The Cockpit - Project

look at the bottom of the page for the newest pictures

(sorry - I really not want to get rid of the history of this - so please be patient for the pages to load....) 

After looking at some of the web-pages of cockpit builders, they all looked like total professionals to me. Nobody ever talked about problems (so there could not be any - right ?) and how they solved them on their sites. So, I soon realized that with my limited capabilities, I would not be able to produce something that would look even remotely like a real A340 cockpit. Stubborn as I am, I took it up nevertheless and what this part of our website is mainly about is to show you the adventures of cockpit-building from the perspective of the technically impaired, describing the problems and difficulties that I encountered and how I (most of the time <G>) solved them.

Let me first tell you what tools I had a the time when I started out on this:

1 drilling machine (about the only thing I was really familiar with and which I have owned for a long time)
1 hack saw
and an assortment of various handtools lying around the house.

In the meantime, I have bought a lot (according to my wife) of other tools - but have a look at this later... <G>

First problem I encountered was to find the proper material (wood). Things here in Bangkok are not as easy to find for a Farang (foreigner) as they are elsewhere. I ended up buying wood from used packaging crates and at quite steep prices too. Later, I found some do-it-yourself-shops that sell better quality wood. I have also found some electronic centers (thanks Khun Sukit) in Bangkok where I shopped for the striped cables, for example. But I still use very opportunity in Europe to bring stuff back to Thailand. 

In those days, I decided to buy the NOVA-parts from Flightdeck Solutions (Peter Cos). First mistake I made was to start building the structure BEFORE I received the NOVA parts, so some of the parts would not fit and I had to redo part of the structure. Unfortunately, I cannot find any more pics of this period. In the meantime, many of these have been exchanged against ELITE parts (or even Signature for the new overhead).

Wood-cutting - ahhh yes. I went out and bought a circular hand-saw and a small working bench. Wood-cutting started in our open garage mostly at temperatures around 35 degrees (C by the way, not F). I cut and re-cut but up to to today I am mostly unable to cut straight lines.... Should have bought that cutting table with the built-in saw I wanted in the first place and my wife did not let me buy .... In the meantime, I have given up on this and have employed a carpenter, who is building my shell.

The FDS parts are really helpful for guys like me. The dimensions are fixed and all you have to do is find ways to support and fix everything properly. Not that this is always easy, without an engineers mind, but it is a good starting point.  If you decide to buy them DO NOT START BUILDING THE STRUCTURE BEFORE YOU HAVE THE PARTS !!! First, I tried to attach the NOVA parts of the glare to the screen by adhesive tape but after a while they started to slip. Now I have made a wooden support structure onto which I can screw the NOVA parts. This wooden support also makes it possible to attach switches and indicators.

In the end, my recommendation as far as building the structure is concerned is this: Get yourself a setup where you can cut straight lines, true to the dimensions you want and need - a saw mounted on table with good guides is a good starting point. Or get someone else to do it for you and be ready to accept that you need to redo some of it (several times that is). I have a cutting table now, but mostly, it is being used by my carpenter...

As promised, here are the tools and things for working on the SIM (not the electronic and other parts) I have bought in the meantime, you have to consider that my wife usually does not let me go shopping by myself - specially to THESE SHOPS <G>, but then I also need her to translate for me...

- 2 soldering irons, one of it the set that is shown somewhere else on these pages, the first one was quite useless and - of course - the tin pump to take away those spots of too much tin or tin in the wrong place....
- a magnifying glass for soldering and reading those inscriptions on various switches, like the AML's (getting old, I am)
- a new drill with variable speed to drill those plexi things (if you use too high speed they either break or melt)
- a drill press to drill straight holes (hard to find in Bangkok)
- a big wood shaver - it does not really help if you did not cut straight at the outset <G>
- a B&D handtool with various mandrels for wood shaving and others 
- about 100 km of cable of different sections (joking of course, but cable goes quickly)
- millions of boxes to sort all the screws
- some tools for cable stripping
- and naturally, screws, tons of them - I had to buy some of them in Europe. It was impossible for me to find M3's here not to talk about screws with sink heads (correct English expression ?). But now these ugly ones on the fronts will disappear one after the other. Still have no black screws for the front, I will end up spraying them black...

About Wiring.... <G> no, not soldering, this is about connecting wires to switches or rotaries other than those OMRONS....

When I first looked at the Push/Pull-switches I got from Peter Cos, which a are a fine piece of engineering in themselves, and considered how to wire those contacts, I was thinking about what we call in German "cable shoes", I think they are called cable lugs, but I quickly found out that I would not get those in Bangkok (not in Europe either BTW).  Finally I found them, makes wiring much easier, at least on one side of the wire, the other side mostly still needs to be soldered.

31-08-08: Of course, I am not using those anymore, but they are still somewhere in box. Somebody want to buy them ?

While thinking about it, I started to solder the wires to some other rotaries and switches, not very nice - really. Then I came across - again I am missing the correct English engineering expression - so its freely translated from German - the "shrinking hoses" in German its called "Schrumpfschlauch". Those work very well on those contacts; the contacts have a small hole through which you can slip the wire and slide the hose over it. For shrinking the hose, which requires heating, I use standard home appliances, like my wife's gas lighter and her hairdryer (at the moment she's still looking for both <G>). I had to learn though that the hoses shrink a lot and it is not very wise to use a too-small-hose because it will not go over the contact together with the wire. Somebody then told me that they shrink to about half of their original diameter, which makes the job quite easy in the end...... However, the cable cannot be disconnected without ripping off the hose, that's where the cable lugs come into play. Of course, then you have to make sure that the two contacts do not touch each other .... sigh <G>

Still talking about wiring .... If you are working like I usually do, using single wires (not the ribbon cable) and wiring one side of the cable first, carefully consider the cable length !!! Consider what you might need and then cut at least 1.5 times that length.... Shortening wire later is easy, but to make it longer, well ... you have to replace it <G> I mostly use AWG22 to 26 wire.

After all my misadventures I have decided to employ the help of a professional. A while ago, we started building the shell of the cockpit:

The new support going in

The last pic of the old arrangement - have to tear down everything while we are building

The overhead mounted - yes I know its angled the wrong way. Saw it too late and now I do not want to change it anymore

finishing up the copilots side and getting ready to paint

and this is how it looked like after we finished painting it. The new MIP from PC had just arrived in time. Unfortunately, the downlights in the glare shield seem to get pretty hot and might be a danger to my wood structure and the cabling in there.