B-17 Enclosed Home Cockpit Project

[kford]

Maybe I missed it, but what's the name of this bird anyway!? In your startup video, looks like you might have some room for your "nose art" to the upper left above the windows.

[boris4356]

Maybe I missed it, but what's the name of this bird anyway!? In your startup video, looks like you might have some room for your "nose art" to the upper left above the windows.

I fly Sleepy Time Gal

[geedee]

Bill....

Thats a pretty d*mn spectacular setup you've got there. I love the thought processes and workarounds you've come up with to make stuff work....top marks !!

I'm a new guy here, but like you and Darryl (I know D from another forum) I'm also building a Cockpit. However, I've been concentrating on the build and am only now just getting ...or trying to get ...my head around the electronics and interfaces required to make my Babe come alive.

Your build shots...and D's...will be very usefull to me especially the wiring side of things. All I've managed to do so far is get my throttle working, but I haven't actually done any work on her for at least the past 4 months. Your build threads have given me the necessary 'prod' to get back out there and carry on building.

Looking forward to the next update.

[Killratio]

There goes the neighbourhood....

[boris4356]

Bill....

Thats a pretty d*mn spectacular setup you've got there. I love the thought processes and workarounds you've come up with to make stuff work....top marks !!

I'm a new guy here, but like you and Darryl (I know D from another forum) I'm also building a Cockpit. However, I've been concentrating on the build and am only now just getting ...or trying to get ...my head around the electronics and interfaces required to make my Babe come alive.

Your build shots...and D's...will be very usefull to me especially the wiring side of things. All I've managed to do so far is get my throttle working, but I haven't actually done any work on her for at least the past 4 months. Your build threads have given me the necessary 'prod' to get back out there and carry on building.

Looking forward to the next update.

Thanks Gary!

What aircraft are you basing your cockpit on?

Bill

[geedee]

What aircraft are you basing your cockpit on?

Hi Bill. I'm building a 'Little Friend' and have started a thread in the '51 section. I'll be taking some ideas from your build when I start on 'lets get things working' angle, fairly shortly

[boris4356]

What aircraft are you basing your cockpit on?

Hi Bill. I'm building a 'Little Friend' and have started a thread in the '51 section. I'll be taking some ideas from your build when I start on 'lets get things working' angle, fairly shortly

Hi Gary,

Awesome cockpit you have there! I'll be watching your progress with interest!

Bill

[boris4356]

Been a while since I posted, so I thought I would give an update.

I found that having all of my ventilation fans on the main power supply switch was inefficient. I rewired the fans so that each one had its own separate switch in addition to the main DC power supply. This way I had more control over the interior air circulation and temperature of the cockpit. I placed the switches in the overhead panel. I also added some mood lighting which I will describe later.

I have 6 fans, wired to a terminal strip. The terminal strip connects each switch to the DC Power Supply.


Fan and Light Switches Panel Front




Fan and Light Switches Panel Back




Terminal Strips




Power Supply Connector



Overhead Panel




Bill

[boris4356]

I found that the interior of the cockpit was too dark, and I needed to light up the canvas simulated overhead windows. I wanted to simulate natural light coming in from overhead as in the real B-17.

I originally oil painted a cloudy sky on the canvass, but found that it did not really look very good. I blended in more white paint to take away most of the detail of the clouds, and make it seem closer to a glass window instead of cloudscapes. Then I added L shaped window channels around the frame, and put in cool white LED lighting. I tried warm white, but it did not have the right feel. The LED Light strips are connected to the overhead light switches and terminal strips shown in the previous post

The overall effect is just what I was going for. It feels just like there are real overhead windows with natural light coming in.









Light channels





Light Channels prepared with Gesso





Light Channels Painted





Led Light Strips soldered together and ready to go into the Light Channels




Bill

[boris4356]

I found that the point of view out the front window just didn't seem right no matter how I changed it graphically, so I did some modifications on the glare shield. I raised it up by adding a strip on the bottom, and made a new aluminum covering.

It gives a more authentic rounded panel view now as you can't see the corners of the front monitor anymore. I also sloped the side glare shield panels and made new aluminum coverings.

Centre




Left




Right





The glare shield before the modifications.







This was the answer to my point of view issues. Now it feels like I am in a tail dragger. It is harder to see when taxiing on the ground, and I see the forward views move up and down as the tail lifts up and down.


While I was doing the mods I made a D-Sub quick connect for the Feather switches. They connect to to the BU0836X card inside the Co-Pilots Panel, and it was a real pain to feed through whenever I had to do any maintenance. I also made the centre glare shield panel free floating so I could just lift it up instead of unscrewing 30 screws.




Bill

[Gypsy Baron]

Nice work, as always Bill!

Paul

[boris4356]

I made sliders to open the windows using linear pots.











I also finished the radio volume Knob and the gyro switch.





Bill

[boris4356]

Nice work, as always Bill!

Paul

Thanks Paul!

Bill

[boris4356]

I finally gave up trying to magnify my electrical panel gauges to appear closer. The monitor is 1/2" away from the cover to allow for the clearance of the switches and the wiring, and the front cover is 1/4". That makes the gauges 3/4" deep.

I tried using Fresnel sheet magnifiers to see if I could make the gauges appear closer. All that did was make the gauges appear larger, not closer, and distorted the image depending upon the angle you were looking.

I just made circular covers for the gauge openings and called it a day. I can see the gauges alright though, so it is not a total loss.





Bill

[altack]

Great show, as usual