Hey guys, Again, I apologize for the long delay on updating this thread. I also just recently updated the "LCD Monitors for the Center MIP" thread. You can find that related thread HERE I believe I covered a lot of what I am getting ready to cover.....again, because I have actually built four of these v2.0 MIP furniture sets so far to one degree or another. But over the past week, I have actually been working on my own set and took some additional photos for some extra documentation. One thing that I have found is absolutely necessary are aluminum braces that hold the bottom outer ends of the MIP Backer. Once the weight of the LCD screens, ACPs and everything else starts adding up, you will find that the MIP Backer will start to bow backwards. To address this, braces must be installed. But in order to do that, extra screws need to be installed in the center brackets that hold the MIP Backer to the MIP Tower. There are two brackets here that need the extra screws, one lower and one up. When all the screws are installed, the MIP Backer and the MIP Tower become one solid part. I used the flattest surface I could find, a square and a level to make sure I was able to find the exact point where the braces needed to be mounted. Perfectly square is the goal. Here is the MIP Backer mounted to the to the MIP Tower sitting on top of the TQ Pedestal with the aluminum braces installed. It's one solid piece ready to support the LCD screens. I am reusing the 15 inch standard monitors form my v1.0 build, heck, they hardly have any hours on them! Here I have all four LCD screens fitted and installed in the MIP Backer. I found that I had to carefully grind away a couple metal tabs off each 15 inch LCD bezel. Easy work but scary because you don't want to damage these 15 inch monitors, they are getting harder and harder to find. Here I have the aluminum MIP in place along with the Glareshield. It's really starting to come together! For more information on how to mount the two 9 inch LCDs, check out this thread HERE I know a couple of guys that used a 17" or even a 19" LCD screen for the two main screens. The problem with this is those extra inches spill into the area where the ACPs, AOA gauges and GPWS indicators are or even further where the Davtron clocks are suppose to mount. The beauty of the two 15 inch standard LCDs is that you can situate them so that you can cover 100% of your four main Display Units and not interfere with anything on the ends of the MIP. Brilliant! Another thing I really like about the move to the two nine inch LCD screens in the center is that they do not stick up very far at all into the Glareshield area. In the previous version, the single LCD screen stuck up two full inches and the wires from the FGC had to be routed carefully around it. Here you can see that is also no longer an issue. It's not the perfect solution but it's several steps in a good direction! The Glareshield "fingers" at the tail end are still needed to help make everything feel solid and connected. The issue is when pilots or visitors are getting in and out of the sim, everyone tends to grab the glareshield for support, therefor, it absolutely needs to be a solid structure from top to bottom. The problem is you can't just bend them over, you have to bend them with a degree of precision. The only way to do this is to remove the Glareshield, brace it and bend manually. Here is a better look at the first finger bend. The scrap "L" angle helps put the bend exactly where it needs to be. The final finger bends need to be done while mounted to the structure. Now the Glareshield feels solid and sturdy! This is a great photo showing how it all comes together from the back side. All that is left is mounting the glareshield flood light and final paint! I am excited to finally get to this point. Last but not least, a photo you don't see everyday. My MIP furniture to the right that I just completed and a unfinished future set that I will be working on again shortly. One more update to cover the final details in a couple weeks! Keep an eye out for it. Hey guys, Again, I apologize for the long delay on updating this thread. I also just recently updated the "LCD Monitors for the Center MIP" thread. You can find that related thread HERE I believe I covered a lot of what I am getting ready to cover.....again, because I have actually built four of these v2.0 MIP furniture sets so far to one degree or another. But over the past week, I have actually been working on my own set and took some additional photos for some extra documentation. One thing that I have found is absolutely necessary are aluminum braces that hold the bottom outer ends of the MIP Backer. Once the weight of the LCD screens, ACPs and everything else starts adding up, you will find that the MIP Backer will start to bow backwards. To address this, braces must be installed. But in order to do that, extra screws need to be installed in the center brackets that hold the MIP Backer to the MIP Tower. There are two brackets here that need the extra screws, one lower and one up. When all the screws are installed, the MIP Backer and the MIP Tower become one solid part. I used the flattest surface I could find, a square and a level to make sure I was able to find the exact point where the braces needed to be mounted. Perfectly square is the goal. Here is the MIP Backer mounted to the to the MIP Tower sitting on top of the TQ Pedestal with the aluminum braces installed. It's one solid piece ready to support the LCD screens. I am reusing the 15 inch standard monitors form my v1.0 build, heck, they hardly have any hours on them! Here I have all four LCD screens fitted and installed in the MIP Backer. I found that I had to carefully grind away a couple metal tabs off each 15 inch LCD bezel. Easy work but