The Dream continues..

[rockliffe]

Nice one Frank. Don't forget to have a sitting room with coffee and biscuits for all your friends who'll be lining up for a fly!

[Wolf2grey]

Nice one Frank. Don't forget to have a sitting room with coffee and biscuits for all your friends who'll be lining up for a fly!

or more like................. when we see it......................lol.

Its going to rock for sure.....

[tennyson]

Yeah, I was a bit ticked off that I didn't have the room for the pool and diving board.....

Ohh, well, maybe during the next upgrade!

Hahaha

Frank

[mra]

Just don't forget the F/O's seat Frank. Already there's a queue Out the door looking at all the views of this thread let alone posts.

[tennyson]

Hi guys. A quick update on the progress.

the boys came today and put up the cornice. The walls need a final sand tomorrow morning and then Tom, my old mate, the painter and I will start putting paint on the room.

It has been such a big project so far and thankfully we are almost at the end. A few finishing touches like hooking up the power points and the light over the weekend and then the carpet guy comes on Tuesday.

Starting Wednesday, I'm having a week off for rest and recuperation.

Then it's out with the newly painted FDS shell and the real building starts......

I got some pics to put up in my next post, stay tuned......

Frank

[rockliffe]

Hey Frank, once it's all finished, how about shooting a little video? Nothing too glamorous, just a quick taster for us all to see?

[woodduck]

Hey Frank that decision of yours to move was certainly the right one.

 

I think we are all waiting to see what the sim looks like in its new location.

 

I have been trying to post on this topic for the last two weeks, but have been having problems with the "Enter" key.

 

Everything appears ok again. Looking good mate, keep the pics flowing.

[tennyson]

You are dead right, John. It was just a fantastic chain of events.

I don't know if I said this before, but the forward section of the room, containing the cockpit and the screen and projectors is being painted charcoal or at least a very dark blue.

The rest of the room, which I intend to use for the foyer, is to be painted an off-white.

My old mate next door laughed when he heard that and reckons I should put those little glow in the dark, stars on the ceiling.

What I'm trying to do, of course, is cut down on the external transmitted light. The cockpit will light up better without the extra light sources from outside the cockpit. It should also aid the clarity and colour definition from the three projectors.

Frank

[tennyson]

Ok Guys, here's a heavy duty update!

My Sim room is almost finished. I have the carpets going down tomorrow, a little bit of work finishing off the architraves and then she's good to go.

So, I trawling throo the classifieds the other day and a young fellow from Sydney is selling up his sim gear. I was lucky enough to talk him into selling me his dual yoke set-up, below:

That means, I'm back to the drawing board with my base. I need to make it higher now, to accommodate the cross-over tube and all of the gear that goes with the dual yokes.

It's no big deal. I'd rather go this way and have a more professional sim, than stay with the ACE yokes that work independently.

So, I'm off to Sydney tomorrow for a lightning run down and back.

Will report back, when I have the units in hand......ohhh, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Frank

[Iain Emms]

Nice one Frank it sure is coming together fast now.

cheers

Iain

[woodduck]

I like that colour scheme you have chosen, it will create a lot of ambience for that room.

 

It should look spectacular when finished and lighting is on.

[Jay Kae]

Seriously, there is a lot of understanding in my household for Flightsim but if I would bring this to the table lol I'd be dead

[flyingleaf]

Lol  Jay likewise here. Great work Frank.

[mra]

Jay I can't even get my wife to look at Frank's photographs.

[rockliffe]

Nice Frank. I agree with John, the colour you've chosbn for the room is superb. Looks fantastic!

[tennyson]

Well, we just got back from Sydney. It was a lightning run down and back, but not without incident.

My old mate that drove with me has a heavy foot, so he is about 417 dollars lighter now, due to an upcoming contribution to the policeman's ball.

Apart from that, we got to meet two of the nicest guys, Mat and his father (sorry, I think it was Joe), who were involved in simming, but he's now breaking up and selling off all of his sim parts.

He's putting the money towards flight training, lucky boy!

Mat had a really nice set-up there and the yokes were installed, set-up and calibrated all by himself and his father, who is a Qantas engineer. It was a tip top job and I'm gonna try and do it justice in my own set-up.

I also bought a rear overhead off him, so I'm whittling away at the still need list and it's getting shorter by the day.

I'll get a few pics tomorrow, in the daylight and throw them up here.

Glad you guys like the colour of the room. It's actually a very, very dark green, but looks black when you walk in. The beautiful twist pile carpet I had laid in there is a deep chocolate and suits it as well, I believe.

