Sup Commanders!
For a long time I have wanted to build a replica pilot seat like the one in the game. I never really had the motivation to though until I saw WhiteShadows thread over here:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...mpting-to-create-replica-Pilots-chair-sim-pod
He's done a great job building a scale model before hopefully cranking out a full sized one. He has loads of pics of his progress in there and seeing all the cool stuff got me fired up back in 2015. So I got the chair model magically and started to figure out how I was going to build it. I use Solidworks all day so that was the way I thought I would go. Basically, dump the STL model in there and parametric model around it how I would go about building it with actual materials.
I had a bit of spare time over Christmas 2015 so cracked into it but then work started again and the thing got back burnered. I eventually came to the conclusion it was a pointless venture and was too hard for a lazy guy like me to accomplish.
Until Christmas 2016... Like right now basically. Finally got back into playing ED again and was doing a bit of exploration, taking some passengers 19k odd LY out to some neutron star. Sitting on this jimmied up old seat gets a bit sore after a while. I use the Rift to play and have done since the DK2 came out. Now with the CV1 things are even better. But, you need the controls in the right place to make it feel right, so this crappy old chair was pretty good in that respect, only.
So I made some adjustments to one of may lazyboys, much more comfy for hours of flying but useless for control positioning.
After one day of playing like this I thought there has to be a better way. I looked around in my ship and thought, I can build one of these!
It would get my controls into the right position and looks pretty comfy. So back into the CAD models to find out I was pretty much finished. Nearly to a point I could start cutting parts and just build the thing. Sweet.
Day 1:
Went into work to find we didn't have the material I wanted to use (25mm foam PVC) so had to revert to MDF. It worked out really well in MDF so that was a good thing. Half a sheet each of 25mm and 18mm had me sorted for the main chair carcass and then half a sheet of 10mm foam PVC (signex, celuka, what ever). Easy materials to work with. The foam PVC works like really soft wood but glues instantly with a solvent so is good for quick fabrication of non structural things. I cut a 0.5mm deep recess for the bits to make it easier to get the frame bits in the right place. Made it really easy once the parts had the angles on them.
All the main bits cut and ready to cut the angles on the edges.
Testing fitment of the main bits.
Make sure the angles are correct.
And then glue and screw it all together. Yeah I could have done it better but I'm not a cabinet maker and just wanted to get it together as quickly as possible so I could start on other stuff. You know, never enough time to do it right but always enough time to do it again.
So with that done, now I needed the 10mm foam PVC bits for the sides.
I set the engrave depth at 3mm which is way too deep. Dunno why, using a 45° tool I was thinking I would get a 3mm wide groove, but got a much wider one... Brain fart moment. It doesn't look too bad though so I didn't cut the sides again.
Test fit the sides to see how they look. Looking pretty sweet!
Next put the inside part of the seat where you sit. Wasn't 100% sure on the angle for this so I went with what was reasonably ergonomic. Mounted the main shelf part with shelf pins so I can pull it out and reset it if need be. It feels pretty good where it is. I think the designer of the seats did a flippn awesome job. I am making it to the actual game scale and it is spot on human size wise. So far I am only a few mm out from the actual model size.
It feels pretty ok though. Got an old caravan squab in there, mint as bro!
Day 2:
Now onto making up the sides. This was been the most time consuming single part of the project. Took about two hours to mitre all the little bits and glue them on.
You will notice (if you are onto it) that one of the grooves on the side is in the complete wrong place. I deleted the wrong line and left one of my centre lines in. Whoops! Start again... naa just a bit of bog will sort it out.
Day 3:
Next I got some foam, cut it to shape, stuck it in and parked my butt. Was a bit of a mish trying to get a pic, dunno what that face is all about. Need a shave.
Managed to score some cheap 125mm thick foam. Thought I would need about 200mm deep but it's only 200mm at the thickest part (before shaping) so I just glued a few bits together. Cut these on our old bandsaw, real fine tooth blade and it cut really well. Bit of that contact adhesive holds it all together.
