Generic shell build - very early days

[fsaviator]

I'm thinking about giving myself a little extra motivation by going along here: http://www.ipilotlondon.com/

Wow, that is impressive... I may have to look into that the next time I'm through the UK.

Maybe I need to look at setting something like that up here in Colorado... I think I have a retirement goal now.

[No Longer Active]

I know that my sim is only a Cessna and nothing compared to yours but I agree about the motivation side of things plus the time factor, I am even more limited...all my work has to be done on my door step or in the living room as I have a flat/apartment and no garden or workshop, just a car park in front of me, my door step has always been my worktop....plus I need good weather to work, in Essex/London weather is always raining and grey and getting dark much earlier now!

To remove a lot of the actual work and building I have had to design my whole sim as a kit so that it can just be delivered as a flat pack from a CNC company and then assembled, I have indeed started assembling, but you just don't realise all the stuff that goes into it such as priming, sanding, spraying, screwing, electronics etc.....then there is that secret list of ingredients that you never thought you needed and you just cant do without etc, such as special fixings, screws, cables (sh*t loads of it), heat shrink, solder, wood glue, primer, led holders, terminals etc etc, I forgot about most of these with just the final product in my site, this has added cost and more time, and I need to constantly remind myself why I am doing this. Project updates are crucial to me, the more I see the more I want to build, especially if someone has done some awsome work on their pit!

All I say, Is please post as many updates as you can because it keeps us motivated, regardless of how far or how little you have done, and hopefully we can motivate others!

Just my two cents of encouragement!

Alex

[Neil Hewitt]

Hi Alex.

Thanks for the words of encouragement. Sounds like you and I have a lot of factors in common - not least the South East's terrible weather - especially WRT space. I'm lucky enough to have an unused second double bedroom which has always functioned as an office / workroom. To make the project work I've had to basically move my office into my living room. Since there's no Wife Acceptance Factor involved in my case that's less of an issue than it might be. The office stuff will move back once the shell is done; I've left enough space for it.

There's no such thing as 'only' a Cessna sim, IMHO. A sim is a sim is a sim, the challenges are the same, only the scale differs. I'd balk at the amount of work involved in a full-on Boeing or Airbus sim, particularly as a first-time builder and someone who is enjoying fabricating everything himself. No way could I produce anything as good as the stuff many people on here are making. I just don't have the tools, the materials, or the experience. But from little seeds do mighty acorns grow, and all that. I'd frankly love to have a GA sim alongside something heavier, it's just that jets have won out so far. Actually, if my design for the panels and controls goes the way I want it to, it should be possible to get a good prop experience, at least for the likes of the King Air or the Baron. But more about that later...

I'll try to post more regular updates here, but (and again, I'm not trying to drag eyeballs away from this forum) there are much more regular updates (often in excrutiating minute detail) on my blog at http://milehighgeek.wordpress.com.

[Nick1150]

I know that my sim is only a Cessna and nothing compared to yours but I agree about the motivation side of things plus the time factor, I am even more limited...all my work has to be done on my door step or in the living room as I have a flat/apartment and no garden or workshop, just a car park in front of me, my door step has always been my worktop....plus I need good weather to work, in Essex/London weather is always raining and grey and getting dark much earlier now!

To remove a lot of the actual work and building I have had to design my whole sim as a kit so that it can just be delivered as a flat pack from a CNC company and then assembled, I have indeed started assembling, but you just don't realise all the stuff that goes into it such as priming, sanding, spraying, screwing, electronics etc.....then there is that secret list of ingredients that you never thought you needed and you just cant do without etc, such as special fixings, screws, cables (sh*t loads of it), heat shrink, solder, wood glue, primer, led holders, terminals etc etc, I forgot about most of these with just the final product in my site, this has added cost and more time, and I need to constantly remind myself why I am doing this. Project updates are crucial to me, the more I see the more I want to build, especially if someone has done some awsome work on their pit!

All I say, Is please post as many updates as you can because it keeps us motivated, regardless of how far or how little you have done, and hopefully we can motivate others!

Just my two cents of encouragement!

Alex

Sorry for the offtopic gentlemen,

Alex that was amazing. You have already motivated me too

Hey Neil,

I believe that your project is great and I admire your technical skills, which I wish I had.

Before I start building 2 years ago, I made a big research which actualy lasted 1 & 1/2 years (!!!). If you make a search in my posts you will see that many fine gentlemen here gave me alot of useful advises. Most advises were 100% right, and I can see it now, but one of those advises was THE most important. Most said the same... Building and flying is the only way...

My advise is... find the courage to finish the shell and put a few screens to get it flying... after that building is ten times easier and much more interesting when the project actualy flies.

Neil we are here too mate... keep posting

[Neil Hewitt]

Hi all.

Resurrecting this thread after a while to post some more progress. Unfortunately for various reasons I've made a fairly laughable amount of progress since the last update almost six months ago, although I have been working on more than just the shell.

I'm onto the console frame and MIP now - not the panels yet, just the frame - and am also building a dual yoke system adapted from Ken Brand (kennair)'s excellent design.

I also finally managed to book the iPilot thing I mentioned above - I was slightly reluctant at £199 for 60 minutes, but they've dropped their weekday prices and I managed to get a Groupon offer for £59 for 60 minutes. Couldn't resist a bargain I'm doing it a week on Tuesday and I'll post a report.

Here's some obligatory pictures.

DSCF0120_700x525.jpgDSCF0178_500x375.jpgDSCF0170_600x450.jpgDSCF0177_500x375.jpgDSCF0173_600x450.jpg

(I can only attach five images, it seems, but - if you'll forgive the self-promotion - there's lots more on my blog.)

So, very slow going, but some progress at least By this time next year I hope to have glass in the windows.

NH