My Learjet 45 project

[Tomlin]

Hi guys

I am thinking that it would be wise to start posting my project updates in one thread like Bob has been doing for so long- that way everything is in one location and not in a new thread everytime. Of course questions will be placed in the appropriate forum :-)

Anyhow, this was to start that one thread and also to announce that I have gotten a large majority of my MIP Stand built and to show some pictures!

You can go here for full details :http://www.flightlevel180.org/3.html

or have a look in the gallery as well at http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/member.php?uid=283&protype=1

[Michael Carter]

Your MIP is looking good and those monitors are a good fit.

Mine is finally going to get some instruments after I play around with Panel Studio some more.

[Petex1]

starting to look more & more like a lear everyday. nice job

Pete

[Westozy]

Looking good Eric, I remember that stage when my panel first 'breathed life'. It sparked me up to really get on with the rest of it.

Good stuff!

Gwyn

[andarlite]

Eric

Had a chance to browse your website.... great stuff. Looks like you're definitely going beyond Gwyn 85% rule.:)

Regards,
Henry

[Tomlin]

Well, thanks everyone.

Regarding the 85% rule, I have to rope myself back in sometimes, but it will definately be used for the yokes and pedals!

Gwyn mentioned that seeing it all coming to life is a great way to push forward- I would have to agree but add to that comment, that the biggest issue is what most of us have- money! If it werent for that, then I would be done in about a month! :-)

It's been fun so far and I might be able to mount my switches in the panel sections temporariliy till I get the real ones made. If so, then I plan to fly along with some of the World Flight routes hopefully. Lots to do in one month though!

[elekwind]

Simply Amazing!!!!!!!

I love it !!!!!!!

[Tomlin]

Thanks :-) It's been tons of fun so far. I started back up on the throttle levers last night and I slightly over-drilled a hole and I was reminded of all the joys of building things from scratch.

Im really hoping to get some seats soon, and another yoke/pedals, and the yokes mounted, and, and, and... You know how it is.

[Tomlin]

Well, I got the notice this morning from Ebay that I had won a bid on a near-new CH Yoke, so Im tickled pink that I will now have dual yokes for the Learjet sim. I got it shipped for $30 less than if I had bought new, so Im stoked.

Hopefully I will have very little trouble running both via USB until I can get them disassembled and interconnected with just one set of USB interfacing for them.

I know that there were a few users here that mentioned they had NO trouble running two CH yokes both connected to their pc, (PaulERJ was one, I think?)

Anyhow, the sim moves forward, and is one step closer to being all the more flyable and it's just in time for a charity flight event that Im conducting in early December at our church!

If anyone has any pointers for potential issues having the two CH yokes both connected to usb, I'd like to hear it.

[PaulEMB]

Hi Eric,

No I just used one, then cannibalized it - in the end, I am only using the pots and drop arms,plus a couple of the plastic connecting levers.

So far (not many hours on it yet), my new set up suggested by Routech, and using chains and cable, is working well.

There are a few new pics on my site I uploaded this week.

[jmig]

Well, thanks everyone.

Regarding the 85% rule, I have to rope myself back in sometimes, but it will definately be used for the yokes and pedals!

Gwyn mentioned that seeing it all coming to life is a great way to push forward- I would have to agree but add to that comment, that the biggest issue is what most of us have- money! If it werent for that, then I would be done in about a month! :-)

It's been fun so far and I might be able to mount my switches in the panel sections temporariliy till I get the real ones made. If so, then I plan to fly along with some of the World Flight routes hopefully. Lots to do in one month though!

For me it isn't the money. It is the time, or lack of. I sometimes think that maybe I should retire. Then I will have the time and no money. :mrgreen:

[Tomlin]

Hi guys

For the past several weeks, I havent 'been around' quite as much due to lots going on, here on my side of the fence. However, it's all been 'good stuff' for the most part and I wanted to post a little update on what's happening with the Learjet sim, and some other recent events. Beware- this could get a bit long!

Although I havent gotten around to posting any photos yet, I now am glad to say that I have seats for the Learjet. In the spirit of holding to Gwyn's 85% rule, I refused to allow my self to buy real seats and I dont have the time to build any. As a result, I went with my cousin (who's helped a lot on this project) to a local junkyard. As you may imagine, I didnt really want to go into what I needed the seats for when the yard owner asked what car I needed seats for. I just basically replied that it was for a project and started looking for the narrowist seats in the best condition. After looking thru a few cars, I found what was initially suggested- a Porsche 924. As I opened the door, I couldnt believe what I was staring at. At the youngest, these seats are 19 years old, but they look brand new. Black leather w/ gray center material and a very light 'Porsche' embossing in the fabric. I needed seats that were clean- these are exceptional. I needed seats that were 20" wide or less. These are 19.5" W. I needed them affordable. These were $75.00 for the pair!

Needless to say, Im very excited. I wish they were gray or tan, but the black will do! No tear-spots or stains of any kind. I believe the owner must have been one person, and very meticulous.


