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Gerrits Diary
Here you see the first three aircrafts driving in circles all day long,
in order to test the software and the layout construction.
Welcome to Gerrits Diary.
The past few weeks were quite exciting, again.
We finished our first complete aircraft
which I will show you first.
We have shown this aircraft several times in the past few weeks
during its development. It is the first complete aircraft
as we imagined it. Our Number One.
On board it has all functions needed to become alive.
I'll start at its front: an infrared receiver
to get signals from overhead.
The illumination is installed.
Underneath the aircraft nose:
a receiver for exact positioning of the aircraft
for example, for the push-back action at the terminals.
The fully functioning nose wheel is integrated in the undercarriage door,
in the front we have lights for taxing and runway-turnoff.
Here you see a funnel, where rods are pricked in
for take-off, landing and recharging.
In the middle is an essential instrument:
a transponder helping the catapult to find the
spot where to pick up the aircraft,
and it serves to position the aircraft precisely where
two rods rise from the surface to load the aircraft with up to 5 ampere.
The undercarriage now has ball bearings.
We can still callibrate the in elevation
as well as the angle of rotation,
so the aircraft can always be corrected,
even in case of an accident, to drive straight ahead,
to prevent wobbeling, and last but not least,
to always sit on the rods at the same elevation.
Otherwise, the take-off and landing maneuver would change over month.
It has an on-off-switch, of course.
We can open this bottom panel to reach the technology inside.
Now, the airplane is ready for its maiden flight,
to adjust the undercarriage and insure wobble-free driving.
What I am showing now is an example
for our little everyday problems
which later on seek great solutions.
We have always worried that the 18 meter long catapult rack
must not be connected to the 150m² airport layout.
First of all the catapult generates vibrations.
That's not nice for the model workshop underneath.
Second: this is an aluminum rack which surely
will expand and contract different from
the wooden construction of the rest of the layout.
With heat and humidity, different materials expand
and contract differently, and we don't know yet
whether this building, constructed on wooden stakes
won't distort over the years.
So we wanted to uncouple the machine for take-off
from the rest of the layout.
First try: it seemed easy - we made a cut of 4 mm width
filled with foam. Now it could work and push, and pull.
Then we covered it with foil. It didn't take three days,
and the foil had a fissure, so 4 mm reduced to 3,5 mm.
Why it happened? We still don't know.
We had to find a new solution, and here it is:
This wooden element is the solution.
It is milled aslant, the top represents the roadway.
Later on, it will have a contact wire for steering, as well as lights.
You can clamp it really tight from the bottom of the layout.
It exactly fits the slot in the layout, between the panels.
Now, when the panels shift, and this part rises or drops,
to a certain degree, it compensates any distortions
In case it won't fit anymore because the panels drift together
and the aircraft gets stuck on the lifted part,
or the panels drift apart and this part drops below the surface,
what can we do?
We'll simply exchange it! one days work, new parts,
the old ones put into storage. Winter parts for wintertime
summer parts for summertime.
One day we will simply keep replacing parts that fit.
Great solution!
Here, we built a test part with a broad element
for more safety, and a narrow one because we never have spare clearance!
Here I can test how the panels manage different shiftings,
in order to test the limits of this system, and whether the
aircrafts can manage any random situation.
Our first complete aircraft now makes the trial run.
The nose wheel still wobbles, but it manages wonderfully.
We had once decided not to construct the airport
as technically complicated as possible at all ends,
Originally, we wanted to connect the aircrafts manually in the station,
but we found a fully technical solution to charge the aircrafts.
This one is completely decharges, and drives towards the charging station.
It demontrates what we came up with.
Now, the aircraft arrives in the vicinity of the charging station
and slows down noticably.
There's a sensor in the street which RIGHT NOW senses, in the
middle, where the rods are inserted, also at take-off and landing.
The aircraft is being lifted up,
and pressed onto the rods with its own weight.
Now we can transfer 4 or 5 ampere of current to recharge
the airplane a quickly as possible.
When the airplane is fully recharged
it will be lowered gently.
Hopefully, the steering magnet will find the contact wire.
Our solution: a pecking motor which can lift the aircraft
one tenth of a millimeter precise, so the
aircraft is only slightly lifted
but the steering magnet remains on the contact wire.
When the rods are pulled out completely,
and the aircraft has awoken from hibernate mode, as it sleeps during recharging
so it won't use unnecessary energy, it starts driving.
Hopefully, with one working day worth of energy.
Well, that was it for this month.
Here, you see a blueprint of what we are constructing.
This runway area is technically finished.
Next will be the freight terminal.
We have to build push-back vehicles for the backing movement at the terminals.
We're planning at high speed.
Hopefully, in the next "Gerrits Diary"
we'll be able to present beautiful pictures, already.
I want to mention something else:
Here I am in front of the camera telling you about the beautiful things we're building.
Of course, I'm not alone. I work with a creative team
side by side, sometimes with disputes but mostly with a lot of fun!
A great team, which enables me
to tell you all these beautiful stories.
Thanks for watching. I'm looking forward to our next time.