So, it's all go now. My week I was taking off is out the door and it's all hands on deck now, converting my existing base to accommodate the new yokes. you know what they say..."No rest for the wicked!".....hahaha

Frank

[tennyson]

Ok, time for a little update.

I was all keen to get the base and shell constructed again, but still had a few of those niggly little things to do, to finish off the Man Cave/Flight deck.

I decided, it was best to stick it out, get all the little jobs finished first and then move on with the re-construction.

There are two small jobs left and I will have them finished early tomorrow, so I can officially say then that the room is finished.

I just wanted to finish one project before starting another.

So, first up, I'll be pulling in the base and putting it back together, so I can mark out where my new yokes will need to be installed. Added to that, I'll need to increase the height of the original base to accommodate the depth of the dual yokes.

I'm leaning towards laying a few bearers across the base to give it the extra height, either 4 x 2's or 6 x 2's.

I'd imagine that will take some time and patience and I think should see out most of next week. If I can have the base re-constructed with the yokes installed by this time next week, I'll be very happy.

So, there's the plan moving forward. I'll be sure to get some snaps and add them next week.

Until then.....

Frank

[moonman]

Great updates here Frank!

Congratulations again on all the progress!

Looking simply amazing!

 

 

Seriously, there is a lot of understanding in my household for Flightsim but if I would bring this to the table lol I'd be dead

[Wolf2grey]

Awesome........Ready to see the completed pictures..........Keep it up Frank.......Very Nice!!!

[Mickey]

Im deeply impressed. I thought im ahead with my little beamer but this rocks!!!!

 

Greetz

 

MJ

[Iain Emms]

Keep up the fantastic work Frank, I do enjoy reading and looking at your progress.

cheers

Iain

[Dibidut]

Hey again Tennyson.

Actually i have a quistion for you. I guess you are an "expert", gradually, in the matter of wireing, soldering an so! I would like to make a set of collectives, for Chopper simmering, with 2, Logitech Attak3 Joystick.

My quistion is : Can i extent, the wires, from the Attak3s crontroller and through lets say a 120mm-150mm pipe to the handle/joystick??  

I think that,after all, its just a little signal, that is required, for the buttons (with the same(i hope) wire Square/mm).

Thanks in advance.

Best regards

Henrik

Congrats with your new residense, im looking forward to see more great and creative stuff, from you in the future.

Best regards

Henrik

[Dibidut]

To day i woke up, and think 120mm-150mm, for a collective...Hmmm, i mean of cource 1200-1500mm  

Henrik

[tennyson]

Hi Henrick,

Looks like you've answered your own question.

As to being an expert, I don't think so. To me an expert is somebody who knows it all and I think that would be dull and uninteresting (and a little impossible to boot!).

I enjoy waking up each day and knowing, at my age, I'm still learning and willing to take in knowledge. I don't mind sharing what I know, but the sheer joy of understanding a circuit or figuring out how to accomplish a task is great.

Anyway, here's a few snaps I've taken over the past few weeks.

Here's the room after we sheeted it and my boy put the first coats of filler on. We were waiting for his mate to come, the next day, to do the cornice:

And here he is, giving it a sand with his vacuum cleaner sander:

I've taken these today, with the room, fully finished off:

And here's a little panorama of the room, taken on my iphone:

Work starts in earnest, on the base, Monday.

Frank

[Iain Emms]

The room looks fantastic Frank well done mate.

cheers

Iain

[tennyson]

Thanx, Iain.

I'm really happy with how it came out. I'm dying to get all the shell back together and see how the light in the room affects the cockpit.

Quite a step up from a small little garage and a concrete floor...haha

Frank

[Dibidut]

There is "expert" and there is also EXPERT 

henrik

[Ryan Mason]

Henrik,

 

To answer your question, the answer is yes, you can extend it, but you'll want to put a bend in the pipe to account for it being in your lap, just grab yourself some cat 5 cable and a solderer and you'll be on your way.  I have done this many times. 

 

Frank as always, looking fab mate.

[flyingleaf]

Great work Frank. Looking real good. Can't wait for more.

[Dibidut]

Thanks Ryan, for the answer.

I just wont start something, i cant finish.

I have a bit experience with Dc 12 volt and Sollar-cells, and when you draw a wire, you have to use the right dimension(mm2) for a

specific effect x distance or things could go very bad.

There is a lot of alternatives of course.

