Tuesday, May 23, 2017

John Wall’s Amazing A10C Warthog Cockpit

John Wall writes:
”I started metal working as hobby about 18 years ago.  It was through your web site that I really became inspired to learn more.  I began with a TAIG lathe and many of the tools and accessories I made were from ideas gathered from many of your links to Taig owners and their projects.  Several years later I graduated to a manual Taig mill. It was fun but its use was limited mainly because of lack of projects for it.  About 10 years ago I converted the mill to CNC.  Unfortunately it still didn’t get much use and again I attribute that to a lack of projects for it to become involved  with.  However that all changed when I started building large scale model ships from scratch. The Taig CNC mill became an extremely useful and almost indispensable tool.  As I got a lot more experience, I wanted to find a real challenge.  So, three years ago I began building a fully functional replica cockpit of an A10C Warthog aircraft.  The cockpit is integrated into a PC simulator by the name of DCS World, Digital Combat Simulator.  As of this date, it is still under construction and the Taig CNC mill has seen daily use over that year period.  It has hundreds upon hundreds of hours of mill time associated with it. 

I have maintained a photo site of all of the components that I have built to date.  Most everything in the cockpit has to be made from scratch because, if the parts were purchased, they would have cost a small fortune.

I bring this to your attention because almost everything involved in the construction of the cockpit was in some way related to the Taig CNC mill.  Over 50 circuit boards were milled.  30 or more panels were milled and their faceplates engraved using the Taig mill.  Most of the knobs were milled to make mold's.   Displays bezels were cut.  More than 20 gauges were fabricated using the Taig mill and over a 100 keyboard keys cut and engraved.  It has been an almost overwhelming task.  I have to attribute my success in creating all of these parts to the Taig CNC mill.  Without it, this would have been an impossible task.

Have a look through my photo sites and see what I have been able to build with this fabulous tool.  If you wish to add anything to your web site to show your readers what the mill is capable of, you are more than welcome.

http://s221.photobucket.com/user/MRAR15/library/?sort=3&page=1    over 350 pictures of cockpit

https://flic.kr/s/aHsk5pNVQz   more cockpit photos

https://flic.kr/s/aHskokbQ48   more cockpit photos

https://flic.kr/s/aHsjFBvpK4   (Model Ship built with Taig CNC Mill)

https://flic.kr/s/aHsjFxQsgV   (Model Ship built with Taig CNC Mill)”

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