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

[Bob Reed]

Now, the reason?? 

So are you open to a sim software change? More when I have more....lol 

[DarrylH]

Bob,

Yes and no....the computer on the F-16 is only a dual core. It runs Falcon well but won't really do FSX..haven't got, or tried, X-Plane.

I was watching FO but that seems to be "in due course".

I haven't tried BMS yet but will have a serious look at that too when I get "back" to the F-16,

Anyhows..yep, let me know when you "can" ... I may need to upgrade the computer...ah...not looking forward to putting THAT to teh War Office...

cheers


Darryl

[DarrylH]

The bigggest news I have is the arrival of an 900cm carriage lathe and a medium sized milling machine, which have allowed me to start to build what remains of the door latch (the completion of a project that fell through..)
and to build the primer mechanism out of all brass.

A small side project replaced a cracked plastic retaining block in the radiator shutter lever with an aluminium one and replaced the plastic button with aluminium also.

Slowly I am building the skills required to finish off the sim to a standard I can be happy with and this should lift my work up another notch or two!!

After the indefinite deferral of the  Spit Mk V,  I am now thinking seriously about converting the cockpit back to a Mk I but with "some" updates. Actually these will be "regressions" from where I am now but will look like updates.
I plan to make  "blank" covers for the second fuel gauge and button and for the flaps gauge. These will then look "deleted" even though they never actually made it to the cockpit in the first place.

The undercarriage control unit is tweaking my conscience a little....if the other upgrades were done, it is almost certain that the current powered hydraulic unit would have been fitted...but the Mk I hand pump is just SOOOOO damed cool and
I now have the gear to build it.   

The real thing:








Of course it would mean relocating the  slipper tank tap/release but I think that is a small price to pay. I may relocate it to where the map box should be low and left or rear right ... or I may just put it in a box next to the old U/C Unit....or sell them both.

Choices, choices, choices....


The P8.....




The compass. The spider is mounted on a stepper motor and board hacked from a Flight illusion cessna compass that used to just be mounted in the main compass body. That compass was a whisky type and so the spider needed to be made to fit on top and the compass card had to be removed altogether.

The outer ring rotates to set course, the stepper turns the spider and it all works just like the original...which is NO compliment, I assure you!!! (see earlier post)


Cockpit and new screen also the extra Navigation Panel with ADF and the "second engine" panel on the right





A small detail but it all helps..the Cabin heat label now on (this encoder actually controls oxygen flow altitude/rate)




The Primer mechanism...a slide pot which will use FSUIPC to send  "open",  "pump" and "close" codes to the sim via FSUIPC at different points on the axis. The brass rod is threaded so the primer lock can still be screwed closed/open. It will be tapped into the primer pump handle.




The hardest job so far, really, the door latch. The latch handle and rods were made for me (swapped for some laser work) but I've finished them from the rough blanks. The latches themselves were a lathe/mill combination job,my very first!!! with the square hole of the latch guide being hand finished. The claws are made from round and square steel stock and threaded together (saving me using an independant 4 jaw chuck to turn them and mill them from a single square piece.

I'm quite happy for a first try at "fitting". Making things "mate" is not at all easy

The whole assembly so far:




The (front) claw and guide assembled... square holes are fun!! The finish is reasonable but not perfect..it does look a bit better "in person", the light of the flash does emphasise the ares that are not perfectly smooth....still, no excuses. 






The claw of the rear latch..the second guide is still to be machined when I get some time.






And finally, an aquisition from yesterday, the very rare and, in this case still fully functional, Harness Recoil Reel. This will make the Sutton Harness fully functional and allow for the extra cockpit checks on takeoff and landing.




Not much to happen over the holidays as I am off trekking over mountains again....getting too old for that, just haven't realised it yet!!!


Darryl

[jackpilot]

You win...
   Flat out...





Good to see you back on line.
Jack

[DarrylH]

Gee thanks Jack...I think....

I've been too heavily tied up with A2A stuff and the cockpit has suffered. But big things are planned for the new year.


