… love this place…
SimBox NG
Hangar200
#183
Can you get those lights to go to fiery red and blink randomly if you get hit by a SAM…not that you ever would get hit by a SAM…just say’n it would add to the emersion.
Troll
#184
Got the rest of the alu skin today.
I wanted alu with a protective plastic. All protected alu they had was anodized.
Anodized to the left. Natural alu to the right.
Now, I’d like to go with natural, untreated, alu skin, but since that would mean all sorts of scratches from the plate bender, I got the protected, anodized kind.
I could mix it, with anodized on the sidewalls, and natural on the short sides. Or I can go with anodized all around.
Anodized means it will withstand scratches better. Not necessarily a good thing, since I like the way alu looks when it gets worn and beat up. And with the rivets, it would look cool.
However, I think I’m stretching my goodwill with the one who must be obeyed, as it is.
What do you guys think?
Mix of anodized and natural, or anodized all around?
gfrally
#185
Ha, you mean the one with 10,000 shoes and just wants one more pair? XD - At least that is my wife.
well, I salute her for letting you go as far as you have.
smokinhole
#187
300 rivets for the skin? That seems high. Have you considered riveting nutplates to the frame and using screws to allow for easier skin removal/replacement?
Troll
#188
292 to be exact.
I certainly don’t need that many, to keep the skin in place. But I thought a 2" distance between rivets would look good. Sort of a hint of aircraft skin…
But I don’t know…
@komemiute? What’s your take on this?
Yeah. That was my first thought. But then I thought rivets would look better.
There’s really no need to remove the skin, other than for a total rebuild.
They don’t cover anything I can’t get to from the other side.
I could use double sided tape, but I like the riveted panel look.
TheAlmightySnark
#194
Anodized aluminium still can get damaged depending on the quality though, so keep that in mind.
You can always use normal aluminium and then buff it with some scotchbrite. This removes the corrosion protected layer(it’s usually alclad material). Using it on a drill/disk gives a nice style honestly.
Troll
#195
Yeah, I see.
Now it’s more a question of continuity. Anodized all around, or anodized on the sides, and natural on the ends. I think all around anodized will look more like furniture, if you know what I mean…
TheAlmightySnark
#196
Absolutely, hard to advice you on that. Go with what feels right? Scotchbrite has a habit of removing annodization too so you can always step back to a lower level if you need.
Troll
#197
Here’s the rivet layout.
Since I’m placing the rivets in the tracks of the alu frame, there will be a slight inconsistency on the ends, where the frame is 40x40. The sides are 30x30.
The upper and lower horizontal rivet line of the ends, will sit 5mm lower than the other rivets…
And, for the true rivet counters out there… Yes, there will be 340 rivets.
TheAlmightySnark
#199
Maybe, would save you some work but if you put a row there it looks like a lapjoint which might be visually pleasing to you?
Troll
#200
It’s hard to tell, in advance, what will look good, and what will be too much… 
The saying ”less is more”, is often good advice.