timmo32 Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 best of luck frank and nice set up james ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennyson Posted July 31, 2012 Author Share Posted July 31, 2012 I've have some pretty extensive use of fibreglass, Howard. In another life, I ran the fibreglass shop at Oakey Aviation (I was a civvy), so I've dabbled in most things fibreglass including kevlar and carbon fibre. Matter of fact, we were probably at the forefront of carbon fibre use while repairing the blackhawk blades. I do have a good respirator (with changeable filters), but the resin I'm using is two part mix epoxy, no smell unlike it's smally counterpart. Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennyson Posted August 1, 2012 Author Share Posted August 1, 2012 So, the sidewall is going to take a little longer than I'd anticipated. It's just that it has so many faces and can't be done in one go. I split it up and did the pocket and back face first. The white strips look like I have air under the glass, but in actual fact, it's white filler in the corners. I spent lots of time squeezing out all of the air from the glass. Then, I gave the flutes a rub back and did the raceway cover next. It took a lot of time, working throo each of the flutes and making sure all of the air was out from under them. I need to let that dry now and then get on to the next part. After this dries, I'll do the sill panels. Slowly, slowly......... Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Emms Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 Catchy monkey, well done mate. cheers Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockliffe Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 Wish I was there to lend a hand Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennyson Posted August 2, 2012 Author Share Posted August 2, 2012 Thanx for that, Howard. The truth is that a lot of it can be done by one person. I do have the odd occassion (usually moving units beteween rooms) when I need a second person and then I just bring out the pecs I been working on at the gym, or if my boy is at home, I grab him. He has absolutely zero interest in the project, but is always willing to help me if I need it. He doesn't know it yet, but he's going to be my FO on the test flights. On another note, I got stuck in last nite and half finished my glassing. I still have a bit to go, but I need some more supplies, so I'm off to the Gold Coast today to get some gear. I'm going to buy some foam slabs for the sills, which should make the job a lot easier. Might be hard to keep my mind on the job, heading down there....... Frank P.S. Over 14,000...woohoo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dean (PC Aviator) Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Frank, Hope you are keeping molds of all these components, then once yours is done, you have a ready-to-go glassing business for more jet flight decks :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennyson Posted August 2, 2012 Author Share Posted August 2, 2012 Dean, Those liners (the sidewall minus the windows and sills) sell for over 3000 dollars and then you have the freight on top. Is it any wonder I am making my own? What is that old saying about "necessity being the mother of invention", well in this case those mothers are very expensive..... I visited the fibreglass shop today and met a couplaa really nice and very helpful guys running the store. One of them was blown away when I showed him my video I'd taken of the sidewall this morning. A lot has changed since I last picked up a squeegee and resin, so it was nice to talk at length with these guys and learn about the new resins and techniques and all of the safety aspects of using this medium. Of course, the safety side of things can never be stessed enough and anybody doing any sort of glassing, be it polyester or epoxy, should be using gloves and respirators and adequately ventilating the areas they are working in. I was lucky enough to have worked in a very regimented workplace with high priority on safety. One of the tips I got from the guys was about the cold snap that we're currently experiencing and they advised against doing any epoxy fibreglassing after mid-day as the temperatures are dropping too low to take a chance with the resin not curing. I also discussed various options for my roof section. I need to work out what I am making my ribs from, as I need strength and lightness and the unit will be in one piece and be pretty big. I still have a little time to come up with those specs tho, as I don't have the roof structure ready for manufacture until next year. I am hoping, tho, that things get ahead of plan and that I might even have this built prior to the end of the year. That would make me very happy!!!! Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dean (PC Aviator) Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Frank, The roof is a no-brainer... Carbon-fibre... Hope your cheque book is handy Hmm what other materials are strong, but also light? and half-affordable... that could be a challenge yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennyson Posted August 2, 2012 Author Share Posted August 2, 2012 Unfortunately, carbon fibre has a few draw backs. It's extremely dangerous to use as it's one of the only glassing products for moulding that has barbs on it's fibres. That means that if you breath it in, it will stick to the insides of your lungs, much like asbestos. Secondly, it is not cheap and also not as light as other alternatives. It really does depend on the resin you use with carbon as to the weight of the finished product. I am looking at a wood called paulownia. It is extremely light and has a beautiful tight grain and when coated with the right resin, produces remarkable strength characteristics. It's being used a lot in the boating industry. Unfortunately, like most quality goods, it's expensive and not too easy to secure. I do know of a distributor on the Gold Coast and his pricing is quite good, so I may end up going that way, if I can secure enough paulownia for the entire job. Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Emms Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Frank as i read this it amazes me to the amount of work involved here not only the build but all the home work you are putting into your build finding different materials and meeting people and all the discusions your having i take my hat off to you mate and wish you well with the next part of your project. cheers Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennyson Posted August 4, 2012 Author Share Posted August 4, 2012 Thanx Iain. It's hard for it not to be the focus of your life, but I got a great, busy family that keep me on my toes with other things as well. The hardest part, Iain, is staying in one place long enough. I have a bad case of the wanders and I really love my travel, so at the moment, I'm tapped out money wise. Thankfully I've spent my money on a lot of sim equipment lately, so travel is not an option but I have a little windfall coming my way in the next month, so it will be a real test to see if I can stay at home then. And, back at the ranch...the left sidewall is completely done now and phase 2 begins. I'll finish off the right sidewall now and then sand them both back together before starting on the sill panels. It will be all go again next week, but this weekend, it's V8's, so break out a coolie and warm up my favourite chair.... Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Emms Posted August 4, 2012 Share Posted August 4, 2012 Nice one Frank you enjoy yourself mate and have a cool one on me my friend. cheers Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennyson Posted August 7, 2012 Author Share Posted August 7, 2012 Had a few quiet days, but it's nose to the grindstone day today. I finished putting my sidewall grimes utilty light all back together and tested with the 12 volt bulb, works like a beauty! I've also been working on the glarewings and they are just about done, too. Today, I'll be trying to get all of the right hand side sidewall cut and tacked together, so I can fibreglass it later this week and then next week, I can get on with the sills. So, I hope to have a few pics tonight or tomorrow, Until then, Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennyson Posted August 7, 2012 Author Share Posted August 7, 2012 So, I've just finished cutting the rest of the mdf for the right hand sidewall and it's all tacked together and drying now. My left one is finsihed as far as fibreglassing is concerned and it just need sanding and a few coats of undercoat and paint on it. Here's a pic of it: I went and bought the foam for making my sill panels today. When I got back home, there waiting for me was my other grimes utility light from APHS in the states. Nick Louis is a retired captain and certainly has some contacts, because this unit almost looks new, have a look: I'm not going to touch this one, just change the bulb for a 12 volt version and whack it on the sidewall. Those guys sell some great quality cockpit hardware at great prices. Ok, I'm gonna get back to it. I can shape the sill panels while the sidewall is drying, Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timmo32 Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 awesome frank,the project is comming together nice,thanks for the update Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Emms Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 Yes Frank keep up the great work my friend. cheers Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingleaf Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 Yup. Thanks for the update. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennyson Posted August 8, 2012 Author Share Posted August 8, 2012 I went off to Jaycar today to see if I could find a connection fitting to put on my utility lights. I wanted a fitting on the light and the sidewall so that I can take them off if I want to, or swap them over. That meant that it would have to have a solid connector and one that would not pull out easily as you stretch the lead to some of the areas within the cockpit. The guys there came up with a really nice solution. It's a scew on fitting that has two poles, which is perfect for 12 volt. Here's the fitting: It's a beautiful solid fitting with a screw fitting to the adaptor which will fit throo the sidewall. It's a soldered connection on both sides, but really easy to use and assembly is a breeze. Ten minutes of work and I've got two utility lights ready to install in the cockpit. My left hand sidewall is also assembled now. Tomorrow, I'll start fibregalssing it and then sanding both of them on Friday. That's the plan, anyway.... Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Emms Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 Very nice Frank. cheers Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennyson Posted August 9, 2012 Author Share Posted August 9, 2012 Well, tonight I've been working on the sill panels for the sidewalls. This has proved to be quite a problem. The walls are not straight, but have a slight compound curve as the body shapes to a point at the front. Commercially made sidewall panels on the market mainly run up to the sill panel and then stop, as they are designed to fit inside a cockpit shell. I don't have a shell, so I need to incorporate the panels up to the roof line. I also don't have a 737 at my fingertips that I can measure up, so I have to think outside the box. I have a full pdf file incorporating most of the measurements of the 737, but when it comes to the sills and the rear roof, it's sadly lacking. Then I had a brain wave. PMDG have spent a mozza modelling the 737 off a commercial aircraft in service, so I could just bring up my NGX, take some snaps from within FSX and take the dimesnsions off that. In actual fact, my cockpit will be very similar to the set-up of the NGX anyway, so it was worth a shot. I cranked up FSX and Ezdock, took my snaps and then imported them into photoshop for a little straightening. From there, I was able to import them into CorelDraw and used the dimensional measuring tool to work out the sizes of the sills. I printed out those sheets and then started cutting the sills from the foam that I bought the other day. Unfortunately, the foam is not good enough for the job. It is chipping and I broke a major piece, which would need glueing back together, if I were to go on. On the other hand, I have already organised a trip to the coast in the morning, to a surfboard manufacturing shop that sells high density shaping foam, such as I am after. So, I've cashed in the chips, no need wasting time and patience on something that just isn't going to work. I will wait until I get the foam tomorrow and try again. Until then, Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennyson Posted August 10, 2012 Author Share Posted August 10, 2012 Found some great info and products from a whole host of boat building shops today. I also bought some products including "special" expandable foam, made for fibreglassing and exactly what I was looking for with the sill panels. It has worked out about a tenth of the cost of shaping foam. I've also got my mate from Qantas on the job, getting me an exact set of dimensions of the sidewall panels, including the sill panels and the windows. It'll be interesting to compare them with the NGX dimensions that I have come up with according to my drawings. I was hoping to have received my I/O card back from Canada this week, but to no avail. It will probably be here early next week, so i now have a hurry up to finish the glare shields and get that part all back together too. FDS were really good and the repair on my damaged Sys card was very reasonable. It will be nice to have all of that side of things re-installed and up and running again. That's all for now, Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Emms Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 Well done Frank i look foward to the next part. cheers Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingleaf Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 Terrific Frank. Thanks for the update and I am still in total awe over your dedication to reality and detail. Keep up the good work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennyson Posted August 11, 2012 Author Share Posted August 11, 2012 Finished all of the fibreglassing on the right hand sidewall this morning, so I'll give that a few days to harden up and then start sanding later in the week. I'll also have the dimensions of the sill panels by then, so I can work on that early in the week and hopefully my parts from Canada and Spain will arrive and I can start fitting all those nice goodies into the mix. More pics to come later in the week, guys and gals, Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boetie Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 "It'll be interesting to compare them with the NGX dimensions that I have come up with according to my drawings." I agree Frank, just how much detail do these PMDG boys reproduce? Let us know your findings mate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennyson Posted August 12, 2012 Author Share Posted August 12, 2012 Well Graeme, You will be happy to know that the dimensions I have from my old mate were so close to what I had from my dimensioning off the PMDG bird. Of course, his would be more accurate (hence, why I asked him to do it) and he got me dimensions that were hard to get from a visual point of view, so I'm happy to go ahead now. This week will see a lot of work completed and I have a pretty high expectation at weeks end of what should be done. What a slave driver! Back soon, Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennyson Posted August 13, 2012 Author Share Posted August 13, 2012 It felt like my birthday and xmas all rolled in to one today! As soon as