On other parts of the sim, I have recieved a 2nd CH yoke and have now made 2 matching custom columns that are made of high quality materials and painted, looking very professional. This will serve me well until the two yokes can be interconnected sometime next year. Just dont have the time or money to link them right now. Both have been test flown, and there are no problems with conflicts in FS. I have also started the sim base and look forward to finishing it. Brand new grey outdoor carpet purchased last night is going to really bring it together in appearance. I just need to decide how Im to install it on the base.

Several other little things must be done, as well as taking the whole sim apart in about a week for a temporary set up at our church for a charity flight event. No small task!

In real aviation, this past week I had to travel to Tallahassee for 3 days for work training, and it was a year to the week that I made the decision to change from the 737NG to a corporate jet sim. While there, I was thrilled to get the chance to climb aboard a real Learjet 45, and take several pictures as well as talk to the crew to confirm some items for performance/operations of the type. They were very nice and very accomodating! They went as far to say that they would have given me a 'test' flight, if it werent owned by a very popular fractional owner.

All in all, I am plugging forward on the sim and will post lots of new photos soon!

[jmig]

I look forward to seeing the results. I bet the new seats relites the fire to get it finished. Then...when is a sim ever finished?

[Michael Carter]

That's good news about your seats. If anyone asks, they came out of a Porsche Mooney.;)

[Tomlin]

Hi everyone

Well, you can get a glimpse of what's been keeping me so busy that past month by seeing some new pictures of my project at http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=283

Part 2 will hopefully show the whole thing put together and flyable again, hopefully sometime this weekend or early next week!

Thanks for looking.

[David Rogers]

Looking great - good to see your panels. Always a great milestone getting your MIP sorted.

:)

[jmig]

The pictures look like you will have something to be proud of there. Looking forward to seeing it all come together.

[andarlite]

Nice job on the MIP. Did you do the cutouts yourself?

Regards,
Henry

[Tomlin]

Hi guys, and thanks. I did do the cut outs myself. Actually, it's crazy how things work out. While I was trying to figure out how I was going to make the whole thing look better for this upcoming charity event, I remembered that I had made some lower panels out of masonite, but they had never been finished. As a result I just simply took the template off of them after completing the cut process and then once all the switches were mountable, I painted them with many MANY coats of Krylon gray (primer and gloss) and it's a nice finish, although a little dark I think.

Anyhow, there's quite a bit more done since these were taken a day ago but I will most likley wait till I have the whole sim put back together before any more pics are uploaded.

I will say this: After making these panels, I can see how the panel makers (commercial suppliers) are well worth (in most cases) the money they charge. Accuracy and proper tooling being the main reason.

[Tomlin]

Okay, finally I can start showing some pictures of what's been keeping me so busy. Im to the point that although I love my sim, Ive been working so hard to get ready for this upcoming event that I start noticing the shortcomings more than the greatness of it! So, hopefully I will have lots of people show up and show lots of interest in the sim and I know that it will remind me how awesome it is to have your own jet at home!

Anyhow, enjoy the pictures and if you go to the website, you will see comments on it all. Just scroll all the way down here http://www.flightlevel180.org/3.html and you will see them.

Eric

[Joe Cygan]

Looks awesome Eric!

[PaulEMB]

Nice Job Eric,

I'm glad to see it's coming together for you at last - looking very professional.

[magicaldr]

Wow, thats looking good, and I love what you use it for as well as your own entertainment :)

[Westozy]

Well done Eric, I used to drive a 924 they have good seats. I have good car seats in my sim and often tilt them back on those long flights. The thing that wakes me up usually is the engines spooling down out of gas somewhere totally lost!

Gwyn

[Tomlin]

Well done Eric, I used to drive a 924 they have good seats. I have good car seats in my sim and often tilt them back on those long flights. The thing that wakes me up usually is the engines spooling down out of gas somewhere totally lost!

Gwyn

Seriously, you wake up and are out of fuel? Wow! Thought *I* was getting old...

Just kidding Gwyn!

Yeah, we got the seats and seat bases bolted down last night and they are super comfortable. Should be just the thing for those longer flights!

Below you can see some new pictures, basically the same, but now with the TQ pedestal covered up till I get the TQ built.

[Tomlin]

Hi guys, I just wanted to make a little post about flying the sim this past weekend.

The simulator has been put through the paces and I'm glad to say that it performed flawlessly during our Winter Holiday Weekend charity flight event. We flew the sim on an amended flight schedule from KAYS-KMCO-MYNN and then from TJSJ-TNCM, then from KIAD-KPVD. Not quite the entire trip that we planned for due to time available, but Over-all everyone had a great time and enjoyed all the functions of the simulator!

Just a few points to pass on: I have the Butt Kicker Gamer mounted to the sim base in the Center Pedestal, and I have to say that I think it would be a shame to not have it installed. It provides just the right amount of hum and vibration to the whole sim when running and the visitors were astounded when they steped up to the sim and felt the vibration. This is one thing that everyone loved, along with the super comfortable Porsche seats!

I want to publicly say 'thanks' to GoFlight and PC Aviator for their support of this event, and how they didnt hesitate to offer some product to greatly enhance the realism of the event for the participates and the visitors and also to our local Chic-fil-a for a great meal on Friday night.

