.The Construction of Rocket Mk-III Page 2

October 29, 2004

Wiring wiring wiring.























As you can see the hood is removable (48 screws) and it helps a lot.






















The PC is finished, all bolted on a plywood board, as of October 2004 it is one of the fastest
machine available: AMD 3600, Geforce 68000 1Gig ram and a motherboard matching all the bus
speeds.

October 30th 2004,

The door is adjusted and installed but not yet sanded and polished; when it is closed it is almost
invisible! Only the hinge pattern of the plates gives it away
























Slightly open

























All open



















And it slams shut with a very solid "thud", the handle to open it is on the inside.



Before the final assembly I have to polish the rocket like a mirror






























I am I think 2 days  away from finishing this thing! It is very exciting.

November 1st 2004

Finished polishing everything, first thing to install is the rudders























All these wires look messy but ultimately they will all get tucked in a neat way somewhere. For now it
allows me to see were everything is and I rather be a bit too long than a bit too short.


All instruments and controls are in now
























Left side of the cockpit


































Close up on the flaps and gear controls






























November 2 2004,



















One happy test pilot!


November 3 2004,

FINISHED this Rocket is finished, test flight was perfect:




































all polished and ready to fly














Left side of tail cone is where one loads cd"s......... And it retracts neatly!











The closed door is invisible                           ... The handle to open it is inside!














Nice and cozy,  one must jump in it feet first and lower oneself like a foot in a shoe














Flip the right switch on the power box and the main power is on; slowly a large fan starts its whine
from behind the seat, it cools everything and means that power is on. One touch of the red button
on the left and the PC will start, a small LED behind the word CPU lights on, indicating that the
computer is now powering up.


























The 3 switches above the mouse, (the Burgundy ball thing), are from left to right Main accessory
power and Sound,  the middle one is for instrument lights and the right one for comfort fan on the
pilot's feet. One can see the instrument panel lit by its small post lights.


















Everything is on,ready to fly!!


















Throttle one inch                                                                       Press starter!!

Bring the throttle back to zero, the sound of this plane idling is incredible, I can feel the floor of the
rocket vibrating.























Bon voyage!

November 9 2004

Test flying the Rocket continues, TrackIR-3 adjustments are done and could be described in only
one word "INCREDIBLE."

I did a few modifications to the system.





















A round head #6 screw is screwed to the bill of a baseball cap and covered with some reflective
material


















The finished baseball cap as worn by my kid's 55 year old nanny





















And now she can measure herself against some P-47's with ease......while they nap!

I noticed that in a dogfight the game controls that is used the most is the Zoom in and Zoom out
and I am using them with the prop control lever. In the future Mk-IV I will find something else.




November 11 2004,

Cockpit details.



































-1-  TrackIR adjusting knob.
-2-  TrackIr housing.
-3-  Escape button.
-4-  Engine starter
-5-  Magnetos selector, "OR" Engine selector for twin engine operations. (3 switches)
-6-  Display score button.
-7-  External views buttons; 1,Fly-by, 2,external, 3,cockpit off. (3 switches)
-8-  Water methanol injection switch. "WEP"
-9-  Pilot / gunner position switch.
-10- Cockpit lights, landing lights, Navigation lights (3 switches)
-11- Computer startup button.
-12- Master power cutoff.
-13- USB port for headset or programming keyboard.
-14  Rocket comfort switches; Sound, instrument lights, feet fan. (3 switches)
-15 Mouse with right and left buttons.
-16 Open cockpit.
-17- raise seat.
-18 External views Friend and foes (2 switches)
-19- wheel brakes.
-20- Rockets or bombs.
-21- Main guns.
-22- Cannon(s).
-23- Volume control.
-24- Cowl flaps.
-25- Mixture control.
-26- Propeller pitch control.
-27- Center TrackIR.
-28- Padlock enemy.
-29- toggle Field of view.
-30- Throttle.
-31- Supercharger switches.
-32-External padlock.
-33- Internal cockpit view.
-34- communication button.
-35- Display map.
-36- Flaps lever.
-37- Landing gear lever.
-38- Gear down indicator.
-39- Drop fuel tank.
-40- Bail out.