I was finished breakfast, bang, the doorbell rang and there were my goodies from Spain! Yahoo! I quickly opened them up. I had bought one of the new Opencockpits' CDU version 3.0. This will replace my existing first generation FDS CDU's. This might seem a bit absurd, having just finished installing them, but the FDS one's are only B/W and no backlight. The OC ones are !024 x 768 colour displays that run off a usb connection and a vga connector. Anyway, here's a few pics: I also bought a valve pressure gauge for my overhead: And a set of automated starter switches for the overhead as well. These are of particular interest as a set of aircraft cole switches can cost upwards of 500 bucks and these little babies cost 129 euro's, so it's quite the bargain. Of course, it all came with the usual bunch of cables and connectors: So, I'm in 7th heaven again, tinkering and fittiing things and testing and having a ball. Anyway, I have all of tonight to play with my new toys and then tomorrow, I have a day off to go to the Ekka. Love the Ekka and I'm looking forward to seeing the show events and the wood chopping. So, until then, my friends, Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Emms Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Nice one Frank i hope you have a good time and then back to it no doubt. cheers Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timmo32 Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 bloody awesome frank,thanks for the update! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chumley Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 I thought Ekka Day was Wednesday or has Can-do changed it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuisong Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 bloody awesome frank,thanks for the update! Amen to that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennyson Posted August 13, 2012 Author Share Posted August 13, 2012 Ekka holiday is any day you like when you are retired.... Went and saw the Bourne Legacy tonight with my boy....awesome movie! Now, back to the sim.... Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockliffe Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 I'm drooling again Frank.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennyson Posted August 15, 2012 Author Share Posted August 15, 2012 I know it seems like I been quiet here, but there has been a lot going on behind the scenes. A major part of my build has changed. I am now trialling new software, as I have been experiencing constant problems with my exisiting software. This has been further spurned on from the lack of support by major hardware vendors, so I'm changing. On another note, my glares are once more back together and I'll be painting them again tomorrow and then re-installing them on the MIP. They are now removeable, so I can access them at a later stage, if need be. That's about all, so I better bet back to it. I'll take some pics tomorrow and post them. Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Emms Posted August 15, 2012 Share Posted August 15, 2012 Thanks for the update Frank i hope everything goes alright with the new software mate. cheers Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodduck Posted August 15, 2012 Share Posted August 15, 2012 Still looking good there mate. That starter panel looks very similar to the one I was considering from Go Flight, very nice. Frank that Throtle quadrant must be gtting close to arrival, can't wait to see some pictures of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennyson Posted August 15, 2012 Author Share Posted August 15, 2012 I wish, John. I keep hoping, but I know they are not the fastest company in the world when it comes to getting the goods to you. If it wasn't for the fact that there really isn't an equivalent of that quality and price, I'd be asking for my money back. I'm sure, tho, that when it hits the Ozzie shore, I'll be laughing like a little porker in poo. And that starter panel, John, is a clever little piece of gear. It has 2 rotary switches that are attached to servo's and little motors and the SIOC script does a countdown for the switch to turn back off. It is a very cheap and inventive alternative to a really expensive electro-mecahnical part. Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennyson Posted August 17, 2012 Author Share Posted August 17, 2012 I'm sorry guys, but I've had my mind on other things in the last few days. However, in between the rigours of life, I had found time to do a top coat of resin on both of my sidewalls and they look pretty good. My FDS Sys card winged it's way back to me today, along with a few other goodies, so I have a lot of work coming up very shortly. I am going to try and get the sill panels started tomorrow, but have husband duties that will require some attention, too, so I may have to do a bit of juggling. At the very least, I'll take some snaps tomorrow, on the bits and pieces I've just bought and a few pics of the sidewalls. Promises, promises...... Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Emms Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Look foward to seeing the snaps and Frank dont forget the flowers mate. cheers Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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