scary because you don't want to damage these 15 inch monitors, they are getting harder and harder to find. Here I have the aluminum MIP in place along with the Glareshield. It's really starting to come together! For more information on how to mount the two 9 inch LCDs, check out this thread HERE I know a couple of guys that used a 17" or even a 19" LCD screen for the two main screens. The problem with this is those extra inches spill into the area where the ACPs, AOA gauges and GPWS indicators are or even further where the Davtron clocks are suppose to mount. The beauty of the two 15 inch standard LCDs is that you can situate them so that you can cover 100% of your four main Display Units and not interfere with anything on the ends of the MIP. Brilliant! Another thing I really like about the move to the two nine inch LCD screens in the center is that they do not stick up very far at all into the Glareshield area. In the previous version, the single LCD screen stuck up two full inches and the wires from the FGC had to be routed carefully around it. Here you can see that is also no longer an issue. It's not the perfect solution but it's several steps in a good direction! The Glareshield "fingers" at the tail end are still needed to help make everything feel solid and connected. The issue is when pilots or visitors are getting in and out of the sim, everyone tends to grab the glareshield for support, therefor, it absolutely needs to be a solid structure from top to bottom. The problem is you can't just bend them over, you have to bend them with a degree of precision. The only way to do this is to remove the Glareshield, brace it and bend manually. Here is a better look at the first finger bend. The scrap "L" angle helps put the bend exactly where it needs to be. The final finger bends need to be done while mounted to the structure. Now the Glareshield feels solid and sturdy! This is a great photo showing how it all comes together from the back side. All that is left is mounting the glareshield flood light and final paint! I am excited to finally get to this point. Last but not least, a photo you don't see everyday. My MIP furniture to the right that I just completed and a unfinished future set that I will be working on again shortly. One more update to cover the final details in a couple weeks! Keep an eye out for it. Surprise! An update out of nowhere. Today I had a couple hours to finalize the glareshield lamp that is hidden behind what I refer to as the glareshield lampshade. Here is one of the best photos I have of the real one. The real deal is a 32 inch long florescent flood light in a metal mesh sleeve that is dimmable via the FLOOD light control knob on the Captain's side Crew panel. Why is there a metal mesh sleeve around the light tube? Quote from DonnyRay: "It’s an EMI issue. All fluorescent lamps (bulbs) operate by electrical current flowing in an ionized gas contained within the tube. This current flow creates wideband electrical energy (“noise”) and can interfere with radio reception. The mesh screen forms a Faraday cage around the lamp and prevents the noise from causing radio interference." My solution was to use a 32 inch long LED strip inside a plastic tube. The size and shape are identical to the real deal. As you are aware, LEDs are far more energy efficient, burn ten times cooler and do not have any adverse health effects. (There are some studies that suggest florescent bulbs cause health issues) All that is left is to solder in the wires and pop a small hole in one of the rubber end caps. But for now, it's all about drilling, fitting and finalizing the last bits before the painting process. I decided to go an extra step and install 10-32 rivnuts where the two brackets attach. This way, only two bolts are needed, (NO NUTS) to hold the lamp securely in place. Well, I actually went one more extra step and found some 10-32 mill spec nuts. I have several extras if anyone needs a set (two bolts equal a set) Installing this glareshield lamp is the last modification needed to the furniture pieces. Now there is truly nothing left to do but final sanding and paint. Another update soon. Surprise! An update out of nowhere. Today I had a couple hours to finalize the glareshield lamp that is hidden behind what I refer to as the glareshield lampshade. Here is one of the best photos I have of the real one. The real deal is a 32 inch long florescent flood light in a metal mesh sleeve that is dimmable via the FLOOD light control knob on the Captain's side Crew panel. Why is there a metal mesh sleeve around the light tube? Quote from DonnyRay: "It’s an EMI issue. All fluorescent lamps (bulbs) operate by electrical current flowing in an ionized gas contained within the tube. This current flow creates wideband electrical energy (“noise”) and can interfere with radio reception. The mesh screen forms a Faraday cage around the lamp and prevents the noise from causing radio interference." My solution was to use a 32 inch long LED strip inside a plastic tube. The size and shape are identical to the real deal. As you are aware, LEDs are far more energy efficient, burn ten times cooler and do not have any adverse health effects. (There are some studies that suggest florescent bulbs cause health issues) All that is left is to solder in the wires and pop a small hole in one of the rubber end caps. But for now, it's all about drilling, fitting and finalizing the last bits before the painting process. I decided to go an extra step and install 10-32 rivnuts where the two brackets attach. This way, only two bolts are needed, (NO NUTS) to hold the lamp securely in place. Well, I actually went one more extra step and found some 10-32 mill spec nuts. I have several extras if anyone needs a set (two bolts equal a set) Installing this