Dec/090
ARC_Team Christmas Offer
As a nice little present to their customers, ARC are offering a 10% discount to the first 10 people who order a G25/27-E. Offer ending on the 21st December.
Designed by me, click for fullsize.
ARC Christmas Offer 2009
Nov/091
Scratch Built PC: The Price List
As promised earlier, I’ve put together a price list of the various components and tools I’ve bought for my new system (All due to arrive tomorrow!).
PC Components:
- Lancool PC-K58 Case: £59.98
- Intel Core i5 750 2.66Ghz (Lynnfield): £134.99
- Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB DDR5: £119.99
- OCZ Gold 4GB DDR3 1333Mhz RAM: £69.99
- Corsair TX 650W PSU: £76.99
- 320GB 7,200 RPM Hitachi Hard Drive: £32.99 (Not the specific component*)
- 22x DVD RW Drive: £19.99 (Not the specific component*)
* Transferred from my old PC, but I’ve posted fairly accurate other options
Extras:
Tools:
- Belkin Anti-Static Wristband: £3.68
- Anti Static Matting: £6.99
There’s the cost of a newer monitor to come, but that’s a little while away. I hope you enjoy reading the progress over the next few days!
- Prices accurate on the dates that I bought the items -
Nov/090
Scratch Built PC
Hey guys!
My first real post here, as Ste has been updating the blog for the majority of the time that it’s been online. I now have a project to be posting though, something which I hope interests a few people. Ste’s work on the cockpit and wheel side of things has been an inspiration to many people as proven by the steady rise in blog visists, and I’d certainly love to have a setup like that in the future. For the time being however, I’ve decided to put together my first scratch built PC.
After weeks of advice and reading reviews, I chose the parts that would make up my gaming rig. This isn’t a killer £1000 + setup, as we don’t all (me included) have that kind of money, but it is something that should do a great job of running race sims as they should be, with everything whacked up! You may find it a bit out of place, posting about a PC on a sim modding blog, but behind any enjoyable racing experience is the system that runs it. What I plan to do is write up a review of how I found things after the build (hopefully it will go well!). The main benfits to doing it this way can already be seen by the cost, as it is a lot cheaper to build your own, although of course there is the risk of doing something wrong. I’m fairly confident of doing it efficiently after reading what I have online, and have had experience of changing a couple of things around in my older PC, so I hope it works out.
I’ve also taken advantage of a great deal at ebuyer.com, buying a G25 for under £120. You can get it here. Equally, OverclockersUK have the same deal going, definitely worth it in my opinion. In the near future I also hope to be buying a 23″ (or bigger) full HD monitor, as an upgrade to the LG 19″ I have at the moment. Underneath is what my system will consist of, and an image to show the main components. Later on I’ll post a proper list of the costs!
- Lancool PC-K58 Case
- Windows 7 64 bit
- Intel Core i5 750 2.66Ghz (Lynnfield) + Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler
- Asus P7P55D LE Motherboard
- OCZ Gold 4GB DDR3 1333Mhz RAM
- Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB GDDR5 Graphics Card
- Corsair 650w PSU
- 7,200 RPM Hitachi Hard Drive (From old system, formatting + partitioning for new OS)
- Toshiba 22x Disc Drive (From old system)
Thanks for reading,
Mike
Nov/090
ARC Wheel Installation
More detailed guide to installation coming soon, but for now, a few pictures.
Sep/090
Seat Covering
Firstly, sorry for the lack of updates recently, I’ve been stupidly busy with other stuff and only got around to doing the seat covering tonight. Unfortunately, from this blog post, there won’t be another until the 17th September. I’m busy until Monday and I go on holiday on Tuesday for 8 days so there will be no progress.
Anyway, down to the seat covering details.
I used black faux suede to cover the seat and a heavy duty spray adhesive to stick it on. I would warn you, this spray is like nothing I’ve ever seen or used, it is incredibly sticky. Get it on your clothes, you will not get it off. Don’t breathe it in – it literally takes your breath away. It’s difficult to direct so make sure everything around is covered with a sheet. After finishing I think I probably had about 10% of the can left, so go easy when applying it.
