Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Nice work Darryl, it's starting to move along nicely mate.
1:1 Spitfire K9817 Cockpit Build
- Thread starter Tony Hill
- Start date
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- Thread starter
- #142
Tony Hill
Tech Sergeant
Thanks Terry, yep, I should be back on the structure in a week or so.
The controls are almost ready too, so I hear. looking at an 18 month build all up probably...not bad.
It will all be over by Christmas!
Darryl
Um, didn't they say that back in '14??
The controls are almost ready too, so I hear. looking at an 18 month build all up probably...not bad.
It will all be over by Christmas!
Darryl
Um, didn't they say that back in '14??
- Thread starter
- #144
Tony Hill
Tech Sergeant
You're completely MAD Darryl!
Yeah?? Like, er, tell me something I DON'T know, like......
Cheers mate..
Darryl
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Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Darryl, I've found some more Supermarine drawings/diagrams of cockpit fittings and camera controls. If you want copies, let me know. They're in a PDF -form book, so I'll probably have to print and scan the relevant pages to e-mail them, but it's not a problem.
Heinz
Captain
Darryl mate some bloody awesome work going on there 
- Thread starter
- #147
Tony Hill
Tech Sergeant
Thanks Alex, I'm learning as I go...despite the rumours about "old dogs"....
Terry, that would be magic mate, just whenever you get a moment.
I spent last night rebuilding the Flight Illusions Altimetre (for the FOURTH time!!). It is a real Monday Morning Altimeter I'm afraid. As soon as I fitted it to the metal BFP and screwed it in tight the whole guts jammed up in a mess of squealing stepper motors. A few ginger swipes with a dremel and a lot of foul language, shaking hands and sandpaper later, the internal plastic cylinders actually did rotate on things like they should!
Not really impressed..$650 worth of gauge shouldn't really require me to half reverse engineer and finish off manufacturing it!
Anyway, it appears to work now.
Darryl
Terry, that would be magic mate, just whenever you get a moment.
I spent last night rebuilding the Flight Illusions Altimetre (for the FOURTH time!!). It is a real Monday Morning Altimeter I'm afraid. As soon as I fitted it to the metal BFP and screwed it in tight the whole guts jammed up in a mess of squealing stepper motors. A few ginger swipes with a dremel and a lot of foul language, shaking hands and sandpaper later, the internal plastic cylinders actually did rotate on things like they should!
Not really impressed..$650 worth of gauge shouldn't really require me to half reverse engineer and finish off manufacturing it!
Anyway, it appears to work now.
Darryl
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
I trust you've sent a suitably phrased letter to the manufacturers Darryl?!!
I'll get those drawings sorted and sent in the next couple of days mate.
I'll get those drawings sorted and sent in the next couple of days mate.
- Thread starter
- #149
Tony Hill
Tech Sergeant
Terry
Oh, you have NO idea...it took 8 months just to get the whole order done and THAT was with me backing off on a couple of custom gauges and telling them to send generic and I would customise! Original delivery estimate "never more than 8 weeks" That was AFTER payment of the whole amount (over A$5000!!) up front, A$240 of which was "3 day international freight".
Great product (generally), great guys to talk to if cornered on the phone....but client relations by email or their forum, oh boy!!
I sent them detailed descriptions of the last rebuild...which involved some dremel work too but that time I left the case a bit loose. The tolerances were just too tight when the instrument was bolted tightly into the panel (and of course it has to be in all cases because the baro knob has to be adjusted under pressure "clicked in" to turn) Their main response was "why did you calibrate it in the first place, it was calibrated at the factory? Oh yeah...well I live 400 yards from the ocean and last time I checked Bunbury Aerodrome (which is 30 feet higher than my place) was NOT 2500ft below sea level!!! I pointed out that the software runs the calibration routine anyway, every time it is started...no return comment. Trouble is the guy you talk to, who is great when you can pin him down, is not the guy who builds the things and his assemblers obviously let him down...mostly on timing but occasionally on quality.
I must say though that the general quality is amazing and I would buy from them again...just not custom order! But the alitimeter is a standard , not even custom.
What really burns me is that the thing has a QA stamp on it "inspected, correct" and never worked even sitting loose on a bench top. Who inspected it?? Stevie Wonder??
Ih well, I guess I will just have to drink more
........ Rant ends....cheers mate, just when you are ready on the pics, thanks
Darryl
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Hmm. At those sort of prices, they should A) get it right in the first place, and B) be very apologetic!
