Foamalux
327. January 2014 by Peter
In Danish we have a saying “Kært barn har mange navne“. I guess it translates in to something like: “It goes by many names” and that is exactly the case with foamalux.
So far I have heard Foamalux refereed to as Foamcore, Foamex and PVC foam.
This might help you to locate it at your DIY store.
It is such an easy product to work with – much better than MDF, when you don’t need the strength of MDF. Here is an example on why I like Foamalux
These are the “wings” between the overhead panel and the windows.
It is a somewhat tricky piece as it not is made from exact measurements (Like the MIP) but is made with an individually fit.
And so first I have made a rough cut of the contour needed and then I just hod it against where it should fit and get those final details cut using only a stanley knife / A normal sharp knife.
As you can see there are many different angles on this piece. But with Foamalux it was just a matter of taking a bit at a time and match again. And compared to MDF (or other wood-types) it leaves no mess when cutting it.
Another thing I realized when making these two wings was that my cockpit not is symmetrical!
I suspected this as I sometimes found different measurements in the left and right side. But the two wings next to each other shows very clear that things not are the same on the left and the right side.
The final result after a layer of RAL 7011 can be seen below. Looks okay.
Build a Boeing 
Which type of toggle switches did you use ? I can’t make the difference between mini toggle switches and big toggle switches, hence i can’t buy mine 😦 On your picture i can see that you have small and big caps, where did you found them ? Thank you in advance !
Hi Roy.
Good spotted. It is one big mess that reflects my different strategies along the way. And it is a pretty long story.
As I am building a cockpit on a budget buying real (or replica of real) switches is simply too expensive.
So I started with normal small toggle switches. They do the job but looks small on the overhead and I missed the white cap.
Then I looked in to white toggle cabs for the small switches (3mm diameter). But before I ordered anything I found (till on eBay) some small toggles with colored caps (White and red). Ordered 30 of them. The white version makes the cockpit look better but they are still too small.
While using the small toggles I also had some of the large toggle switches in use for those guarded switches. And they looked much better and due to the longer shaft they also had a better feel. A friend (Claus from 737sim.dk) had some of the large toggles left over so he send them to me. Claus is pretty good to come up with low-tech solutions. With these large toggles he had dipped the shaft in white paint. You can see one of them on the engine starter selector.
Cheap and easy!
The large toggles has a good feel and size. With the white paint they even look a bit like the real switches. But of course real nerds will spot the difference right away. 🙂 Also make sure to get single pole switches. Double pole switches are harder to flick.
And what you see on the picture is my latest attempt. I have run out of large switches and before ordering some new I just wanted to test an idea I found on the prosim737-forum.
The idea is to cut a small piece of aluminum tube (2 cm), white plastic tube (2cm) and put something round on top (undone). This extender then is glued on to a small toggle switch (Like the fuel panel on the picture).
I received the half-rounded tops this week but have not had time to finish the switches yet. I will make a separate posting once done.
A third option is to buy something that looks like the real deal (with locking mechanism) but that is at least €5-10 per switch.
So I guess that doesn’t help you much as I am kinda all over the place. Small toggles are very cheap and you can build those extenders later on. That gives you the most realistic look and a good feel. Large toggles (dipped in white paint) gives a good feel and fits the cockpit size-wise.
Best regards Peter
Both the white paint and the aluminum-plastic solutions are great ideas !!! I’ll order both sizes of switch so i can use the small ones with the DIY caps and the big ones for other switches that don’t need any caps (like the light switches).
Thank you for helping me out 🙂