Space Shuttle Simulator

Notebook

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Some things are constant. Talk-back systems were in all the places I worked as all studios have much the same needs.

Teddington Studios went back pre-WWI and of course was a silent movie production site. Carried on making films between the wars, at one time owned by
Warner Brothers as a "quota quickie" site making tax reduced productions in the UK. Moved to tv production in the 50's, and finally closed in 2013.

To be honest, it was a very expensive site to run. In the middle of a very desirable residential area on the leafy banks of the Thames. After the ITV network was rationalised in the 1990's and Thames lost its franchise to broadcast, it became an independent production site. Eventually bought by Pinewood-Shepperton Group even they couldn't make it profitable. Too big and in the wrong place. Closed in 2013 after nearly a hundred years., and a direct hit by a V1.

A superb web site by a well known(in the industry) Lighting Director, Martin Kempton:


Don't know how he finds the time!
 

TheShuttleExperience

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Interesting @Notebook. So you and Phil Smith are quite skilled in terms of electronics and photo/video (y) I wish I would be. But luckily I have you guys and this forum :p :probe:

I never worked on anything that is or was related to television. But I was in TV studios a few times, which was very interesting. Not due to the "stars" (well, German celebrities) but especially because of the technology. As a studio audience you see way more of how all this is being done than one does by just sitting in front of a TV at home. It turned out that I am actually more interested in behind-the-scenes-stuff rather than in the actual TV show or movie.

Remembers me of my visits of the late night show we had in Germany...

 
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TheShuttleExperience

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By the way, I'm thinking of buying the Lumix Panasonic DC-FZ82 for my project and future missions:


Any thoughts on this or suggestions?
 

Notebook

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Interesting @Notebook. So you and Phil Smith are quite skilled in terms of electronics and photo/video (y) I wish I would be. But luckily I have you guys and this forum :p :probe:

I never worked on anything that is or was related to television. But I was in TV studios a few times, which was very interesting. Not due to the "stars" (well, German celebrities) but especially because of the technology. As a studio audience you see way more of how all this is being done than one does by just sitting in front of a TV at home. It turned out that I am actually more interested in behind-the-scenes-stuff rather than in the actual TV show or movie.

Remembers me of my visits of the late night show we had in Germany...

Thames Television were mostly known for Light Entertainment and Sit-Coms. Though they did do a varied output of light and heavy drama and current affairs, local news.
We had two or three audience shows a week in the two larger studios, and great fun they were. Generated a "buzz", audience in from 19:00, bit of a warm-up, record starts at :20:00, finished by 21:45 in the bar by 22:00. Best job I ever had., and a lot of electronic toys to play with!

Last ever transmission from Thames. New Years eve 1992:

 

Notebook

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Yes, same here.
Thames was part of the ITV(Independent Television) network. Set up to bring commercial television to the UK, it had five large regional broadcasters and eight smaller regional broadcasters. It was deliberately regionalised, so each area of the country could have local content and news and still benefit from national broadcasting. Worked well till Margaret Thatcher was elected and took a dislike to the power of the tv unions. Brought in legislation to allow every regional franchise to be auctioned. That was the end of Thames(didn't bid high enough) and three other broadcasters, and in practice the end of regional tv in the UK. Its all ITV PLC now.
Thames shut down its outside-broadcast and transmission sites and concentrated at Teddington as an independent producer. It survived for twenty years till times caught up with it. Just too expensive to make programs there.
I'd left in 1996 when Thames were bought out(again!) and followed my pension. Took early retirement eventually, I was doing to much mouse and kbd and not fixing things.
Went back as freelance and short-term contracts if it was interesting.
 

TheShuttleExperience

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Bad news from CDN Headquarters, the company that produces the small "4 event timers" that were and are being used aboard the ISS and the Shuttles. Model PT1A is not produced anymore. I wanted to buy a few more for my project. But it's out of stock everywhere on the planet :( I mailed the company. The model is replaced by the PT2. It's basically the same, in terms of functions, but looks very different. I might buy a few of these, but I'm not sure if NASA will also get them for the ISS or just use those they still have in stock and are working. At least it would not be historic in my sim to use the new model...


The old one:

20210425_195548.jpg

Ah, okay just discovered that NASA obviously uses the new PT2:

spacex_crew_dragon_equipment04-lg.jpg
 

kuddel

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@TheShuttleExperience : Regarding CDN Model PT1A (the "old" timer), I have one of those and I can ship it to you if you like.
I once bought one just to have a "shuttle timer"..., but it would be much more useful in your simpit than on my cupboard ;)
Please PM me your address and I'll see how I can manage to ship it to you.
Side-Note: I am currently not near my "CDN Model PT1A stoage location" and will not be there for a couple of weeks, so you might have to wait a little...
As soon as I get back I'll contact you and send some pictures - as I'm not 100% sure that this is an "Original CDN timer" (the right-hand selector lever is very flimsy and).
It seems to be, but again I would have expected a better build quality ?‍♂️
 

