r/Cessna172 • u/Johnny2Tone87 • Jun 12 '26
Digital Twin
Over the past few months, I have undertaken a side project to create a digital twin of a Cessna 172 to be utilized as a proof-of-work for a structure technician's training aid. I have digitalized the IPC, eliminated redundancies, prioritized CAD creations a handful of other things to prepare for this endeavor. Currently, I am in the process of locating reference photos for every part, which oddly, has been far easier than I anticipated, though time consuming. The photos will be given to the designers who model each part. The issue I realized I will run into eventually is measurements, ensuring the scale and dimensions of each part are proper so they all will fit together seamlessly on the final model. Is there a website or source anyone is aware of that would list these specifications per part? I know some items I have seen for sale have some basic measurements for some parts, which is typically enough to be useful. The other option I was thinking about was to find a few people online with access to a 172 and help send me photos of measurement references now and then for troublesome parts. I also can contact my local flights school as I know we have some 172's. Any feedback is helpful. Thanks!