Super Connie Sim

2009-09-13T05:38:00.000-07:00

Photos from a delighted customer.... with a professional camera. He almost used more time to shoot the photos than he was flying the sim. But the results are wonderful.

2009-05-01T12:20:00.000-07:00

For all those who would like to fly the simulator:

1 hour ............................... 180.00 SFr. (1 or 2 persons)
Minimum rental time is 2 hours.

The "Sim Hangar" is located near Zürich (Switzerland). Evenings and weekends are preferred times. Please make appointments by email or the comments function of this blog. I will get in contact with you if you leave you address. (languages: German and English)

One third of the income goes to the SCFA (Super Constellation Flyers Assoc.) to support their wonderful project. The only Super Connie in the world allowed to fly with passengers.....! (members only, it is a "club" airplane) For more information see www.superconstellation.org

2009-03-22T14:26:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-03-22T14:10:00.000-07:00

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)

2009-01-25T01:25:00.000-08:00

The fuel dump and shutoff panel is finished and already installed. I had to make the levers because they were missing. Or more correctly... it was too difficult to remove the original levers from the airplane.

However, I think it came out quite good.

2009-01-25T01:12:00.000-08:00

Although the screen is relatively small, if looked at the right angle the view is just great. The additional software "Switzerland Pro" is wonderful. Sometimes I just fly around to see all the details. And it's a great tool to improve my geography skills. ;-)

The problem is that it is keeping me away from installing the last parts. There are still a couple of things to do....

2008-12-13T10:05:00.000-08:00

This part solves a problem...

...I hope so.... I always had the problem that the elevator was a bit jumpy. I had to move the stick quite a bit until something happened and then it happened too quick and too much. It felt like the elevator was sticking somehow.
After a bit of thinking, I found the problem; the potentiometer travel was too short. The interface I use makes 128 steps at full travel of a 10kOhm potentiometer. But I only use about 20 degree of a 300 degree pot and this is after the calibration eight to ten steps. No wonder that my elevator reacts jumpy.

I solved the problem like in the old days. A piece of fishing line runs around a wheel on the pot axis and if the wheel has the right diameter, the travel of 8cm makes 300 degrees of turn. I will see if it works when it is installed. The brown wheel by the way, is an original part from the Connie cockpit. It was used inside the throttle console to guide the steel cables of the trim wheels.

Today I noticed that it becomes difficult to work on the simulator since all the parts are installed. I have to crawl under the floor, bend myself around the seats... I think this is the way real aircraft technicians have to work. Not always an easy job.

2008-11-02T11:58:00.000-08:00

Before and after....

One of the last missing parts in the cockpit, the overhead fuel dump and engine shutoff levers. This part comes from a different Connie, N-105CF which was the first Connie the SCFA wanted to restore and operate in Switzerland. Unfortunately it turned out that there was too much corrosion for an airworthy restoration.
The cover here is everything I got, the levers are missing and have to be made new.

2008-10-06T14:11:00.000-07:00

Redlight district...

The panel illumination works now and almost all the panels I have are installed and I like the way it looks. I'm always fascinated of things that make light like LEDs or christmas tree lights and this is my most beautiful christmas tree ever. :-)

The outside of the cockpit has also changed a bit. I painted the front and rear wall in gray and I installed a nice looking rubber edge around it. That edge is primarily to cover the zone where sheetmetal and wood come together. I took this L-shaped rubber band and glued it to the edge and it looks very professional now.

2008-09-28T08:03:00.000-07:00

Another cleaning job...

Yesterday I finished cleaning the VHF COM frequency selector and because I have two similar units (the other is VHF NAV) I thought this would be a good before-after picture. The unit was only cleaned, not painted or something.

These two units have an interesting story to tell. They come from a ex-KLM DC-7 which was used at the Geneva airport for firefighter training. It stood there many years, birds were nesting in the cockpit, people removed parts..... until 2006 when they got a "new" training airplane, a B-737.
Just before the DC-7 was scrapped, a team of airplane enthusiasts whose members I know, removed all the usable parts and the VHF boxes here were part of it. Since I needed some stuff to fill my Connie overhead panel, I got these DC-7 parts.
Besides the "KLM-7-...." marking on the cleaned panel there is no difference between these and the Connie panels. These airplanes were made at the same time and many parts are identical. Good for me.... :-)

2008-09-13T10:44:00.000-07:00

Some more parts....
The cockpit grows and grows, not in size of course but in the number of parts installed. The Goflight GF-46 panel fills now the hole in the glareshield panel. The GF-46 is a really nice invention, it connects to the USB bus and provides all radio functions I need. It can be programmed to set and display all the NAV, COM, ADF..... etc. frequencies.
I was surprised to hear the ATC speaking for the first time, suddently there was someone speaking from the speakers behind me. That did not work before I had the panel to det the right radio frequency.
The F/E panels are also complete now and even the desk lights are working... red and white to be switched by the original switch and also the dimmer is working.

Today I installed the original dome light and it is amazing how different light makes things look different. Until now I used a fluorescent hand lamp to illuminate the cockpit and it never looked very realistic in this cold light. But now with the incadescent bulb and the original lamp it looks much more like the real cockpit. And I have one switch more working :-)

On the third picture you can see the power distribution for the 5, 12 and 24V voltages. For nostalgic reasons I used the original screw terminals I removed from other places in the cockpit. When they are cleaned, they are as good as new and they make it look more professional.

2008-07-29T13:16:00.000-07:00

In case of bad weather....

I have windshield wipers now! Well, I had them all the time but now they are in a useful condition and ready to be installed on my cockpit. I had some doubts if it is really possible to restore them because they have been looking like fragments of junk... But it turned out that they are made of stailnless steel and after removing the old paint the looked like new.
The wiper blades are from a car parts supplyer and needed only few modification to fit on the Connie arms.