The first thing I did was to put the whole piece of suede over the seat and figure out the best way to cover it. I had two options:
- Put it on in one piece, leaving no join lines but having a large number of creases – some possibly on the bottom also.
- Put it on in sections, making cuts/slits through the fabric, overlaying it. This would leave a few lines where it overlaps, but there would be no creases and no air pockets in the fabric.
I chose option two.
I decided to cover the sides first, one at a time. So I cut a section from the fabric. Enough to cover the length with a 2 inch overlap at either end and an inch or so at the bottom, with 3 inches at the top. Initially I sprayed the adhesive onto the seat itself and pushed the fabric on. But before long I realised it was better to spray the fabric. This adhesive is so strong that it melts the seat, if you spray it too closely to the seat, it will be very concentrated, you can push your finger right into the seat, it’s like marshmallow. I found it better to spray it from about 12 inches away. This gave a better covering as well. I also found it better to push the Suede on with the palm of my hand to prevent indenting the seat. I made sure there were no creases and bubbles.
Down the inside edge of the seat I cut the fabric where the creases would lie. I sprayed the edge first and stuck it down and then sprayed each individual cut and stuck them down. Each overlapping the next.
I completed the other side. This takes longer than you would expect and I would suggest using two people. I got my dad to help with mine. One person to stretch the material and the other to press it on. Be careful as the adhesive also melts the fabric if you apply too much!
I decided to stick the middle section on in one piece. I cut this roughly to size with enough material to overlap the edges by about 4 inches.
I stuck the back down first, and then the bottom. After that, I stuck either leg section down. The sides of the middle section were still completely unstuck and full of creases. I used exactly the same process as I did for the sides. Cut along the creases and stuck each cut piece down, followed by the next which would overlap it.
The seat is now covered. It looks fantastic, pictures don’t do it justice. They show up the smallest of floors. Remember that space inhibitors are used down the side, inside the cockpit, so the sides, front and back of the seat will not be seen – only the main area. Which is near perfect.
Now the seat is finished, I can say this is definitely the way to go. It’s super comfortable, looks fantastic and wasn’t much more expensive than buying a bucket seat – which isn’t moulded!
Aug/090
2nd Stage of Sanding & Priming
Today I’ve re-sanded the cockpit after the first prime coat with an extremely fine sand pad. I also went over the end grain – I filled this with decorators caulk.
The second coat went on so much easier than the first and really filled in a lot of the bits that needed touching up. This will dry overnight. Tomorrow morning I will paint one coat of grey oil-based undercoat. And tomorrow evening, I start with the red! I purchased the red today, its RAL 3020. I will paint two coats of this for best coverage and possibly a coat of lacquer on-top. I will be ordering my seat on Thursday. Once I have this, the cockpit should be painted. I will get the carpet and CF Vinyl fitted. The main parts remaining are attatching the wheel, and pedals in the correct place.
I didn’t 2nd coat the areas I intend to cover with carpet or carbon fibre. One coat was ok, just to seal it and harden it slightly. It will also take away that awful MDF smell.
I’ve also decided to add a curved cowling around the front steering wheel edge of the front section. This will cover over the wheel and add another dimension to the whole thing. I will post a photoshop of what I intend to do later!
Aug/090
Filling • Sanding • Priming
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- 2 Part Wood Filler
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- Part 1
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- Part 2 – The Hardener
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- Holes Filled
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- Corner Shot
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- The back edge
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- Corner top
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- Filled screw up close
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- Cockpit Primed
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- After priming – from the back
Last night I filled all the screw holes, any joins and gaps. I used 2 part wood filler. It’s basically a putty, and a hardener – hence the ‘2 part’. I let this dry for about an hour or so, and then sanded it all flat. I again used the finer sand paper and then ran over it with an even finer pad.
This morning, I primed the wood with Zinsser BullsEye Primer-Sealer. Doing this will allow the main coats of paint to cover more evenly and the final result will be a lot better.
