Hi Deadman,
Yes, indeed I got tremendous amount of help from lots of VP members. For some reasons which I will address in the third paragraph, I chose to avoid mentioning it in my previous reply. Anyways, the majority of dimensions which I don’t have access to are based on guesstimation. As of those offered by VP members, they’ve helped a great deal when I was modifying the structure, but are not incorporated within my finished design. If you take measurements from my own design from where those dimensions were originally taken, nearly all of them would be off. I merely seek resemblance in appearance, rather than accuracy in size.
Moreover, I love creative modifications, which makes my parts easier to fabricate and brings down the cost. After all, I’m just going to build a big toy, rather than a real aircraft part, or a commercial FTD.
Now since we’re talking about VP, we’re better off more thorough this time than ever before, because I’ve seen enough misunderstandings and I’m done causing more. See I’ve got a huge problem with English. Most of the time I rely on Google translation, which sucks a lot according to my friend helping me write this exact reply.
Actually I was planning on using Google again this time, till he started coursing at the translation and explained it to me. Now I can’t help but wondering how much sh*t had gone wrong with my posts during the time I was at VP, despite my reticence over there. I’d like to address a couple of things this time:
A) Many VP members had helped me big time, I appreciate it greatly and I think I owe them a lot. I’m going to keep my promise to folks over VP and release my plans when they are finished. My aluminum ACES II, my rudder pedals, etc. upon completion, will be compiled into “Legolas’ XXX Plans” and shared publicly. Just as the way you’ve shared your “Deadman’s Cockpit plans V.2.0” or Brenda shared his “Brenda’s Plans” over VP, and all those who shared their own work online. It should start coming out in 4 weeks at best, depending on my free time. Hope you guys won’t be too picky on it. Lol
B) I may be pulling off some serious resources building stuff, but I’m not going commercial like you all may interpret. I make a living running a business manufacturing outdoor accessories and emergency rescue hardware. Lots of factory owners run in my circle and they are more than happy to help out with a few parts for reasonable a price which I can afford. Thing is, I’ve got PMs from lots of my friends asking me to share my work and build replicas for their home cockpits, just as I’ve asked of and got help from others. I would happily help back. So I’ve agreed to build some extra replicas for them as soon as I finish my tests. All the casting, CNC milling, coating, painting…. you name it, I wish I didn’t have to rely on them. However fancy or maybe expensive they might look to you guys, they are the basics and the only way to ensure the quality of my parts, which are so far free of charge. I didn’t ask for even a cent from those who have received anything from me.
C) Most importantly, I try to avoid building (now scared shitless even talking about) accurate copies of authentic military grade parts provided the fact that people were misled by the level of details in my work into thinking I was up to something fishy while in fact I was just having fun making toys in my free time and working my ass off in the rest on my day job. That’s why I chose not to mention VP in the first place in my inference story. I’m just an ordinary guy with a passion in craftsmanship and everything that’s cool. Airplanes are toys for us big boys and it’s a shame to take it away from a certain people just because their nationality don’t match that of a certain model of aircraft. Now since too much resemblance would indeed cause unnecessary trouble, I am deliberately building my toys different from the real deal just so they would still look cool, work well, but won’t be mistaken for violations of any sort.
My business requires a lot of devotion, I treat it with the same degree of respect as I do with my pit. And my friend who offered to help write this reply also works hard with his own business. We’d love to hang around a bit more discussing cockpits as it seems a rare opportunity for me to be able to express properly here, but for now we both need to get off. Please stay tuned for more toys from Legolas, and have fun playing with this harmless hobby of ours. Salute!
Legolas
