- 10 May 2013 12:18
#14231933
Diversity within Oneness.
A real throttle unit from the Republic F-84 Thunderjet. Pulled this baby off one such abandoned plane rotting away in overgrown shrubs near an abandoned airbase. It was the only thing worth of interest in the cockpit that wasn't already looted.
Everything on the throttle works smoothly. Actual throttle lever, the flaps slider, toggle switch and throttle lever buttons work flawlessly (upper button is not attached well and tends to "go in" the lever a bit and get stuck, otherwise it works, I'll fix this and secure it in place). The friction knob was stuck but with liberal amounts of WD-40 and some pliers I got it to turn and now it can be turned by hand and setting the friction with it works also. Mind that this thing has been in the rain, sun and snow for over 20 years.
[youtube]szBm6nH-wK0[/youtube]
It is my long term goal to turn this into a flight sim throttle for my PC though I have no knowledge or expertise in this field whatsoever. Gonna have to do tons of reading.
These are the planes in question. Just standing there for 20 years, rotting and being stolen more and more. So if they're gonna rot and be stolen, it's better if I'm the one doing it. This is a very old picture as you can hardly see them from the bushes and trees these days.
There is also a C-47 there with two Hamilton Standard 23e50 propellers (the prop used on most US WW2 planes, from B-17's to Corsairs) that go for 2500$ on the internet. Sadly I cannot unscrew the retaining nut that holds them in place without a special tool designed just for that. The same plane also has two Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp engines which are probably worth tens of thousands of dollars to the right people. Too bad I would need a crane, a truck and a workforce for those.
Everything on the throttle works smoothly. Actual throttle lever, the flaps slider, toggle switch and throttle lever buttons work flawlessly (upper button is not attached well and tends to "go in" the lever a bit and get stuck, otherwise it works, I'll fix this and secure it in place). The friction knob was stuck but with liberal amounts of WD-40 and some pliers I got it to turn and now it can be turned by hand and setting the friction with it works also. Mind that this thing has been in the rain, sun and snow for over 20 years.
[youtube]szBm6nH-wK0[/youtube]
It is my long term goal to turn this into a flight sim throttle for my PC though I have no knowledge or expertise in this field whatsoever. Gonna have to do tons of reading.
These are the planes in question. Just standing there for 20 years, rotting and being stolen more and more. So if they're gonna rot and be stolen, it's better if I'm the one doing it. This is a very old picture as you can hardly see them from the bushes and trees these days.
There is also a C-47 there with two Hamilton Standard 23e50 propellers (the prop used on most US WW2 planes, from B-17's to Corsairs) that go for 2500$ on the internet. Sadly I cannot unscrew the retaining nut that holds them in place without a special tool designed just for that. The same plane also has two Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp engines which are probably worth tens of thousands of dollars to the right people. Too bad I would need a crane, a truck and a workforce for those.
Diversity within Oneness.