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Post by MarkH on Dec 23, 2014 19:25:49 GMT
Good to see some people signing up. Maybe people want to check in here and say a bit about themselves and what they're interested in?
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Post by ScottB on Dec 23, 2014 20:35:26 GMT
Hi Mark. Thanks for the forum! Look forward to your products and YouTube videos. Not much to say about me... Retired firefighter/paramedic in central Texas. Private pilot with roughly 500 hours, not current. I've built and flown mostly experimental and ultralight aircraft. Current hobbies are flight simulation, r.c. aircraft, and riding motorcycles.
PC: Asus X79 Deluxe, Intel I7 4930K 4.8 GHz, Corsair H100i cooler, 16 GB SDRAM, GTX 780TI, Samsung SSD, Surround Vision, Saitek Throttles/pedals, Modified & extended joystick, B.K. Gamer, FSX, and a couple of homemade "Almost Aviation" sim panels.
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Post by MarkH on Dec 23, 2014 20:50:17 GMT
I've built and flown mostly experimental and ultralight aircraft I am envious. What I'd most like to do is have enough space, time and money to build an aircraft. While learning to fly over again, as my licence is long since extinct. (P.S. What kind of motorcycle(s)? I have an XRV750, although it doesn't go out much these days.)
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Post by ScottB on Dec 23, 2014 21:07:47 GMT
I've had a Kawasaki 175 Enduro as a kid, and later a Suzuki 1400 Intruder (which I had to sell to make up the cost of a forced landing in a GT-400 ultralight)and currently I have a Suzuki Boulevard C-50. The motorcycles are so-so. I would like something nicer but I picked up this last one cheap and it gets me around... I guess.
Just watched you most recent YouTube video. Nice work, and simple.
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ralhue
Almost Aviator
Posts: 1
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Post by ralhue on Dec 24, 2014 20:26:12 GMT
Hi Mark,
great that you now have a forum. I know your YouTube channel and have subscribed to it. About me: Age: 55 years Occupation: System Administrator Location: Germany (near Baden-Baden, Karlsruhe EDSB) Flight simulation since FS2 (13 versions in 30 years). Now Prepar3D 2.4 under Win 8.1 Hobbies: cockpit building, house, 3 cats, 1 horse Momentary Cockpit: 5 x Bodnar, 1 x Arcaze, Thrustmaster Warthog, 1 x 46 inch, 1 x 27 inch, 1 x 9-inch touch for various CDUs, 1 x 7 inch for DIY Garmin Mindstar GNS 530W (by your inspiration) Favorite flyer: A2A, PMDG, Majestics Witty find our almost identical names Hurst / Hürst. Is it possible to post pictures from the own Simstand?
Merry Christmas
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Post by MarkH on Dec 24, 2014 20:38:41 GMT
5 x Bodnar, 1 x Arcaze, Thrustmaster Warthog, 1 x 46 inch, 1 x 27 inch, 1 x 9-inch touch for various CDUs, 1 x 7 inch for DIY Garmin Mindstar GNS 530W (by your inspiration) ... Hurst / Hürst. Hi Ralf, maybe we're related! The cockpit sounds awesome indeed. I'm sure you can post pictures - you can do it with attachments or better to link to off-site images. Check out fsfiles.org, that works pretty well.
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John
Almost Aviator
Posts: 9
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Post by John on Dec 27, 2014 18:32:03 GMT
Hi Mark and all, Glad to see we can now share information via this forum. I started with FS4 then went to Sublogic's ATP with 3DAGS. Stayed with that for some time and joined Sunair VA. Went through FS5.0,5.1,98,2000,2002,2004 and FSX. Jumped over to P3D 1.4 and currently on 2.3. Also interested in the newly released Frontier Elite Dangerous as I was an original fan of Elite on my C64 back in '84. To that end I've just added a X52Pro HOTAS to my Saitek kit: Pro Flight Yoke, 2x Thottle Quadrants, Rudder pedals, Multi Panel, Radio Panel, Switch Panel. I'm a big fan of low and slow light aircraft flying using mainly Orbix scenery and OpusFSX WX. My RealAir Lancair Legacy, A2A Piper Cherokee 180 and 172 trainer are my staple aircraft. I use TrackIR and have a single Panasonic 42" LED TV. (Had lots of multiple monitors in the past).
Thats' a real quick overview and doesn't show the hundreds of variations over the years <g>
I've just retired and look forward to taking a slightly slower but better focused approach to adding kit in the future. I've been following your approach Mark and it's really appealing, possibly the one that may enable me to move away from handing over cash to Saitek. I'd be very pleased if that were the case.
