Home build in Essex

[stevehookem]

Here's your "new guy" question for the day:

Why use outside software for ND, PFD, EICAS? Isn't it all built-in to FSX?

I am watching my son fly the PMDG 747-4 and he can pull up the individual screens and drag them to another monitor attached to the graphic card.

Why use the others?

[JSpahn]

Some cockpit builders do this, but for the sake of performance the multi-pc setup with the external gauges is optimum

[stevehookem]

Hey, can I see a photo from behind showing the monitor mounts, wiring, etc.? That would be a big help.

Thanks for all the other photos too. Now it's even more daunting!  ;)

When I saw the first photo in the thread, the entire assembly looked to be made of metal. Is it MDF? If so, what size?

Did you cut and make the various boxes yourself or can these be found pre-made?

[stevehookem]

Some cockpit builders do this, but for the sake of performance the multi-pc setup with the external gauges is optimum

Is it possible to use the included gauges within FSX on another computer via network much like I would with the external pay/freeware?

I guess another benefit of using GoFlight, Sim-Avionics, Ellie, etc, would be that the gauges are always in the correct position behind the panel masks. I guess you would have to drag the FSX gauges each time. Correct?

[BAW19]

Gosh what a lot of questions

[stevehookem]

Oh no, the illusion is still perfect! Sorry for all the questions. I just got excited when I saw your cockpit because it is exactly what I hope our pit will look like.

I would like to see behind too.

We are starting with Captain side only to start. The photos of your early sim gives me a great place to start.

Have you seen this FMC: http://www.simw.com/index.cfm?fuseactio ... s&pid=2023

Thoughts?

[tcco94]

Yeah id love to fly with that cockpit..
To bad all I have so far on my list to but is yoke, throttle, and the SECM and 2 switches and buttons..

Just A question why is the seat you use on the right and not the left..

[BAW19]

Hehe - coz the captain's seat spends most of it's time in the other room in front of my office computer!!

I'm looking at buying some dedicated chairs for the cockpit...

Best!

Ian

[JBaymore]

Hehe - coz the captain's seat spends most of it's time in the other room in front of my office computer!!

I'm looking at buying some dedicated chairs for the cockpit...

Best!

Ian

Ian,

I got my seat (my pit models the captain's side only) from the car wrecking yard.  It is from a Ford Winstar van.  Cheap, nicely adjustable, and sort of looks like the real thing.

best,

.................john

[BAW19]

Hi John!
Funnily enough I've been looking at car seats recently. Haven't made made up my mind yet but I want some that look like the real thing which excludes quite a few!

You might be interested in this: I just took delivery of a pair of Aurasound speakers. I'd originally bought a Buttkicker Gamer but now I have two seats I needed another one. The guys at the Shaker Centre told me I couldn't simply add a spare Buttkicker as it would blow it's amp so I got a pair of Aurasounds and both seats rock!! If anything it' better because the bolt to the underside of the seat so the vibration is direct, if you see what I mean!

Back from overseas yet?
All the best

Ian

[JBaymore]

Hi John!
Funnily enough I've been looking at car seats recently. Haven't made made up my mind yet but I want some that look like the real thing which excludes quite a few!

You might be interested in this: I just took delivery of a pair of Aurasound speakers. I'd originally bought a Buttkicker Gamer but now I have two seats I needed another one. The guys at the Shaker Centre told me I couldn't simply add a spare Buttkicker as it would blow it's amp so I got a pair of Aurasounds and both seats rock!! If anything it' better because the bolt to the underside of the seat so the vibration is direct, if you see what I mean!

Back from overseas yet?
All the best

Ian

Ian,

Yup.....got back day before yesterday in the wee wee hours.

[BAW19]

We think alike! I experimented with this and found the best results came from finding thunder/wind/rumble sounds and tweaking the wav files themselves in Audacity (freeware!) then saving them as new files. Once I had them just right I wrote a VB program to monitor speed etc, play them as loops and adjust the volume relative to the airspeed. I have it configured to add rumbles for Spoiler deployments, landing gear deployment, 4 types of turbulence and a subtle airframe vibration that slowly dies as the engines spool down.
Happy to send you the code but it's a mess!
Ian

[HarvesteR]

That's a truly awesome pit mate!! good job!!

i was impressed when you said you spent only around 6000 quid on it... when FSX came out here in Brazil, they setup a flight pit that looked just like yours in one store, as a marketing thing... i sat around there and talked to the guys who built it and they told me they had spent like 150,000 BRL (roughly 100,000 US dollars) on their rig...  :o yes... that much!!

actually... now that i think of it... taxes are so unbelievably high ( ) in brazil, that it kinda makes sense why they spent so much... it takes a lot of hardware and expensive software to pull off a build like this, and nothing is more overpriced in brazil than computer stuff...

anyways, they weren't cutting any corners there, it was a full pit based on the PMDG 737 and using project magenta gauges... but even that wouldn't explain the absurd amount they spent...

well, i won't ramble any longer... truly awesome work there, honest!!
i wish i was you right now  ;)

Cheers

HarvesteR

[MemphisBelle]

@Speedbird

Hi,

I am very impressed about your HBC. You really built a great Cockpit...