glareshield lamp is the last modification needed to the furniture pieces. Now there is truly nothing left to do but final sanding and paint. Another update soon. Hey guys, I have been working on the six furniture piece elements over the past few weeks. Final sanding filling and painting. So far, so good. Today I was able to group the MIP Backer with the MIP Tower. The MIP Backer/Tower is now one solid and complete piece ready for the LCD screens to be installed once and for all. I used .5" wide by .125" thick foam tape to buffer the MIP Backer and the Aluminum MIP. This keeps things from rattling and also helps to protect the LCD screens. For me personally, this is a very exciting time because I am finally getting to see several ideas all coming together at the same time. Here you can see the new pass through openings on the sides. Also in this photo you can see the "lock block" down at the bottom. This "Lock Block" locks onto the top of the TQ Pedestal. And here you can see the top pass through for the FGC wiring harnesses. All in all, it's the same concept as the v1.0 MIP Backer and MIP Tower but with a few more good ideas to make things a whole lot easier on us when routing cables and harnesses. One more piece COMPLETE and ready for installation. I should have some cool pics of the rest of the furniture pieces painted and completed in the next week or so! Hey guys, I have been working on the six furniture piece elements over the past few weeks. Final sanding filling and painting. So far, so good. Today I was able to group the MIP Backer with the MIP Tower. The MIP Backer/Tower is now one solid and complete piece ready for the LCD screens to be installed once and for all. I used .5" wide by .125" thick foam tape to buffer the MIP Backer and the Aluminum MIP. This keeps things from rattling and also helps to protect the LCD screens. For me personally, this is a very exciting time because I am finally getting to see several ideas all coming together at the same time. Here you can see the new pass through openings on the sides. Also in this photo you can see the "lock block" down at the bottom. This "Lock Block" locks onto the top of the TQ Pedestal. And here you can see the top pass through for the FGC wiring harnesses. All in all, it's the same concept as the v1.0 MIP Backer and MIP Tower but with a few more good ideas to make things a whole lot easier on us when routing cables and harnesses. One more piece COMPLETE and ready for installation. I should have some cool pics of the rest of the furniture pieces painted and completed in the next week or so! Hey guys, This past week I finished up the painting process of all the furniture pieces. I did a three part process: First, the inside areas were painted green to replicate the aircraft corrosive resistant coating, then the outside painted gray. Finally, a flat clear coat to help protect the outside surfaces that we and other things might come in contact with. As always, I like to share as many photos as possible to show everyone at least one way to go about building something like this. There might even be some good ideas mixed in! LOL I will start with the Center Pedestal. Here I have already painted the inside green. This was the easy part. The time consuming part was carefully masking the areas that you don't want to get gray paint on. Here's the Center Pedestal painted with masking tape still in place waiting to dry. (No clear coat yet.) And here is the Center Pedestal painted with masking tape removed! I was not sure how this would turn out but I wanted to see what it would look like if I masked in a 1/8" lip of gray around the top edge to replicate the metal sides. After all, the real deal is made of aluminum, not wood! Here you can get a glimpse of the 12v to 5v converter for the CDU1. There is a second one for the CDU2 mounted on the other side. I will update the CDU thread with this bit of information and cover it there in more detail. The main thing to know is that we have a couple power converters mounted in the Center Pedestal for the CDUs. Next up, the TQ Pedestal. This is a good photo showing how the inside was painted first. After the green paint fully dried, I did a quick scuff sanding of the outside one more time to knock down any over spray. Here is the TQ Pedestal all taped up ready for some gray paint. I had to make sure everything was sealed up tight so that no gray paint got inside on the green. And here is the TQ Pedestal finally painted and finished! Same with the Center Pedestal, I masked the TQ Pedestal in a way to replicate the aluminum sides. I have reinstalled the Free Fall Landing Gear handle. I moved some screw locations around to better replicate what the real deal looks like in this area. Clean and fresh looking, lets see how long that last. The Elevator Disconnect box and handle are also installed. This was a joint effort between myself and Shane to make the handle closer to scale and a better design than what we had in the past. We are working on several Elevator Disconnect boxes for anyone that needs one. The handle can be pulled, turned 90 degrees and locked in both directions. There is a micro switch that captures the handle when pulled. Here is the MIP masked off and ready for gray paint. Again, it's a lot of work to mask everything off like this but I feel the effort is well worth it. (Only one roll of tape needed believe it or not.) Paint on the MIP finally with clear coat! This is a moment I have been waiting for, finally able to start populating the v2.0 MIP with panels we have been working on for the past five years! One thing I have really been looking forward to working on was the "Airplane Panel". This is the nickname we have given the reset buttons found hidden behind the weight chart panel. I designed and ordered a