Eurofighter FPV build

[Zeeflyboy]

So, here's another little update...

I hooked up the PPM decoder in the cockpit and wired up all the servos (pan/tilt, control stick aileron/elevator, canard servo and thrust levers directly to that. By putting it in the top it means I can keep all the wiring self contained up there with only two inputs to deal with plugging in - the ppm stream and the camera feed.

I then made it hot pluggable, so when I slide the canopy into place it automatically hooks up the connections. I still need to do the canard servo link in the same way since the canard servo of course remains in the airframe. Once done there will be absolutely nothing to plug or unplug when removing the canopy, and it will be a completely self contained unit.

Here you can see the underside of the cockpit, still need to tidy it up a bit but it's all working now... the PPM decoder is on the left hand side, and you can see the plug I made for the inputs.









And here you can see the opposite plug mounted in the fuselage (again some tidying to do here!), and then the cockpit fitted








In the mean time, I've also been getting on with the wings, but the carbon still hasn't arrived for the main spars so I won't bother posting pics yet. However I've installed the 5mm carbon rod at each far end, and decided they may as well be more structural, thus installed some aluminium tube into the fuselage for them to slide into. The wing is actually surprisingly solid just with these two rods installed.... should be perfect with the main spars too.

[c5galaxy engineer]

Really nice! Its like all clean and neat just like the real thing. I love following this build.
Thanks
Brett

[Zeeflyboy]

thanks, but I wouldn't say clean and neat yet lol.

Anyway - another not very exciting mini-update:

I made my "spinal cord" this evening.... the conduit that carries the PPM signal up the aircraft to the OSD pro and the decoder up front. Since it passes nearby the ESC and is quite a long cable I decided to go shielded as per my diagram. One small difference however - I used firewire cable as I couldn't get hold of any shielded cat 6 at the store.

Here is what the cable looks like broken up... you have an outer braid, a foil wrap, then inside two "heavy guage" power lines, and two pairs of thin gauge wire individually wrapped in foil and surrounded by yet more wire strands. I used the power for power obviously, and then used one shielded pair together for the signal.






Put it all together in a way that fits in the aircraft and I ended up with this... all exposed servo wire is braided to reduce possible interference, there is a 4th wire wrapped around the servo wires between the two sections to carry the shield ground across, and as you can see an extra wire at the end with a 2mm bullet to connect the shielding to battery ground.






I also mounted my vertical stabiliser today as a removable piece. I also used the same idea with the connectors as the cockpit so it all plugs itself in for the rudder when you fit it. I can't take pics because my camera has run out of juice... tomorrow I'll upload it.

[airbagit13]

Agree, love watching this thread! Keep it up man. Epicness!

[Hans]

The fear of seeing this plane crash increases exponentially with the eagerness to see this plane fly

[kev.au]

Great progress.

[Zeeflyboy]

so, I almost horrified myself with the mere thought, but I just hacked apart my cockpit because I wanted to re-do the lighting.

Same number of LEDs but each screen area now has it's own led a bit closer providing better lighting, and the 4th led has been relocated into the upper pod to provide better illumination up there and also much stronger output towards the HUD. it may require a second led to get the level of illumination I require though.

I also made a new HUD out of lexan, as the old one wasn't very clear, had a bit of white from super glue on it, and not very shiny. I want it as reflective as possible to return any light.

you can also see I re-did the led board and moved it closer in (allowed by the fact that I cut apart the cockpit) and covered it in foil for a reflective surface which should hopefully result in more uniform lighting. you can also see the small mount I made for the upper unit LED. I'm about to remake this with a dual LED up there to hopefully make the HUD glow more visible in daylight.

[roberto]

can someone help me pick up my jaw ??

[airbagit13]

Holy shit that is awesome.

[c5galaxy engineer]

so, I almost horrified myself with the mere thought, but I just hacked apart my cockpit because I wanted to re-do the lighting.

Same number of LEDs but each screen area now has it's own led a bit closer providing better lighting, and the 4th led has been relocated into the upper pod to provide better illumination up there and also much stronger output towards the HUD. it may require a second led to get the level of illumination I require though.

I also made a new HUD out of lexan, as the old one wasn't very clear, had a bit of white from super glue on it, and not very shiny. I want it as reflective as possible to return any light.

you can also see I re-did the led board and moved it closer in (allowed by the fact that I cut apart the cockpit) and covered it in foil for a reflective surface which should hopefully result in more uniform lighting. you can also see the small mount I made for the upper unit LED. I'm about to remake this with a dual LED up there to hopefully make the HUD glow more visible in daylight.

Yea.......I was thinking that damn thing needed to be completely redone........That dash has been an abomination since day one of this thread. Thank God you are finally deciding to get it right.......sheeeeeeesh! NOT!!!!!!!
Seriously.........I thought is was perfect before........now its more perfecter........errrr I guess I mean OMG!
Dude......seriously....I havent seen a static display modle with this much attention..............
Do us all a favor........when you maiden this.......make sure you have at least 6 cameras running and at least 2 on board cams.......we do not want any my camera cut out excuses.
Damn Great Job Man.
Brett