First time builder
Mar 17, 2015 1:00:21 GMT
Post by brantleycmd on Mar 17, 2015 1:00:21 GMT
Hello! My name is Chris, I'm 24 and from Texas. I have always enjoyed Flight Simulators, and have used FS2004 for quite some time. I am in school for Aviation Science, working on my Masters, and since I have always done it with a keyboard and mouse, or the occasional XYZ joystick with minimal hot buttons, I decided I wanted to build my very own home cockpit. So really I am just here to soak up some information and know how. The project I have in mind will probably take me quite some time to complete, however I have taken the first step after a few weeks of thinking out how to go about it. My first step was to purchase what I consider to be the starting point of the project. I got a Saitek Yoke, Rudder Pedals, and Throttle Quadrant (pictured here ) . I am very excited to have actually made the leap into making this dream a reality.
In the end, what I would like to do is build an enclosed cockpit, most likely a 2-seater so I can show it off. I have seen quite a few good ideas ranging from a frame made of PVC pipe to wooden enclosures, to metal piping. The enclosed cockpit will probably come some time down the road. For now I am focusing on controls and instrument panels. I think I can build something just as functional as one of those prefab Saitek Shells like the one pictured here.
Eventually I would even like to look at building a moving cockpit with at least 3 degrees of freedom. 6 may be too much for me to wrap my head around. But that would be WAY down the road. Which leads me to my first question, Has anyone built a moving cockpit? How does one go about syncing the movement of the simulator to the actuators?
Also, I am thinking of most likely doing a 3 monitor display, but have seen some really cool ones that utilize a projector. Any thoughts? Pros/Cons?
While thinking about displays, I would LOVE to be able to have real instruments or at least something like the Saitek instrument panels. (here) I have seen some simulators that actually use real gauges from real planes but have no idea how i could program them to display real time flight data. I feel like that would be hard considering some instruments use things like barometric pressure, magnetic field, and gyroscopes to function, but who knows, maybe it is possible, that's what I'm here to find out.
Anyway, sorry for the long post, I am very excited to hear any advice anyone has to offer, any tricks that anyone has come across, and any information that may make my simulator more realistic!
Thank you!
In the end, what I would like to do is build an enclosed cockpit, most likely a 2-seater so I can show it off. I have seen quite a few good ideas ranging from a frame made of PVC pipe to wooden enclosures, to metal piping. The enclosed cockpit will probably come some time down the road. For now I am focusing on controls and instrument panels. I think I can build something just as functional as one of those prefab Saitek Shells like the one pictured here.
Eventually I would even like to look at building a moving cockpit with at least 3 degrees of freedom. 6 may be too much for me to wrap my head around. But that would be WAY down the road. Which leads me to my first question, Has anyone built a moving cockpit? How does one go about syncing the movement of the simulator to the actuators?
Also, I am thinking of most likely doing a 3 monitor display, but have seen some really cool ones that utilize a projector. Any thoughts? Pros/Cons?
While thinking about displays, I would LOVE to be able to have real instruments or at least something like the Saitek instrument panels. (here) I have seen some simulators that actually use real gauges from real planes but have no idea how i could program them to display real time flight data. I feel like that would be hard considering some instruments use things like barometric pressure, magnetic field, and gyroscopes to function, but who knows, maybe it is possible, that's what I'm here to find out.
Anyway, sorry for the long post, I am very excited to hear any advice anyone has to offer, any tricks that anyone has come across, and any information that may make my simulator more realistic!
Thank you!
Real gauges can be done but I think that gets very expensive (look at Sea Gull Simulation). There are some half-way solutions like Panel Builder and Air Manager, which allow you to build 2D panels to run on an KCD screen on a second computer. This is the way many people go and it's pretty easy (and cheap) to do.