2008-07-14T11:31:00.000-07:00

Seats and pedals....
It looks like a real cockpit already since the seats have been installed. Last week I was very busy, I made the mechanical connection between the pilots and copilots pedals. After that the pedal mechanics needed a cover and the steering column needed some adjustments since one of the springs made a loud noise.
Both seats have now a nice looking new set of cushions and I'm looking forward to make the first test flight soon. :-)

2008-06-08T12:44:00.000-07:00

The second seat is finished..... Mechanic fixed, upholstery done, painted and tested. Only the arm rests still need a cover but that's a matter of half an hour. This was more or less the last big item for my cockpit, all remaining parts are smaller.
One of the biggest challanges were the seat rails. I only had two of them but I needed four... two per seat. And because I have no source to get some rails, I had to make them myself. It was a task of a whole day but finally I succeeded and after some additional adjustments they are working quite well.

2008-04-06T10:04:00.001-07:00

Busy weekend....

Sometimes when I start working on something, I can't stop until it's finished. The upholstery for the two pilots seats is done :-) Next step will be to repaint the seats... yes, the pads are removable.
I always wondered why I have two different seats for my cockpit. After checking the Lockheed Digests (monthly technical updates) I bought some time ago, I found that one seat is the model 1948 and the other 1955. They look different but with the pads installed the difference will become much smaller.

2008-04-06T02:30:00.001-07:00

Very important... seats!

A cockpit without seats is not usable, it is not possible to fly if you have nothing to seat on. I started now to make the seat pads. The upper side is made of gray teddybear fabric and the underside is made of black jeans fabric.
This is the very first "pillow" I ever made and also the first thing I sewed that has to look good. I already made a couple of bags but they were only made for practicle use and had not to look good :-) But I'm surprised how easy it was to make this pad, you only need to cut the fabric accurately and to pay attention to the roundings and corners.... and to keep the fabrics straight while sewing.

Ah, yes... and you will have to figure out how to thread the sewing machine. ;-)

PS: Spezieller Gruss und Dank an Nievergelt & Co, Zürich für die freundliche Beratung in sachen Schaumstoff...

2008-03-29T13:06:00.001-07:00

It looks like a real cockpit....

This is the actual state of my cockpit. The flight engineers desk is installed and the lower instrument panel too. Also the main junction box panels (left of the F/E desk) are all finished and installed.

I discovered that the steering columns have been too short and it was not possible to sit and to put the feet on the pedals because the steering wheel was in the way. This turned out to be a mayor problem because it did not help just to make the columns longer, the wheels would touch the glare shield.
The problem was that the columns in the real Connie are not just moving forth and back but forward/down and bachwards/up because the turning point is located under the pilots seats and not directly below the column vertical axis.

So I had to rebuild almost the entire steering unit. I made the columns a bit longer and added a different hinge to move the turning point backwards. I think this will solve the problem.... it must, because it was a lot of work to do.

The next step will be to re-install the unit and I hope it's good now.

2008-02-12T12:55:00.000-08:00

Main Junction Box Nr.3 panel...

Todays work, the MJB No.3 panel is finished. 57 circuit breakers, one switch and 119 screws, everything cleaned and polished, taken apart and rebuilt. It was an easy work but it needed much time and patience...

2008-02-09T12:49:00.001-08:00

Two more parts...

Today I installed the instrument rack and the Master Junction Box sidepanel. The instrument rack is still hanging on some cords, it will be installed correctly later. First I have to cut away a bit of the wooden frame on the right side. That's because my cockpit is a bit narrower than the original, so I have to cheat a bit.... at the end all this will be covered and invisible. ;-)

2008-01-27T09:42:00.001-08:00

One part more in the cockpit....

It looks more and more like a Connie cockpit.

2008-01-04T14:10:00.000-08:00

Protect the switches...

The propeller feathering switches deserve some protection. They are 50 years old and they have an important function, it is not a good idea to push them if it is not necessary.

In the simulator they have no more function but the Plexiglass covers are looking too good to leave them away. Unfortunately only two of these covers have survived the disassembly in the caribbean and the transport to Switzerland. The fragment in front of the cover is what it was left from the Nr.1 cover, this one I had to re-manufacture completely. On the Nr.2 cover the parts on both sides were missing.... a partial re-manufacturing was necessary.
Nr.3 was the only undamaged and Nr.4 has a crack, but I leave it as it is, it looks more authentic like this :-)

For those who don't know what a "propeller feathering" button does...

In case you have to shut down an engine during flight, you have to "feather" the propeller of that engine. That means the propeller bades are turned out of the wind, facing the egde forward. Otherwise it would present a large obstacle for the airflow and it could cause the engine to windmill. That means the airflow is turning the propeller and that's not good for an already damaged engine.

2007-12-30T10:25:00.000-08:00

Looks better than before....

Christmas vacation, time to.... to make old scrap look like new! Remember the sad appearance of the flight engineer desk? Well just look at the older pictures. A bit of paint and a bit of polish and of course a loooooot of time and patience.
It was like always when I started the renovation on a big part. First I had the feeling that it will never come to an end, and in fact I had no idea how to solve certain problems. The missing parts for example, how am I supposed to replace them? But like always, solutions come while working. A bit of sheet metal here some aluminum profiles there.... and here we are.
If I'm looking back now, it seems it never was a problem. Well, it really never was a problem since problems don't exist.... only solutions which are not found yet.

2007-12-22T07:35:00.001-08:00

Pictures...

There is a lot of work to do on the Flight Engineers desk and Instrument panels. Keeps me busy the next couple of weeks... :-)

2007-12-16T12:51:00.000-08:00

Another big piece....

