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Saturday, May 30, 2015

HERE IS A PHOTO OF MY COCKPIT RUNNING.

THE COLOR ISN'T TO GREAT, BUT THAT IS WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE. STILL NEEDS WORK.

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

  IN A PREVIOUSE POST A HAD A PHOTO OF MY COCKPIT BUT THE SEAT WAS A PIANO CHAIR. SO I BUILT A COCKPIT SEAT. I THOUGHT ABOUT USING A TRUCK SEAT BUT I DESIDED NOT TO. BY MAKING IT MYSELF IT PROBABLY SAVE ME MONEY. SO HERE IS THE BLUEPRINT THAT I SOMEWHAT WENT BY.
 
CAN'T REMEBER WHERE I GOT IT, YOU CAN FIND IT ON GOOGLE IMAGES. THIS IS NOT MY DRAWING.
 
SO I BUILT IT, IT IS NOT COMPLETELY FINISHED BUT HERE IS SOME PHOTOS OF HOW I MADE IT.
 

HERE IS PART OF THE BASE.
 
 
 
 
 
 
HERE IS THE CURRENT PHOTO. THE CUSIONS I TOOK FROM AN OFFICE CHAIR THAT I TOOK FROM SOMEOME WHO PUT IT ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD FOR CITYWIDE CLEAN-UP DAYS. (SAVED MONEY). THE WHITE MATERIAL IS ARTIFICIAL SHEEPSKIN FROM AMAZON. IT WAS AROUND $20 OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT AND I HAVE SOME EXTRA MATERIAL. 
IT STILL NEEDS TO BE PAINTED AND IT NEEDS ARMRESTS. I WOULD RECOMMEND USING PLYWOOD. WAFERBOARD IS NOT VERY STRONG.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
FOR THE ADJUSTABLE BACKREST I DRILLED A HOLE IN THE 1X2 IN THE PHOTO AND PUT A SCREW IN IT. THE SCREW HAS A SPRING GLUED TO THE OTHER SIDE. THE SCREW ALSO HAS WASHERS ON BOTH SIDES. ONE FOR STOPPING THE SCREW AND ANOTHER FOR PULLINT THE SCREW. I DRILLED HOLES INTO THE WAFERBOARD SO THAT I COULD PULL THE SCREW TO ADJUST THE BACK REST. I WILL UPDATE ABOUT THIS PART IN A DIFFERENT POST.
 

 
 
 
                  I HAD TO SEW THE SHEEPSKIN ON. BE CAREFUL WITH THE NEEDLE!!!
 
 I WILL UPDATE ON THIS WHEN I PAINT IT AND/OR PUT ARM RESTS ON IT.


 

Saturday, May 23, 2015

AS I SAID IN A PREVIOUS POST I STARTED OFF USING A LAPTOP. 256MB GRAPHICS CARD. NOT GREAT. I DECIDED TO BUY A COMPUTER. I FOUND ONE ON EBAY AND GOT  VERY GOOD DEAL. I DO HAVE A COUPLE PROBLEMS WITH IT AND I HAD TO PUT A DIFFERENT HARD DRIVE IN IT ( I GOT THE HARD DRIVE THAT I TOOK FROM A LAPTOP ). I ALSO JUST REPLACED THE SATA CABLE, BUT THE PREVIOUS CABLE I BROKE. HOWEVER, DISPITE THE PROBLEMS, THE GRAPHICS CARD IS REALLY GOOD FOR X PLANE 10. IT IS A MSI FROZRIII RADEON 7850 2GB DDR5. IT HAS AMD EYEFINITY SO I MIGHT BE ABLE TO USE IT FOR A MULTIPLE DISPLAY.  I GOT THE COMPUTER FOR AROUND $120 OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT. THAT IS CHEAPER THAN IF I JUST BOUGHT THE GRAPHICS NEW!!!! SO IF YOU ARE LOOKING TO SAVE MONEY ON YOUR COCKPIT, CHECK OUT USED. EVEN IF THERE IS PROBLEMS YOU CAN LEARN SOME THINGS ABOUT COMPUTERS.

 THE PROJECTOR THAT I AM USING RIGHT NOW ( I HOPE TO GET MORE ) IS A HITACHI CPX5 2500 LUMEN. I BOUGHT THIS ALSO USED FROM EBAY AND GOT A REALLY GOOD DEAL. I HAD TO MAKE AN AIR FILTER FOR IT. I USED A FILTER THAT ONE WOULD USE IN A FURNACE. IT WORKS FAIRLY GOOD. I WILL SHOW A PHOTO OF IT RUNNING IN A DIFFERENT POST.
I DID HAVE TO BUY A VGA TO DVI CONVERTER.
BOUGHT IT USED FROM AMAZON.
                                HERE IS HOW I MADE THE CEILING OF THE COCKPIT.