These bits make the bottom of the cushion to about 200mm thick and slope up in line with the side of the seat carcass.
Next had to cut the main back cushion foam in half so I had a flat surface to cut off the excess foam at the top.
Test fitting before fitting the bottom angle bits.
That contact glue is awesome, spray a bit on, stick together and you have one piece. Never used it for this sort of thing before lol. Works really well.
All stuck together. I need to put some more foam on the bottom sides and then shape the butt shape and recess for the back. I want to get it as close to the in game one but still be comfy.
Note on foam: The stuff on the bottom is firmer stuff than the back stuff. Supposedly will last longer according to the lady at the foam shop.
Day 4:
Sealed the MDF with some acid cat lacquer we had out the back thinned to about 50% so it would soak in heaps. Sanded up super smooth. Hit it with some silver paint so if the outer layer of paint gets scratched it will show silver, like it's some special futuristic alloy.
While that was drying I sanded up the side panels and put 5mm and 2mm R fillets on the edges. Bogged up my mistake line and cut a new one where it is supposed to be.
The paint I had got for it was based off a couple of screen shots that made the main carcas and side panels look different colours. I went and painted the main bit with a gunmetal grey.
Turns out that's completely wrong! Whoops, I should have got into the rift long before painting and actually had a look around at the detail. Too much haste. Ahh well.
The sides and body are the same silver colour, it is just lighting in the screenies that makes it look different. Still looks good though.
Next I had to make the small thruster pod on the front of the seat at the little concave bits in the middle. No sweat, draw in Solidworks, make a toolpath for the CNC.
30 mins later, ready to stick them on. Having access to CNC machines makes things so flippn easy. No patterns, cutting stuff with jigsaw, sanding edges etc. Just pull the bits off the machine, done. These bits needed sanding to get them smooth though, but the foam PVC is quick. Like 15 mins and they were sanded and glued in place.
And a quick lick of paint, the actual colour the chair is supposed to be. It does look nice with the two tone finish. Manually taped the side on to see what it looks like. Looks pretty good.
Day 5:
Finally I fitted the sides with some small L brackets and rivnuts so I can easily remove them for future mods. Coffee machine in the side, I mean Keyboard holder on the side, mouse platform. Not true to the game model 100% but will keep it close.
More painting and sanding to make things a bit nicer. In the end I decided to paint the main carcass bit the same colour as the sides. Looks much better I think. Oh, need to bog up those mangus looking screw holes too. Was being lazy, but they do look rubbish so I had better sort them out.
I still have to enclose the top but couldn't be bothered today. I was helping pick and stack hay bales manually yesterday so couldn't be bothered doing much at all! Got a good chunk done though.
While Stuff was drying I jumped on the computer, cranked up Eye of the Tiger and drew up some parts to hold the joystick and throttle. I use an X52, old one, feels better than the Pro IMO. I have fitted the control board from the throttle inside the joystick housing because I don't use the X52 throttle. Makes it so you just need to plug in the joystick and away you go. I use a CH Pro Throttle, bit more clunky but I find it has better ergonomics. I plan to convert the left over bits from the X52 throttle into some sort of hybrid with custom roller bearing movement. Maybe next Christmas?
For the control holders I just used a bit of 10mm clear acrylic so it doesn't take away from the over all look to much. Would be next to impossible to get the stick and throttle exactly the same and it's completely needless. I just need them to be in the exact right place so in the Rift they my arms are where my brain sees they are.
Tomorrow I want to shape the foam and finish off that top part of the seat. I also need to make the side handles and start on the head rest. Running out of days as it's back to work on the 16th and will flat out with no time to finish everything. At least it is at a stage where I can actually use it and add bits to it as time permits.
I plan to get the cushions upholstered in leather, soft, Corinthian leather, to resemble the in game seat. I would have a crack at it but I would make a mess of my grans sewing machine. I have never done it before so it would be fun to give it a go, so I might with some cheaper vinyl and if I get the shape right get it done properly.
Here are some caps from in the game that I wish I had taken last week! Maybe when I build a co-pilot seat I can get it more accurate.