Phil Smith

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Good to know. Me too, but if anything is missing, like the air diffusor was, I'll call you :)
I'd love to see gut shots of rotational controller & throttle quadrant. I've found none yet.
@TheShuttleExperience : Regarding CDN Model PT1A (the "old" timer), I have one of those and I can ship it to you if you like.
I once bought one just to have a "shuttle timer"..., but it would be much more useful in your simpit than on my cupboard ;)
Please PM me your address and I'll see how I can manage to ship it to you.
Side-Note: I am currently not near my "CDN Model PT1A stoage location" and will not be there for a couple of weeks, so you might have to wait a little...
As soon as I get back I'll contact you and send some pictures - as I'm not 100% sure that this is an "Original CDN timer" (the right-hand selector lever is very flimsy and).
It seems to be, but again I would have expected a better build quality ?‍♂️
Wow, good move, Kuddel! :hailprobe:(y)
 

TheShuttleExperience

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@TheShuttleExperience : Regarding CDN Model PT1A (the "old" timer), I have one of those and I can ship it to you if you like.
I once bought one just to have a "shuttle timer"..., but it would be much more useful in your simpit than on my cupboard ;)
Please PM me your address and I'll see how I can manage to ship it to you.
Side-Note: I am currently not near my "CDN Model PT1A stoage location" and will not be there for a couple of weeks, so you might have to wait a little...
As soon as I get back I'll contact you and send some pictures - as I'm not 100% sure that this is an "Original CDN timer" (the right-hand selector lever is very flimsy and).
It seems to be, but again I would have expected a better build quality ?‍♂️

I can only quote Notebook and Phil Smith: what a generous and kind offer kuddel, well done, good move and :hailprobe:

Didn't expect that someone here has that timer actually. But on the other hand, this is a place full of space flight nerds... :LOL: So no miracle.

I had one of these as well many years ago in my kitchen, when I was far away from building a flight simulator or seriously planning a Shuttle replica. Yeah, it's just cheap plastics. And if you open it, it's even a cheap board/electronics inside. It's made in China. Well, I'm not saying that everything that comes from China is actually bad. But this is nothing more than a simple timer. One would not expect that an agency like NASA would use something like that on a multi billion dollar spacecraft. On the other hand, there is much more improvisation in spaceflight than one might expect, like using bathtub caulk and cowboy hat felt for connecting the TPS tiles to the fuselage of the Shuttle...

You can look here if it's the one you have: https://www.orbiter-forum.com/threads/space-shuttle-simulator.39679/post-577886

I only got this one though, as the second pre-order got canceled because the item was not available anymore. The good news is I ordered three (for now) of the new model yesterday. And they were already shipped (Amazon) as NASA would certainly use them, would the Shuttle still be in operation.

I don't know if I can accept your great offer. The timer would be in my flightdeck/middeck, but you would have at least one space flight item less... I'll think about that, or in NASA words: I'll review this :) But I would at least absorb the shipping costs!
 

TheShuttleExperience

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Talking about improvisation in human space flight...


I am right now writing an email to the space food systems lab at the Johnson Space Flight Center regarding straws, drinking bags etc. Let's see what they say. My hope is that maybe a few things might be available for private customers (just like the Timer from CDN)...
 

TheShuttleExperience

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Same topic, same lady, different host :) Quite interesting though
Yeah. I've seen this too. I think I already downloaded most of those videos to my own little private archive ?

Vickie Kloeris is one of the persons one could only like to work with. You can clearly see that this wasn't just her job. I think she loved to be the head of the food systems lab and being involved in all this food stuff. I've read she worked there for 34 years and is retired now. The interviewer, Amiko Kauderer, is the wife of astronaut Scott Kelly by the way. There is an awesome TV docu/series about his longest mission on the ISS called "A Year in Space" by the Time magazine. You get to see this, if you didn't! Nope, it actually deserves three big: !!!

https://time.com/space-nasa-scott-kelly-mission/ (just click the numbers below)

I was always a little interested in space food. But it turns out that during the growth of my project that there is an entire new set of hobbies in the box. I almost gathered everything for my own little space food laboratory for packing food and beverages for my future simulated missions. I'll post a few pics soon...

In case someone is interested in the menu card for former Shuttle flights and onboard the ISS: https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/143163main_Space.Food.and.Nutrition.pdf
 

kuddel

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I can only quote Notebook and Phil Smith: what a generous and kind offer kuddel, well done, good move and :hailprobe:
You're welcome.
We have a nice community here, don't we ;)

Yes the timer I have is exactly that one you've linked to.


I don't know if I can accept your great offer. The timer would be in my flightdeck/middeck, but you would have at least one space flight item less... I'll think about that, or in NASA words: I'll review this :) But I would at least absorb the shipping costs!
You can accept the offer. I would not have made it if I didn't wanted to ?
AND...knowing that it will be placed in a much more appropriate place then it currently is makes me feel quite good.

I'll PM you as soon as I am able to ship the CDN Timer. Shipping details can be sorted out later, no worries.
 

TheShuttleExperience

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Yeah, seems I'm at the right place @kuddel ? So your timer might find a nice place to live in the future. Probably at the aft station for payload bay ops :D The CDN timer I currently have, still orignially boxed, probably goes to panel O3 via Velcro just next to the MET timer for counting the exact duration of my future mission from lift-off until wheels stop... The new CDN PT2 timers I'm going to get, probably go to panel F7, the mission station and to one of the lockers down at the middeck.
 
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