Today I started the work on the flight engineers desk. There is a lot to do because the guys who disassembled (hacked apart) the cockpit were not very careful. A couple of parts have to be replaced or re-manufactured.
I'm glad that this part of the simulator will only be "cosmetic". It's not planned to make any of the instruments or controls work. Although I'm thinking to use some switches and lamps to control the computers or the simulator software.... we will see.

2007-12-13T12:39:00.001-08:00

Just like new...

Some people asked me how I cleaned all the nuts and bolts and how I made them look like new.
I think the pictures speak for itself. Normally I use the lathe in my workshop to turn the screws and a bigger wire brush with an ordinary drilling machine. But today I had to clean only seven Airloc bolts and I did it with simpler tools. The result is the same but it takes a little bit longer.
I let the screw turn at a medium speed and move the rotating brush over the surface until it shines. There's not much you could do wrong. Just don't use a too hard brush and don't use too much pressure or you will cut grooves into the surface.

And that's the whole secret :-)

2007-12-03T12:01:00.002-08:00

The first panels are installed...

Last weekend I installed the first two panels and the steering columns. I hope I will soon get the seats and can start to play :-)

2007-11-16T13:02:00.001-08:00

Full reverse please....

This little board is responsible for good landings on short runways. It's the interface between the throttles, the reverser switches and the Simkits I/O adapter.

The problem was that real Connie thrust reverser don't work in the way it is needed for the flight simulator. If you pull the levers in the real airplane, then the propellers go into reverse pitch and the engine power is increased to approx. 30%. That means the propellers blow backwards and the throttles open up the more you pull the lever.

If you connect that directly to the flightsim you will get a problem. The simulator doesn't know if he has to reverse or accelerate, a movement of the throttles disables the reverse mode. The result is a wild switching between forward and reverse thrust if both commands are given simultaneously.

This little relais board does something simple. It disconnects the throttle potentiometers as soon the reverser switch is activated and the movement of the levers has no effect anymore. If you pull the levers, you will get that amount of reverse power as programmed in the flightsim.

Many thanks to the guys at mycockpit.org for helping me to solve this problem.

2007-11-03T13:02:00.001-07:00

Old and new faceplate...

The old faceplate from the ignition switch was a 'little bit' corroded. So I made a new one as described in the last post.

But how do you 'make' such a faceplate or label??? It's easy... really. If you have drawn a new plate on your computer (that's the difficult part), then print it on self adhesive paper with a good printer. If you need color, take a color printer.
To protect the paper and the printing on it, you only need some self adhesive transparent plastic sheet. Cut the label with the plastic on it into the right size.... that's it!

Sounds easy and with a little practice it really is.

2007-11-03T12:42:00.001-07:00

Another panel is functional...

Today I finished the work on the pilots overhead panel. From the many switches on that panel I will use only the engine ignition switches and maybe the command bell and the "no smoking" and "fasten seatbelts" switches... I only have to find a nice sounding bell.

The faceplate underneath the ignition switches was completely corroded and I had to replace it. I did it the easy way...
I scanned the original plate and used the picture as a background in Adobe Illustrator. Then I used that program to draw a new plate over the original picture. That way I was sure to have the correct dimensions and locations for the holes and letters.

The biggest problem was to find the right font for the words. I found that Copperplate Bold was very close. The only difference was that Copperplate had some little "spikes" on it's letters. But by chance I found a solution to get rid of the spikes. In Illustrator it is possible to define areas and borderlines of objects freely, also for letters. I used a thin borderline in the same color as the background and that line made the spikes invisible. Result... a perfect Super Connie panel font!

2007-10-14T10:07:00.001-07:00

My airplane....

... so far. After a couple of strange problems with my new USB hub, I took the old hub I used for my Mac and now all the stuff seems to work as intended. The new hub us now working under my desk and connects Mac, printer and scanner... here it works fine.

The problem was that some devices connected to the hub suddently stopped working. Plugging them out and in again cured the problem but.... other devices disappered instead. A very strange behaviour. Maybe it has to do with the USB device numbering, I don't know how the PC assigns the addresses to the USB devices... maybe it's something different.

However, there are no problems with the Keyspan 4 port hub so far.

2007-10-12T11:05:00.001-07:00

10 buttons for 19 Swiss Franks...

Do you need some buttons or switches hooked to your PC? Simply buy this little USB game controller for 19 Franks (about $15 ). It has 10 buttons, a hat switch and two miniature joysticks... and two vibration motors.
The second picture shows the PCB inside with everything removed except the connecting wires for the buttons and of course the microprocessor on the other side.

All switches have one ground connection and one signal connection, so it will be easy to attach all kind of flightsim switches. :-)

2007-10-12T10:57:00.000-07:00

Cut, drilled, sanded....

The pilots instrument panel is finished - at least the metal work. Now the instruments have to be seated into the holes. Some of them will need some additional cutouts but more or less this is it.
It will be painted in black instead of the original army green because it looks better.

2007-10-10T11:46:00.000-07:00

It feels good...

Today I connected the Connie throttles to the USB analog input controller and after some playing with the settings and adjustments.... it really works.
It's a great feeling to push the throttles forward and to hear the roar of the engines from the speakers. The adjustment is a bit tricky because there are two locations where it must be done. First you do it in the settings of the MS-FlightSim, then again in the settings of FSUIPC. And don't forget to assign the axes to the correct joystick! If there are only two joystick devices (at the moment) it's easy, but if there are three and more devices, you have to concentrate on what you do :-)

I'm happy that it works because the TRC-Simkits analog input is designed for 10kOhm potis and I'm using 50k because I could not find the right ones. To correct the resistance I connected two 20k resistors in parallel to the potis, this gives a total resistance of about 15kOhm and that's fine.
The only disadvantage of this trick is that the travel of the throttles is not linear anymore. The response is a bit flat around the center position but that is no problem.

2007-10-07T04:46:00.001-07:00

Checking altimeters....

