Phil's 757 Project

[jetpilot]

I do not know for you Phil but at least for me the first time that I went in to my real cockpit the feeling was second to none. Congrats
Roberto

[phil744]

Hey Roberto, your absolutly right, it is a good feeling, keep uncovering little treasures and details that you would never normally notice or implement.

Its also bitter sweet too, you sit in there click switches and act like an all round child thats the good bit, then u stand back and look at it all as one piece when no one is about and you think " what the hell have i done"

But for me, no regrets,

Phil (can do a good rolls royce RB211 impression working on Pratt & Whitney PW2037 )

[phil744]

this left a stain in my undies 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/project75/6127917424/

[rhysb]

Sssssaaaaaaaawwwwweeeeeetttttt!!!!!!!!!!

[DarrylH]

Been a while since I checked in on your thread Phil, VERY impressive mate!

[shaneb]

Ah cool Phil . . I had missed those videos somehow!     

[dodiano]

Yo Dude!!

You sound like the Joker for a minute there... LOL!! Congrats man that 757 Is amazing!!

Take care

Roberto

[phil744]

Once upon a time i had a lot of admiration for aircraft mechanics, now i just feel sorry for them, stripping a Boeing is a royal bitch to say the least!!

Very very well engineered piece of kit.

Soo, still currently stripping the crap out of this nose end, decided to remove the insulation for safety reasons mainly, even though the insulation itself is flame retardent the outer jacket is not, burns quite well actually and thinking it only takes one dodgy wire and you got one hell of a mess on your hands, so phils tip of the day is if you have a real nose end remove the insulation, may save your ass one day.

Currently trying to remove the whole MIP sub structure, the previous owned has had a go and done it the wrong way round, should be FO side first, then captains then centre, they have attacked the centre drilling rivets out and allsorts, so made it very messy to remove, 9 hours to get it all out!!

Had a count up, 184 (excluding wire/pipe clamps and connectors) screws to remove to obtain your prize of an MIP, each screw lovingly overtightened by boeing and corroded over 25 years, with this in mind i gave up, got the centre part out (dont know how to get it back in) and going to leave the capt/FO parts intact for cleaning and painting.

Phils second tip of the day : If you see an MIP sub structure on ebay, walk away from it, if it takes me 2 days and still fail god knows how they removed it, probably with an angle grinder or something along the lines of

Glare shield however is a walk in the park, 3 bolts, 1 connector and pull 

For the 75/76 builder, behind the glare wing panel there is a small reading lamp (pic below) i did not know they where there

So next for me is attack the captains side, clean up, then fabricate custom dolley for the deck to sit on, makes the floor level again, im sick of sliding down on my ass, take her outside once more for a trim and a wash then painting time

Pics below, enjoy

[phil744]

Friends and family have forgot what i look like, don't feel like i have been home since the nose arrived heheh all good fun.

However got a severe shouting at by the missus last Wednesday, i popped over from work at lunchtime and continued pulling wires, however cause i just left work i was wearing my brand new suit, not impressed.

So, little update, all wires, pipes, connectors, and insulation removed now, sticking to the plan of leaving the capt and FO stations in there since removing all the crap access behind those is plentiful now so i cant see there being an issue there. Struggled like hell to remove the tiller but got there in the end and still cant find the correct size hex key to remove the window opening handles so just left those.

The skin on the inside is sprayed with grease to help protect it from condensation at high altitude, decided to remove this as when working in close proximity you end up getting covered in the stuff, the amount of times you rest your head inadvertently against it whilst un doing something and your hair sticks to it get quite annoying after a while.  Got me a bucket of hot soapy water and a paintbrush and sat there for a few hours cleaning it all off, got most of it done now, will have another go when i take it outside for pressure washing in a few weeks time.

Someone asked me why am I going to all this trouble removing and cleaning everything, have a look at the first picture below, you can see the condition its in, rather minging, there is authentic, then just outright disgusting!!

[matta757]

Looks great, Phil! Coming along nicely. As always, I look forward to seeing your topic at the top of the Recent Posts column.

[jackpilot]

the amount of times you rest your head inadvertently against it whilst un doing something and your hair sticks to it get quite annoying after a while. 

Hair...??

[shaneb]

Really nice looking . . .  that would have to be fun working with a real shell.  I'm one of those that like the feel of real parts.     

[Maurice]

I admire your insanity & most of all your tenacity. 

