how do i ask? dont wanna impose- Akers Barnes MKI

[GAU-8]

ill post in the other area as well,im going saturday to the airshow probably with my brother. see yall there, those who are attending on SAT.

[GAU-8]

heya RAH,whats the status look like for the weekend on building?because of airshow, im sure neither one of us will have too much time, also, any news on those templates yet?ill call ya morrow. see where we all goin to meet up at if any last minute changes.

[TX-Rahman]

GAU,          Still waiting on the templates...  Can't rush someone who is hooking us up I guess...             On another note: I've been talking with a guy who has a cnc router locally and am waiting on a cost to have the pits cutout by machine.  The guy mentioned like $35 per hour and not sure how long it will take to cut out each pit...  Will post more as I know more...  Still will go with the aluminum templates as soon as they're done....Regards,TX-Rahman"WHITE 6"

[GAU-8]

whooo.. spacious new topic area! me likes!no rushing  ...definitely understandable, besides the weekend came an went so fast.. i proly wouldnt had been able to get there, even if everything was ok for launch.as per the router, im fine with that route. (prevents us from loosin fingers..)with the cost....can he figure out a realtive time/charge before hand?or is it... "35 bucks an hour, aaaaaan.... ill give ya a call when finished"....leading up to 4 hours lay-out, 2 hours loading tools, 6 hours cutting,..and 15 hours cleanup

[TX-Rahman]

Yup..was setup and all...  He quoted me $250 for the first pit and $150 for the second.  I thanked him and walked away quickly!  Also had another brainstorm yesterday...  Brother in law is making aluminum templates...  Hell, we can clamp the templates down and route around em.  So...as soon as he gets them created...we will give it a shot.  He hasn't done em yet from what I understand...but I'm not really buggin him...hate to bug someone who is doing a favor for me in a way I guess...  I'm anxious as heck though!Regards,TX-Rahman"WHITE 6"

[TX-Rahman]

Welp....  Started cutting out the first pit.  My brother in law came over Saturday afternoon and layed out one of the sheets for me...  I cut out the first sheet that night and yesterday afternoon.  Late yesterday afternoon he came and started laying out the second sheet.  He supposed to come back later today to finish laying out the second sheet of ply.  I will hopefully have it all cut out by Wednesday.So...we can lay yours out GAU....once I complete this one.  Was wondering if we should just trace the first one once we know it fits together correctly or have the bro in law lay it all out by hand again?  It's up to you....He said he wouldn't mind helping out again.  He still promises to create aluminum templates for me....just not sure when he will have the time at work.I'll post some pics later this evening on the progress...(We need a CNC router!!  hehe)P.S.  We got the wrong sized PVC....it was supposed to be 1 inch Outside Diameter...  We got 1 inch Inside diameter...  Need to get a 3/4 inch piece...I'll probably hit Home Depot later today to get another piece.Regards,TX-Rahman"WHITE 6"

[TX-Rahman]

Ok...pics as promised.  The rear section is complete as of tonight.  Only three pieces left to draw and cut out!  It's not perfect by any means but it's coming out good!The first few pics were GAU, Rah and our first stab at mapping the drawings out.  After discovering that some of the plotted drawings were not to scale we halted all work.  GAU looking at the semi-layed out piece of ply thinking "Man...what have we got ourselves into?"A closer look at the plotted drawings on the ply.Another look at the plots.  We taped them down and was scoring the ply with exacto knives.  Good idea but with bad plots...no success.A partially cutout and put together seat section.  This was taken on Monday Nov 15th.My nephew Tanner poses with the pit a little more completed.A little more together...lots of progress in the past three days.End of Monday evening...  Seating section completed minus sanding and painting / staining...  Shelves for the throttle and joystick installed.  I will have to come up with a way to center mount the stick.Final shot for the evening...Will hopefully finish up tomorrow night (Tuesday) and will post those pics...  It looks good so far...much better than I expected....My first ever woodworking project.  I'm enjoying it though!Regards,TX-Rahman"WHITE 6"

[Monguse]

Looking goodTX-Monguse

[GAU-8]

WHO IS THAaaaaaaT????that is NOT ME....eeee!!?... it is?..oh..... i look rather GEN-X "shaggy" in that pic..wheres scooby doo? no rush RAH,... well, ok maybe a little ;P. i feal bad because i havent been in contact  work is litterally hurting me, had 84 hrs last week, no time to play.but this is my weekend off commin up and I NEED TO GET OUT!!!! nothing wild..just need OUT!  if this is something you plan on doing sat or sun, let me know. ill make the time.lookin good!  stacey cant wait to hear the news    "oh,..... "joy" : /...."