After this, I have sanded down the ‘grain-edges’. This will allow the second coat of Zinsser to fill better. I sanded down the flat surfaces also just with the fine pad.
I used some caulk behind the obtruding edge on the front section. Allowing me a smooth area rather than a right angled gap and line. I also rubbed some caulk into all of the grain edges – this is basically the equivalent of 5 or 6 coats of paint. The grain will be filled far better with the next coat.
I am leaving that all to harden and dry. Tomorrow I will apply a second coat of the Zinsser primer, followed by another light sand.
Then its down to the red coat, sanding, 2nd red coat, sanding, followed by a final couple of spray layers and a coat of lacquer. The end result should look spot on.
Aug/090
Decided against the 12C in favour of the Arc Wheel
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- The Arc Wheel
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- Back of the wheel
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- In cockpit use
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- Getting a feel for the wheel
I’ve made a fairly big decision today, and just in time!
Next week I was going to order the Seat & Momo 12c, but tonight I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m going to leave the wheel.
The wheel itself would have set me back £150. As well as this I wanted to make a quick release system, extend the steering column, add extra buttons and also clutch paddles. The cost of materials/components for this would have been about £350, plus many, many hours of my time trying to figure it all out and build it.
Tonight I found ARC. An Italian Sim modification team. They specialise in cockpits, pedals, wheels and modifications to existing hardware like the G25. They are currently making an Arc Wheel. It has every single thing I wanted to do myself, only properly. I think doing what I wanted to do with my skills would have been a bit of a ‘bodge-job’. Sure, it would have worked, but it wouldn’t have been tidy and I definitely wouldn’t have been able to make a 8 pin cannon connector work!
Anyway! They are offering the wheel with a set of options
- With or without quick release (Sparco)
- With or without Clutch Paddles
- With or without SLI-M (RPM & Gear indicators)
- Aluminium or Carbon Fibre Body
Perfect!
It looks the part, and has everything I need/wanted. It’s 100% the way to go. It isn’t being released until October or November 2009, so theres a couple of months until it’s release. In which time I can save enough to buy it.
I have no idea what the cost of it will be, but I assume it will be fairly substantial, given the labour costs and the components used. I know the sparco quick release is around £120 alone. I can see it being more than £500, hopefully not too much more otherwise my face will end up like this – :-O.
Check out the pics above anyway!
Aug/092
More Materials Ordered
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- Spacer Drawing
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- Metal Letter Punch Set
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- Acrylic Rod
Tonight I’ve ordered a metal letter punch set. I want to punch the letters into the Aluminium button box and this is definitely the best way to do it. It was only about £8.99 for a 37pc set.
As for the buttons on the button box, I’ve decided against the Steel Coach Bolts. Although they would work, I think they might be a little bit too heavy for buttons. After all, they’re steel!
I’ve ordered a 1M section of 8mm Acrylic Rod. Which will be the perfect size, easier to cut and a lot lighter.
The same company I ordered the rod from to customising services, so I’ve sent off a CAD drawing to them for the spacers I want to use to attach the Momo 12C. I asked for 4 x 3mm discs with the holes drilled for me. Shouldn’t be too expensive, since a 50×50cm sheet of Acrylic costs £2.49 from their shop!
Costs:
- Acrylic Rod – £2.06
- Punch Set – £8.99
Links to the products:
Aug/090
Materials Received
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- Carbon Fibre Vinyl
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- Coach Bolt
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- Transparent Wallets
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- CF Vinyl Adhesive Back
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- Spray Adhesive & Carpet
After ordering the materials last week, I’ve been pleasantly surprised to see them all arrive by today. I got the last item – the Carbon Fibre Vinyl.
I’ve already put the Aluminium to good use. The carpet was spot on, the adhesive was about 5 times bigger than it looked in the picture and the CF Vinyl is just as I had expected.
I’ve attached pictures of the materials and also of the bolts I purchased for the button box buttons. I also purchased a pack of transparent business car holders/sleeves. One of these will be ideal for putting a track map into and sticking it on the side of the cockpit. They have self adhesive on the back too.