12x13 shed for 737 shell pit?

[NorthWales737]

Hi All.

I have finally talked my wife around to letting me have a big enough shed so support my 737 shell build. Im hoping to get the wooden shell built and then add in a 180+ wrap around display. The max area I have at my disposal in 12ftx13ft and a height at apex of 8.5ft.

Im looking at something like http://www.diy.com/nav/garden/garden-buildings/cabins-summerhouses/home_delivered_with_assembly/-specificproducttype-cabin/Shire-13x12-Bradenham-Garage-Log-Cabin-Home-Delivered-and-Assembled-13538639?skuId=14009345

I will have power to the shed and Cat5 also. I realise I could drop the shell to give more space but for me, that is a real part of the enjoyment. Anyone else done anything similar in this sort of space/height? Hopefully I will have enough space to move around and maintain the shell once its complete. Any suggestions appreciated.

Thanks

[Flying_Fox]

Hi James,

It will fit but barely. Would be nice if you can go with a couple of feets more.  My sim is in 15 x 12 ft room an I had to turn it into the corner to fit the 205 degrees screen (~200 cm radius). I guess it might fit better if you go with big flat TVs. 8.5 feet height is excellent.

Nick

[stephenbalmer]

Hi NorthWales,

I am doing exactly the same as you - already have the shed built with power, light and comms done. Working just now on building a base and frame.

My shed is 4.1m x 4m, so will keep you posted on progress.

Steve

[NorthWales737]

Thanks for the replies guys!

I am due to start construction after Easter weekend so I will keep you posted with how it goes. Stephen, I would be interested to see how you progress. Are you going for a full wooden shell/outer or just the frame?

Regards,

James.

[stephenbalmer]

Hello James,

Absolutely happy to keep you updated on progress.

My she'd is a little more like an outbuilding. It is wooden framed and sat upon a concrete base. The walls are again wooden with damp proofing and insulation within the wall construction - a bit like an internal partition wall with the gap between inside and outside walls used for cable runs and as I said, damp proofing and insulation.

The roof is flat but angled to force water run off. It is sealed externally with heavy duty roofing felt and then again is a multi layered wooden construction with damp proofing and insulation.

Services wise, I have a consumer unit with 63amps available across 6 rcd's of varying sizes. These are set out dedicated to heating, lighting and two ring mains to split that load.

Good luck with your build. It's a lot of preparation but worth it to have a dedicated pit area.

Steve

[Sean]

Hi James.

My sim takes up 4m x 2.7m space. The 4m is the width and is the diameter of my curved screen. Sitting in the middle of that is an FDS shell. 2.7m is from the front of the screen to the circuit breaker wall, which is the back of the shell. I have actually allowed a further 600mm behind this so that I can built the jump seat section and door in the future. That gives a depth of 3.3m from the screen to the cockpit door. I then have a bit more 'circulation space' behind this, but that's not really sim space.

Sean

[NorthWales737]

Thanks for the replies guys. Very interesting.

Well I have a small digger, powered loader and skip coming this weekend to dig out the base for my shed/simPit. Total area is 14x15ft although the shed will be 12x12/13ft. I have just purchased 12 metres of 2.5mm 3 core SWA (armoured) cable, although for the time being this will be wired to a single socket off the ring main in the house, limited to 13 amps and then into another fused spur in the shed. I have also layed outdoor Cat5e in addition.

I realise this is probably well short of what I would need for a full 205 degree simpit in terms of amps, however I will go with this for now but I might also lay a heavier cable in addition, un-connected which will eventually go direct into my distributed box (which I will get a qualified spark to fix), and I can then fit another consumer unit in the shed to support this with a higher amp rating.

Will keep you posted.

[stephenbalmer]

Hi there, good luck with you work this weekend. I'd probably put heavier armoured cable in at this stage as you will need to upgrade the 2.5mm almost immediately. You should really be looking at laying 10mm 3 core armoured cable to ensure the necessary capacity.

Even if you are only taking it from a 13 amp spur at the moment, the heavier cable will be a good preparation.

Aside from that, looks just like my project was. All the best,

Steve

[Sean]

To give you some reassurance, my 225 degree system with 3 projectors and 4 pc's and an electric heater in winter (on low!) is currently running off a single 13A plug (has been for ages)! I should point out that this is only a temporary setup, but I haven't changed anything yet, coz it's not blew the fuse once. The flex isn't even warm. I've got a clamp meter, keep meaning to check the load, but not too fussed as it's not causing problems.

Agree that 2.5mm may be too small depending on what else you have in your shed (lighting/heating), but if not much else, will probably handle the sim no bother.

[andthiel]

James,

pls double-check and rethink the height of the shed.

