Now that all the parts are cut and everything fits like it should, It’s time to move on to getting this thing assembled!

I made one more change to the original BRFS design:

Instead of using the recommended method for keeping the main support bolt from rotating when you tighten or loosen the friction knob, I installed a stove carriage bolt that has a squared area right underneath the bolt head.  This prevents the bolt from turning once it’s drawn completely into the material.

The first step is to get each lever rigged up:

The rigging line I used was 36 strand steel beading wire.  This and the swag collars can be had at your local craft store.

I’m using a pull-pull system to actuate the slide pot – the geometry is similar to the BRFS throttle, but because my levers are symmetrical, I didn’t need to use the spring to keep tension on the line.  I’ve also drilled two holes (only one is used) to attach the pull wires to the pot arm.  Each hole that the rigging wire passes through has been carefully de-burred in order to make sure that no sharp edges existed that could cut the line over time.

This is what it looks like from the bottom with all three lever assemblies installed.

The knobs are painted and they turned out really nice!

(don’t forget to click the “more” link below!)

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This is how the lever arms in the throttle quadrant operate:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUwx8-TkJSs

The past few weeks have seen more work on my Me-109-like simulator cockpit.

Here’s a few pictures of the new seat that was designed & built in a couple of days. 🙂

The seat is made with 3/4″ AC plywood and is held together with pocket screws.  The cushions are 2″ foam with a 1/4″ plywood back that is attached to the seat via some #10 screws that fit into T nuts that are epoxied into the cushion base.

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Painting the cockpit is finally completed!

More pictures follow…

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Today marked another milestone in my own cockpit built from the Series One DIY Cockpit plans.

The now primer-prepped tub has been assembled and painted!

Here’s what it looks like before the final color was applied:

Because the floor in my shop is so uneven, I had to place it on a table and loosen all the bolts, re-align everything and then re-tighten all the bolts.  Never does a day go by when I’m NOT reminded of those incompetent idiots that built my shop. 🙁

On to the painting!

The paint gun I’m using is called a “siphon gun”.  It uses a high velocity stream of air across an adjustable height tip to “pull” paint from the paint pot.  This particular one is called a “Critter Gun” and is available at Amazon.  This is the only paint gun I’ve ever owned that will throw un-thinned latex paint.  I have my compressor set to 80 PSI or so and this little thing does a fantastic job.  As a bonus, it uses a little 1 pint Mason jar as the paint pot.  Changing colors is pretty easy as you never have to wash out the paint pot, just clean the siphon assembly & gasket and change to another color in another Mason jar.  Works great.

This is what the tub looks like after painting.  I’m amazed at how well it turned out!  I didn’t do a really great surface prep job before I primed, so the paint looks a little odd.  The canopy, windscreen and other upper parts came out much better.  Pics of those coming soon!

The Zinc Chromate Green interior color really gives it that “real cockpit” look.  I can’t wait until I’ve got it done and I can actually use it!

Sunday the 30th I’ll be finishing off painting the upper cockpit parts like the canopy and windscreen.  If I’m really lucky, I’ll get final assembly done tomorrow evening.  If I do, I’ll update the site with new pictures.

Thanks for reading folks!

Now that I’ve got some more progress made on the F-15, I’m switching to my DIY cockpit project in order to get it finished.  Folks have been asking for pictures of what it looks like when completed.

Yesterday I finished applying primer to the last two components – next will come final assembly…

This color is known as Zinc Chromate Green and is used as a commercial aircraft part primer.  It’s a powder coat material.

For the DIY cockpit project, I had my local Ace Hardware mix up some flat primer and they colored it based on a Zinc Chromate Green material sample I gave them.  It turned out really nicely.  The paint code for the color primer is listed in the downloadable manual on the DIY Cockpit Project site – http://www.geneb.org/pitkit.

Next up will be doing the design for the main instrument panel.  The panel will house a 14″ LCD monitor plus other instruments.

Here are pics of the rudder pedals I designed to use with my personal Series One cockpit:

Front view

Rear view

Toe brake detail

Centering system

They’re not “sexy”, but they certainly get the job done. 🙂

I’ve always intended on painting the shop floor.  It makes it look nicer and it’s easier to clean.

The yellow strip doesn’t really signify anything.  It was just a clever way of separating the two different floor paint products I used.

The paint closest to the wall is a single part floor paint, the other is a two part epoxy floor paint.  I’d had them kicking around for a couple of years before I got around to using them up last week.  The whole floor wasn’t painted either – just the corner area where the workbenches are.  The paint is extremely expensive, especially for the two part epoxy type.

Production & Prototype

Well folks, it’s finally ready.  It’s taken about a year of off and on development and I think you’ll enjoy the result.

You can learn more about the cockpit and purchase plans at http://www.geneb.org/pitkit

Thanks to all of you that have emailed encouraging words.  It’s been very much appriciated.

I’ve recently been making the manual available as I get work done on it.  You can download the 01Mar09 “snapshot” from here.

I’ve also uploaded a short video to YouTube that shows the current state of the new cockpit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmYzUJ0dFu4

The manual is currently at 95 pages and there are three chapters left to go.