Well, just got word from a friend with a a real U/C hand pump. All the details and measurements I am missing will be available, so after the trek and the silly season, I will be onto it. I just can't risk using the machines until after then, I need all fingers and toes :0

[DarrylH]

Some very rough work on the door. This has proved to be a real challenge in that the factory drawings were inaccurate in the cockpit area so the whole sim is an inch too long. I have managed to "make" the door latch stretch but the proportions look a little off..never mind.

The real door is quite a work of art, very thin and strong and with a beautiful piano hinge base that pivots the whole thing out. It also fits snuggly into a designed recess, which was beyond me whilst using a wooden frame and plastic skin. It took me a wasted wooden blank, a small sheet of ali and about an hour to work out I was NEVER going to get it made like it really is!! So I settled on an "outside" fit of the skin, along the edge of the door "hole" in the sim and will use two or three ordinary door hinges. I wanted the door to "look" thin from the inside of the cockpit, so I made it thick enough to be strong but then made an inner skin which makes the whole thing LOOK thin when viewed from each side (and also gave me a useful cavity to hide all my dodgy joins, crossbraces and gluing!!)


I also found that to "look" square, the thing actually had to be made "out of plum" which was REALLY annoying until the outside skin went on and then it all LOOKED square...amazing and I can't explain it...just don't put a set square near it!!


So....The door itself, outside view.





And inside.





The Door latch, now attached to the top spar and complete except for fitting the aft latch claw and guide. The latch claw is made but the guide is this weekend's problem (hopefully).











The way it works..pivot point in the centre and rotates away, retracting the claw.










More to come when painted and attached.

[DarrylH]

The door with more detail and the bottom rail and hinge fitted. Tomorrow I will paint it after finishing the last latch guide.




Why I haven't finished the last latch guide...

Not sure whether it is "completion anxiety" or attention to detail (let's call it attention to detail, eh??) but I decided today that I didn't like the nice chromed head nuts that I had used on 1/4 bolts to secure the links in the door latch...so I spent the time available designing making and installing four brass cotter pins, as per the original.


These are 20mm long, to fit 4.6mm diameter hole and the end hole for the split pin is 2mm!! Obviously I am not going to win any machining contests just yet but I am pleased with the way they came up and all four are machined pretty much identical specs.


 


 


Temp fitted....


 


That's all for tonight.

[DarrylH]

Oh well......


I guess I will just have to admit it is "completion anxiety" after all. After a late night and, um, a single drink (or maybe two) which went to my head I couldn't face the guide today....

But I DID notice that the cupscrew that is the axle for the door latch did not look right...so I turned a faux locking cap for the axle and it came up quite well.
I did manage to break my parting tool in the process (on aluminium no more/less!!) but that was not wholey uexpected as it was never quite "right" for my lathe. I will now search for a new one.







The real thing:




And a quick start to the paint job for the door:







Will it never end?

[andarlite]

Darryl, it's too bad you had to be in Australia (or I suppose it's too bad I had to be in Canada) ... would love to be able to see your cockpit. Nice job.


Henry

[DarrylH]

Thanks Henry,

You'd be more than welcome if you ever get over this way.

My lathe died, so a small delay while the motor is replaced has given me the chance to do other bits.

Stencil done..not quite straight but as I said before, the door is actually out of plum. The warning looks almost straight when you are sat in the cockpit.



I should mention, the sign was done the same way I did "Moody Blue". Chris cut a paper stencil with "sticky" back. This was transfered to the door and sprayed white first. The final colour is "engine red", the best and closest paint I could get to a flat red. It is a bit shiny but will fade. Because it is engine paint, it is also fairly thick and so stands a little proud..which is inaccurate but certainly made cleaning up any seepage under the stencil much easier.
Overall I'm very pleased.

Next job is the second (rear) latch guide this weekend. I've put that off as far as I can now that I won't have the lathe. I'm not really sure what scares me about it, except maybe hand filing the "square" hole to be firmly fit with the claw...the front one is absolutely smooth now that the keyway is painted..hope it wasn't a fluke