They indicate 277 cms (for the center) which is probably only the outer dimension. Go and ask for the inner (max) height as well for the height in the lower edges left and right. From the sketch it looks as if the inner side walls are no higher than appr. 210 cms. Moreover, there might be an inner floor on the bottom...

...and then make a double-check for your setup calculations. Keep in mind the height of your base dimension. Most likely, a linked yoke construction is out of reach and also a curved screen seems to be more than limited both due to its frame height on both sides as well as with regard to the mounting height of the l and r beamers.

Just my 2 cents.

Best,

Andreas

Sent from my steam powered abacus via tapatalk

[NorthWales737]

Hi Andreas,Nick Steve.

Thanks for the great replies. Andreas, noted on your point regarding height. You are correct. I am working with my neighbor who is a builder to create our own shed with similar dimensions to the link I posted now but with extended height. (I think it will be much much cheaper also!)

One quick question, when adding a SWA 13amp spur (although as discussed above this isnt ideal but should get me started), should I add a RCD to this inside the shed or could this cause problems with draw from projectors, PC, SYS/Interface boards?

I was taking advice from a really informative article here:http://kevinboone.net/cableselection_web.html#table:nominalcurrent

Anyway, the main plan now is to get the base dug and then onto the extended height shed design.

Cheers guys!

EDIT: Just picking up on Andreas point, can anyone recommend a minimum height for the lower side walls of the shed from floor to roof to achieve what im after?

[stephenbalmer]

HI NorthWales,

I honestly don't know about the benefits or otherwise of having a 13AMP RCD in the house and another 13AMP in the shed. This is one for a pro.

I do have RCD's at both ends - 45AMP in the house and then multiple RCD's (13AMP, 6AMP) in the shed on the various heat, light, ring circuits. My thinking was that the 45 in the house will protect the overall draw and importantly the run from the house consumer to the shed consumer, whereas the individual RCD's in the shed would protect and therefore cut only the circuit with excessive draw / short, etc. within the shed.

This is also a very handy configuration during ongoing work. It means I can have light but still work on the ring mains simply by switching on/off each of the RCD's in my shed.

Hopefully a little help and maybe a pro out there can keep us all right.

Steve

[andthiel]

Dear James,

the attached photo shows my setup. The height of my (visible) screen - measured from the(room) floor - is approximately 230 cms. The total room height in my sim room is 255 cms.

Just for your information: The top of the erected (metric) rule shown in the pic ends at 2 meters. On top of my aluminum frame is another - folded - rule with folded out portions of 20 cms each.

Please note that the height of my sim base is only 10 cms. That means: unfortunately, even I (with a room height of 255 cms) am not able to install a dual linked yoke, unfortunately.

Good luck! Keep us posted with your next steps.

Andreas



Sent from my steam powered abacus via tapatalk

[NorthWales737]

Hi Andreas,

That's really useful. Thanks for the info. I couldn't seean attachment?

Many thanks.

James

[andthiel]

Sorry Jim, I have added it now...

:-)

Best regards from Germany,

Andreas

Sent from my steam powered abacus via tapatalk

[NorthWales737]

Hey guys,

Just a really quick update, obviously making plans is one thing but you never know what you actually end up with until the work is done. Well.. the garden is dug out, retaining wall built and ground leveled for shed. Accounting for nearly 1ft away from the fence panels and accounting for 120mm (for wall thickness) my internal dimensions should be 12.5 x 11.5 ft. Im off outside to measure the height. Will report back and hopefully post a picture also!

Update: So im well below the height of the fence concrete base panels as I have dug down (and below that is a drainage channel). From my proposed floor level at the middle (where the apex would be) at approx 1.5/2ft above the top of the fence panels the shed could be 9ft high no problem (and doesnt annoy the neighbours which was my main concern for digging lower). More realistically though, it will end up being 8.5ft and then the side walls 7.5ft, given its very wide (and without doing some math) lets just say that a good few feet out either side of the apex (and where the shell would sit) would be above (roughly) 8ft so it should be good to go

Any feedback/opinions/tips on this really appreciated as I can still change the shed design/height at this planning stage.

Andreas, what would you need extra in CM if you did add the dual link mechanism?

Cheers.

[andthiel]

Hey guys,

(...)

Andreas, what would you need extra in CM if you did add the dual link mechanism?

Cheers.

James,

If I am informed correctly, the minimum platform height for a (Boeing) linked dual yoke
is 26 cm. Since mine is only 11 cm, I would need 15 cm extra. Unfortunately, "lifting" my setup that much is not possible due to fact that the shade of my shell could be seen on the screen then.

My advice: Check the position of your beamers and your shell dimensions very carefully! Particularly since your screen radius is less than 2 meters.

I reckon you know Ivar Hestnes' tutorial on his visual setup.

http://www.flightdeck737.be/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Visual-system-tutorial.pdf

Best,

Andreas

Sent from my steam powered abacus via tapatalk