I'm playing a bit with the instruments... again. A few years ago I bought this vacuum chamber and a pump to seal some electronic parts, now there is a new use for it.
It seems the altimeters are still working good, despite my unqualified 'servicing'. Until 20'000 feet they go perfectly synchronous, above 25'000 they have a little difference of 300 ft. But I don't know to what altitude they are calibrated, so I assume that's more or less ok. They won't be used in an aircraft anyway.

By the way... did you know that on 20'000 ft there is only half the pressure than on the ground? It's a vacuum of -0.5 Bar (0.5 kgf per cm2... or 5N per cm2... or 500 hpa.... or 14.76 inches of Hg)
And you have a 80% vacuum at 40'000ft.

2007-10-05T10:10:00.000-07:00

Amazing stuff....

I don't know why I didn't start earlier to play with the instruments I got. Each one works in a completely different way and all of them are fascinating precision devices.
Yesterday I repaired the gyro heading indicator. The rotor of the gyro was stuck because of corrosion. The whole cockpit must have been standing in the rain or something. Everything shows more or less signs of water damage.
The heading indicator ist an amazing toy :-)... It makes a lot of noise since I'm not able to balance the rotor properly, but it works. It runs on 28 Volts DC so it's easy to hook on my lab power supply.

The most amazing instrument until now is the vertical speed meter. Not so much because of how it works but because it is installed inside an vacuum insulated glass jar (picture). I presume this has the function to prevent that thermal changes can alter the reading.
I already know what to do with this glass thing.... it will be a PERFECT tea cup! I already tested it with hot water from the tap. Outside it stays cool like it was empty. I just have to attach some kind of flat bottom to it.

2007-09-30T08:22:00.000-07:00

How does an RPM indicator work?

In a car it is simple.
You only need a flexible shaft to connect a RPM meter to the engine. Inside the meter is a rotating magnet and a aluminum disc on a shaft with a return spring. The magnet spins and induces currents in the disc. These interact with the magnet and the disc begins to move... and so does the pointer.

And in an aircraft?
Well, at least in the Super Connie it is exactly the same principle with one difference. It is not possible to use a flexible shaft since the engines are 10 or more meters away from the cockpit. So they made something clever; they mounted a small generator on the engine and a even smaller electric motor inside the instrument. If the generator turns with 500 rpm for example, then the instrument motor does exactly the same.
And the rest is like in your car.... your old car... without electronic displays.

2007-09-29T09:31:00.001-07:00

A very hot car!

In fact a little bit too hot for my taste.... it almost burnt down today! Just at noon when I was heating up my lunch in the microwave, my phone rang and my brother (he's a fireman) told me to look for my car because there was a fire in the garage where I parked it.
When I arrived there, the road was already blocked with firetrucks and hoses and police cars, firemen (and women) running around and the wole area smelled like burning plastic. Smoke came out of all openings of the garage.
I tought "well, there is not much to do at the moment" and I waited there and looked what's happening. About one hour later, when the firemen cleared up their equipment and the police had finished investigating, I was allowed to enter the garage for a look.
What can I say... everything was completely black. Even the light from the few remaining lamps on the ceiling seemed to be black. In fact the lamps have also been blackened by the huge amount of smoke.
What I saw was that my car was still there, on it's wheels and it seemed to be more or less ok. In fact it suffered amazingly little damage despite the fact that the fire was on the parking field directly next to it.
It was not a car that burned but some stuff from the janitor who stored his tools and stuff down there. I don't know how the fire started, that's what the police will try to find out now.

It took almost an hour to wash all the dirt from my car. There have also been some drops of molten plastic on it's backside. It must have been really hot there.

Well... it seems my car needs a new painting as you can see on the pictures and I need a good meal and some rest now. That was an exciting day...!

2007-09-27T12:28:00.001-07:00

Interfacing the interface....
To drive the landing gear indicator and the unlock warning lamp, some reed relais and optocouplers are necessary. The simkits interface is able to drive only LEDs but I need 24 Volts for most of the original parts.
But this one was easy. The indicator has three wires, one common, one for "up" and one for "down". You just have to connect the 24 Volts to one of them and the corresponding sign will show up. If there is no signal at all... it shows the well known stripes.
The lamp socket has also three terminals. A common, a signal and one for the "push to test". You can push the red cap and the light will go on to test the bulb inside.

That's the good side of this old technology, everything is built simple and reliable.

2007-09-25T09:45:00.001-07:00

The first original instrument is modified and "computerized". The frontal view is unchanged...

The same thing from behind. Almost everything is gone and an RC-car like servo is installed instead.
In fact it is not so differnt from the original design. The Mangenyns are replaced by servos but they have almost the same function, only the signals to drive them are different.
And yes... only one of the two pointers has survived. I glued the right and left pointer together because it makes not much sense in a simulator to show each side independently. In the simulator, the wing flaps always work on both sides, defects are not possible :-)

2007-09-20T11:46:00.001-07:00

...and now also with illumination... :-)

2007-09-17T12:33:00.001-07:00

Yeppee...! The packet from Simkits has finally arrived. Friday I looked into the UPS website to check the tracking number and guess what... it was already delivered. Nice, but where? A unknown person has signed for the delivery shortly after noon. Who could that be...? Maybe someone of my new neighbours? I checked the online phone book and found the name, it's in the next house. Unfortunately there is nobody at home.
Two hours later I see the car of my neighbours coming. I ran over to ask them if they got my packet and yes... there it is.

Isn't that a bit strange ? Hardware for $2000 delivered to the wrong address without notice to me. If I had no internet access, how would I ever know? Well, everything went fine at the end . Thanks god I have a good relationship with my neighbours.

Two days later all the pointers are pointing correctly, the illumination is illuminating and I'm feeling a bit like at christmas.

2007-09-02T01:09:00.000-07:00

The reverse-lock actuator.

