The A2A Simulations Community

Thank you Gents


I will be building a winglet on the left side to help with mounting the beast but space is at a premium...I already have a full size F-16 sim and my wife would prefer that I don't take up more than 2/3 of the house!!


CanadaOne, sorry this one is mine, mine, ALL MINE...but when it is finished I can look at building you one....freight from Oz to Canada shouldn't be THAT much and the cost of the cockpit so far has barely reached $16,000, not including about 350 hours' labour and another 100 or so programming the gauges. So we can definatley come to some arrangement

With any sort of luck the thing should be skinned by next weekend (I bought the plastic sheets yesterday...half as thick again as the templates, which should add some more monocoque strength to the structure). So it is really getting towards the finish line now.


Darryl

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...Some say he never blinks, and that he roams around the woods at night foraging for Merlin parts...

A nice little message and photo from my mate 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

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...Some say he never blinks, and that he roams around the woods at night foraging for Merlin parts...

Great stuff!

Thanks for keeping us updated on your story/progress. Its brillaint and I cant wait to see it finished

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Thanks Lewis, neither can I!!! But the project is nearing completion now, I'd say 6-8 weeks to go. I've been on it for just over two years! Mind you, the f-16 I built took 5 years and was considerably more complicated...

Another job I have is to fit this:




I'll have to work out some anchor points near the seat and also how I am going to attach the high straps to the rear frame.

It is going to be very restrictive I think and I might need to work out some sort of tension release and an inertia reel.




Darryl

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...Some say he never blinks, and that he roams around the woods at night foraging for Merlin parts...

This is simply amazing. Something like this deserves to be in a museum

Thanks mate,

Hopefully she can be a bit more fun than a straight museum piece.

Darryl

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...Some say he never blinks, and that he roams around the woods at night foraging for Merlin parts...

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A Spitfire arrived around the end of the hangar at near enough 10ft slaloming though the dispersal pylons. He then landed, got out in a waist coat and suit trousers, unfold a suit jacket from the luggage hold and put it on. He was Sqn Ldr Ray Hanna.

Thanks Brad, but I think you mis-keyed?

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...Some say he never blinks, and that he roams around the woods at night foraging for Merlin parts...

A little bit more progress ...

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...




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.








A nice family shot to finish..
.

As always , cheers
for the interest

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...Some say he never blinks, and that he roams around the woods at night foraging for Merlin parts...

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A2A Simulations Inc.

totally amazing!

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Thanks Gents!! She is coming along now.

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...Some say he never blinks, and that he roams around the woods at night foraging for Merlin parts...

Is the joystick expensive? It looks bleeding awesome!

Hi Mate,

The controls are completely amazing and are set up to feel very much like the Nanchang (that both myself and the maker have flown) which has similar control harminization to the Spitfire in the medium speed range..ie very light on the elevators and heavier on the ailerons. we made it a bit more sensitive in pitch even than the 'chang because all my research tells me that the Spitfire should be.

The total cost of the controls was in the region of $4500 for the rudders, stick, grip, buttons, undercarriage control and throttle unit. The Trims cost about another $500 to manufacture..but I built those myself.


Not cheap but awesome.

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...Some say he never blinks, and that he roams around the woods at night foraging for Merlin parts...

That is quite a bit of dosh...however I suppose it will be worth it once the pit is finished.

I have always wanted to have a spade-grip joystick to use for simming, but apart from a set that costs in the £1000+ region, I have never seen one made. I suppose it is because most joysticks that people use have multiple buttons whereas such a stick would be useless for most planes.