Sunday, March 22, 2009

Sim on the road

Ready for takeoff....

Start engine...
Set lever to "D"...
Taxi to the Highway...
Accelerate to 80km/h...

And enjoy the faces of the people who have never seen something like this on the road. :-)))
This was the very first mission outsite the workshop. We had a meeting of the Event Coordinators of the SCFA (Super Constellation Flyers Assoc.) and they wanted to see the cockpit in real life. For me it was a test how everything works because it is planned to have the simulator on various events and airshows.
The test succeeded very well and I think there are no problems to start the new season. Now we don't have "only" a Super Constellation, we also have a simulator for all those who want to try flying themselves.

Emergency cockpit door


I made an emergency exit door....

Yeah really, believe me :-) I had almost no idea how to make that, but I thought that two sheets of thin plywood and some wooden sticks could possibly do the job. And they really did it....
Wood glue is an amazing thing. If you do it right, it is more stable than the wood itself.

I made a fixture from an old board and two slats to bend the first sheet. Then I glued the sticks on that sheet. One hour later I glued the second sheet on top of the construction and used a lot of clamps to press it together. And another hour later the door was almost finished.

Painted and with all the necessary stickers, it looks almost like the original.... just a bit smaller.

(The handle is an original from Connie SN4202)