Way back in March, I showed the starting process to how I built new edge-lit panels for the F-15.
I finally was able to get enough time away from doing 3D printer work to get some panel work done!
(The sad thing is, I bought the Rostock MAX to build parts for this and my other projects. Since it arrived I’ve pretty much done nothing but 3D printer oriented stuff…)
Here’s the new Jet Fuel Starter panels.
The new panels are on the left, the old panel is on the right. There’s a few differences between them, but they’re dimensionally identical. The “L” on the far left panel didn’t completely engrave, so I’ll need to touch that up by hand.
The original JFS panel has three 5V lamps that are embedded in the back of the panel. In order to do any repairs to it, you need to use a motorized tool to grind out the “potting” material in order to reach the lamps and their wiring. I suspect that the potting compound is clear, but I’ve never torn apart a panel to find out. Maybe some time I’ll grab an old commercial airliner panel I have and tear it apart. For Science! 🙂
Here’s what the new Nav edge-lit panels look like:
This was my first go-round at doing two-color panels. There was some paint bleed and in a few points, masking failure. I’ll touch these up by hand using a magnifying glass and a very fine detail brush. If you didn’t know, the real panel is in the center.
I’ll post pictures of the other panels when I’ve got them completed. I think there’s only one more to finish – it’s a two-color panel as well and fits on the fire suppression panel.
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Lou Perry on 09.29.2015
Hi Gene,
I love your sight and your sim. I have been catching up on what you have been doing for a couple of months. I saw your sim in a 2003 issue of Air&Space magazine. Your address was the only one that worked. all of the others in the article did not. I have a couple of questions. I would love to try and build one of these. Not as elaborate as yours but with an original cockpit fuselage and integrated control surfaces. I live in southern CT and where would be the best place to find a scrapped fuselage of a vintage jet an F-80 or F-86, as an example, and what about software. I have a mechanical engineering degree and I am a quick study. What do you think. I consider you an absolute master craftsman and engineer. I think your sim is amazing. Let me know what you think when you have a chance. Thanks
Lou
admin on 09.30.2015
Lou, I’m neither master craftsman, or engineer. I only play them on the Internet. 🙂
I know of one F-86 that _might_ be available, but it’s not going to be cheap. There’s two F-80’s in my neck of the woods, but they’re not for sale. 🙁
I’m kind of bummed to hear about the other project sites. You might want to try entering their URLs in the Wayback Machine at http://www.archive.org.
Building a sim from an existing airframe is a LOT of work. You might be better of scratch building something instead.