A handful of people that knew very little about flight simulation (or at least at the level us homebuilders seek) got a great first-time hands-on experience and can now work as a great co-pilot! As such, I feel sure that our participation in World Flight next year will be a great success. Although we didnt have very many visitors, our small (first ever) event raised over $100 in cash donations and over 40lbs of food to be distributed to a few families in need. Meager by other's accomplishments, but helpful to the needy no less!

The next stage of the project begins Phase II- preparing the 'Hangar' and moving the sim into its new nest and once that's completed early January 2008, the shell will be started and that will increase the realism several times! I cant wait till the shell is completed, as there were a few times when I looked up from the instrument panel and we were in a turn and my brain was fooled into feeling like we were really banking and turning.

Cant wait to get Vox ATC, and I also want to say that the ImagineSim TJSJ works really good for a meager PC like mine if anyone was thinking of buying it!

[magicaldr]

Congrats Tomlin on doing something more with a sim than building it :) If my sim gets a little more off the ground I am hoping to follow in your footsteps and see what I can pull together.

[David Rogers]

Eric,

Congrats on two parts; firstly that your sim is looking MEGA! ....... not that long ago I was looking at your wooden MIP frame and monitor stands and now ..... well, it's a cockpit buddy, no arguments! ... I'll be grinning like a Cheshire cat when my A320 is looking that far on. :)

Secondly, congratulations on the event - great to see you taking the enjoyment that flight sim brings out to a wider audience ...... I bet there are at least a couple of people that attended, who will now be scanning eBay for a copy of FS2004 !

Well done.... 8)

[Tomlin]

Hello everyone. Sorry, no pictures but I wanted to post a small update on the status of my Learjet 45 project and also ask a question.

First, the sim is STILL dismantled, but it wont be long now. This past weekend we spent about 14 hours getting all the old wire out and the new wire in the sim's hangar and tonight after wraping up a few wiring chores, we will begin installation of the insulation to keep the bird warm in winter and cool in the summer! The new wiring will allow all the PCs, monitors, and projectors to run safe and take the higher load and hopefully all the sim stuff will be moving in before the end of April. I expect to have it all finished (the renovation part) completed by next Saturday hopefully. Then I will take delivery of the Innovative L45 shell the following weekend and have it going up soon and will be sure to post photos!

Now, on to the second part.

I have been going back and forth on what COLOR I should paint the room and ceiling and so far I think that it should either be a medium gray or a Boeing brown and the reasons for such is that I would like to minimize reflection from the Projectors off of the ceiling and walls onto the other projector screens. Are there any folks with experience able to say what would be the best color for the walls/ceilings for that?

Thanks!

[Matt Olieman]

Eric, sounds like you're having fund :) :)

I've found with using projectors, and particularly in an open area, you want the walls to be none reflective. It really washes out the screen when you have bright scenes.

When I plan on putting my cockpit back together, I plan on enclosing the visuals, so no outside light would be effected.

Anyway, something to think about.

[AndyT]

An excellent job Eric. And using your sim to help promote God's kingdom is truly awesome. Keep it up! :-D

[Tomlin]

Thanks Matt and Andy!

Hey, I have thought of that, but it would require that the whole sim be draped in contractor's sheeting (the thick black garbage bag like material) and so Im not sure I will do that, although I am planning on eliminating all light from entering the hangar during operation. As such, will I be able to use neutral colors like gray or tan/brown or should I paint the ceiling black?

[Matt Olieman]

Never thought about the Contractor's sheeting. That's an idea :)

[Tomlin]

With this beautiful shell coming, I would hate to drape all that stuff over it, but practicality dictates that elimnating all light would really help, and since we are really admiring the inside vs. the outside, if it works, then so be it! I would just worry about heat buildup from the projectors, etc. under the 'cloak' and then in the sim itself, no heat is venting.... "hmmm...I smell eggs frying..."! j/k

[Matt Olieman]

Yeah, I've put some thought to the heat problem. Do like the big boy's, keep the projectors on the outside, lens inside. Or just work on venting the projectors heat.

[Tomlin]

Well, I just bit the bullet (proverbial of course) and spent some dough on a new FS server.

I had to be on a really tight budget but got quite a bit of bang for the buck.

On order:


Gigabyte Mother Board that will allow me to upgrade to a quad core CPU one day if I care to and massive FSB
XFX 9800GTX 512 MB video card
2 Gigs of RAM
Seagate 250 GB SATA HD
AMD X2 64 3.2Ghz CPU
Case
PSU

...plus a copy of Windows XP OEM (one of the last copies they had on hand! )


I believe it will run FSX just fine. However, after paying out this much $$$ Im going to concentrate on getting FS9 running at Banshee speeds with all my goodies.

Should make for a very nice World Flight experience this year with everything turned up and little performance hit for FS9.

In time I will start checking out FSX as I know the ground textures are amazing, especially with ORBX's products and hopefully the USA soon enough once I pay this new little monster off!

[Matt Olieman]

Great news Eric, keep us up to date... I'd be interested in hearing how it performs :)

Matt O.