For a long time I have wanted to build a replica pilot seat like the one in the game. I never really had the motivation to though until I saw WhiteShadows thread over here:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...mpting-to-create-replica-Pilots-chair-sim-pod
He's done a great job building a scale model before hopefully cranking out a full sized one. He has loads of pics of his progress in there and seeing all the cool stuff got me fired up back in 2015. So I got the chair model magically and started to figure out how I was going to build it. I use Solidworks all day so that was the way I thought I would go. Basically, dump the STL model in there and parametric model around it how I would go about building it with actual materials.
I had a bit of spare time over Christmas 2015 so cracked into it but then work started again and the thing got back burnered. I eventually came to the conclusion it was a pointless venture and was too hard for a lazy guy like me to accomplish.
Until Christmas 2016... Like right now basically. Finally got back into playing ED again and was doing a bit of exploration, taking some passengers 19k odd LY out to some neutron star. Sitting on this jimmied up old seat gets a bit sore after a while. I use the Rift to play and have done since the DK2 came out. Now with the CV1 things are even better. But, you need the controls in the right place to make it feel right, so this crappy old chair was pretty good in that respect, only.
So I made some adjustments to one of may lazyboys, much more comfy for hours of flying but useless for control positioning.
After one day of playing like this I thought there has to be a better way. I looked around in my ship and thought, I can build one of these!
It would get my controls into the right position and looks pretty comfy. So back into the CAD models to find out I was pretty much finished. Nearly to a point I could start cutting parts and just build the thing. Sweet.
Day 1:
Went into work to find we didn't have the material I wanted to use (25mm foam PVC) so had to revert to MDF. It worked out really well in MDF so that was a good thing. Half a sheet each of 25mm and 18mm had me sorted for the main chair carcass and then half a sheet of 10mm foam PVC (signex, celuka, what ever). Easy materials to work with. The foam PVC works like really soft wood but glues instantly with a solvent so is good for quick fabrication of non structural things. I cut a 0.5mm deep recess for the bits to make it easier to get the frame bits in the right place. Made it really easy once the parts had the angles on them.
All the main bits cut and ready to cut the angles on the edges.
Testing fitment of the main bits.
Make sure the angles are correct.
And then glue and screw it all together. Yeah I could have done it better but I'm not a cabinet maker and just wanted to get it together as quickly as possible so I could start on other stuff. You know, never enough time to do it right but always enough time to do it again.
So with that done, now I needed the 10mm foam PVC bits for the sides.
I set the engrave depth at 3mm which is way too deep. Dunno why, using a 45° tool I was thinking I would get a 3mm wide groove, but got a much wider one... Brain fart moment. It doesn't look too bad though so I didn't cut the sides again.
Test fit the sides to see how they look. Looking pretty sweet!
Next put the inside part of the seat where you sit. Wasn't 100% sure on the angle for this so I went with what was reasonably ergonomic. Mounted the main shelf part with shelf pins so I can pull it out and reset it if need be. It feels pretty good where it is. I think the designer of the seats did a flippn awesome job. I am making it to the actual game scale and it is spot on human size wise. So far I am only a few mm out from the actual model size.
It feels pretty ok though. Got an old caravan squab in there, mint as bro!
Day 2:
Now onto making up the sides. This was been the most time consuming single part of the project. Took about two hours to mitre all the little bits and glue them on.
You will notice (if you are onto it) that one of the grooves on the side is in the complete wrong place. I deleted the wrong line and left one of my centre lines in. Whoops! Start again... naa just a bit of bog will sort it out.
Day 3:
Next I got some foam, cut it to shape, stuck it in and parked my butt. Was a bit of a mish trying to get a pic, dunno what that face is all about. Need a shave.
Managed to score some cheap 125mm thick foam. Thought I would need about 200mm deep but it's only 200mm at the thickest part (before shaping) so I just glued a few bits together. Cut these on our old bandsaw, real fine tooth blade and it cut really well. Bit of that contact adhesive holds it all together.
