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That being said, with the assistance of the Canadian Aviation Hall of
Fame based in Wetaskiwin, Alberta, I have constructed a 30 foot display
trailer for the aforementioned presentations. Inside, I carry a full
size single seat Starduster aircraft which I picked up for a song
last November. Although the fuselage is in great shape, the wings
have been stored in a damp location for a number of years and have
experienced some wood rot.
No matter...at the price I paid, I was more than happy to rebuild it as a full size display model. The fuselage, powder coated by C & C coatings of Innisfail, Alberta, is rolled out of the trailer and the wings and tail-feathers are mounted within a matter of minutes. Half the aircraft has been covered with Polyfibre while the other half has been left opened so viewers can observe the inner workings. I even have access to an old continental 0-200 which is being split in half this winter and mounted in a manner that will show the engine's inner workings.
It has been displayed indoors as well as out and has always drawn a lot of attention. I've always felt it missed something however, and that's where the information found on FlightSim.Com has been more than helpful.
The more I read about multi-screen flight sims, and construction of your own control devices, the more I realized that there was more that could be done. Remember, this is a full size biplane, with full size wings and tail surfaces. Not only can kids and adults alike sit in this thing and observe the joystick controlling the ailerons and elevator, and their feet controlling the rudder; but now, thanks to the information in FlightSim.Com, they can also sit in the thing and actually fly it.
This first document discusses construction of the joystick control and dash components.
It all started with a Wingman Extreme joystick that has been sitting
around the house for a number of years. It worked fine, but the more
I read about cockpit construction in the
'how to'
section, the more I would look over at it thinking "I gotta rip that
apart to see what's inside".
I don't know if it was curiosity, or a sense of adventure... but something won out.
Picking up my tiny Phillips screwdriver, I pulled the thing apart and laid it out on the table in front of me. I was actually shocked at how simple it was. Now that I had a basic (stress on the word basic) understanding of potentiometers, I slipped down to a local electronics store and found a linear potentiometer that looked like it might work. Returning home with the pot, and a spare serial cable I heated up the soldering iron. Cutting the three wires that lead to my twist handle rudder pot, I attached them to the one I had purchased. Imagine my surprise when I hooked into my laptop and saw that the new pot worked perfectly. The following day, I traced wires back from the throttle slider and other switches and made mental note of where they attached on the joystick circuit board.
My next step was to prepare the dash. This picture is taken from the
front of the aircraft and shows the joystick printed circuitry
mounted on the lower right side. I decided to keep it simple.
Looking at the front of the dash panel I've mounted trim up, trim
down, master, and engine start. These are all done with basic Radio
Shack switches and a few inches of hacked up Ethernet cable. Although
I could have removed them, the switches originally mounted on the
joystick circuit board have been left in place. I just soldered the
leads from the dash mounted switches to the corresponding position on
the back of the board.
I had been fairly worried about how to mount pots for the joystick
until I laid on my back and got under the thing. If you've ever
taken a joystick apart, you'll know that the 'base' is just a square
piece of plastic. They were originally attached with screws, however
drilling completely through allowed me to simply bolt it directly to
the floorboard.
To attach the aircraft joystick to the Wingman Extreme, I simply used a cable tensioner. The end attaching to the Wingman has been bent for proper geometry, while the end attached to the aircraft 'stick' uses flexible cable. Pulling the stick back in the aircraft allows the 1/4 inch bungie to pull the Wingman guts forward for up elevator and of course pushing forward on the stick pulls the joystick back for down elevator. 1/16th inch aircraft cable has been routed through the floorboards and attached to the stick for aileron control. All this was attached to the circuit board by extending the wiring with 9 strand Ethernet cable. Stops have been adjusted on the real elevator to limit its travel so I don't over stress the joystick. This wasn't required for the ailerons.
Finally, if you can look past the glare of the pilots head you will
see that I'm flying Darrell Wilson's Starduster file
(SD300HP.ZIP).
Even though I'm only using my laptop during the construction phase,
you can see that his aircraft gives an almost exact forward view.
Flying the thing out of Saskatoon/Diefenbaker airport was a simple matter of ...
1. master on
2. push to start
3. add throttle
4. trim for a gentle climb and so on
To my surprise, the controls worked extremely well. I have flown a Pitts (the real one) and I would compare the controls on this set-up as similar. Once I've installed my rudder pedals and computer with 3 screen video she'll be a true hoot to fly.
For several years I have been performing in a Citabria, but will soon move up to a Skybolt biplane. The sim will closely imitate the actual performance aircraft right down to the sponsor logos. (to learn more about sponsorship opportunities, go to my web page listed below.)
In the near future I will be installing the rudder pedals, the computer and graphics; and my longer term project is to install gauges matching my performance airplane. Give me a few weeks and I'll have a report on my progress.
Daryl Lowey
Living Sky Aerobatics
www.livingskyaerobatics.com
