side which needed to be cut to allow the angle alu to bend.
How not to draw a pattern on to wood, measure twice, cut once…but probably best to remove the markings of the first (unsuccessful) measurement. …the firewall (front frame of the sim) also with "feet". The spars on the side are the "main" spars (longerons) which run the length of the sim. There are two more which will run either side about 8 inches from ground level.
The Instrument panel full mock up is next to be made because this will determine the placement of the main spars (which are not on the plan I bought) as they pass through a small "notch" cut in the bottom edge.
Cardboard pattern cut by my wife to be used for mapping out the short frames that make up the cockpit area and door. There are now two of these which will be cut up into the smaller sections that brace the actual cockpit seating area and mount most of the equipment.
All of the pieces from this weekend. (the silver objects are the bracing plates..I have to make the cockpit in two halves to fit through my doors.
A couple of detail shots to finish…the start of my IFF switch and destruction buttons unit and my brand new shiny fire engine red boost gauge. The flash made the metallic paint look blotchy and pockmarked. It is actually silky smooth after spraying a priming coat and four red coats over the already painted aluminium bezel but looks "bulky" like the original bakelite bezel was.
All in all a satisfying weekend's work and proof for the wife that I don't just spend money on parts!
I couldn't leave the pit alone last night after work. When you are on a roll, I guess it is better to keep going. I decided to ditch the wood IFF Destruction and Control Unit and build it from aluminium instead. This required a few extra things…firstly I had to draw a pattern (unheard of) secondly I had to cut metal (NOT my thing) thirdly I had to fold and file it (bloody impossible for me) lastly, I had to get over my pathological fear of working with metal, drilled into me by a sad old man who liked nothing better than to crush young boys in his class.
Here are the results, with which I am pleased enough.
It is now all primed and ready to be painted that sickly cockpit green colour that I will have to have the local paint supplier mix especially for me.
The gauges that I have received so far are now all calibrated and are performing to the pilot's notes and various first hand sources that I have.
Finally, the guy building the controls has once again excelled himself with the control column, U/C Lever and rudders:
The real thing:
The rudder bars slide back and forward and the brakes will be operated from the control column "bicycle lever". Basically there will be a limit switch behind each rudder which at full travel will trigger the differential brake for that side, provided that the "bike lever" is on at least half way. If the bike lever is at less than 1/2 travel then no brakes, if it is on "full" then the "both brakes" command will be generated. Not 100% acurate but pretty close and as good a compromise as FSX will allow
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