L-1011 Design Study - MIP (Capt. Station and F/O Station)

L-1011 Cockpit Design Study - Captain's Flight Station

Click on the images to see a larger version.

L-1011 Cockpit Design Study - Center Instrument Panel / Engine Cluster

L-1011 Cockpit Design Study - First Officer's Flight Station

All of the instrumentation is now installed in the L-1011 Trainer at the National Museum of Commercial Aviation. Once the cockpit lighting is finished, we will start powering the instrumentation up step by step and connect it to the simulator platform.

L-1011 - CPT Installation at the Museum - Captain's Flood Light

L-1011 Captain's Flood Light - LED Retrofit

Next in the Flood Light retrofit of the L-1011 Trainer at the National Museum of Commercial Aviation in Atlanta is the Captains Main Instrument Panel. Both the F/O's as well as the Captain's Instrument Panel flood lighting are controlled by a potentiometer located on the glare shield.

L-1011 Flood Light Dimmer Controller.

The image above shows the flood light dimmer potentiometer on the First Officer's side of the glare shield. The potentiometer controls a 12VDC PWM dimmer that directly drives the LED's for the respective flight station. The procedure trainer did not have any of the light controls previously connected to the potentiometer, however, the actually potentiometer was originally installed. The image below shows the retrofit of the potentiometer with cable connections to the PWM dimmer. 

L-1011 Flood Light Potentiometer for Dimmer

The LED strips are mounted into the original light fixtures under the glare shield with double-stick adhesive tape. The following to images show the inside of the light fixture with two strips visible and another two obstructed by louvers the protect the flood lights from spilling into the cockpit.

L-1011 Flood Light LED Retrofit - Low Intensity

L-1011 Flood Light LED Retrofit - Medium Intensity 

Mounting the LEDs actually took quite some time because we wanted to make sure that they really matched the look of the original fluorescent tubes. 

L-1011 Captain's Flood Light - LED Retrofit

Here is a short video of the PWM dimmers in action. They are very inexpensive devices but work really well with the LED strips. 

And finally a few images of the finished Capatin's and First Officer's under panel flood lighting.

L-1011 Captain's Flood Light - LED Retrofit

L-1011 Captain's Flood Light - LED Retrofit 

Original Flight Hardware: Main Insrument Panel (MIP) - Captain Side

Finally, I have assembled all the instruments for the MIP. Here is the panel for the left hand seat of the L-1011. The instruments that I have picked for the project are (from top left):

• Instrument Comparator (originally flown on the L1011)
• AFCS Warning (originally flown on the L1011)
• AFCS Modes (originally flown on the L1011)
• Altitude Indicator (originally flown on the L1011)
• Radio Altimeter Tape (originally flown on a Boeing 747)
• Attitude Direction Indicator (ADI) (originally flown on an Airbus A300)
• Airspeed Indicator (originally flown on the L1011)
• Radio Digital Distance Magnetic Indicator (RDDMI) (originally flown on a Boeing 737)
• Horizontal Situation Indicator (HSI) (originally flown on an Airbus A300)
• Vertical Speed Indicator (originally flown on a McDonald-Douglas DC-10)
• Chronograph (originally flown on a Boeing 737)
• Instrument Alternate Source Select (originally flown on the L1011)

So, yes, its a bit of a mix, but, potentially all these instruments could have flown on the Lockheed L-1011 given a specific customer configuration.

So here is a speculation ... the serial number of the Main Instrument Panel plate reads:

LAC MODEL NO: 25-1624298-103
MFG SER NO: 1233

Could it be that this plate is from ship 1233 ?? And if so, it would make it a plate from an L-1011-500 delivered to BWIA International in Trinidad Tobago? Can someone help?