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Spitfire FR version (WARNING- NOT an airliner *G* )

Started by DarrylH, November 15, 2009, 06:17:14 PM

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DarrylH

Hi guys, thnaks for the interest.

Despite PNG's best efforts (escaped murderers and bank robbers, an exploding bus, a 14,500ft flight wthout pressurisation or oxygen, a badly sprained ankle the last day, a tropical ulcer, nearly losing one guy ovr a waterfall, badly swollen rivers washing away most of the "bridges" and a BIG thanks to Qantas for losing my pack and making me walk the track with a bit of scrounged gear), I have made it back. My fifth and hopefully last crossing. This one was organised at very short notice and my old bones really objected to the frantic training and hard trek. I elected to carry a day pack this time instead of my full pack. Much more sensible!! Inthe eighteen months since I did my double crossing (from Kokoda top Owers, then turned around and went back out to Kokoda) I have aged terribly and the dysentery I had last time is still affecting me in some ways...this time was not easy at all....mind you, it never is!

Anyway,  more flight sim updates to come after tthis weekend,



Darryl

DarrylH

#26
Well, a long while between posts..a lot of jungle, some bad luck, some carelessness and some challenges in between.....but I made it here at last.
This weekend has been spent almost entirely on the Spitfire, so some fair progress made. The upper structure (save for the door) is complete. The cockpit coaming was a terror but didn't finish up too bad I think.  I also put all the labels on the main panel and temp fitted the gun sight.



I  also finally got the compass finished and while it is not functional, it does look pretty good and unless I put the real one beside it, it is hard to tell the difference.





The position behind the stick and well forward makes it quite hard to see and the parallax error is huge so navigation on the compass alone must have been a nightmare.

Last of all I did up a couple of templates for the skin. I am still undecided on material but the plastic I used for the templates is pretty durable and if glued onto the formers looks like it would be quite strong. It is not too bad to work with and I may just get some more, cut better pieces and use it as the final skin. I will have to test paint some to see how well it takes.  The structure may need a couple of extra  longerons if I go that route, as the monocoque effect is not great with the plastic skin.




Lastly, before I went away, I almost finished the seat



Once the skin is done there will only be  the wiring and  some detailing to do in the pit itself and the computer box and monitor tray to build (plus rearrange my whole office to cut down the desk and fit the pit in......



More soon with any luck.   




Aerosim Solutions

It's looking great Darryl, can't wait for a ride. I'll bring eight Browning machine guns down with me and a couple of drums of glycol!!!

Gwyn
Boeing 737NG using Prepar3D v4.5, Prosim737, FDS SYS cards, FDS CDUs, CP Flight MCP Pro & EFIS Pro & Aerosim Solutions hardware of course!<br />Check out my website here -<br />http://www.aerosimsolutions.com.au

jackpilot

#28
Great...really impressive.
What about skinning it with 1mm aluminum sheet screwed on the ribs to mimic rivets ??
How do you actuate your gauges?
Jack
PS: Check
[ebay]380211035349[/ebay]

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Jack

Bob Reed

Darryl....WOW!!! Have you flown it yet? That's what I want to know. Looks impressive. Can you get us a couple of outside shots of it? Would love to see what the outside of it looks like. Very nice work.

Trevor Hale

I am in awe..  Great shots, I cant wait to see a video of it in action. 

Trev
Trevor Hale

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DarrylH

Thanks guys!


This is the fun bit where all the problems start to crop up…like HOW do I get in and out without the windscreen/mirror frame which is usually used for handhold? How do I skin the thing but still leave access for maintenance?  How do I build a solid monitor tray with plenty of support for three monitors but still leave the cockpit easily “breakable” into two parts? And a few others.

Gwyn,  no worries, as soon as she is ready to fly I will call you. (any progress on the fuel selector and de-icing taps?) Hope you got the A340 throttle away OK?


I have all the gear now that I am buying but do still keep an eye on the auctions, so thanks for that Jack. The gauges are Flight Illusions and interface through their software and FSUPIC. They took me an age to calibrate, not because of the software but because I had to fudge the figures to make the gauges perform more realistically than the Spitfire model I have.


Bob, no, the problem is one of logistics. The computer is a large Thermaltake body with three monitors, which is hell to move around and the pit is in the garage so I really need to pretty much complete the skinning and painting before she migrates inside. The small detail work and wiring can be done after.   

Thanks Trevor, it is a fun project and is really starting to come together now. Hopefully this week I will do some bits, fit the harness etc, and then next weekend will be skinning and maybe some painting?

We’ll see.