I'll get the stuff sorted mate, there are also quite a number of colour shots of a MkIX cockpit, at various angles and positions, including some where the seat and other parts have been removed. It might be easier to put the whole lot on a CD and Air Mail it to you, so if you can E-mail your postal address, I'll do it that way.
I'll get the stuff sorted mate, there are also quite a number of colour shots of a MkIX cockpit, at various angles and positions, including some where the seat and other parts have been removed. It might be easier to put the whole lot on a CD and Air Mail it to you, so if you can E-mail your postal address, I'll do it that way.
Damn fine work your doin' there Darryl!!
- Thread starter
- #152
Tony Hill
Tech Sergeant
Cheers Wayne,
Darryl
Darryl
- Thread starter
- #153
Tony Hill
Tech Sergeant
Not much progress by me (I've been upgrading some panels on teh F-16 the last week or two) but Gwyn has the controls closer to finished.
Throttle with boost cutout now fitted:
Chain guards fitted (top left open after a real Spit we saw that had this type of guard...I like some of the "mechanicals" showing:
The Handbrake system is fitted and wired....close to the real system within FSX limitations (ie rudders can not control relative pressure to brakes in FSX but we got around this by "half" squeeze of handbrake makes the toe brakes "active" and full squeeze puts BOTH brkes on....this allows quite accurate ground handling)
More soon.
Darryl
Throttle with boost cutout now fitted:
Chain guards fitted (top left open after a real Spit we saw that had this type of guard...I like some of the "mechanicals" showing:
The Handbrake system is fitted and wired....close to the real system within FSX limitations (ie rudders can not control relative pressure to brakes in FSX but we got around this by "half" squeeze of handbrake makes the toe brakes "active" and full squeeze puts BOTH brkes on....this allows quite accurate ground handling)
More soon.
Darryl
Fantastic stuff, Dazza!
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Great work Darryl, it'll soon be snarling over Europe....
- Thread starter
- #156
Tony Hill
Tech Sergeant
Thanks guys!!!
This weekend I finally get the laser cutting done for the U/C indicator and fake Oil Press. That will allow me to finish the cutouts and actually paint the main IP.
The controls were going to be ready this weekend too but there has been a hitch with a broken pot and the fact that the sidewinder requires ALL pots functional or itdoesn't work at all. I now find that they are OLD sidewinders as the new one has optical sensors instead of pots....that is a drama.....oh well...
Still....gotta laugh..haven't you?
D
This weekend I finally get the laser cutting done for the U/C indicator and fake Oil Press. That will allow me to finish the cutouts and actually paint the main IP.
The controls were going to be ready this weekend too but there has been a hitch with a broken pot and the fact that the sidewinder requires ALL pots functional or itdoesn't work at all. I now find that they are OLD sidewinders as the new one has optical sensors instead of pots....that is a drama.....oh well...
Still....gotta laugh..haven't you?
D
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Heck mate, sounds like it would be easier to build the real thing! OK, maybe not, unless you've got a few million to spare!
- Thread starter
- #158
Tony Hill
Tech Sergeant
Well, the "gauges this weekend" turned into two months!!!!
But here we go:
The Undercarriage Indicator is now finished thanks to Chris and his laser cutter and some heavy duty scratch building to finish it off. It is made of several layers of 3mm acrylic each with a different detail etched into it…LED holder, legend, darkening panel, reflectors, mounting panel, top panel with "Chassis" and spacers.
The legend is engraved into the front face of two clear pieces, painted black before engraving and separated by a painted edge to prevent light bleed. A clear panel was then placed over this to give depth and make the writing "just" visible when not lit. (as per original).
The Night Shade holder is made from pine rod, with laser cut frames and end caps from power point screw cover tabs. I elected not to try to engrave the "For night use" label into this or stick one on the outside…I may reconsider.
The clip for the nighthshade (bottom) was made out of a 3mm rivet with the rod removed and edges ground to a "nut" look and the case thumbscrew (centre) was made out of "bits" from old instruments
The real thing.
Oil Pressure Gauge
Again, laser cut in layers to allow a 3d effect. The hard part was putting this one together. The inside needed to be curved as it is a "drum" type instrument. The needle is scratch built from aluminium and fits into a slot lasered in the back plate.
The scale is laserlite which had to be bent onto the curved interior and stuck in place with no creases…not fun. The needle floats above this by 1/2mm and then a sheet of clear had to be heated and bent to the curve (over a stainless steel coffee plunger!!), then mounted and glued keeping it above the needle and fitting in below either end of the face cut out. Again, a slow careful job and I had three spare "windows". Luckily I managed to nail it with the first one.