couple sets of Dry Transfers to properly mark each of the twenty reset buttons with LED indicators. Dry Transfers were the best option for this job. Once the dry transfers were in place, they were clear coated to lock them in so that they don't come loose. I will have more information on the reset buttons in another thread, but in the meantime, here they are installed in the MIP! (These will be hidden behind the weight chart panel) Last but not least, the glareshield.. Pretty much the same as the MIP and the other pieces, a lot of masking involved in the painting process. Here I have just the back side painted green and drying. I got excited and started installing components so I don't have a good photo of just the glareshield finished in paint, but you can get the idea from these photos. In these photos, I already have the Slip Skid indicators mounted, the Flood Light and the CVR (Cockpit Voice Recorder) mic installed. I will post one more set of photos of everything installed in the sim to show what it looks like all brought together. Getting closer! Hey guys, This past week I finished up the painting process of all the furniture pieces. I did a three part process: First, the inside areas were painted green to replicate the aircraft corrosive resistant coating, then the outside painted gray. Finally, a flat clear coat to help protect the outside surfaces that we and other things might come in contact with. As always, I like to share as many photos as possible to show everyone at least one way to go about building something like this. There might even be some good ideas mixed in! LOL I will start with the Center Pedestal. Here I have already painted the inside green. This was the easy part. The time consuming part was carefully masking the areas that you don't want to get gray paint on. Here's the Center Pedestal painted with masking tape still in place waiting to dry. (No clear coat yet.) And here is the Center Pedestal painted with masking tape removed! I was not sure how this would turn out but I wanted to see what it would look like if I masked in a 1/8" lip of gray around the top edge to replicate the metal sides. After all, the real deal is made of aluminum, not wood! Here you can get a glimpse of the 12v to 5v converter for the CDU1. There is a second one for the CDU2 mounted on the other side. I will update the CDU thread with this bit of information and cover it there in more detail. The main thing to know is that we have a couple power converters mounted in the Center Pedestal for the CDUs. Next up, the TQ Pedestal. This is a good photo showing how the inside was painted first. After the green paint fully dried, I did a quick scuff sanding of the outside one more time to knock down any over spray. Here is the TQ Pedestal all taped up ready for some gray paint. I had to make sure everything was sealed up tight so that no gray paint got inside on the green. And here is the TQ Pedestal finally painted and finished! Same with the Center Pedestal, I masked the TQ Pedestal in a way to replicate the aluminum sides. I have reinstalled the Free Fall Landing Gear handle. I moved some screw locations around to better replicate what the real deal looks like in this area. Clean and fresh looking, lets see how long that last. The Elevator Disconnect box and handle are also installed. This was a joint effort between myself and Shane to make the handle closer to scale and a better design than what we had in the past. We are working on several Elevator Disconnect boxes for anyone that needs one. The handle can be pulled, turned 90 degrees and locked in both directions. There is a micro switch that captures the handle when pulled. Here is the MIP masked off and ready for gray paint. Again, it's a lot of work to mask everything off like this but I feel the effort is well worth it. (Only one roll of tape needed believe it or not.) Paint on the MIP finally with clear coat! This is a moment I have been waiting for, finally able to start populating the v2.0 MIP with panels we have been working on for the past five years! One thing I have really been looking forward to working on was the "Airplane Panel". This is the nickname we have given the reset buttons found hidden behind the weight chart panel. I designed and ordered a couple sets of Dry Transfers to properly mark each of the twenty reset buttons with LED indicators. Dry Transfers were the best option for this job. Once the dry transfers were in place, they were clear coated to lock them in so that they don't come loose. I will have more information on the reset buttons in another thread, but in the meantime, here they are installed in the MIP! (These will be hidden behind the weight chart panel) Last but not least, the glareshield.. Pretty much the same as the MIP and the other pieces, a lot of masking involved in the painting process. Here I have just the back side painted green and drying. I got excited and started installing components so I don't have a good photo of just the glareshield finished in paint, but you can get the idea from these photos. In these photos, I already have the Slip Skid indicators mounted, the Flood Light and the CVR (Cockpit Voice Recorder) mic installed. I will post one more set of photos of everything installed in the sim to show what it looks like all brought together. Getting closer!Center, TQ Ped and MIP by Project45
Forum NavigationCenter, TQ Ped and MIP by Project45
#31 · December 23, 2024, 9:12 pmMark Speechley has reacted to this post.Mark Speechley#32 · December 27, 2024, 10:29 pm#33 · January 4, 2025, 10:45 pmMark Speechley and Will_S have reacted to this post.Mark SpeechleyWill_S#34 · January 19, 2025, 11:55 pmHunkaBurninLove, Shane Barnes and Mark Speechley have reacted to this post.HunkaBurninLoveShane BarnesMark Speechley
2017-10-10