Darryl

Aerosim Solutions

Hi Darryl, yes the A340TQ has been installed in Erhard's sim in Thailand it is up and running. Can you resend pics of what you need, I don't know what I've done with them or if you sent me any! I'm snowed under with work just lately but I will get them done...

Cheers Gwyn
Boeing 737NG using Prepar3D v4.5, Prosim737, FDS SYS cards, FDS CDUs, CP Flight MCP Pro & EFIS Pro & Aerosim Solutions hardware of course!<br />Check out my website here -<br />http://www.aerosimsolutions.com.au

DarrylH

Gwyn,

OK, sent them through just now, I had already sent them back in December, but no worries.

D

DarrylH

AND......A nice little message and photo from Gwyn tonight..completed tap handles (beyond my skill!)... so now I guess I have to spend some time this weekend  building the mounting plates and fitting them.







During the week I started the long  job of painting components and finishing the extra structural bits inside. I ahven't started on the monitor stand and computer box but soon....

The Fuelcock (yes I know, fuel **** but......) is finished and I am getting the faceplate done in the morning. So by the end of the weekend we should have some interesting pictures.

The only down side is that to paint I had to remove the instrument panel which will not now go back in until the end of the build. A great pity as I was enjoying looking at it and playing with the knobs whilst sitting in the seat.


Darryl

Bob Reed

See here is another one who sits in his sim and makes airplane noises!!  :D :o 8)

DarrylH


DarrylH

#37
A little bit more progress before I have a weekend off...

The Fuelcock finished and ready to bolt on. It is built from some garden irrigation fittings and an old landing gear lever I had. the handle is 3mm aluminium pollished and the grip "buttons" are chromed nuts joined by a threaded rod.



Sundry Placards generously cut for me by Chris and his invaluable laser.


A couple of better photos of the compass...again, the degrees disk by Chris and the body out of 120mm plumbing fitting with the "card" holder in 2mm aluminium and a heavy gauge screw onto angle alu. As always a great 3d effect is obtained by multiple layers of acrylic with  different details etched on them and painted.



The completed %^%$& of an IFF Destruction unit. Save for the 1  1/2" problem with the GA drawings in the fuselage, this bit has given me more trouble than any other.  About 12 hours spent on it all up to finish!!  It is a whole 8" long and 2" wide.  I should have just bought a housing from Spitfirespares for $300...



A nice family shot to finish..
.

More later in the next week. As always, cheers for the interest.









DarrylH

And just before I pack it in for the day....


The controls now painted and ready to drop in and wire:





The De-icing switch, the best alu part I have made so far , very pleased. The legend should get engraved this coming week.








shaneb

Darryl, 

That is really nice work on those parts . . the attention to detail is amazing.  Looking forward to seeing more of your progress, I really like your build.
Intel i7-4960X LGA 2011 / Asus Rampage Blk edition MB / EVGA Geforce Titan Blk video card / Corsair Vengeance 2400mhz 32GB / EVGA 1300w PSU / Samsung 840 Pro 512GB SSD / WD Black series 1TB 7200rpm HD / CoolerMaster Seidon 240 liquid cooler /  CoolerMaster 932 HAF case / Windows 7 Pro 64

jackpilot

Hi Darryl
Very nice. (even if time consuming)
Aluminum is actually easier to work with than tought.
Can be shaped, cut, drilled,  with ordinary tool and a bit of ingenuity.
Makes very strong parts, unlike wood.
Gives very pro looking results and can be polished to perfection.
And ridiculously inexpensive if you find a local metal shop and dig in their scrap bins.
Jack


Jack

DarrylH

Thanks Shane,
I've been following your build with great interest too. The Spitfire is getting there at a great rate now.

Jack, unfortunatley I had very little aptitude with my hands at school and a metal work teacher who delighted in crushing people like me. Consequently I have a hard row to hoe, anything that goes well I tend to regard as a fluke and anything that falls apart really dents my confidence. Things like making the Fuelcock are probably more effort and harder to make than say, the deicing unit...but I see it the other way.

One day I may actually start on making the frames out of aluminium, just to see how I go, after all the instrument panel was a huge confidence boost for me....and then convert the cockpit...but it would be a big step for me...wood I feel comfortable with.


Cheers guys

shaneb

Hey Darryl,

My favorite saying "nothing's ever easy"  at least for me!  I usually take about three attempts at making a part before I am satisfied with it . . if I'm lucky      :idiot:
Intel i7-4960X LGA 2011 / Asus Rampage Blk edition MB / EVGA Geforce Titan Blk video card / Corsair Vengeance 2400mhz 32GB / EVGA 1300w PSU / Samsung 840 Pro 512GB SSD / WD Black series 1TB 7200rpm HD / CoolerMaster Seidon 240 liquid cooler /  CoolerMaster 932 HAF case / Windows 7 Pro 64

jackpilot

Darryl.
Well, you obviously catched up since school days because your airplane looks really good.!!
Will you see the propeller forward with your visual?
Those huge windmills were so impressive!


