Prototype Build Volume 3 Part 1 – Mind and Machine equals Beauty

As I stood watching the CNC Router carving the beautiful, almost organic looking Spitfire cockpit coaming casting I could not help but marvel at the evolution of man and his tools. I would never have thought that I, a relative dunce at handwork, could recreate the cockpit of the most elegant aircraft design ever devised. And make it look good.

Carved mould to replicate the Coaming Casting

Such is the wondrous world of the 4th Industrial Revolution. Twenty one months ago I set out to create this, inspired by having flown DCS World’s Spitfire Mk.IX in Virtual Reality and the possibilities offered by 3D Printing, CNC machining and laser cutting. I must also mention that having seen the great work of John Fall on GrabCad also was inspiring and hinted at the possibilities. I must also acknowledge AutoCad in this, without them making available Fusion 360 free for start-up companies, I would not have been able to progress as I have. If ever I reach a $100k per year turnover with my company, I shall gladly take a paid subscription to their software.

So as you will have noted from the featured image the Instrument Panel is complete! It has turned a thing of true beauty, every bit as wonderful as the rendered image posted what seems like ages ago (August last year I see!). I hope you will agree.

Things are now really moving. I have received all of the laser cut sheetmetal, many of the fittings, the routed plywood covering and the waterjet cut Lexan or clear polycarbonate. I must say the later is the only order that disappointed somewhat. The cuts are pretty rough and very little care was taken in preventing the material from getting scratched. You live and learn. Next time I will try with Plexiglass which is more scratch resistant and I will have it CNC routed with a trusted supplier instead.

Progress on the windscreen

So back to the coaming casting… On the real Spitfire this was cast aluminium, designed to provide a streamlined connection between the Windscreen assembly and the fuselage. I routed it on my small CNC router after having stuck two layers of 22mm MFD together. It took 8 hours, demanding my full time attention as I was the vacuum hose operator. Hmm…got to get one of those extraction shoes before I try that again! Anyway, the intent was to use that as a vacuum forming mould with 3mm ABS plastic. I took it to a company to pull as many copies as they could from the mould. They indicated that given the finish and design, it was likely to only last one pull. Their forecast was correct. It does look nice though! I already have a modified design in mind for future use which will allow multiple pulls. After I have obtained a dust extraction shoe for the router..!

After finishing the instrument panel I packed away all the bits I had put together so far in order to protect them from the dust to come. I started the covering of the fuselage! After much thought on the sequence of the installation of the cover panels, I marked the edges of the 3mm flexi-plywood back by 24mm for scarfing. This is to thin the edges down at an angle so that the thickness of overlapping panels remains constant at the join. The things you learn from YouTube!

I have also been stapling the panels where it is not possible to clamp it to the frame. Seems to work ok, just need a small sliver of wood to prevent the staple crossbar from disfiguring the panel.

What else… Oh, been bending things and received the 2mm aluminium sheetmetal bits. Thats great because they were the last batch required and contain many of the brackets required to assemble the cockpit.

And so, back to work! So much to do, so little time….!!!

Prototype Build Volume 2 Part 3 – Making Chips

Watching our CNC router cutting out the Spitfire Mk.IX labels is a mesmerising experience. First the lettering appears as if by magic, gently carved out of the Romark Matte 2-Ply Black/White plastic laminate. Then suddenly little white chips are flying everywhere as the label contours are cut out. The end result looks fantastic and the labels add hugely to the realism and accuracy of the build. The G-Code file and laser engraved pdf format will be made available as part of the plan set, allowing you to cut these yourself or provide it to a local service provider for processing.

Label sheet

Having the labels allowed us to progress further with some of the items such as the Reflector Gunsight and various switches.

We also installed the Hall proximity sensors and magnets in the covered switches. These clip into place really neatly. They will signal the simulator when the cover is opened or closed.

