JUST DO IT ALREADY!

[vidarf]

Yeah, the topic speaks for itself.

I've been contacted by several builders about different stuff - mainly the side walls I'm building. The theme song "this looks hard to do, this is intimidating, i doubt I can do this" plus several other choruses, really start to bug me!

I do understand that people are different. I've been blessed with a blissfully ignorant approach to building stuff. I do not think "can I do this", I just gather information and start doing it. Some times I've had to get help or walk away from the project - but honestly, I cannot remember any examples in the last years.
Some people are easily intimidated by new stuff. I get that. I even respect that. BUT - if YOU are in that last group, you need to understand a very important fact that will help you a LOT in your life:

Nothing is impossible, it just takes longer.

Of course, some times you need to do a reality check. I want a 40 feet boat with inboard engine, trawler type. A boat I can go on vacation with, fish from and so on.
Can I build one? Easily. BUT: it would cost too much and take too much time. I would have to save money for at least 15 years to be able to build one. I would need to build a big garage that the boat could fit into when I'm building it. And doing it alone, it would take years of constant "afternoon work" to complete.
I could do it, but it is just not a good idea (I therefore settled for a 21" pilot house style boat with an outboard - should be very happy with it. Building starts in 2-3 years!).

So my advice will always be: Just do it! Do your research so that you know a lot about the topic before you start (when I welded aluminum for the first time, I knew what I was doing wrong when I blew a big hole in the weld area. Fixed it easily).
Just don't let your own mind define the obstacles in your life.

Don't be afraid of learning new crafts! You don't know how to work with glass fiber and epoxy resin? Dude, learn it! If you do, there is NOTHING you cannot make!

Here are a few examples on stuff I've done WITHOUT having done anything like it before:



Organ pedal board for a digital pipe organ I'm building. Works like a charm! Everything except the electronics are handcrafted by myself (I could've made the electronics, but it was cheaper and easier to buy a kit)



737 cockpit sidewall structure made from plywood, epoxy resin and glass fiber. I had never used that technique before (called stitch and glue - I'm going to build a boat using that technique)



Pantry / galley section with sink and an alcohol stove in our current boat, made from glass fiber and polyester resin. I made the aluminum box for the stove myself.

Before I started building the stuff listed above, I had NO IDEA on how to do it. But I spent the time I needed doing research, and then just tried it. And learned a lot of stuff. I am now an experienced woodworker, I know how to weld, I can work with glass fiber, I can draw stuff in 3D, I know how to spray paint...



Just do it.

[tennyson]

That's great advice, my friend, but sometimes it is wiser to hand stuff that you know will cost you less in time and money, to those who have the skills and time to do it for you.

I also love to try my skills and produce products that might have cost me a small fortune. Sometimes it cost me a larger fortune, but you get that.

I might also point out that thanx to your original drawings, I was able to construct my own sidewalls, with similar construction to yours.
It is those helpful instructions that can be the catalyst for some people to take up the challenge and Do it Already!




Frank Cooper

[Maurice]

Nothing is impossible, it just takes longer.
.......
.......
Just do it.

I beg to differ. I have been flapping my arms for a very long time and I still can't fly. Don't tell me nothing is impossible 

Maurice

[vidarf]

Frank: that's my point - some stuff is best left to others because it will save time and money (I would not make my own panels, for example). My point is more targeted towards stuff that WILL be cheaper to do yourself, without demanding too much investment in expensive tools - unless of course those tools will be useful on other areas. My MIG welder, for example, can be used for a lot of stuff around the house. Not only for my boat project(s).
Glad to hear you made your own side walls, mate! Good job, but where are the IMAGES?

Maurice, of course you can fly! The only problem - it won't last for a very long time, and the landing promises to be a biatch on wheels!

[Maurice]

Well, even though I still can't fly while flapping my arms, I have to agree with Vidar that what seems impossible at first can be achieved if/when you really decide to do it.

Many, many moons ago when commercial 737 TQs were not available anywhere, I decided to try & build my own. Originally, all I wanted was something better than a joystick/throttle combination, so I started building 2 wood handles that looked slightly like 737 throttle handles.

Somehow, somewhere along the way, I decided to slightly improve on that a little bit, and a little bit became a big bit and a year or so later, I ended up with a motorized 737 TQ that looked reasonably close to a real TQ. I made it out of MDF, aluminum, sheet metal and I designed my own logic circuits in combination with Phidgets boards to interface & motorize the TQ.

And now, many years later, my TQ is showing its age but it still works and although commercial or real converted TQs look much prettier & sexier, knowing I built mine from scratch still gives me a lot of satisfaction (during the rare times when I don't feel like blowing up my simulator 

Here are a couple of before & after pictures and a couple of internal pics. By the way, would I try that again? Not in a million years; if I can afford to buy something already built, screw the satisfaction of building it factor. For me at least, there was no joy of building it myself; it was a question of pure necessity at the time since commercial units were not yet available.

Maurice

[vidarf]

NICE! Yeah, the TQ is one of the items I would not start out on DIY style. I have a DIY kit from Simparts that needs a lot of work, but at least the most parts are already there.

Seem to remember that TQ from years back, Mau. Fun to think back and remember stuff - like the NOVA panels from FDS, the CH yoke (still have and use one of those)... Good times, but thank God the times has gotten even better!

[tennyson]

Did you ask for some pics, wellok, here you go:

These are my almost finished oxy panels:




And here's an ealy image of my left sidewall during construction. It was just tacked together with liquid nails and when I have the entire sidewall finished, I'll be fibreglassing over it, like you did:




I also fitted my i-pad (it's wrapped in plastic to protect it during installation) onto the sidewall.

I built a plinth made from expandable foam and shaped it with filler.



I've also made my own map reading panels, as the bought ones were the wrong size for my sidewall.




Your pdf drawings were a real inspiration for me and I adjusted them to suit my own design.




Frank Cooper

[tennyson]

Sorry, must have hit the post button twice.....

getting old,



Frank Cooper

[Sam Llorca]

Hello from Florida, Nicely done Frank!, Keep up the good job!!

[Sam Llorca]

I'm proud of you Mau!!  it was a lot of work back then but the satisfaction still last!!! Nice TQ!!

[Bob Reed]

Well I used his TQ and did not know it was home built.... Very nice Mau!

[vidarf]

Frank, that's AWESOME! Great stuff! Keep posting images of that build, you!!!!