I'm still waiting for the Simkits packet, it should arrive next week. In the meantime I built the drive for the reverse lock. This motor will be installed inside the throttle pedestal and unlocks the reverser levers when the airplane is on ground.

2007-08-10T11:04:00.000-07:00

This is also a nice simulator... installed in an old bus somewhere in Sweden (http://www.novelair.com).

2007-08-01T07:10:00.001-07:00

Apropos... that's the HI-548CT when she was still flying. The picture is from 1989 (lent from www.airliners.net, a great site for airplane pictures)

2007-08-01T06:52:00.000-07:00

I have cleaned up a little today and counted the rivets I have left... I used 678 pieces of 1000.

Nobody wants to know that but I'm writing it anyway :-)

2007-07-30T09:23:00.001-07:00

Painting finished! It is amazing what difference a bit of paint makes. Last week the simulator looked like a pile of sheet metal and now suddenly like a piece of a real airplane.
Now I let dry the paint and then I can start with the internals. I'm an electronician, not a carpenter or painter....

2007-07-28T09:38:00.001-07:00

This weekend I used up pounds of paint and I'm not finished yet. I begin to understand why they need tons of paint for a Jumbo Jet and why some airlines leave their planes mostly unpainted.

Looks not bad, right? I did not use an airbrush... everything is painted with a roller and that looks good enough for me. In fact, I have seen worse jobs made with airbrushes.

2007-07-27T00:59:00.000-07:00

Next job will be to attach some handles to move the sim.

Yesterday I used up two big cans of primer paint. The whole afternoon I have painted like a crazy. The cockpit appears now in a nice light gray and has finally the same color everywhere. (Picture coming soon)
Dulux Universal Primer is perfect for that job and works great on bare aluminum sheets without sanding.

2007-06-10T09:25:00.001-07:00

The Connie also has a nose now. Not as beautiful as the original but made of fine plywood.
As you can see, I have started to grind down the old paint. I will not strip it down to the bare metal but the deepest scratches have to go. A dusty job... !

The 1000pcs package of pop rivets is almost empty.

2007-04-24T11:27:00.000-07:00

I really don't want to complain about the beautiful weather but it's bad for simulator builders. I have to ride my bike everyday and the sim work is waiting.
Last summer I bought this new toy, the red and white on the picture. Compared to my old Harley it's like a jet compared to a propliner. Now I have a bike for every mood.
For bike fans.... it's a Yamaha FZR1000 fron 1987 (without EXUP) and almost an oldtimer already with it's 80'000 km.

2007-04-05T14:21:00.000-07:00

Oh - Wow - Hello! I almost forgot the first birthday of my blog! One year ago I started the first post. Amazing how fast time is running.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CONNIESIM-BLOG !!!

2007-04-05T14:03:00.000-07:00

After a short pause I had some time to work again a bit, I have a door now! Push the pusher and come in...!

That's how it looks inside. A bit bald and woody. But that will change, I promise!

I bought a 1000pcs pack of pop rivets and aready used almost the half of them... Click...pop...tingling... With such music you don't need a radio.

10 square meters aluminum sheets, 300 wood screws and 500 rivets later it looks like this. If you ask how I will get the seats through this narrow door, you have a good reason to ask. On the left side I will make a "service door" but I have to cut it out first.

2007-02-26T11:01:00.000-08:00

2007-02-15T11:25:00.000-08:00

That's how it looked before...

And that's 2 1/2 months later.

The masterpiece is finished! I think I can say that without exaggeration. In no other part of the cockpit I invested so much time and work and I hope that will not be necessary anymore.
Sometimes I had some doubts if I really will finish that work. It's quite a mental thing and you need a lot of patience.
I painted many parts twice and triple because something went wrong. Acrylic paint on synthetic resin for example makes some funny things. Doesn't look good but it looks amazing when all the paint shrinks like the skin of an old apple.
You never stop learning....

Sometimes I wondered about the constructions of Lockheed. Many nuts are riveted to the metal and easy to drive a screw into, but others, especially on the most difficult places not. I don't know how they assembled that unit fifty years ago... I suspect that they must have had some very little workers, maybe four inches high, with at least five elbow joints on each arm.

2007-02-11T10:42:00.000-08:00

A new part is ready to be connected - the wing flaps lever. First I feared to have not enough space to install the four reed switches (magnetic switches) but during the disassembly I had the idea to simply glue them to the cover next to the lever. Then glueing a small magnet to the lever itself and finished is the job.

Well, it worked not that fast. I broke some of the tiny and fragile glass switches and had to repeat the process.
Today I installed the cover on the console again and it works very fine. The switches switch exactly at the moment when the lever locks into it's positions.

I still have to wire the gear switch andt the whole trottle pedestal is finished. Maybe also the auto pilot... maybe not, we will see. I think it makes not much sense to let the computer fly alone. But future will show it. I can add that feature later if I want.

2007-02-07T11:27:00.000-08:00

A new part again - The Spock-unit for the throttles is built and wired. It's waiting to be mounted into the pedestal.

Spock-unit? I called it so because "potentiometer-unit" sounds so boring... :-)

2007-02-04T11:32:00.000-08:00

I almost forgot it... I finished something important today. The elevator trimmer is working, is electrified and ready to be hooked to the interface. I did it in 1950 style with rolls and cables and springs - fly by wire in the old fashion.

2007-02-04T11:19:00.000-08:00

Rats in the cockpit... Snakes on a plane? No, no, not a Hollywood phantasy product, just a landing gear knob with some teeth marks. I first thought that this may have come from some careless pilots scratching it with his shoes. But after a closer look I saw that it must have been a little animal like a rat or a Guinea Pig. Do they live in the Dominican Republic? Maybe... Or tiny little midget leopards.

That explains why the landing gear lever smelled penetrantly like shit when I sanded it. I first thought it was some strange sort of paint but....