These bits make the bottom of the cushion to about 200mm thick and slope up in line with the side of the seat carcass.
Next had to cut the main back cushion foam in half so I had a flat surface to cut off the excess foam at the top.
Test fitting before fitting the bottom angle bits.
That contact glue is awesome, spray a bit on, stick together and you have one piece. Never used it for this sort of thing before lol. Works really well.
All stuck together. I need to put some more foam on the bottom sides and then shape the butt shape and recess for the back. I want to get it as close to the in game one but still be comfy.
Note on foam: The stuff on the bottom is firmer stuff than the back stuff. Supposedly will last longer according to the lady at the foam shop.
Day 4:
Sealed the MDF with some acid cat lacquer we had out the back thinned to about 50% so it would soak in heaps. Sanded up super smooth. Hit it with some silver paint so if the outer layer of paint gets scratched it will show silver, like it's some special futuristic alloy.
While that was drying I sanded up the side panels and put 5mm and 2mm R fillets on the edges. Bogged up my mistake line and cut a new one where it is supposed to be.
The paint I had got for it was based off a couple of screen shots that made the main carcas and side panels look different colours. I went and painted the main bit with a gunmetal grey.
Turns out that's completely wrong! Whoops, I should have got into the rift long before painting and actually had a look around at the detail. Too much haste. Ahh well.
The sides and body are the same silver colour, it is just lighting in the screenies that makes it look different. Still looks good though.
Next I had to make the small thruster pod on the front of the seat at the little concave bits in the middle. No sweat, draw in Solidworks, make a toolpath for the CNC.
30 mins later, ready to stick them on. Having access to CNC machines makes things so flippn easy. No patterns, cutting stuff with jigsaw, sanding edges etc. Just pull the bits off the machine, done. These bits needed sanding to get them smooth though, but the foam PVC is quick. Like 15 mins and they were sanded and glued in place.
And a quick lick of paint, the actual colour the chair is supposed to be. It does look nice with the two tone finish. Manually taped the side on to see what it looks like. Looks pretty good.
Day 5:
Finally I fitted the sides with some small L brackets and rivnuts so I can easily remove them for future mods. Coffee machine in the side, I mean Keyboard holder on the side, mouse platform. Not true to the game model 100% but will keep it close.
More painting and sanding to make things a bit nicer. In the end I decided to paint the main carcass bit the same colour as the sides. Looks much better I think. Oh, need to bog up those mangus looking screw holes too. Was being lazy, but they do look rubbish so I had better sort them out.
I still have to enclose the top but couldn't be bothered today. I was helping pick and stack hay bales manually yesterday so couldn't be bothered doing much at all! Got a good chunk done though.
While Stuff was drying I jumped on the computer, cranked up Eye of the Tiger and drew up some parts to hold the joystick and throttle. I use an X52, old one, feels better than the Pro IMO. I have fitted the control board from the throttle inside the joystick housing because I don't use the X52 throttle. Makes it so you just need to plug in the joystick and away you go. I use a CH Pro Throttle, bit more clunky but I find it has better ergonomics. I plan to convert the left over bits from the X52 throttle into some sort of hybrid with custom roller bearing movement. Maybe next Christmas?
For the control holders I just used a bit of 10mm clear acrylic so it doesn't take away from the over all look to much. Would be next to impossible to get the stick and throttle exactly the same and it's completely needless. I just need them to be in the exact right place so in the Rift they my arms are where my brain sees they are.
Tomorrow I want to shape the foam and finish off that top part of the seat. I also need to make the side handles and start on the head rest. Running out of days as it's back to work on the 16th and will flat out with no time to finish everything. At least it is at a stage where I can actually use it and add bits to it as time permits.
I plan to get the cushions upholstered in leather, soft, Corinthian leather, to resemble the in game seat. I would have a crack at it but I would make a mess of my grans sewing machine. I have never done it before so it would be fun to give it a go, so I might with some cheaper vinyl and if I get the shape right get it done properly.
Here are some caps from in the game that I wish I had taken last week! Maybe when I build a co-pilot seat I can get it more accurate.
