How To Build Your Own Cockpit

Parts 15 - 17

by Kev Saker

Part 15

This drawing gives dimensions of the various components so far; also it shows the shape and size of the left side panel, the circle on the panel marks the location of the nose wheel steering tiller. You will notice that the side panel runs outward from the window pillar at a fairly wide angle. This it to allow for the contour of the fuselage and also to make room for the captains seat which needs to be able to slide over to the left to make enough room for getting in and out of the seat.

Again MDF board is ideal for constructing the side panel, you may wish to fit a piece of thin aluminium sheet on the outside of the structure to give it the right feel.

Another nice touch (which I used on the F-4) would be to glue a piece of sheet steel on the floor of the cockpit and paint it the desired colour, then using wire wool rub out a pair of ovals on the floor. This simulates the wear you always see in front of the rudder pedals, you can polish up these ovals so the effect of aluminium floor is very realistic. (See * on drawing) to take the scale modelling aspect a bit further you can use a Stanley knife blade to score along the corners of the pedestal box, as these are aluminium this will also give a nice metal appearance to the box.

Finally you will see there is a slot cut in the forward part of the left side consul, make a Plasticard box to fit under this. Just the place to keep all those approach plates you will need.

Part 16

You may wish to build the instrument panels first. However as I am describing the construction of the cockpit structure I will continue with that for now.

Drawing 16 shows the shape and dimensions of the outer cockpit and windows. Also the position of the monitor can clearly be seen. The actual construction of the cockpit shell will vary between different aircraft types but basically you start with the forward window posts, then I built the rear frame work from 2"x 1" timber, next, again using timber I linked the forward window structure to the rear bulkhead, this forms the frame of the overhead panel which can be seen on drawing 16 (lower left) the system panel at the front and the circuit breaker panel at the rear.

You will see that the overhead panel is divided into three sections, these are where the various system panels are secured later. On the 757 and other aircraft there are 4 divisions on the system panel but because I was only building the left seat and centre console I left out row 4 as this contains mainly heating and pressurisation panels which I felt I could do without.

The skin of my sim is made of white-faced hardboard, which is easy to work with an electric jigsaw. Windows on the sim can be glazed using Perspex or acrylic sheet. If you want to make them opaque use the method described for the cockpit canopy in section 12. Again, finishing touches can include aluminium sheet glued to the inside of the skin and aluminium strip used around the window frames will give a nice scale appearance. The outside of the simulator can be painted up with the logo and colour scheme of you favourite airline.

As in the F-4 it is a good idea to fasten the frame to a wall to give it the strength and stiffness it requires.

The lighting system in the sim is all low voltage. It comprises a white cockpit light with a potentiometer dimmer switch, a set of 14 grain of wheat type bulbs (used in modelling etc.) which run along the autopilot glareshield. These are wired in series two at a time so they are not to bright. Finally there is a red map light over the seat and a set of red panel lights that illuminate the overhead and centre panels. It is a good idea to fit a separate power supply for the lights; this will avoid the lights dimming when other functions activate.

Part 17

OK, the next part covers the making of the centre panel and its associated systems panels. On drawing 17 you can see the basic layout of the panel for the 757/767. The parts that work on this panel are as follows, landing gear handle and wheel and door lights, flap gauge (covered in part 7) auto throttle select panel, alternate gear and flap switches, the two centre displays containing engine gauges and a number of system warning lights, the master caution warning light cancel and recall switch, a selection of warning lights, speed brake autopilot cut out etc, and finally the auto brakes select panel, which is just procedural at this time.

The other instruments on this panel are just modelled replicas, the standby flight instruments are all red flagged at this time. If you wish to activate these instruments you would need to fit a second monitor as mentioned before.

In the next sections I will describe the various parts working from right to left, starting with the gear lever.

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