Construction

The Prototype, or, first Sim, will be made of plywood and be a portable unit, built on a computer cart. The Capri Workstation from Buddy Products is ideal for this set up.. This will be done to provide a base for the integration of software and systems testing. The ultimate goal, as upgrades are obtained, will be to make the sim a full body, sit in unit..with all of the frame work built around the portable unit.
Center Section components and assembly. All of the sections are built, modular so that they can be easily mounted and serviced. Everything is built on to the Capri Workstation, as shown. All of the computer interface boards will be hidden in the center console and are furnished by; CH Products (USB) flight control devices, Hagstrom Electronics, for keyboard and mouse function encoding, and a SimKits CCU is needed for control of the flight instruments. MK 12D Nav/Com is furnished by Narco Avionics. This unit is not functional for real communications, but it is a an authentic representation of an aircraft Nav/Com. It lights up, and all the buttons, knobs, and frequency "flop" functions work.
In most sims the gauges are part of the flight software and are displayed in the bottom half of the computer monitor screen. All of our instruments are full size replicas made from real instruments furnished by Kelly Manufacturing Co. and Vargas Enterprises, Inc. The instruments will also be "night lighted" by NuLite Instrument Systems and dimmer controlled by Flight Data Systems. The Narco 155 transponder is just a face plate at this time...we are working at trying to duplicate this piece of equipment. WW 2 avionics were a bit different than the Narco systems we are using. We are making use of sponsors donation to the maximum. The Central Control Unit, to operate the functioning Instruments, will be a Simkits CCU, and will be purchased when funds can be obtained or a sponsor willing to purchase and donate the item.
The control stick had to be modified, to more closely resemble a W.W.II fighter stick. The grip was re-designed, by removing the right and left side buttons, and narrowing the body. The hat switch was left for the outside views, and the bottom button is for the secondary weapons trigger. An Intercom "push to talk" switch was added to the side of the handle. Original Stick was furnished by Ch Products.
The rudder pedals have an elevation extension on them, for our shorter students and the peds are located on the lower shelf of the Capri. The pedals also have toe brakes and are furnished by Ch Products.
The Throttle Assembly is made from cola bottle caps and aluminum bar stock, bent to the right shape. Also seen on the console are the fuel tank selector knob, fuel pump switch, aux tank selector and release button at the rear of the console. Wing Flap lever and gear switches are on the angled panel section at the front. All of the interior components are hand made, one of a kind, built by project designer/builder JD Hayes.
All switches, levers and dials are connected to the flight software and function just like in a real aircraft, by means of USB port or Hagstrom encoder. Potentiometers were furnished by Tocos and Honeywell/Clarostat. This allows for there not being a keyboard or mouse in the simulator. Thanks to FlightCom, one of our Gold Sponsors, the instructor will be able to talk with the sim pilot, via their intercom system and aviation headsets.
All of the switches and dials in the sim work. So the engine start up and pre flight is as authentic as we can make it. Not just one button. Although, for the younger pilots, the Operator / Instructor has an over-ride for all the keyboard and game controls. We even tried to copy a real MK-2 "Lynn" Gunsight. Ours was made by using an instrument housing as the case...the reflector glass was made from clear lexan and the reflector mount arms were made from plywood. The "real" sight is the top photo with the white background. The Gunsight. also works. There is a high intensity light bulb in the body that projects a "cross-hair" pattern on the reflector. Pilots can choose to use the reflector, with x-hairs on the monitor screen. X-hairs on the screen with no reflector or no x-hairs on the screen and all of the sight operations through the virtual Gunsight. The reflector is also on a mount that allows for angle adjustment.
The Instructor's Station "Com Center" will be mounted on a mobile Computer Workstation, that also holds the main CPU. All functions can be controlled from this unit, and are connected to the Simulator through extension cables, furnished by Belkin. FlightCom furnished the Intercom and real airplane headsets with microphones.
The 1st photo at right is of the Hagstrom KE-72 Keyboard Encoder. This little gadget is what makes all of the switches work with the flight sim software, and eliminates the computer keyboard and mouse. Hagstrom has donated several of their boards to our project, including a Rotary Switch Encoder board and several junction boards. The bottom 3 photos are of the SimKits PCB circuit board controllers. These PCBs make the instrument gauges function in conjunction with the flight software. We may be able to use the 2 smaller PCB's by SimKits to serve the same purpose as the big unit, pictured at the bottom. It is huge savings as far as purchase is concerned. Unless we can get a sponsor for these items from SimKits, it might take a while to save up for them and they most likely would be purchased 1 unit at a time. They come all the way from the Netherlands and so the shipping is a huge amount as well. We only need 2 instruments from SimKits, the Altimeter and the Heading Indicator. These are instruments that we can not duplicate, due to the additional circuitry in each of the units and the adjustment mechanisms for re-set. However, because we are using CH Products and Hagstrom for all of the controls except instruments...the sim is functional without the instruments working.