Akers-Barnes Cockpit

[BadAim]

Here are the photos of my Cockpit build I promised to several people. I only built the rear half as I don't really have room for the whole thing and I also made it 4" taller and 4 3/4 " shorter to match my desk and for fit, and as a bonus it's pretty easy to get out of. The cushion is temporary and it's not finished and painted yet.

[Klinger]

Speaking as a professional carpenter BA, are you trying to make me look bad or what?

Nice job m8. I d/l ed the plans for this a while ago, and have a few questions.

How comfy is it? How big is the footprint? Is it as heavy as it looks?

Again, great job. Let us know how you get on with it. ~S~

[Rattler]

Very cool! Do you fly F-16's as well, or do you just prefer the sidestick controller?

[Nightwarrior]

Really a nice job

Gr AJ

[BadAim]

Speaking as a professional carpenter BA, are you trying to make me look bad or what?

Nice job m8. I d/l ed the plans for this a while ago, and have a few questions.

How comfy is it? How big is the footprint? Is it as heavy as it looks?

Again, great job. Let us know how you get on with it. ~S~

Thanks, I think it a bit rough, but I'll take your word for it. I shortened mine a bit so it's 39" long by 32 1/2" wide, and It's quite comfy even with the much to soft temporary cushion. As for weight you can take it down and carry it tucked under one arm ( granted, it's awkward and I have long arms), it's essentially 90% or so of a 4'x8' sheet of 1/2 " plywood, so you can easily judge the weight yourself (I'm assuming here that you've slung plenty of those [or their metric eqivalent] ).

I should point out that the sheet of ply in the pictures is all of the wood I used for the project. (you need to look close to see my markings)

If you look at the third picture down You'll see where I botched the slot on the cross brace and had to widen it and make a shim, it was fortunate that my mistake was exactly a 1/2 inch, so I could just take a piece of scrap and fix it.

[BadAim]

Very cool! Do you fly F-16's as well, or do you just prefer the sidestick controller?

[DoubleTap]

Very nice.

[Friar]

Salute Bad Aim, Great job

I shall be speaking to the Sisters in the woodwork department at the Priory to see if they can't knock me up knock something up for me, looks coooooooool !

how long does it take you to put up / take down ?

[Okie]

Looks great Bad Aim!

I have had the plans for this pit for a few years now myself. Just been waiting to have a dedicated room to set it up in. It never occured to me to just use the back half like you have done. I am now inspired to copy what you have done.......if I may have your permission. I promise to forward all bragging rights to you!

[Streak]

That is really nice Bad Aim.

I'd love something like that, but our place is just too small.

My cockpit simply involves sitting on the couch with the laptop on the coffee table. My stick & throttle between them on a small ice chest & stepping stool.

Oh well, the table also has plenty of space for adult beverages.

[BadAim]

I certainly have no problem if anyone wants to use any ideas I have, just don't lavish too much praise on me, my head will swell up and I won't be able to get out of my new cockpit . I will post the mods I made, and some more photos. I would like to remind everyone that the Akers-Barnes cockpit is copyrighted and you should e-mail the owners for permission to use the plans (which was quickly and pleasantly granted).

The portion of the cockpit I made takes all of five minutes to set up and take down and stores in a fairly small area, keep in mind that this thing was specifically designed to be stuck in the trunk of a car and set up (and taken down ) easily for bringing to a lan party.

The hardest part of the job for me was laying the thing out (especially with my mods) so that I could do the whole thing on one sheet of ply, the plans have several layout ideas, but none with just the back half. The actual cutting just needs to be done slowly and carefully to get a nice result.

[erco]

Thanks for the photos, BA.

[Deacon352nd]

You've done a great job on it.

[Mobius One]

ou can google search akers barnse and find them.

[Klinger]

~S~ Deacon, Maybe BadAim can post the plans. I have them on my home PC, but will not be back

for a few weeks.

[BBloke]

Here's the link to the download.

[BadAim]

Hey guy's I'm sorry about the lack of follow-ups, I've been real busy. I hope to post my modified plans today or tomorrow, along with a layout to get the entire seat section on a single sheet of ply. ( I did it on the fly [pun intended], so I have to draw it up still ) I also have ordered some foam for the cusions and will report on that when it arrives.

[BadAim]

Heres the pictures of the (so far) finished cockpit I promised several months ago:

[Rattler]

That looks really cool, Chet.

[Klinger]

Very nice pit m8, and the sky blue walls are a cool touch.

[Okie]

Very nice job BadAim! Looks great!

Here is a couple of shots of mine that I built after being inspired from this thread. Still need to paint it but I just can't seem to bring myself to taking it down for long enough to do it.

[BadAim]

"That looks really cool, Chet.

[delta7]

very neat - what is the small keypad to the left above the throttle ? - is it part of the keyboard or indipendant ?

[BadAim]

very neat - what is the small keypad to the left above the throttle ? - is it part of the keyboard or indipendant ?

Unfortunately, it's not independant, but I can write on the keys,so I don't have to remember all those extra commands.

Here's a better pic. And yes those are cookie crumbs on the throttle.

[guitarman68]

Great work BA