Hall magnetic
sensor in switch base

We are still waiting for quotes on the machine drawings but did manage to place orders on the fasteners and various fittings such as bearings, electronics sensors, plexiglass waterjet cutouts and the plywood cover panels. We should be receiving them this week.

Various bits and pieces are starting to arrive at the HFS workshop, most notably the Aluminium 4.5mm and 3mm Plate.

Bag of 4.5mm aluminium parts

The laser engraving of the component numbers on each piece have come out nicely and will be hugely helpful in identifying their position in the build.

Component number laser engraved

We are still waiting for the bulk of the sheetmetal components, mainly made up of 0.9mm and 2mm aluminium sheet. We were however able to start some of the assembly with what arrived, like parts of the Chassis Control, Wobble Pump and Spade Grip Clevis joint.

With most of the drawings complete and with many of the components arriving we will be able to focus on the build process. Hectic!

 

Getting a grip..

Another week and more important milestones achieved. We managed to complete machine drawings for the mild steel and aluminium components and sent them out on enquiry. Hopefully we will receive quotes during this coming week. We also placed orders for the sheetmetal laser cutting and marking and for most of the fittings. These include component such as clevis forks and the likes.

In between all of this we have completed the painting of all the SLS Nylon 3D printed components. We have also started assembling these as far as we can.

I am very pleased with the way the spade grip has turned out. The areas which represent metal were painted with standard fibreglass resin to provide the necessary smoothness. The Dunlop Crackle, the pattern of which has been beautifully crafted into the print, was coated with a paint on rubber insulation. This provides a wonderfully tactile feel and looks great.

The firing buttons have had their internal pushbuttons installed and while the central spring is still required, work very well. Pressure on the top gives machine guns, bottom the cannon and centre you can feel both are activated.

The gunsight is shaping up nicely too. I installed the mini potentiometers and the movement of the Range and Base dials are very smooth. The safety pad has also been coated with the liquid rubber insulation. There is still quite a bit of work remaining on this, including the glass components and engraving.

Gunsight WIP

The wobble pump is coming together and was also first given a coating of resin. After painting in black some silver wear highlights were added and it is difficult to distinguish it from a real metal pump.

Wobble Pump WIP

Exhibitions, promotional tours and … Progress!

Its been two weeks since my last confes…ehm… post! and I thought I better just let you all know what’s been happening 😅. (how do you like the pic of the FlyingIron Simulations Spitfire for X-Plane 11? Alex and Dan have just released a fantastic update!)

Progress

I am happy to report that we finished all the sheetmetal DXF cutting patterns a week ago and got that off for a quote at our laser jet cutting supplier. It’s a major milestone and amounts to 330 pattern drawings, each with its engraved component number and where applicable bend lines and limits, also to be engraved. The sheetmetal is of different thicknesses and material, as per the following:

Sheetmetal DXF Cutting and Engraving Patterns

While waiting for the quotation we started the Aluminium Profiling Drawings. The Square Tube drawings have been completed and we also have completed the cutting and drilling of these of these profiles.

Some of the Square Tube Profile Drawings
Completed aluminium Square Tube Profiles

We have also managed to paint the chair and do a little further work on the painting of the SLS Nylon printed parts.

Painted seat – Upholstery to follow
De-ice pump and metering gauge

Exhibiting at Aero South Africa 4 to 6 July 2019

Exciting news is that we have booked a stand at Aero South Africa which is going to run from 4 to 6 July at Wonderboom Airport, Pretoria. Aero South Africa runs in partnership with Aero Friedrichshaven. We hope to be exhibiting our completed Spitfire Mk.IX Cockpit Simulator.

So….the challenge is on!

UK, Canada and US Tour

Further news is that we have arranged a promotional tour to coincide with Flying Legends at Duxford and the Royal International Air Tattoo in the UK and then on to Canada, EAA Airventure at Oshkosh, USA and also the Northwest of USA. We will be visiting various museums in these areas to discuss our project and give VR demonstrations. More on this in a next post…