Third HFS Cockpit Complete..and what a beauty!!

Yesterday the AformX HFS Spitfire Cockpit arrived at the Pivka Museum in Slovenia. This is the third complete Heritage Flight Simulation cockpit, after the prototype and the one at The Aviator Experience in Tauranga, New Zealand. It has been a pleasure working with Sašo Knez and his most capable team over the last few months.

The official handover will be taking place in time to come and will be the subject of a separate post, right now I would like to share with you the timeline of this amazing build. They have done an exceptional job in just over 3 months.. a stunning achievement!

The AformX HFS Spitfire arrives at Pivka Museum on 20 April 2021

Sašo Knez, co-owner of AformX and Chief Test Pilot at Pipistrel Aircraft contacted me in November of last year for information on building the HFS Spitfire Mk.IX simulator cockpit. They placed their order on the 17th November. Ongoing problems with Shapeways (they provide a good product but ordering the required 203 parts is a monumental pain) had me rethink the supply strategy and got me on to our new supplier Weerg in Italy. (You can now order the package direct from myself at a fraction of the Shapeways price 🙂 The Shapeways shop remains open as an option for now however.)

The AformX Team

By the 4th January 2021 AformX had received their CNC routed plywood and the 3d printed nylon parts.

4 January 2021, receipt of the CNC routed parts

I was able to send off their metal parts kits, mouldings and canopy on the 14th January and it was in their workshop by the 21st January. Now work could begin in earnest. The following photos provide a timeline of the amazing progress achieved.

5 January 2021

 

6 January 2021

 

8 January 2021
8 January 2021
18 January 2021
21 January 2021 – Arrival of the HFS kits
22 January 2021
25 January 2021 – note the extended fuselage in order to incorporate the radio hatch and aerial
25 January 2021
25 January 2021
25 January 2021
28 January 2021
1 February 2021
1 February 2021
5 February 2021
5 February 2021
9 February 2021
17 February 2021

 

24 February 2021
24 February 2021
24 February 2021
25 February 2021
18 March 2021 – Note the Pipistrel simulator in the background. AformX have built and supplied over 30 of these already.
18 March 2021
18 March 2021
21 March 2021 – Note the riveting detail added! Amazing work!
23 March 2021
23 March 2021
20 April 2021 – Complete!