And here it is....the hand carved wooden model of a standard VC10 I mentioned in an earlier post. The photographs don't do it justice, so when there is a sunny day I will take it outside to photograph. Unfortunately, there has been an error with the registration (its ended up as G-AVRN instead of G-ARVN), but I won't tell if you won't!

*** NOTAM *** My latest acquisition (a hand carved wooden model of a Standard VC10 in Speedbird livery) will be delivered on Saturday - pictures will be posted once it's here!

I made a statement on my site that I would explain why I was using FS2000 as the simulator software for my VC10 simulator (instead of FS2004, FSX or XPlane). The reasons are varied, but all revolve around the fact that FS98 and FS2000 are the two variants of Flight Simulator I have used most.

As a consequence of this (and also because I wanted to use 'retired' computer hardware that I had lying around) I opted to use FS2000 because I had created several add-ins that allowed voice ATC on flights, voice response to certain ATC requests, real world weather (via internet METAR data), I had lots of photo-realistic scenery and a few good VC10 models. I have created an 'authentic' 1960's VC10 co-pilot flight panel for FS2000 - obviously the Captain's position is being built up of real avionics so no need to simulate that, particularly as the sim will only be flown from the right hand seat. Also, FS2000 is somewhat less demanding in terms of hardware resource which means that I can get good video frame rates even with scenery density and complexity set at a high level.

All the computer hardware & software has been set up & configured ready for installation - interfacing of the controls will have to wait until the construction and installation work starts.

Still adding photographs and scans of items from my collection - slow going but it will be worth it once I have everything on there. Restoration of the VC10 overhead panel is ongoing - the whole assembly is stable now thanks to some heavy duty epoxy adhesive and some fibre glass matting. Still more restoration to do, but it's coming along nicely - and an added bonus was discovering that there was still an original oxygen mask & tube in the dropdown panel!

I'm ever hopeful of having space cleared to start the simulator flight deck build in the next few weeks - the lack of progress at the moment is frustrating but other commitments and circumstances beyond my control are delaying the start of the build. As soon as the build starts I will post an update (& pictures) on the site.

Had a fantastic day at Brooklands Museum last Saturday. Weather was good, all sorts of other things going on, 'flew' on Concorde, and got on the flight deck of G-ARVM - what a brilliant experience!

Lots more photographs added to the galleries, changes made to the site code to improve loading speed - a busy week!

I've decided to give my simulator the registration G-ARVN : this would have been the next Standard VC10 off the production line had BOAC not cancelled the order; using this registration also gives me a little bit of latitude in how the final cockpit layout looks - as it was never built I don't have to make it look 'identical' to any existing or previous aircraft!

I'm still updating the photographic gallery on the site, and have just added some fantastic pictures of G-ARTA taken in the early 1960s.