Jack

DarrylH

#44
Quote from: jackpilot on March 21, 2010, 04:59:32 PM
Darryl.
Well, you obviously catched up since school days because your airplane looks really good.!!
Will you see the propeller forward with your visual?
Those huge windmills were so impressive!

Cheers Jack,

Yes, the model from A2A does show the prop. When they Accusim it, I will be requesting that they pay special attention to the prop, particularly on startup,


And Shane, yep I fall WELL into that category!!


Darryl

Aerosim Solutions

Hey Darryl, it's about time you took some credit mate! Despite the bits and pieces you have had made by others, aka Me and Chris, your Spitfire is absolutely first class and a true credit to your building skills. It is the best Spitfire sim I have ever seen, I'm fanging for a blast in it!!!

Cheers Gwyn  :)
Boeing 737NG using Prepar3D v4.5, Prosim737, FDS SYS cards, FDS CDUs, CP Flight MCP Pro & EFIS Pro & Aerosim Solutions hardware of course!<br />Check out my website here -<br />http://www.aerosimsolutions.com.au

DarrylH

Gwyn,

Cheers mate...   I AM happy to take some credit and I AM happy with what I have achieved...but that doesn't make my parts as good as a professional makes them...and THAT is the issue for me. I guess I am really happy with how I've pushed my limits out (a fair way thanks to some great support from you and others) but I have been extremely fortunate in receiving that support, contributions and advice... that is what has made her what she is (or is fast becoming). To say I have "done it" is pleasing but it is also impossible to ignore that I simply COULDN'T have done it by myself.  BUT then isn't that just THE THING about this community? I don't mean to sound self depreciating OR wreak of "false modesty"...but I do want to give credit where it is due.

I don't stand at my gate barking at strangers because I have a dog to do that for me.....more than happy to acknowledge his efforts too  ;)

I'm aiming at the BEST Spitfire simulator anyone has completed and because I have managed to learn new skills, develop a network of friends who have others AND I can have a good guess at what to attempt and what to seek support on, I am hoping that is exactly what "we" will end up with......


And you, my friend, are second in the pilots seat when she is finished!!!


D


Bob Reed

 Darryl, yes that is EXACTLY why Cockpitbuilders was put together! YOUR work is very good. I see some things you have made and even with my 18 years in the autobody feild and my 4 years as a Navy aircraft mechanic, I have no idea how you have made some of those bits... Your sim is already a great piece of work!

DarrylH

Cheers Bob!  If you tell me which bits, I'll happily tell you "the secrets".

One thing I can do is make things out of other things rather than fabricate from scratch...so someone sees a decorative fountain head, a couple of 4 inch lengths of conduit, a couple of small 12mm sprinkler heads, a couple of chrome nuts and a  a large plumbing fitting...but I see a fuelcock and the body of a compass.

When I was a kid I had an ENORMOUS bottle of spare bits from Airfix aircraft. My brother and I would tip all of them out and then build Dune Buggies or rockets, or farm equipment out of them....a Lancaster undercarriage leg became a chassis, half a 500lb bomb became a nose cone, a exhaust stack became harrows tynes.

Now I am a big boy, the whole world (or at least major parts of it covered in hardware stores and $2 shops), has become my parts bottle!!


The 3d gauges are something I am particularly happy with. they started being made out of multi layers of printed computer paper like Paper Toll, but when Chris saw them he said "we could do that in acrylic on the laser". So the layering and paint backfilling began. And of course clear acrylic allowed many layers to be put together so that it ends up looking like a real 3d object. .But even with printed paper , you can make quite stunning instruments (I still have one in the pit...the Ammeter and a couple of people have actually asked if that is one of the REAL antique gauges I bought...even when they have seen it up  close.)


So I guess what I am trying to say is , no matter what your skill level, have a go, ask for help, be prepared to do it multiple times, DON'T RUSH THINGS (my biggest fault) and "If I can do it, anybody can".



(Dismounting soapbox and pouring a large drink)

jackpilot

I know what you mean, and I know some fellows here who know it too.
I can spend hours in a Hardware store, opening all those little drawers full of washers, joints, mini  bearings, nylon bushing, bolts of all kinds, etc, most of the time without anything precise in mind, just browsing until the little bulb above my head lits up.!
Plumbing supplies too are a gold mine!
Cheers
JP


Jack

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