Super Constellation... work in progress

[superconnie]

Some news about my Super Connie cockpit... Today I painted the flight engineer desk after a lot of cleaning and re-assembling. If you want to see the pictures, please visit my blog:

http://conniesim.blogspot.com

Christian

[Bob Reed]

WOW!! Very nice work indeed... Not going to make the engineers station functional huh?

[Michael Carter]

Very nice work!

[superconnie]

Functional.... no. It will be there only for decoration and completeness of the cockpit. And because I have the parts...

The F/E station will be the place for the simulator supervisor. Keyboard and mouse goes inside the desk (you can open the lid) and a little screen behind the levers. Maybe I will use some switches and lamps to indicate some computer stuff (reset, on/off, etc.)

Christian

[ivar hestnes]

Beatyful.

It is really a pleasure to look at all the details you build into your simulator.

:)

[Geremy Britton]

Your attention to detail is great, the time and effort you have put into this is phenomenal and you certainly are dedicated to retsoring her.
Your patience is much more than i would have before it ended up worse than when it arrived; and my foot twice as sore:roll:

excellent!

[superconnie]

A new item has been installed in the cockpit... the F/E desk and lower switch panel. It gave me a little headache because I made it a bit too tall, so I had to cut two inches away to make it lower. But at he end, it's great to see how everything fits together.

It is like a giant puzzle... but some tiles have to be reshaped to fit :-)

Christian

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/5611/dscn6554sir8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[dnoize]

It looks like it comes new out of the factory. Marvelous job you are doing there. Cant say how much i appreciate it !

Did you say once it was going to be open to public sometimes ?

Stef



.

[BlackWidow]

Yes, that is awsome work.

[Bob Reed]

All I can say is WOW.. Nice job!!

[Westozy]

Sweeeeeeeeeeet! Awesome job, I just love old props. I saw a Connie fly at Avalon, Victoria 2003.

Gwyn

[superconnie]

Thanks a lot... :-)

It looks a bit better on the pictures than in original, there are still many scratches on that switch panel but I leave it like it is. The feather button covers are not in place yet.

One flight engineer scratched "Chuck D. loves Betty Lou" underneath the fuel pump switches.... I wonder if I will find out who it was...

Christian

PS: http://conniesim.blogspot.com

[superconnie]

It will be open to a "limited" public. Mainly the members of the Super Constellation Flyers Assoc. and for events.... I don't know exactly what will be.... but who does?

Christian

[superconnie]

Some new parts in my cockpit and the first seat is finished... The entire master junction box (next to the F/E desk) is now installed.

http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/3051/dscn6646tz5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/3568/dscn6658ny3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[ivar hestnes]

This is so beatyful. Love the work you do here.

Thanks for showing your progress:)

[Joe Cygan]

So the wings are next?

Wow, incredible!

[superconnie]

No, the second seat is next.... and already finished as you can see.

Funny thing... I have two different seats in my cockpit. One is the 1948 model and the other is the 1955 model (on this picture). Since both seats come from a SUPER Connie this means that one seat must have been replaced by an older one.
And because the cockpit came from a Dominican Republic airplane... everything is possible. :-)

http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/5104/dscn6958wy8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/5104/dscn6958wy8.9c5889cf81.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=409&i=dscn6958wy8.jpg)

[Michael Carter]

Man, that looks great!

You're going to have a museum piece when you finish it. Nice that you'll be able to fly it as well.

[superconnie]

I'm working again on the cockpit and this is how it looks now. I have both seats restored, I made new seat cushions and also a lot of small parts to make everything look nice.
The overhead panel is not cleaned yet and also two of the F/E panels still need some work.
But at the moment I'd like to wire all things together because I WANT TO FLY!!! No matter if some things are missing. I am now in the third year of building this and I have never played with it.... it's time to take off!

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/7420/dscn7001qt4.th.jpg (http://www.mycockpit.org)

[aviaparts]

A very nice and unique piece of artwork you have over there ! I would like to see your flight attendants in their original uniforms serving coffee ;-)

[warvet]

Christian,
That is truly one of the nicest historical simulator cockpits I have ever seen. Super job.

Tim
A340
Canada

[superconnie]

Marnix: Me too...! ;-)

Tim: It is not finished yet. It will get even better...

[superconnie]

It's time for another update. Many parts have been added since the last post. F/E station is complete and even the desk lights are working. Radios are working thanks to the Goflight GF-46 panel I installed on the glare shield center panel.
And I have already made the first test flights.... with a 9" LCD screen placed on top of the glare shield :-)
Everything is working now except the brakes, I have to modify them a bit before.
And what comes next? Well there are still many things to do. The overhead panel is still half empty (or half full or you're an optimist) and there are a lot of decorative items missing.

Did you notice.... I even have wipers now :-))) (I'm really proud to have these)

Here are some pics...

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/4343/dscn7067bk3.th.jpg (http://img87.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscn7067bk3.jpg)

http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/2517/dscn7068xo5.th.jpg (http://img502.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscn7068xo5.jpg)

[flightdeck]

I can only say: STUNNING JOB :shock: !!!!!

[BlackWidow]

That is amazing!

[superconnie]

And another update...
Last weekend I installed all the boxes I have in the overhead panel and connected the lights.... I just love it how it looks. I have now my own redlight district ;-) Now it's time to go to bed... it is late. Next time I will take my tripod to make better pictures.

http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/91/dscn7205ls4.th.jpg (http://img265.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscn7205ls4.jpg)http://img265.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif (http://g.imageshack.us/thpix.php)

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/9708/dscn7204xz6.th.jpg (http://img513.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscn7204xz6.jpg)http://img513.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif (http://g.imageshack.us/thpix.php)

[Michael Carter]

That looks great. Just like you were there.

[superconnie]

Well, it is almost done. A few parts are still missing but I'm working on it. Today I had some visitors from the Super Constellation Association and they really enjoyed the flying.
The outside visuals are still very simple... a projection screen a one beamer. But if you take the picture from the right angle it looks very real.
I installed "Switzerland Pro" scenery which looks phantastic. If you're a fan of mountains and maybe Switzerland, you have to have this. ( www.flylogicsoftware.com ) Even in FS9 it looks wonderful!


http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/8726/dscn7389ce6.th.jpg (http://img91.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscn7389ce6.jpg)

http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/3659/dscn7395pf0.th.jpg (http://img91.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscn7395pf0.jpg)

[Jackpilot]

Congrats......super job!!

[superconnie]

It's a while since the last update... well I was working a lot and now I'm almost finished. Only the ceiling covers are missing, everything else is inside the pit and working.

I had my first mission outside of the "hangar"... a visit at the Event Coordinator meeting of our association. The guys were like little children at christmas in a toy store and I think you all know wht I mean :-)

It was also funny to see the faces of the people on the highway. I bet they had absolutely no idea what this thing on the trailer was :-)))

http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/1710/dscn7514.jpg (http://img257.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscn7514.jpg)