What a shitty blog entry today.

2007-01-26T11:03:00.000-08:00

There is some friction.... The throttle feeling is already perfect because I mounted the friction rollers. Aluminum discs and leather, pressed together by a spring. Why leather? Because the first cars had brake pads made of leather and I had nothing better in my workshop. And it works wonderfully. The potentiometers are still missing and178 other parts until the throttle console is finished.
Yesterday I put a new gear wheel into the elevator trim indicator (the disc with the numbers) and now this works too. Ba chance I had a suitable gear in my collection. The only problem was to turn the round hole in the middle into a hexagonal one. But with some time and a file even that is possible.

2007-01-14T08:33:00.000-08:00

Master and slave.... The one is a dual core Pentium 4 with 3 GHz. The other a Pentium 3 with 700 MHz. I admit these are quite unequal twins but each one fits to its purpose. The faster runs the Microsoft flight simulator, the slower some additional software for the instruments.

Thanks to WideFS both can communicate with eachother. Today I installed the Instructor Station demo from Project Magenta to test the link between the two. I think I will buy the full version because the software is great! You can play God with it... engine failure? Here it is... just click a button.

2007-01-09T13:03:00.000-08:00

And there is always one who is crazier than yourself...!

To restore a cockpit is already a rather crazy idea and sometimes people are looking strange if you tell them about your hobby. But while surfing the internet you find even stranger people from time to time.

The picture shows the cockpit collection of Roy Jerman, a member of the "International Cockpit Club", located in England. Most members have a single cockpit or only a instrument panel... but not Roy.

"Do it right or do it not!"

2007-01-07T11:54:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks passed and I didn't write something new. But that doesn't mean I did nothing!
As one can see on the pictures, many things happened. (Compare the pics on the post before)

The throttle console is one of these things where I had some doubts if it will come out good. But now, with some fresh paint on it, I am quite confident. Sometimes I ask myself how I made that. I had to make the sheet metal around the left front corner new because it was missing. I had to attach some sheets around the lower edge because the "colleagues" in the Dominican Rep. have not been very careful with the cutter. The rear part had to be re-attached because it was cut away during the disassembly of the cockpit.

Sounds simple in these few sentences... but it isn't! I'm not a tinsmith, I'm a computer hardware techie... but with a bit oil and metal in my blood.

Well, the mechanical part of the work is almost done. Some more parts have to be cleaned and painted and that's it... half the work is finished.
Half the work? Ah yes, the electronic part comes after that and it will be a bit complicated. potentiometers... breaking the throttle levers mechanically.... switches...levers...auto pilot...reverse lock... gear lock solenoid... etc. etc.

2006-12-05T10:10:00.000-08:00

Beautiful but without a function... the trimmers. I will not convert them to work with the simulator. They are looking good and that's fine.
One can turn the handle and the pointer in the display moves, just like in the old times. The glasses of the displays are made from CD cases... I needed something transparent but not too thick.
You gotta have good ideas....

2006-12-03T11:12:00.000-08:00

Well... this whole project is a difficult task but this thing here will be the most complicated part of them all.

I don't know how the people from Lockheed put this thing together but some parts are not made to disassemble again. Not a single piece can be removed without removing two or three other parts before. And you need a around-the-corner screwdriver and a 3/8" rubber-wrench... :-)

... or 20 atomic powered micro chinese to get to the screws from inside...

I wonder how they managed it to install or change the steel cables. I'm really glad I don't have to do that!

On the last picture you can see the first finished lever (wing flaps). The housing is already cleaned... that was a sticky job. Today I already painted two throttle levers.

I still don't know how I will install the computer-interface-potentiometers but for nostalgic reasons it will be something with cords and wires.

2006-11-19T13:52:00.000-08:00

Heute hab ich den Glare Shield wieder im Cockpit eingebaut... hab ganz vergessen, dass noch nicht alle Fensterschrauben montiert waren, so hat sich das um eine Stunde verzögert. Die musste ich schliesslich zuerst anbringen, nachher kommt man nicht mehr ran. So ist das eben wenn man "mal schnell" was machen will.
Zur Entspannung habe ich dann zuhause das rechte Pedal verdrahtet (dabei kann man schön Musik hören) und den kleinen Magnetkompass gereinigt und die Beleuchtung repariert. Nettes Teil, so einen muss ich mal für's Auto organisieren...

2006-11-18T10:47:00.000-08:00

Kleiner Nachtrag... ich habs geschafft, dass jetzt jeder seinen Kommentar abgeben kann.

Bisher war das nur anderen Bloggern möglich aber ich hab jetzt die Einstellungen geändert. (Es war so langweilig ohne die dummen Sprüche... :-))

2006-11-18T10:19:00.000-08:00

So.... endlich ist das erste Pedal fertig. Das Potentiometer montiert und die Kabel sind angeschlossen.
Es hat sich mal wieder bewiesen, dass die kleinen "nur noch schnell" Arbeiten immer länger dauern als man zuerst denkt. Alleine die weisse Rolle mit dem Aluwinkel hat etwa 2 Stunden Arbeit gekostet. Ich hab natürlich die Luxusausführung gewählt, Rolle handgedreht, Achse aus Messing ebenfalls... nur die Schrauben sind gekauft.
Dafür hatte ich es mit der silbernen Rolle weiter hinten einfach, sie stammt aus dem Computerschrott. Ich musste sie nur mit einer Holzschraube befestigen, alles andere war bereits dran.
Die Feder auf der anderen Seite des Potis stammt aus der Schublade mit Ersatzteilen für alte Rechenmaschinen aus dem Geschäft. Gut habe ich die bei einer Firmenübername vor dem Schrottcontainer gerettet. Ich wusste doch, dass man immer wieder mal ein Federchen braucht.