[GAU-8]

oh yeah the improttant stuff...  i need spel chek im way too tired .. its 4:25 am :(if you feel comfortable with tracing everything out, lets go with that. its not that i dont want extra hands helping, i just feel akward with other people putting time in for it... and im not there to help contribute physically:(but if its "safer" to use him again i have no problem. any ttoling..err .. tooling, parts, replaceables, that i can help cover cost of?on the comfort side..how is it?  on the seat, what  ideas you are thinkin about for the cushioning? ive had a few, but since im not there i dont know what is really workable.

[TX-Rahman]

Thanks Guse :)GAU:          Lemme check with the wifey to see what we have up this weekend.  I will probably have the wife's brother draw it out this week....and all we will have to do is cut it out.  He doesn't mind...he enjoys doing this kinda stuff...  You may want to swing by one evening or definately this weekend....  There were optional measurements to make the shelves a little bigger than normal and I went with the optional dimensions.  You may want the smaller shelves...  Can you swing by this week sometime?  I will have him hold off on drawing yours until you can look at how this one is coming out and the size.          Comfort...  Hmmm...Not sure how to answer this one yet.  I'm so used to sitting up at a desk that it feels almost like I'm sitting on the floor...Or in a race car of sorts..  At the angle in which my legs are...I will have to work out something to angle my rudder pedals...          Cushions:  I saw some orthopedic cushions at Fry's for $14.95 and bought one.  That's the black thing you see on the seat in one of the pictures.  It works well...I'll probably still put some foam under it.  Also will put cushion on the back....  The back of the seat can also be angled more by cutting down part G.  I left part G kinda large and figured I would cut it if needed.Regards,TX-Rahman"WHITE 6"

[TX-CUDA]

....good pics Rahman and GAU...but here is the most important question....IS that Midget or a B-model that site there in the garage?! Just guessing I'd say it's a Midget. If it's a "B" model I have a good friend that stuffed a V-6 "aluminium" Buick engine as he calls it that was balanced and blueprinted and tricked out just a touch in one and it rocks!...sure beats trying to synchronize those three carbs that came on the original engine...TX-CudaMinister of Information

[TX-Rahman]

Cuda...,It's a Midget that needs some love currently...  And no...it doesn't have a balanced and blueprinted 6...heh UPDATE:Ok...here are the pics of tonight's work.... It's semi complete.  Still have some fine tuning to do on the table.  Sanding/staining etc..  There was one major goof that I was able to salvage...  My bro in law had a few too many tonight before/during the time he was drawing the final two pieces.  This caused him to draw one of them wrong which in turn caused me to cut one of the notches in the wrong place.  I was able to salvage it anyhow.  Check it:Shot from behind the pit.Another rear angle shot.Shot from the front left.  Notice the extra notch in the vertical leg of the table...not supposed to be there.And finally... TX-BabyNoodle in the pit.  He thinks it rocks! Regards,TX-Rahman"WHITE 6"

[TX-EcoDragon]

Cool!! Looks like you really cranked that one out pretty quick! Nice work, and how much would it cost to get one made and shipped to northern cali??  About the rudder pedals, you have the TM Elite style right? Well, in any case, from a realism and ergonomics perspective I would suggest not angling the pedals at the base, but instead fabricating triangular blocks that could sit in the cups of the pedals so that you could still push them along the same plane of rotation, and while having a more realistic set up as well. Normally the rudder pedals sit on about 75-80 degree angle near vertical.  Of course sometimes realism and ergonomics don't go hand in hand. . . this is my positioning when I fly the PT-17 Stearman. It is actually fairly comfy when the rudder is near neutral, but when I am using lots of rudder the pedal that gets closer really brings my knee up. . . this is pretty similar to the Decathlon as well. . . legs were shorter back when these things were designed. Kinda like this :Here is how it looks in the Stearman:The right rudder pedal.Here is the same as above but with my foot on the pedal.S!TX-EcoDragonBlack 1TX-Squadron XO

[GAU-8]

great pics, especially of the new TX member :)my hours are from 3 pm till 1:30 am this week.  if i could manage to swing by....your proly not at home... or are you? (before 3 pm)the weekend is the best time for me to really get anything done.. unless your up really  late on friday nights to have guests?....... just what your neigbors want to hear at 3 am BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! as for size options, ill go with what you have, i shouldnt have a problem with anything. besides, i still need good surface area to keep other stuff nearby.brb...gotta go do sumpthin