From Scrapyard to Simulator

It's time to move, though fortunately that's only my decision to move from a blog to a website, to allow more flexibility in what I can do. I've transferred much of this blog, and will add new posts on the website only - so please check out www.g-bvob.net.

This html lark's still new to me, so apologies if things stay basic for a while, hopefully I won't be too slow a learner!

Two years ago I bought FSX, tried it, hated the results with slideshow framerates and consigned it to a shelf gathering dust. A few weeks ago I read some online posts about cfg file tweeks and thought I'd give it a try. Result! Frame rates up in the 70's with the basic default programme and without spending money on new hardware; I can't believe what a difference it's made.

So I bought a couple of the Australian sceneries from Orbx, and wow, their stuff just puts FS9 in the shade! I think BVOB's going to be spending a bit of time down under, running along the Queensland and NSW coast.

I've now got the Simkits instruments working now with FSX, and cobbled together a combination of Fokker 50 external model (the only F27 ever done is a really dated FS2002 version), HS748 flight model (2 Dart engines and very similar weights and performance and a cracking smooth flight model by Rick Piper), and F27 panel which gives us the basic systems. Here's a test flight over Rockhampton, Qld, can't wait to try it out on 3 projectors!

After the weather problems at the start of the year, and frozen water mains, things are back to normal. The garage is almost finished, just waiting for the doors and it'll be a week away from completion.

The cockpit is mobile again, Derrick has fabricated a frame for it to sit on. The mounting at the front is particularly neat using the nose gear mounting points on the forward bulkhead. It's really easy to push around; adding a couple of grab handles will finish things off. There's a bit of heavy work to clean up and enclose the back and then we can sort out the control links and start work on the panels.

The Captain's instruments are up and running and we got some flying in this morning, with low-viz circuits at Bremen. A 22" monitor will fit behind the panel, so I'm toying with the idea of making the F/O's side mechanical, and using displayed instruments on the Captain's side. That will allow me to fit an HSI, RMI, TCAS and fill that big hole with a Weather Radar. Unfortunately I do need to go spend money some time soon and get a couple of DME displays. Projectors first though!

Winter has arrived, and there have been a few flurries of snow, driving today has been "interesting"! The garage (sorry hangar) roof should be on before Christmas, but we won't be ready to move in until the second half of January, so there's not been any major movement on the cockpit shell. I got my hands on a few more F27 bits this week, notably a main instrument panel fitted with a set of Simkits instruments and overhead panels. The original owner had done little to strip out the original wiring, so I spent a couple of hours today cleaning up the back of the main panel and removing wiring and static tubes. The whole assembly is now a few kilos lighter and much easier to work with. For anyone planning a similar job get a decent socket and wrench set, they were worth their weight in gold today.



I'm setting up a test rig to finish off the software side of things and start to tie in the hardware, over the next couple of days I'd like to get the Captain's instruments working and at least then we can get flying.



Ironic that these bits are from G-CEXD, a Channel Express Mk600, as 'XD and 'OB were rivals on the Royal Mail Skynet network. A few years ago I'd cuss at engineers not getting 'OB or her sister aircraft serviceable on time. Now having spent a few hours working at dismantling a cockpit all I can say is "respect"; at least I've got space to work in and I'm not out in the snow and cold.

The "heavy-engineering" process is well underway, and the cockpit has been under sustained attack by cutting disc today.

When 'OB was scrapped the cut was made about two inches in the wrong place which deformed the avionics bay on the starboard side. So we decided to remove the bay entirely and trim back closer to the cockpit bulkhead. The end result is really good, it's cleaner and makes the whole cockpit section look much shorter, even though only a foot-wide strip has been taken off the fuselage.

Once the back is tidied up the frame will be visible, which looks neat and Derrick is fabricating an aluminium back-plate to the circuit breaker panel. The remaining part of the cargo door mechanism is now gone too, I'm surprised just how light the two-foot long screw-jack actually is. In fact the whole structure itself is very light and its strength really comes from how the various components are combined. Most people who've seen the cockpit are questioning their faith in aircraft construction when they see just how relatively flimsy it is, especially the outer skin. What do weigh a tonne are all the copper wiring looms which we are removing by the metre. Someone no doubt put a lot of love and care into the wiring when 'OB was built, and we're just ripping it out in seconds.

The battery brackets on the forward bulkhead are also removed leaving just a few sections of pneumatic pipe to go and the front end will be ready for painting in due course. The tubing and wheels are ready for fabrication of the trolley and once that's in place the "major" jobs are done and it'll be on to cosmetic tasks, before giving the whole thing a good clean inside and out.

The other "heavy engineering" is building the garage. The foundations are in place, but Ireland is going through a really wet spell, 3 month's rain has fallen just a couple of weeks, so the damp course, radon shield and base are waiting for a few days of forecasted dry weather. At least that's the only inconvenience we have here, unlike the folks out west along the Shannon under a few feet of flooding.



Looks like a moat for a mini-castle with a couple of feet of water in the excavations 2 weeks ago.



At least it's safe again for the kids out in the back. The fog hasn't cleared all day. Once we get a couple of days dry weather the base can be finished, and work above ground should be less weather dependent.

Today was the first chance I had to really clamber around the cockpit and inspect all the nooks and crannies in the avionics bay and underneath the cockpit floor. This beast is just full of copper wire and cable. It's great to see the original Fokker manufacturer's plate by the cockpit door along with the inspection sign-off stamps, a nice piece of history.

Discussed a plan with Derrick for cutting and triming back one fuselage frame and then how we fit a "trolley" so the cockpit is mobile. The VHF antenna needs removing from the roof (temporarily) along with the battery mounting boxes on the forward bulkhead The last major structural item will be removing the cargo door screw-jack mechanism which is at head height and will avoid the need to wear a safety helmet!



Once that's done we can start to do some clean-up work and plan where to hook-up potentiometers to the control runs for the flight controls. Engine controls and trims can run directly off the quadrant (yes I did sit for a few minutes and play with the throttle and fuel levers!) and the nosewheel steering linkage runs straight out to the forward bulkhead.

I'm looking forward to next weekend.