I USED SOME MATERIAL THAT I GOT FROM MY DAD ( HOW NICE AND CHEAP ),  IT IS NOT WOOD, IT IS THE MATERIAL THAT IS ON A HOUSE. I CUT IT OUT FOR WHAT I NEEDED, WELL THE AREA IN THE PHOTO.

I THEN BOUGHT JOINT COMPOUND AND PLASTERED THE CIELING. I USED SOME SHEETROCK TAPE AS WELL. AFTER I DID THAT I USED SOME WALL PATCH AND SANDED IT. I THEN BOUGHT SOME WHITE PAINT AND PAINTED IT.
 
THE EYEBROW WINDOWS ARE A PIECE OF WOOD I GOT FROM MY DAD. I THIN IT WAS PROBABLY 2X8. I LOOKED UP THE DIMENSIONS FROM MARKUSPILOT I BELIEVE.
 
HERE IT THE TOP 
 
 
 
                                                              HERE IS THE BOTTOM

                                                       I MIXED MY OWN PAINT FOR IT.
 

Friday, May 22, 2015

Well I have a more recent photo. The other ones were kind of old.

In this photo you can see that it is a little more recent, yet not quite up to date.


                      HERE IS HOW I MADE THE TILLER
                        

(TO STEER THE FRONT NOSE WHEEL AT SLOW SPEEDS, KIND OF LIKE A STEERING WHEEL)



 
IN THE PHOTO BELOW YOU CAN SEE THAT THE CENTER IS A NARROW PIECE OF PVC. THE PVC THEN HAS A PIECE OF WOODEN POLE IN THE MIDDLE EXENDING TO THE BACK.
 
                                  IN THE PHOTO BELOW THE SIDE BARS OF THE TILLER ARE MADE FROM WOODEN POLE AS WELL.
 
            AND IN THE PHOTO BELOW THE HANDLE PART OF THE TILLER IS COPPER PIPE. I PUT GROOVES ON IT WITH A VISE. I THEN PUT MASKING TAPE AROUND THE TILLER AND PAINTED IT.


                                           IT IS FASTENED BY DRILLING A HOLE IN THE WHITE PAINTED PLYWOOD. IT IS ALWAY HELD WITH A SPRING AND ANOTHER SUPPORT IN THE BACK.

I GLUED A POTIENTOMETER TO IT (WHICH IS FROM A JOYSTICK THAT I TOOK APART), AND THE POTIENTOMETER IS GLUED TO A PIECE OF WOOD.
 
THIS SAVED ME A LOT OF MONEY. THE TILLERS FOR SALE ARE NOT CHEAP!!!
 
FEEL FREE TO COMENT IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS. I WOULD BE HAPPY TO TRY TO ANSWER THEM.
 
 

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

                              I also did some painting and moved it to a different part of the house



I put metal on my throttle as well. I cut the metal with a jigsaw. The metal was sheet tin that you would find on a furnace or something. I think it was tin. I got that from my dad as well.
 
I believe this was back last winter. I have been getting a lot of my dimensions from http://www.markuspilot.com/download/BOEING%20737%20MEASUREMENTS.pdf

Very helpful
    Well my passion for flying was really brought back a few years ago. And then I was introduced to flight simulation on a pc (with the exception of google flight simulator). I played with a mouse for a while then I bought a joystick. Well, that I guess wasn't "good" enough. So I took it somewhat apart an built a throttle, but still had the joystick. A little more realistic. I then made rudder pedals. I tried to build a yoke and I broke the joystick. OOPS, I then bought a CH Products flight yoke. Well, I now had a throttle, rudder pedals, and a yoke playing on my laptop. Which is really not high quality but it worked.
      One day I wanted to set it up permanently. AND THAT IS WHEN IT ALL BEGAN... The summer of 2014.  Nothing great, I build a mip, instrument pedestal, and side parts. I chose to make a Boeing 737-800 ng home cockpit. Well, a little more than half of it (space restrictions). Also, thanks to www.737ngxca.com and www.737ngproject.be I made a throttle (my third one) that turned out looking fairly good.
 
Oh I also printed out a forward overhead panel. Can't remember where from.
Thank you Lord for giving me this opportunity.
Also the budget side of this, I didn't spend much at this point. I got the wafer board from my dad, had to buy a couple things for the throttle and bought refurbished ink from ebay (highly recommended, so much cheaper).
This is only the beginning. I have started blogging a while after I started the project so I have to get caught up.