Gadroc's A-10 Build

Good stuff Gadroc, looking nice :)

Like you, I broke a bit the other day by stupidly zeroing with some bad maths way under the top of the work. Thankfully the vacuum bed of the router was 36mm (1.4") under the surface and the bit broke nearly one inch under the surface.

It was a smaller 1/4" bit, if I had a 1/2" bit it probably would have kept going until it damaged the table, phew!

Ouch.. I just hit a hold down screw when I didn't zero in the x axis properly.

Awesome man... at least someone is building, and doing a fine job!

Gadroc. Pit is looking great. This may be obvious to the veteran pit builders, but what is the grey material you are using on your seat back and how did you form it to shape?

I got most of the parts cleaned and assembled tonight.

Here is the rudder floor and seat cradle. Cradle still needs a few parts cut (back brace and some spacers to make it easier to center the seat.

Here is all the new parts I cut (minus CP risers as they need to be glued on).

Here is the pit in place for dry fitting.

Finally here is a closer images of the cp with risers and dry fitting my instruments.

Tomorrow night I need to drill one more hole in the CP (Misplace one bolt hole for the landing gear panel, but not a big deal.), glue up the risers and finally mount the TV.

I may try and drop .5" to and 1" in height on the seat after I fly a few times. The throttle seemed to be a little bit of a stretch but not bad. Have to try it out a few time.

Gadroc. Pit is looking great. This may be obvious to the veteran pit builders, but what is the grey material you are using on your seat back and how did you form it to shape?

I got the seat back from Flim a while ago. I believe it is a vacuum formed seat back from a real ACES II but I'm not positive.

Hey Looks great!!! If that F -16 style seat pan starts to be a pain in the but do to it low hip and higher rise in the front of the pan. I have some pictures and dimention for the A-10 type on my build thread some place or i can hook you up with a link:thumbup:

HOLLY SWEET MAFFOLLONY JEZUS THAT LOOKS GOOD!!

Whenever I'm in the area I'm coming over to have a look/fly! And I'll bring beer off course! :D

Hey Looks great!!! If that F -16 style seat pan starts to be a pain in the but do to it low hip and higher rise in the front of the pan. I have some pictures and dimention for the A-10 type on my build thread some place or i can hook you up with a link:thumbup:

Thanks. I'll try it out for a bit, but I'll check your thread for the dimensions. I'm pretty sure I have that post bookmarked as I used some of the pictures / measurements when I was redoing the side panels. I have not attached the outer trim or ejection handles yet. Tonight I'll try and get them done. I needed to get some more screws as well as the springs for the ejection handles.

Also let me know if you run across and air speed indicator for the A-10. The one I have is the wrong casing and goes up to 600 knots instead of 500. I may just steal the need from it and build my own faceplate and bezel.

Craig

I wired up the ejection handles and seat arming lever tonight.

Here is the inside of the left console where you can see the wire runs and the switches which detect the handle being pull and the seat arming lever being placed down.

And here is the seat in place with the handles installed.

I also got the front panel risers glued on and then the front panels screwed in place. I'm not ready to start working on CP panels.

The last items for structure is getting my rails in place. I'm going to be using 1/8" C channel aluminum. I'll be setting up a jig so I can drill holes every .375" so I can tap the holes as necessary once I get each panel done.

Wow looking good keep it up!!!

Very nice solution!

That is just too cool!

Excellent work Gadroc! This comes to mind.......

Ok. Doing more planning on my cockpit electronics and took a minute to spin through all the panels and figure out how many inputs/outputs of each type they will need. I posted up a big table here as I thought others might find it useful.

Also I got some temporary bezels on for the MFDs. I'm debating on when I'm going to design my own to maximize screen real-estate as well as square off the inner corners some. They will always have the larger bezel plater around them to hide the monitor as I surface mounted it as close to the MFDs as possible in order to make sure they where not to deep.

Got DCS World 1.2.2 downloaded and OS reinstalled last night. Should be able to fly tonight.

The pit looks great!!! Do you think the altimeter will work for you? Thanks so much for the Switch list greatly appreciated.

Looks great!

@DeadMan

I'm more interested in how the ADI is going to work :)

I was able to get a set of extra syncros for cheap, so I will be running them with steppers and then wiring those syncros to the ADI and altimeter. I need to buy/build a static inverter before I can work on that.

Craig

HI Gadroc,

really great work! I am appreciate your share

Could you help me?

Could you provide broad solution or anything for connect real ADI and real altimeter for me?

Thank you

Hi Gadrock, I came across the list of inputs and outputs . You indicated 2 HV outputs on landing panel. One is the antiskid switch, which one is the other one? Red Override button? What about lighting panel, which switch is magnetic in there ?

While at it I'm curious, what conditions other then malfunction will cause antiskid to auto toggle off? Is it going auto off with gear up command?

Thanks.

Gadroc

Any chance you could share the dxf of the front panel?

Amazing work! I can't wait for more pictures. I am starting on my own pit build and currently researching ideas. This thread has been super helpful as well as inspirational. Thanks a lot!

Hi Gadrock, I came across the list of inputs and outputs . You indicated 2 HV outputs on landing panel. One is the antiskid switch, which one is the other one? Red Override button? What about lighting panel, which switch is magnetic in there ?

 

While at it I'm curious, what conditions other then malfunction will cause antiskid to auto toggle off? Is it going auto off with gear up command?

Thanks.

In the real panel there is a solenoid which locks the gear lever when in the down position if no power is applied to it. If there is weight on the wheels the solenoid looses power and you are required to press the override button in order to move the gear lever into the up position.

On the lighting panel the anti-collision beacon I believe is a magnetic switch. That's why it will not stay flipped on in game, until you hit a certain point in the startup. It's been a while since I've done it so I can't remember what allows it to stay on.

To be honest I'm not sure of the logic for the A-10C on the anti-skid switch. On the F-16 if RPM goes above 85% it will automatically switch off.

Gadroc

Any chance you could share the dxf of the front panel?

Sure. I'll get it exported to DXF and post it on my site.

Thanks for the explanation. I know you have a real LDG panel and I guess you are going to implement this locking feature. Interesting. Now that i'm thinking about it i want it too :)

weight on wheels is the trigger... does dcs export provide a flag "lever unlocked", "airborne" or "weight on wheels"? How are going to determine when to unlock the lever?

Thanks