2006-11-13T13:42:00.000-08:00

Matt sei dank! Matt...? Wer ist denn Matt? Tja, das ist wohl der verrückteste Simulatorbastler der Welt. Dank seiner Homepage www.mattssimulator.com bin ich auf die Idee gekommen wie ich die originalen Instrumente für den Sim benützen kann. Schaut euch seine Seite mal an aber haltet euch fest... alleine die "Basement Tour" könnte euch vom Hocker hauen. Leider hat er keinen Mail-Link, ich hätte mich gerne bei ihm bedankt.

Viele Instrumente im Cockpit laufen mit sogenannten Synchros. Wenn man zwei solche Synchros richtig miteinander verbindet, dann kann man den einen drehen und der andere läuft synchron mit. Verbindet man nun einen Synchro mit einem Frensteuer-Servo von Simkits (www.simkits.com), dann kann man ihn per Computer steuern und somit auch das Instrument das dran hängt.
Das einzige Problem ist, dass man eine Spannungsuelle braucht, die 26 Volt bei 400 Hertz liefert, denn mit dieser Spannung laufen fast alle mechanischen Anzeigen in Flugzeugen. Ich habe das Problem mit einem Verstärker (schwarze Kiste im Bild) und einem Tongenerator gelöst. Für den Simulator muss ich mir noch einen Oszillator basteln... den Verstärker übernehme ich so wie er ist, der liefert 400 Watt, das sollte genügen.

2006-11-13T13:31:00.000-08:00

Los Pedalos sind so gut wie fertig... nur das Potentiometer muss noch richtig befestigt werden. Das ist übrigens das teuerste Poti, das ich je gekauft habe, es hat 60 Franken gekostet aber es läuft dafür supersmooth. Es soll ja auch eine Weile funktionieren, da darf es schon etwas kosten.
Die Pedalanlage ist mal wieder ein gutes Beispiel für aktives Recycling. Die Gasdruckfedern stammen von grossen Druckern, die Rollen aus einer HP Optical Disk Jukebox und die Gleitschienen sind aus einem 19-Zoll Rack und haben einst grosse Disks von Fujitsu getragen. Nur das Drahtseil ist neu und stammt aus dem Veloladen.... und das Brett... von Migros.
Die Schalter für die Bremsen sind induktive Näherungssensoren die reagieren, sobald das Pedal gedrückt wird. Sie stammen aus der Greifhand eines Tape-Roboters.

2006-10-21T12:58:00.000-07:00

The Wing Fighter from Star Wars part 17? Assault of the Zylons? Nooo, totally wrong, this is the so called glare-shield which is installed above the pilots instruments. Integrated in it are red and white illumination lights. Underneath the bumps left and right are the light regulators, the rheostats.
It was not easy to get red lightbulbs of this size but with some pieces of color film for stage lights did the job too.

2006-10-18T10:31:00.000-07:00

The first computer is ready. Let's see what the dual core pentium is able to do. The front cover is painted in "Connie Avionics" black. The computers will be installed in the radio rack and take the place of the radios which were installed there in the early days.

Oh... Doctor, what is it...? Congratulations! It's a pedal.... Quadruplets to be precise. Of course all the mechanics for steering and braking is still missing but it will come soon.

2006-09-27T11:49:00.000-07:00

Today it was time for the small parts... I removed the nuts from the windshield frames and polished each one... 280 pieces! Now the inside of the cockpit can be painted and it will certainly look great with all the shiny nuts.
I know, there are some machines that polish such parts in no time but I don't have one. This way I had some work for another 2 hours... I don't want to run out of work ;-)

2006-09-12T10:58:00.000-07:00

An important part has been added... the platform for the pilots seats. This time I welded it myself and I think it came out very well, even if I'm still a beginner in welding.
As one can see, I removed the glareshield, the cover above the instrument panels. It will be cleaned, sanded and painted.... black on the top and Lockheed-green on th underside. The illumination regulators will be rewired and the bulbs replaced.

2006-07-18T12:20:00.000-07:00

Something for the specialists... The cockpit will not be built to the original width because this would be 2.80m or more at the rear wall. But I want to have it transportable and this requires a maximum size of 2.50m or it will be a special oversize transport with authorization by the police.... far too complicated.
So, it needed to make a compromise between the original size and userfriendlyness.

2006-07-18T12:07:00.000-07:00

Enough motorbiking.... now I have some vacation ant time to build. It is amazing what one can do in one day. I started cutting the wood parts at 10:30 and at 20:00 the whole framework was finished... including lunch break and driving to the hobby center for small parts.

2006-07-02T09:44:00.000-07:00

SUMMER BREAK! Or did you think I'm sitting in my workshop with this nice weather? No, I rather make a little trip with my bike and show the other bikers what such a Milwaukee old iron is able to do.
The footrests are getting thinner in every curve :-)

2006-06-08T12:56:00.000-07:00

My new joystick... is almost finished, just a few steel cables and a potentiometer are missing. I decided to use a more expensive potentiometer for which the data sheed promises a lifetime of 10'000'000 movements. Let's hope it's true.

2006-05-25T09:11:00.000-07:00

The NAV-COMM panel lights up. All whells oiled, lamps replaced... The display illumination consists of two extra bright LED's now because the original lamps are not available anymore. And the VOLume knob is now made of aluminum because the old plastic knob is broken during the disassembly.
If there are no spare parts, one has to make them.

2006-05-17T12:02:00.000-07:00

ADF Panel by night.... no further comment.

2006-05-14T11:17:00.000-07:00

An actual picture of my workbench. The NAV-COM panel lies here in parts and waits for reassembling. WD40 did miracles again and re-liquified the dried grease. After cleaning it's a job for the red Neoval oil because WD40 evaporates much too quickly. It is great to clean stuff but for a longtime lubrication it is not suitable.