This one is non functioning due to the "drum" arrangement being impractical for the sim cards. Above it on the panel will be a dual needle Fuel and Oil pressure gauge.
Finished product:
Real Gauge
Two that were always going to be difficult to manufacture but the original U/C indicators are about A$2500 and the original Oil Pressures are radioactive.
The third is completely scratch built (I thought Chris and his laser had already performed "above and beyond") from an old helicopter oil pressure gauge. It is the Ammetre and came up quite nicely.
The face is actually a picture, photo-shopped to remove the needle then printed out on paper AND a reverse image on transperancy. These two were stuck together with clear glue and then fitted to the old face. This worked really well and makes it look much less like a picture and much more like a real face. I'm going to use it for all the gauges I scratch build in the future.
The original OP gauge had a round face, which the ammeter doesn't, so I cut a front plate out of 1mm aluminium and shaped it to fit into the round raised bezel and cover the bottom third to match the original as closely as possible. The needle was fabricated from some plastic screw packet offcuts and a spacer put in to mount it on so it "is" 3d as well. The actual inside workings visible under the base of the needle came out particularly well but are just part of the picture.
Finished product.
Original instrument (but with needle removed from photo)
I'm not unhappy with the final results and it keeps me busy until I can finish cutting the mount holes for these and the indicator lights and get the damned panel painted and assembled!
Darryl
But here we go:
The Undercarriage Indicator is now finished thanks to Chris and his laser cutter and some heavy duty scratch building to finish it off. It is made of several layers of 3mm acrylic each with a different detail etched into it…LED holder, legend, darkening panel, reflectors, mounting panel, top panel with "Chassis" and spacers.
The legend is engraved into the front face of two clear pieces, painted black before engraving and separated by a painted edge to prevent light bleed. A clear panel was then placed over this to give depth and make the writing "just" visible when not lit. (as per original).
The Night Shade holder is made from pine rod, with laser cut frames and end caps from power point screw cover tabs. I elected not to try to engrave the "For night use" label into this or stick one on the outside…I may reconsider.
The clip for the nighthshade (bottom) was made out of a 3mm rivet with the rod removed and edges ground to a "nut" look and the case thumbscrew (centre) was made out of "bits" from old instruments
The real thing.
Oil Pressure Gauge
Again, laser cut in layers to allow a 3d effect. The hard part was putting this one together. The inside needed to be curved as it is a "drum" type instrument. The needle is scratch built from aluminium and fits into a slot lasered in the back plate.
The scale is laserlite which had to be bent onto the curved interior and stuck in place with no creases…not fun. The needle floats above this by 1/2mm and then a sheet of clear had to be heated and bent to the curve (over a stainless steel coffee plunger!!), then mounted and glued keeping it above the needle and fitting in below either end of the face cut out. Again, a slow careful job and I had three spare "windows". Luckily I managed to nail it with the first one.
This one is non functioning due to the "drum" arrangement being impractical for the sim cards. Above it on the panel will be a dual needle Fuel and Oil pressure gauge.
Finished product:
Real Gauge
Two that were always going to be difficult to manufacture but the original U/C indicators are about A$2500 and the original Oil Pressures are radioactive.
The third is completely scratch built (I thought Chris and his laser had already performed "above and beyond") from an old helicopter oil pressure gauge. It is the Ammetre and came up quite nicely.
The face is actually a picture, photo-shopped to remove the needle then printed out on paper AND a reverse image on transperancy. These two were stuck together with clear glue and then fitted to the old face. This worked really well and makes it look much less like a picture and much more like a real face. I'm going to use it for all the gauges I scratch build in the future.
The original OP gauge had a round face, which the ammeter doesn't, so I cut a front plate out of 1mm aluminium and shaped it to fit into the round raised bezel and cover the bottom third to match the original as closely as possible. The needle was fabricated from some plastic screw packet offcuts and a spacer put in to mount it on so it "is" 3d as well. The actual inside workings visible under the base of the needle came out particularly well but are just part of the picture.
Finished product.
Original instrument (but with needle removed from photo)
I'm not unhappy with the final results and it keeps me busy until I can finish cutting the mount holes for these and the indicator lights and get the damned panel painted and assembled!
Darryl
Heinz
Captain
Wow superb stuff Darryl!
