A Work Of Art.

I bought a 3d printer today!!! I’ve never used one before, but I’ve always been infatuated with them. I bought the Divinci MiniMaker. Now before you lose your mind and tell me what I should have bought, look at the circumstances. A Creality 3 was what I was going for, but I said to myself I want to learn and then buy a nice one. So I picked up this printer, USED, for $40, with almost 3/4 of a roll of PLA. Now in my eyes, not a bad deal and I know it works cause the guy I got it from seems to know his stuff.

I had to clean it up and calibrate it, and I was off to the races in 20 minutes! I printed my first project, the essential ZZ TOP key chain! If I’m gonna build a flight sim, it has to have a ZZ TOP keychain for the key. Did it print properly? Weeelllll. No. But I didn’t expect to get it right off the bat. Plus, it doesn’t have a heated bed so that can cause an issues too. Plus the end user could be an inbred chicken and know more about it than I do about it at this point, but every artist starts as a child drawing unrecognizable pictures for mom so I was rather content with my mess.

That being said, I started doing what I do best…. Learning! I found out that oil from your hand on the bed can cause issues with the PLA not sticking and temp’s for the base layer may need adjusted as well and a whole slew of things. It’s a learning tool and it’s working out perfect. And I can’t wait to show you my new works of art. It’s all a work in progress. Stay tuned!!!

I’m Back!!!

Hello everyone!!!! It’s been about 7 years since my last post. Maybe you’re wondering what happened. Maybe not. I stepped back from everything to start a new career. Some of those things panned out, some of them didn’t. For now, I’m at a place where I want to get back to what I love and that’s Flight Sims. Tomorrow I’m going to take an orientation flight and maybe even start toward getting my pilot’s license. But either way, it will help get my head back in the game.

I dusted the old throttle set off, literally, pulled it out of storage, and deep-cleaned it. There were tons of wasp nest’s in it. It works like a charm. I’m upgrading, to say the least. There have been so many advances in technology since my last post. 3d printers, various joysticks, and software. We’re going to cover them all over the next few months.

So what am I doing new with the sim? I have a Saitek x55 flight stick coming. I’m going to use that as the throttle. We’re going to build an extension for it and learn about a little wiring hack we can do to it. I’m also going to rebuild the rudder pedals as a stand-alone device. That will be a learning experience I’m sure and I have a few little surprises to show you from some tech that is not usually used for flight sims. That’s just the start. I have a long lineup of things we will talk about so stay in the know.

Stalker 3

OUT.

Raf Fighters

I could write all day long about the majesty of the RAF fighters in WWII, but Stephen Liddell already has and I think it would be an injustice for me to try seeing the depth of this article.  So check it out.

Click Here to read Stephen’s article!

F-86 Sabre

The F-86 Sabre was, in the 1950’s, what the F-16 was in the 90’s. It was one of the most produced western fighter jets of all time. The cost for this magnificent jet was just over $200,000. Now that seems like alot, but today’s fighter jets are in the millions if not billions in cost. But if you adj. for inflation, $200,000 back then probably was like millions today. It was a very agile plane and was the key to victory in Korea. Truly, I think this is where the modern fighter era really got off the ground. The F-86 was still reminiscent of WW2 fighters. It had 6 50 Cal machine guns. That is alot of firepower in and of it’s self, but there were rocket pods, bombs and napalm as well. There is mention that a tactical nuclear weapon could be carried on it too. The Soviet Mig was also influenced by the Sabre, as one f-86 was downed and captured by the Russians. During the Vietnam war, Mig 15’s used upgraded technology that was stolen from the captured F-86. Many countries used the Sabre. It was an amazing jet, adapted to many roles and was officialy retired in the U.S in 1970.  

Skid Marks

I started building the base for the AH-6.  I figure that the whole sim will probably be about 500 to 1000 lbs when it’s all said and done.  And if I’m gonna have 2 people in there, then the skids will have to be pretty beefy.  I checked on some 2 inch pipe and conduit.  The conduit looks pretty stout, but I still wonder how it will hold with all that weight.  The last thing I need is to have it buckle and loose the whole thing.  1/4 wall pipe is extremely expensive for what I am doing, but i think it’s essential.  So, at the reccomendation of a friend, I checked the local junk yard and found some for next to nothing.  $250.00 worth of pipe for $20.00. Sold!!!!!  Pipe looks good and much better than ebt conduit.  Now as I said in the past, this is not my recommendation,  advice or instruction on how to do this.  This is just for me and what I am doing.  If you attempt this, it would be at your own risk as I do not recommend anyone to do this project.  Video’s will start showing up soon!  I’ve already started working on them.  

I would like to apologize for the length of time in between posts as I have limited time to work on these projects.  Some parts will require many hours at a single time and it must be done in stages, but my family is always first, so I hope you understand.  Good things come to those who wait.  