Best regards,
John
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Post by MarkH on Dec 27, 2014 20:56:21 GMT
Sublogic's ATP with 3DAGS Hello John. This jargon's getting me all 'nostalgic'. I was an Atari ST FSIII (or was it II?) fan, with Charles Gulick's books leading the way. It's incredible to think how gripping it could be with the merest hint of scenery to fly around. And then I bought a PC and it was amazing when we got SGA, giving us (gasp) 800x600 resolution and SoundBlaster sound! Then FS5 with 'photoreal' scenery and... well, you know. Anyway, welcome here. Hopefully there will be more to see in due course.
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Post by ScottB on Dec 28, 2014 17:40:26 GMT
Went through FS5.0,5.1,98,2000,2002,2004 and FSX. Best regards, John This seems like a good time to post this image shamefully located on my backup drive!
Scott
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noah
Almost Aviator
Posts: 13
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Post by noah on Dec 29, 2014 20:11:22 GMT
Hi, Mark. My name is Noah and I just stumbled across your Twin Otter cockpit videos on YouTube. Incredible! I have long wanted to build a home cockpit and the Twin Otter is my favorite airplane. You've inspired me to come as close to what you've done as I can (which will not be that close but I intend to try). I have so many questions so I hope you won't mind me asking them here.
(NOTE: I have not watched ALL of your videos yet but I intend to. If I ask something you've already answered there I apologize).
For starters, I am still unclear about interfacing the homemade switches to the more obscure functions in the Aerosoft Twin Otter within FSX. Is there a standard LUA library file available for all the random functions that don't have keyboard commands? I really want to be able to fly from cold and dark to cold and dark without touching the mouse, but I have no idea how to assign a toggle switch to, for example, test an alarm (anything that I would normally have to click directly on with the mouse).
Could you help me better understand the interfacing process, specifically for the Aerosoft Twin Otter? Perhaps there is a particular video you could refer me to?
Thank you so much for the amazing work you've been doing and your willingness to share with the community!
-Noah
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Post by MarkH on Dec 29, 2014 20:32:58 GMT
Is there a standard LUA library file available for all the random functions that don't have keyboard commands? Hi Noah. Yes indeed, there is a library. You can download it here. This library was initially created by Gunter Steiner and I added a lot of functions of my own. Just about all the functions of the Twin Otter Extended are available and you can indeed fly it cold and dark to cold and dark without picking up the mouse or keyboard. The videos below are the ones (I think) that explain more about how this works. As you should see, once you have the library, hooking the functions up is trivially easy.
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noah
Almost Aviator
Posts: 13
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Post by noah on Dec 30, 2014 16:51:40 GMT
Thanks, Mark. This is perfect. I'm currently waiting on some hardware I ordered over the holidays, but once it arrives I'll get to work and provide some updates here. I'm sure I'll have more questions once I start fiddling.
I just want to say again how much I've enjoyed following your project and how impressed I am at the work you've done. I've had to accept that my own setup will never be as immersive as yours, but you've definitely inspired me to aim for something a bit more sophisticated than I envisioned when I set out.
Thanks again.
-Noah
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Post by MarkH on Dec 30, 2014 18:14:29 GMT
This seems like a good time to post this image shamefully located on my backup drive! I was hoping to out-cool you by posting a photo of me there (actually at the Adler Planetarium, not Meigs field). But I couldn't find it I also had a photo of Meigs from from the Hancock Tower, with an aircraft flying below us! I can't find that either It was 26 years ago, so that's the excuse I will use.
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sam
Almost Aviator
Posts: 1
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Post by sam on Dec 30, 2014 22:06:10 GMT
Hello Marc, I really like to watch your videos for some time now. It's impressive to see how you have evolved in cockpit building, but I already liked your older reviews like that of the Catalina and some other oldies. I'd like you to review the Beechcraft Duke B60 version 2 from Real Air and the Cessna 182 from A2A Simulations if possible. You're cockpit is really inspirational, I'm thinking about following into that direction. The only component I don't like is the Elite yoke! Now don't get me wrong, compared to the Saitek or CH yokes it is a very fine piece of hardware I actually did try in Lelystad. But the problem with the Elite yoke is the same than with the even more expensive Precision Flight Yoke, the Bank angle rotation range is completely unrealistically narrow. The only yoke which comes close to an airplane like for me is the VRinsight Flight Master Yoke. I have no shares and I'm not a sales rep, just take a look at the pictures a little more down in that thread! And it's not even as expensive as the Elite one and they are on the point to bring out a version 2 which brings even more features along.
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Post by MarkH on Dec 31, 2014 9:28:53 GMT
I already liked your older reviews like that of the Catalina and some other oldies...Elite yoke!...VRinsight Flight Master Yoke Hi Sam. For now the Elite works for me, although I would try the VRI if I found a second-hand one. I am glad in any cass eyou like the cockpit - keep watching and I may yet have an Iris yoke one day soon. I do hope to go back to reviewing some aircraft in the old style, altohugh I am not sure the Duke or the 182 would be on my list. I think older aicraft like the Catalina are more likely. You mentioned a thread about the VRI yoke - where are you looking?
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