How To Build An Airliner Crew Seat

A long time ago my cockpit shell tutorial was published. I hope that everyone now his own flightdeck shell completed and some electronics and flight controls added.

For now, the days of office chair flying are counted, because we're going to build our real looking airliner seats.

One word first: The measurements I'm providing with these tutorial gives only an overview. While building you'll see that some dimensions are going to change a little bit. Maybe there are other, more professional ways to make them, but think about the costs of one seat, less then $100.

Using this method it's also possible to add a height adjustment using a hydraulic car jack. This option is not described in this tutorial. So feel free to customize your own!

First cut out the base board and the sidewalls using the right measurements as provided. The sidewall are glued and screwed on the wooden bars. These bars we are going to use many times while construction, because they give a great stability.

 

The picture here shows the upper seat contruction already glued and screwed together. On the left you can see, also here were the wooden bars used for.

 

Both parts mounted together with 8mm nuts and bolts. If you want to add the height adjustment, don't use static bolts but rails to fit the upper section on the lower. Place a car jack underneath the upper section.

 

Cutout of the backrest on the cushion side.

 

The backrest mounted on the lower basement. Also here were our wooden bars used. For the technical look, small screws were added on both sidewalls in the height. The backrest itself is mounted with 8mm nuts and bolts on the lower frame. Here it's also possible to add an adjustment.

 

The top of the backrest frame. The holes are for providing seatbelt installation.

 

The other side: For the back panelling use the whole MDF plate as a kind of template and press it on the completed backrest. Now, you can draw a line for cutting. Important: The back paneling must cover all shapes of the backrest. It's only mounted with 4 screws, not glued. Using this method the complete backpanel is removable for maintenance (adding seatbelts, install a subwoofer system...) The cutout shown at the picture are optional and provides the classic Boeing 727 look.

 

Behind the cut outs, a thin plywood board is glued. In a later stage, textile bags for maps and manuals should be installed here.

 

A close shot of the armrests. Two cut outs of 15mm MDF are glued together, and a technical fell is given with fake screws. The upper backrest section will be completed with odd brown leather very soon.

 

No comment!

Or just one and a half

 

The complete seat as it is. A glued piece of wood. Be creative to give the seat the real, used look. I have put a layer of odd green primer paint at all metal parts, by scratching the grey color (that will be happen while using) the green primer appears. I'm really like this used look! Seat cushions will follow soon using foam rubber and furniture textile.

Maybe this tutorial has given a little overview, what is possible, remember, with less then $100. Feel free to create your own custom style seat.

If you have any questions about this tutorial or our flight deck, don't hesitate to ask via mail.

Daniel Friede
[email protected]

Visit our site:
www.dutch-mountains.com/737project.html