Great Scenery

Just wanted to post a few picts from vacation.  This Huey was in perfect condition.  I must have took a million picts of it.

 

 

 

This was a small memorial just outside of Baraboo Wi.  They were really nice pieces too.  Caught me by suprise.  Well, I’m back so it’s time to get things rollin again!  Hoaah!  Stalker 3 out.

.com?…..YES!!!

™

We have a new web address now! And a new logo!!!!

www.sonicboomsims.com

I guess it’s official.  Were moving up the food chain!!!  Tell all your friends!  Post it on your wall!  Make a mural!  It has arrived!

AH-56 Cheyenne

The Lockheed Martin AH-56 Cheyenne.  Probably the greatest helicopter to NEVER be in service.  It was an extremely nimble chopper.  During testing it hit speeds over 230 MPH.  This speed was achieved because it utilized 3 things: a pusher prop on the back of the helo, a wing system on the sides of it too and a semi-rigid rotor.  The semi-rigid rotor design was a very stable platform.  There was a specific chopper that was developed just to test it.  During these tests, a person sat in a seat connected to a boom that extended to the left of the chopper.  The pilot in a hover let go of the controls for a good 5 seconds and the chopper didn’t move an inch.  The rotor automatically corrects for the weight being off center since the blades flex instead of tilt like they do with a traditional swash plate.  This is unheard of with a traditional rotor system.  The off-balance of weight that was put on that system would probably have crashed a normal chopper.  If I had not seen the video myself I wouldn’t believe it.  The wings on the sides reduced the load on the rotors down to 20% when it was up to speed.  This greatly reduced drag caused by the rotors and allowed it to move faster.  The final feature, the pusher prop, worked in coordination with the wings by providing the thrust to create the lift, but it also provided reverse thrust and allowed it to move backwards without tilting the helo.; thus improving weapons aiming.

The weapons were top notch as well.  The one I want to mention is the front gun.  The gunner pod would turn 360 degrees with the gun.  This was the first helicopter to be developed with a fully integrated weapons system.  The gun was computer controlled and it compensated for everything.  Wind, ballistics, speed of the helo, whatever you can think of was calculated in to produce one the most effective gun platforms.  All these systems eventually made their way into the Apache.

But why not the Cheyenne?  There was a competition between the Cheyenne and the Cobra.  The Cobra eventually won because they didn’t have the maintenance costs they would have with the Cheyenne.  The motors from the Cobra were just Huey motors, and the weapons were already being used in other systems and some of the systems in the Cobra were similar to the Cheyenne.  With this in mind it didn’t take long for the Cobra to take over.  But as far as I’m concerned, the Cheyenne was a heck of a chopper.  I think the rotor system alone was worth keeping it for and it looks pretty menacing as well.  I compare it to a A-10 mixed with a Huey.  A beautiful helicopter lost in the fog of economics.

Link to video demo of the AH-56, click here!

Pedal Pusher

My Homemade Flight controls.

 

Well the day has come.  The Saitek X45 has been completely transformed!  It wasn’t easy.  I have to say, I don’t know which was harder, building the throttle, or the pedals.  The pedals were completely made from the rudder control board in the throttle.  It measures about 4 inches by 2.5 inches.  That’s not much to work with.  The actual slider has only about 3/4 of a inch of movement on each side.  I compensated by mounting the board low and using long shafts to the pedal.  This worked out perfectly, for size and function.  I ended up with about 8 to 10 inches of movement in the pedals.  Finally, I finished off the design with flat camo green paint for an authentic AH-6 Littlebird look.  This is just the beginning!  You won’t believe what’s next!

Arma 3 Helo Sim Update 5-9-16

Well some may think the site is dead.  Some may thing I’m doing nothing, but after some time away from my projects,  I am back in the saddle with a vengeance.  The AH-6 Little Bird simulator should be completed by the end of the month if all goes as planned.  I added a few things.  I’ve made it a 2 player version!  Yes that means 2 CPU’s, 4 monitors and I may add 2 more monitors.  Button’s, switches, pedals, my throttle I built in a previous post, it’s all going in.  The glass cockpit works great, but at limited capacity due to the fact I can’t find the developer, but I will keep trying!  We have a map system displayed at all times as well.  I am working on a radio stack with a LCD readout that runs through a audrino.  That may take a little while.  and the co pilot using FLIR, his view will be also viewable by the pilot as well.  I would like to thank the developers of the MELB mod (Diesel5187 & sykoCrazy), as alot of this was inspired by using their mod for Arma 3.   There will be a 3 DOF platform!!!!  But finances will determine when that comes about.  That being said, I will be offering t-shirts for sale soon and the donate tab will be functioning soon.  The video series is coming!  I know I’ve been saying that for a long time, but I put it on the back burner for a while; debating whether to do it or not, but It is a go as well.  Thanks for sticking with me.  The best is yet to come.