Maurice

[NeoMorph]

Someone asked me why am I going to all this trouble removing and cleaning everything, have a look at the first picture below, you can see the condition its in, rather minging, there is authentic, then just outright disgusting!!

Was the plane left standing without it's windows for a while or was it yours right after decommisionioning? Because if it was the latter I would hate to think people flew on it. Scary prospect.

[blueskydriver]

If one were to analyze the cockpit builder, and after watching the many videos of them getting their real/replica cockpit delivered, they all have one thing uniquely in common; they have that INSANITY laugh! Listen to Phil, and then try to refute this fact.

Much like the fruit cake lover on the funny farm, the geek in the computer store on the day their favorite game version 100 comes out or the crazy Christmas shoppers that kill each other to get in the door on Black Friday, cockpit builders laugh the same like these people would... Seriously, it's like that evil laugh mixed with joy! Joy that you have it and EVIL to say it's YOU who has it!

Before you all go into denial, just think about Phil's laugh one more time in his video, then say "Oh no, never laughed like that in my life". Even if you don't have a full size cockpit, you have laughed like this one time or another over something to do with this hobby.

And that is the best part of this, it brings laughter...joyful and EVVVVVIIIILLLLLLL laughter...muaaa ha ha ha ha!

[DarrylH]

Phil great stuff..


and don't listen to them..as long as, like me, 3 out of 4 voices in your head agree that you are sane..then you ARE...


hahhahahahah...mwhaaaaaaahhhhhhh


bbbzzzzzzzplingggoooooooo hahhhahhahhha


Darryl

[Boeing Skunk Works]

Looks good Phil. Those windows are quite a bit taller than older Boeings.

[phil744]

Lol @ Jack, maybe new hair style is on the cards?

Hey i am willing to admit openly on a public forum that I have a Dzus loose, the laugh was really down relief more then anything, obtaining the nose has been a real struggle, i could not afford to do it by the proper means so had to do it on the cheap so there is always risk involved.  Was up at 5am ion D day and spent all day watching the live motorway cameras tracking her movement all the way back to mine.

By this time i had forgot how big it was so to see this thing strapped to the back of a transit van was a sight of shock, relief that it had made it here, concern on how the hell i will fit it through the door and embarrassment as i blocked the exit to the carpark for the gymnastics club next door, drew in a crowd of 40 or so people each one posing by it having there picture taken!

Mixed emotions for sure so the demented laugh

@NeoMorph, the dirt inside the flightdeck is very normal for this age of airliner, and she was sat in a field for a long time, long enough for it to appear on google earth!

search  51°40'16.71"N  2° 2'33.93"W on google earth

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Boeing-757-2M6/0980168/&sid=61793b6481a70bd3b9f49fd624919a35


@ Mike, be honest the biggest concern I have about the entire project is how to make the windows, the huge and curved!!
Phil

[phil744]

speaking of windows, i now know how much the capt side rear window costs, see attached, will make your eyes water!!!!!!!!

[Bob Reed]

speaking of windows, i now know how much the capt side rear window costs, see attached, will make your eyes water!!!!!!!!

Phil, you are looking at the wrong stuff. You need to find "Not airworthy" windows. It does not take much to make them non airworthy and at that point they become trash for scrap companies. Once they start to delam you should be able to get them pretty cheap.

[Trevor Hale]

Oh Man, imagine what it would cost to replace that window your sticking your head out of?
Craziness lol

[phil744]

Nah it was a new company i have not used before just sending feelers out.

BTW, i explained who i was  " a museum restoring a flightdeck for display purposes" 

[fordgt40]

I sense a forthcoming tutorial on how to use a hot air gun to bend acrylic sheet to the right profile for replacement windows 

David

[phil744]

I sense a forthcoming tutorial on how to use a hot air gun to bend acrylic sheet to the right profile for replacement windows 

David

Just been pondering over that, i wanted to avoid using acrylic for the windows, scratches so easily, but with side windows on the 75 i have to admit defeat and go the acrylic route.

Just offered a piece up, 4mm it will bend okay but 6mm wont budge, so a cunning plan has been formed using nothing more than a pile of G clamps and 2 IR heaters.

Front windows are a walk in the park, gonna try something special with those

[fordgt40]

Phil

As my forum name suggests, I have an interest in Ford GT40`s, having built a complete and almost exact replica. I faced the problem of making compound curved headlight covers and found that with an even heat you can indeed bend the acrylic to shape, though that was only 2mm.

Good luck

David