Getting there!!!!

It's been a while since I updated the blog.

It's not because, there hasn't been any progress with the pit. There has been. 
A lot of it.

But, because, I wasn't happy about posting the progress. 

I spent about an year, planning this build. Spent another couple of years, working out the intricacies involved, fine tuning my build decisions, and then purchasing and collecting parts. The actual build has now been under progress for a little less than six months. 

Till I started the build, I had absolutely no carpentry skills. I had never soldered a wire in my life. Had never flashed (programmed) a micro-controller. Had never designed an electrical/electronic circuit. All the preparation I did was a weekend of tuition's with a local carpentry shop, and then I went ahead and purchased my own tools, and commenced the build.

As the build progressed, I have noticed that my skills have generally improved, and finish quality of the 'pieces' is now much improved compared to my earlier attempts. At many places, I found that I could better design a part, compared to how I had fabricated it earlier (typically, the undercarriage lever mechanism, hook lever mechanism, the selective jettison rotary selector mechanism e.t.c). 

I could have actually finished my pit, a few months back. But, that's when, I began to take it apart and rebuild all the parts that I thought, I could build better. Consequently, both the Left and Right Lower Instrument Panels have been completely redesigned, re-fabricated and wired with a new circuit. Ditto for the pieces mentioned earlier. 

Also, I have been looking at work of some of the folks at 'Hornet Pits Forums' and have taken guidance in design of my pit. The designs some of these folks have put out are incredible. And all these are home pits, done by folks who do it as a hobby. Not by professionals. Awesome work guys. 

The fact that most of my pit is made/fabricated out of wood means that at some places, some parts don't "feel" realistic. Ideally, I should have built them using CNC routers/metal work. But, those are skills that I presently don't have. 

For the time being, I have decided to continue to finish the pit as originally planned, and call it Mk-1.

It's been too long that I have only been building, and in the past few months, haven't logged a single virtual flight hour. I need to get flying again. Soon.

Will take apart my pit again, and continue to rebuild it better and more realistic in subsequent marks/versions.