727 Glareshield Rack Restored

[Michael Carter]

Finished about 15 minutes ago. I is missing one decal that could not be saved. The 'BOTTLE SELECT' switch decal was a mess. I'll have to make one.

I cleaned all of the switches and panel nuts with a wire wheel on the Dremel and re-painted the wheel well warning indicator and the fire handles. The plastic fire handle fronts was polished with a fine plexi-glass polishing compound.

I really like the way it turned out. The primer is Dupli-Color Etching Primer and the paint is Krylon Rust-Tough Semi-flat.





I had no idea it hung out so far over the instrument panel:

[Trevor Hale]

That is absolutely stunning.

I bet you are so excited!

Keep up the great work, I am eager to see some more.

[Michael Carter]

Thanks Trevor.

I got lucky with the power supply yesterday. The very first forward two contacts I probed on the 8-pole fire handle switches lit up the handles.

Those are the largest switches I've ever seen. 8PST. 24 contacts in all.

I'm buying a 6' piece of aluminum bar stock today to duplicate the mounts that were cut away at the rear corners of the glareshield. You can see what's left as small pieces of chromate colored steel on the back ears.

Now I just have to figure out how to get all of this working.

[Trevor Hale]

I am just amazed that you got all the panels with the switches and indicators. It looks excellent, you should have a lot of fun interfacing it. With the 8 pole switch, lol you will only need one of those poles for the interface,
the rest can be spare

[Michael Carter]

The crazy thing is, I know what each of those contacts control when that handle is pulled. I don't know the wiring schematic though.

What happens when a fire handle is pulled:

Closes engine bleed valves
Closes wing anti ice shutoff valves (1&3)
Closes engine anti ice cowl valve (#2)
Closes fuel shutoff valve
Closes "A" system hydraulic fluid shutoff valve (1&2)
Arms the bottle discharge button and selector valve
Trips the generator field relay
Lights up the fire handle

That takes cae of all eight poles on the switch.

[dnoize]

that looks absolutely stunning...

Love what you are doing with real parts.

Any idea what you are going to use for the steam gauges ?

Stef

[Westozy]

I'm really surprised how close my glare rack looks to your real part, I never planned this, I just made a suitable bracket to hold my CP Flight gear. I know we are doing different models but the similarities are there. I'm really pleased, maybe I should apply for a job at Boeing!!!!
See this pic http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/s....php?photo=872
Gwyn

[Michael Carter]

that looks absolutely stunning...

Love what you are doing with real parts.

Any idea what you are going to use for the steam gauges ?

Stef

I'll be using Flight Illusion gauges except for the HSI since no one makes one.

The HSI will be displayed on a hacked PS1 LCD screen. After the glareshield is finished, that's the next sub-project for the MIP.

It's a shame no one, either pilots or manufacturers, is interested in building and flying this aircraft. I've some real challenges ahead of me with this instrument panel, but I'm in too deep to turn back now. I wouldn't anyway, but I guess for some it would be easier to say to **** with it and build a 737. (No offence to our resident 737 builders. That was not my intension. Glass is just not in line with what I grew up with, learned to fly in, and have dreamed about for the last 20 or so years.)

Sometimes my passion for this aircraft outweighs my common sense.

[Michael Carter]

I'm really surprised how close my glare rack looks to your real part, I never planned this, I just made a suitable bracket to hold my CP Flight gear. I know we are doing different models but the similarities are there. I'm really pleased, maybe I should apply for a job at Boeing!!!!
See this pic http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/s....php?photo=872
Gwyn

Your metal fabrication skills are to be admired, envied even. I do not have the skills or the tools to do something like what you've done with your MIP. I knew that going in, so I knew a lot of my equipment would be original Boeing scrap, salvage, or surplus.

It's one thing to be able to make an acurate working module for the overhead or center control stand. It's quite another to be able to design, layout, and fabricate an entire control panel, out of aluminum or steel no less, and have aftermarket electronics drop right in!

The glareshield rack I started to make out of laminated wood and styrene plastic would have taken months to build it right and would have, in the end, cost more to build than to buy. Including the wait for correct parts that came with the whole assembly. This rack was $190 with the flight director controller. I'm spending another $30 tomorrow for a micro-fluorescent fixture for the underside. I stripped the Korry-built fluorescent tube holders from the reflector during the restoration.

Sometimes, cost has to be weighed for a replacement against the cost of 400Hz power!

Amazing work Gwyn. Really.

Oh, and I have applied to Boeing a couple of times in the past. I have a background in Boeing Missile Systems, but it always seems that someone younger or more qualified beats me out. My last phone interview was for Ft. Greely, Alaska on the Missile Defence System, but I was beaten out by guys that had Patriot System experience. If they would have had two more slots available I might have gotten in.

[Westozy]

Cheers BSW, I'm flattered! I don't think what I do is amazing, it's just that mechanical engineering is my trade and I just apply my trade skills to everything that I make. What I think is amazing is all the guys that do their own programming and code writing etc. The inner workings of the PC is a mystery to me. Restoring real parts to make them work is pretty cool too, I bet you would have more headaches than me. Making my own parts has kept the total cost below US$4000 so far including the projector and CP Flight gear.
Today I start 4 weeks annual leave from work and I have commenced making my overhead panel. The first bit I made is the fuel pump panel with backlighting capability, how I did this is part two of my tutorials for Computer Pilot magazine. Both parts should be published in the May and June issues if all goes to plan, then I'll be investing in more goodies from Engravity and FDT.
I should finish my sim this year and will look at producing simulator parts for others. I have registered my business name and purchased the domain name although the new website is not ready yet. I never intended going commercial but it now looks like a viable option, who knows?!!!!!!

Gwyn