Ei. To buy a bU0836A from Leo Bodnar (a bit overkill), i then had to make some more "complicated" mecanical solution,

that would require a bunch of expencive tools, i guess.

Or i could buy a set of semi-/prof. Collectives for a coppel of 1000$$.

Also the homemade collective (in this Forum), with Saiteks Trottle (its relative simple, but it works) just the Saitek T. looks to be a bad quality,

not the homemade hardware build. There i would miss some buttons.

 

Btw. about pipes. I alreaddy have a collection of pipes in different dimensions, but still looking for "the right" one.

Maby a broken Aluminum Garden chair (not to broken).

Thanks again Ryan.

 

Sorry Frant for interrupting your Topic. (wont happend again).

 

Best regards

Henrik

[alan2]

Sure your not opening a late night bar or dance club or something there Frank . Easy to do looking at that !!

 

 

 

@ Henrick . why not make a post of your conversions as it happens ( or after if thats too scary ) 

[tennyson]

That's alright Henrick.

I was trying to think of a rotor head that could help you, I clean forgot about Ryan's obsession with rotary wing. he's drfinately your man, thas for sure!

So, I got to the re-building today.

First off, here's a finished shot of the back of the room. I had to leave the drain intact for drainage purposes, so I lost about 6 inches off the room, big deal!

And I got the frame back out today and put it back together:

Where's the sticky tape gone?

This frame is now gonna have to be raised about 6 inches to accommodate the new yokes:

So, I slapped the top sheeting on temporarily, to work out where the yokes will be positioned:

Here's the MIP and the two sidewalls, just positioned on the base:

CDU bay, RSP throttle positioned and the yokes, just sitting in place:

And the yokes, lying back on the floor, attached:

And finally, a little one minute video of the whole days effort..

Till next time,

Frank

[Dibidut]

Yes you are of course right, Eggbeaters Heaven, would bee the place. It was just a quik impulse to ask you Frank.

 

I see you are going fast now with, the assambling. Great to see, that your almost finish, with the project....

 

Until next time.

Best regards

Henrik

[Iain Emms]

Lost for words Frank, this does look fantastic in the early stage of the rebuild mate.

cheers

Iain

[woodduck]

That Sim looks as though it belongs there Frank.

 

Even as an observer it has been a massive project, but the end appears to be in sight. 

 

I am nearing a 2 year GA build, nothing to compare with yours, and I asked my wife to look at your masterpiece. She walked away shaking her head with the comment, you both seem to have more money than brains. What can I say, I keep myself happy.

 

That Quadrant is certainly the centrepiece of your Sim, it really is looking exceptional.  

[rockliffe]

Superb Frank, thanks for the update...

[tennyson]

Thanx Gents.

Today was a very frustrating day.

I had my mate from the Sunshine Coast come down and we went throo the countless 737 documents that I've amassed over the years, looking for dimensions to properly locate the yokes.

I used some pretty good reference materials, but there was some discrepancies between documents. In the end, we worked it out and had the position marked.

The next nightmare is modifying the base to accommodate the dual yokes. I'm off to Bunnings tomorrow to buy another truck load of structural pine to raise the base another 90mm off the ground and provide the clearance necessary for the yokes.

It sure helped, when doing all the measurements, that I'd drawn up plans for the base.

Once I get the yokes in, I can start putting the shell back together and installing the internal components again, e.g the MIP and the sidewalls, CDU bay and the throttle quadrant.

I've also managed to find some good plans on the net for my wrap around screen structure, so I'll take them off to my drawing program, throw in some measurements of the room and start selecting the materials for the screen.

I'm going to try and use a single (or maybe two, joined) sheet of gyprock and paint it.

Anyway, again, that's the plan, but I got a bit of time yet before I start working on that.

For now, it's the yokes and the base, so "damn the torpedoes mister, full steam ahead!"

Frank

[Ryan Mason]

Frank, there are a bunch of 220 degree screen makers out there that can set up a projector with blending.  It would be sad to see all of your work and then only projected on a flat screen mate.  If you want some references of places we use doing helicopter sims let me know.

[Wolf2grey]

Looking great Frank.......This has been an awesome read (and visual)  from day one. Looks like the light at the end of the tunnel is in sight......Keep it up. Cant wait to see the finished video....

[tennyson]

I think you misunderstood, Ryan.

I'm building a full wrap around screen with triple projectors. That was the whole point of building the special room.

The first of the HD short throws are coming now, so by the time I'm ready there should be some variety to choose from.

Frank