The last week and a half have seen most of the major components come together. The windscreen brow was cut out of its vacuum pull and fitted. It’s great the way it has made the whole of the windscreen structure quite rigid.
Marking the windscreen brow for cutting
Fitting of the brow
Fits perfectly!
The rear glass was also cut and fitted. This completes all the glass component installation. The final fit-ups for the wing fillets were also done and the fillets painted.
All the aluminium 2mm Bend Diagrams were completed and bending done. This resulted in a flurry of spray painting 🙂
Work could then begin in earnest on the centre pedestal including the finalisation of the control column, rudder pedals and elevator centring mechanism, with these all having being in place today.
Centre pedestal assembly
Elevator centring mechanism
Elevator mechanism rear
and installed…
Control Column being finalised
Control colum and rudder pedals assembled
and installed…
Looking grand!
32 days to Aero SA…!!!
Roel,
Still the best Spitfire simulator cockpit, bar none. I noted in the outside view of the fuselage how smooth the surface is and was wondering if you plan to put a rivet pattern on the outside (maybe using flat headed tacks to represent flush rivets. The book “Spitfire Engineered” by Paul Monforton has all of the rivet paterns. I bought it as an eBook for about $20 and it is a fabulous reference.
All the best
David Henderson
Brisbane Australia
Thank you David!
My focus right now on the prototype is to prove all the components within the build. I have considered the riveting issue though and agree that Monforton’s book is an excellent reference. Given time I would do a 0.5mm aluminium cladding using the exact size and placement of the original platework. This could be glued in place and small tacks used to replicate rivets. Given a polish, the plate would give a fantastic bare metal finish 🙂
At this moment though finalising the plans and drawing up the assembly manual will take priority. And then there is the small matter that I have 25 days left before displaying at the Aero South Africa exhibition…..eeek! What that means is completing the physical build without any electronics cabling, so I will need to dismantle some things to complete that after the show. Ce’st la vie..
Best regards,
Roel
Roger that. Cladding and tacks will be great. I am also very impressed with the windscreen and canopy – that is where most other sims take shortcuts and look cheap.
Good luck with the Aero SA exhibition.
David
Thanks David!
FANTÁSTIC
Thank you Kelsey!