Well as you already know, I’ve got the VIperWing pit in my build.
It’s beautifully made, but I’ve been a little abusive on it, and broke it a little.
It started when I’ve got the pit, but didn’t have the cushions for the ACESII, As I’m living in a contry operating the second largest F-16 fleet, I’ve started sniffing around about getting my hands on the original seat cushions…. So in the meanwhile I’ve been using the seat with just a small Ikea cushion I had lying around… well, as it tuned out, it wasn’t a very smart idea….
I’m somewhat heavy, and one night, while getting out of the pit, I’ve put my entire weight on a weak spot on the PVC seat cover, which made a little hole in the seat…
I’ve contacted Marek from ViperWing, and he sent me the exact measurements of the seat so I could replace it.
Acef, as said that he had used a 0.7mm sheet metal for the seat construction and still has some of it lying around, and offered to fabricate the seat plate for me. so in the meanwhile, I figured I’ll be very carful when I step, and it should be OK…
in addition, I bought a 3mm foam for the cushion and started looking for a proper fabric.
unfortunately, I was arrogant enoght to try and use the seat, and I’ve slipped again, my foot, had put excessive pressure on the already weakened part of the seat plate, and it is bad…. 🙁
Which made be start to move…
First I’ve used the measurements supplied to me to cut the seat cushion to size. (470*462 mm with a 142*66 mm indent in the ejection handle area)
then I took a measurements for the back cushions.
those are 36 cm X 47 cm and 36cm X 15cm.
They will be sewed together to look like the real back plate (but in one piece to make things simpler for me)
I’ve also found a place that would fabricate the plate for me for out of sheet metal for about 15USD. (they specialize in gutters, and did not cut the indent for me – I’ll do that with a Dremel)
I took off the existing PVC plate and dicovered the metal sheet is 1mm too wide in one end – So I’m waiting for some free time on the weekend to trim it down to size (and cut the indent)
I’ll probably also use the the existing PVC plate as guide and make some holes for the screws, I want to use the existing holes in the MDF as much as possible – as too many holes will crack the wood and weaken the seat in the long run. but I’ll decide that after I get the new plate to size.
but more on that in the future post.