2006-05-12T11:31:00.000-07:00

Let it roll! The frame is welded together, many thanks to Reto Meier for helping with this. The next step will be to cut lots of wood. The cockpit fragment and all the other parts will be mounted on profiles made of plywood. This makes it possible to create any desired shape I like, no matter if curved or straight. At the end everything will be covered with aluminum sheets screwed to the plywood profiles and the Connie gets a nice fuselage. We will see..... it's the first airplane I'm building. ;-)

2006-05-01T06:58:00.000-07:00

The automatic direction finder (ADF) panel. It seems it was standing in the rain for some time. The numbers of the display were completely stuck and rusty. That much about "aluminum does not rust"... well it's true, it is just called differently.

But now it works again and when I get the lamps from the USA, it will light up like new. And that's all it has to do.

2006-04-27T09:52:00.000-07:00

A number riddle.... This is the rear side of an illuminated plexiglass panel. One can see clearly the manufacturing date NOV 13 1957. That means the airplane must be manufactured at that date or later. But the serial number on the panel is 4402 and HI-548CT has S/N 4202.... is it a mistake or was the panel changed somewhen...? Will we ever know?

2006-04-25T12:36:00.000-07:00

That much can happen in half an hour. Washing with water, cleaning with alcohol and polishing with "the green stuff". Then painting the letters with white water paint and the ugly panel looks almost like new.

The "green stuff" is Knorrostol polishing paste. A real sercet tip for everything that must be cleaned and polished. Metal plastic.... whatever, it's a real wonder stuff.

2006-04-25T10:45:00.000-07:00

Last week I have not worked much on the simulator because my red moster needed some attention. Removing all the RV stuff and make room for future projects. The rear door needed an electric actuator for loking it up from the drivers seat because I want to install a wall between the cargo compartment and the "cockpit" :-)

2006-04-17T02:13:00.000-07:00

A new part... This window worried me a bit because it was broken. Fortunately these windows have three layers of glass and plexiglass. So I could remove the good inner glass (10mm thick) and use it again.

2006-04-12T11:15:00.000-07:00

Heavy Metal!!! Yeah man, the Super Connie Simulator Chassis Kit (SCSCK) has arrived. All parts prcisely cut to my specifications and now it's WELDING TIME!... but it has to wait until Easter is over.

2006-04-11T13:37:00.000-07:00

I can only say... I want to take it in my hands and fly away. But that must wait a little bit. One should not blow ones owne trumpet but these steering wheels are really cool.
Some bake cakes on their birthday, I polish Connie wheels.... everyone what he can best.

2006-04-10T12:21:00.000-07:00

Let it shine, let it shine, lehehet it shiiiine..... I'm happy that I have painted them! Just letting the paint dry now and them some polishing. I bet they have never been so shiny even new.

4 layers of paint... 3 hours of work... including a chat and two beers ;-)

2006-04-09T13:21:00.000-07:00

Most wanted.... The Constellation steering wheel hub cap with Lockheed logo. This was the first item that has been stolen from all the Connies besides of the clocks. Now I made two new ones... 4 hours on the lathe and they were finished. I must admit that I lost most of the time by sawing the 80mm aluminum bar in small pieces... by hand! I would be thankful for an electric metal saw...

July 18.: I bought an electric saw and now it is fun to cut stuff like this.

2006-04-05T12:27:00.000-07:00

Before.... after....

After 2 hours of grinding, scraping and polishing, the steering wheel shines like new. I'd like to leave it like this instead of painting it black. But even if it looks very nice in silver, it is not original.

By the way, I noticed that the Connie steering wheel has the same diameter like the wheel in my VW Bug.... that would look cool if I'd put it in my car! But a VW steering wheel in a Connie cockpit looks also funny :-)

2006-04-04T12:38:00.000-07:00

As I said before... "there is some beauty under the dirt"
The first panel is finished. The switches are polished and tested, illumination is repaired and the metal parts in original color painted.

Hard to believe if you compare it with the panel on the picture before.

This is how everything will look at the end. The whole cockpit will look like new or maybe better... who knows...

2006-04-04T12:25:00.000-07:00

That how the stuff looks that I got. Rather bad on the first sight... and on the second too. But the eye of a 'professional' sees the beauty that lies somewhere underneath the dirt. It will be a lot of work to get it to the surface...

2006-04-04T12:19:00.000-07:00

After George the hurricane came Francisco the pilot and gave the airplane the rest... fortunately! There would not much be left if he had not taken the stuff with him.

2006-04-04T12:15:00.000-07:00

That's how it looked shortly after the storm. The Commando must have crashed with their wing into the Connie, almost cut it in half.

2006-04-04T11:52:00.000-07:00

4.4.2006 a bit later...

It works! Now I can tell you the story of "Project 2".

Project 1 is of course the complete, real and flying Breitling Super Constellation, one of only three left in airworthy condition in the whole world. The Australians have one, the Americans have one... and the Swiss have one too. More infos about that project at www.superconstellation.ch

But this blog here is about Project 2, the Super Constellation Flight Simulator, built with real 50 years old parts. Where shall I start with the story.... well let's start with Francisco. Francisco is a Pilot from Geneva who loves to spend his holidays in South America or the Carribean just to fly old airplanes.
He flies with meat over the Andes or with fruits from Santo Domingo to Florida just because... just for fun.
The first Super Connie he flew was the HI-548CT of the dominican air transport company AeroChago. This airplane was destroyed by hurricane George in 1998. The wind lifted another airplane ( a Curtiss Commando) from ground and threw it onto the Connie.
1999 Francisco bought the wreck and removed all the usable parts such as the entire cockpit.

Well... these parts lie now in my workshop awaiting their restauration and the assembly to a flight simulator.

2006-04-04T11:50:00.000-07:00

4.4.2006 This is the first official post... let's see if it works.