Hello everyone (56K Warning)

[HitchHiker]

Thought I'd take a moment to introduce myself here. My name is Chris, I am a fellow pit builder and have finally taken the plunge and registered here. I've lurked since the old IFSBI days and gathered a lot of great info from this site and taken a look at quite a number of inspiring projects from members here! I'm glad to be on board and to help where I can (lol not much of anywhere).

Here are some pics of my current generic pit (also doubles as a race pit!)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v465/HitchHikerHSDWG/MVC-012F-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v465/HitchHikerHSDWG/MVC-010F-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v465/HitchHikerHSDWG/MVC-011F-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v465/HitchHikerHSDWG/MVC-013F-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v465/HitchHikerHSDWG/MVC-014F-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v465/HitchHikerHSDWG/MVC-015F-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v465/HitchHikerHSDWG/MVC-016F.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v465/HitchHikerHSDWG/MVC-017F.jpg

Now I guess I should mention that I'm mainly into military sims like Il-2 1946 and LOMAC, all the better to blow things up!

As far as other hobbies I'm a huge fan of music from satanic(jk) death metal to classic jazz to avant garde, pretty much I listen to everything but religous music and pop country! I also ride a freestyle form of BMX bike riding called flatland which I guess is similiar to artistic cylcling, check out some pics below. As well I play a little guitar and love history and love movies/books!

http://www.global-flat.com/photos/albums/BMX%20Masters%202007/normal_IMG_0743-01.jpg
Not me in pics riding, its all about expression and balance (lots of it)

http://www.global-flat.com/photos/albums/Rider%20of%20the%20Month/2007%20March/normal_KermessengerMag019copycopylow.jpg

http://www.global-flat.com/photos/albums/Rider%20of%20the%20Month/2007%20March/normal_KermessengerMag024copylow.jpg

[Matt Olieman]

Welcome aboard Chris, glad you announced yourself and joined in after all this time :)

Fabulous set up, very interesting, a gamers dream :) BTW, I love the firdge :) :) :)
When you have a chance, can you tell us what the components you're using? Those rudder pedals look interesting.

[rocketeer]

Those rudder pedals look interesting.

Those are from Saitek. The pedals are spaced wider apart than CH's. Yeah! And the knob in the center can be turned to tighten the resistance of the slides, I believe.

[HitchHiker]

Thanks for the comments, I only have a few seconds before I have to run but my list of eq. is pretty basic stuff:

Saitek X-52 HOTAS
Saitek Rudder Pedals
TrackIR 4
Track Clip Pro
The seat is off the shelf too made by playseats for racing games

I basically added a wood plank for a keyboard/mouse stand, and side stand for the throttle, a joystick mount (like the stick in the middle just me) and for the rudder pedals. If you look closely at the horrible 1mp floppy disk camera pics you can see the trackIR is mounted on a metal 1"x1" steel sq. tubing and attached with a C-Clamp (hey it works)!:D

EDIT: Playseats are available here: http://playseats.com/

Its a pretty cool product I would reccomend it to someone wanting a race set-up. There are some downsides, the chair isnt the most comfortable for long races/flights, although well constructed it does move quite a bit with a force feedback wheel, the seat back isnt adjustable and it doesnt work as well as I'd like for flight sim purposes (of course its not made for it though). When I build a new simpit it'll probably go back to being a race only chair or a stay dual purpose for LAN flights!

I also forgot to mention that I added a buttkicker gamer to the bottom since I last took pics. Its a great product that really adds immersion. I'll try and post some pics of how I mounted it sometime soon. I just ordered a set of logitech Z-5500 surround speakers, a combined b-day gift and the butt kicker was an X-mas gift so I guess I lucked out this year!

I should also mention that I'm known as HitchHikingFlatlander on simhq, HitchHikerHSDWG on Il-2 ubisoft forums and I've been a member of HSDWG (Half Snapped Drunks With Guns) an adult/international gaming group for about 6 yrs.

[Trevor Hale]

Welcome to Mycockpit.org Chris.

Great to see you here. You do have quite the setup. I am sure it works well for the plethora of games you play.

Hope you are able to contribute.

Best regards,

Trev

[Bob Reed]

Hey man, and welcome. Nice to see your setup! Look forward to watching the changes to it!!

[David Rogers]

Welcome Chris. Great sim!

Also fascinated by your hobbies - I'm a big music fan too ..... :)

[HitchHiker]

Glad to others with similiar hobbies and thanks for the comments.

I've yet to start my first custom control box project but I'll be using (as a tester) an old Logitech wingman extreme (USB) joystick for the job. It has an 8way hat, 3 pots and about 7 other buttons. My ideas are to get a trim box out of it with the extra buttons for whatever. I have bigger plans for the future but the stick was free and I figured its better to get experience on something that doesnt cost anything to break!

From there I might look into a Hagstrom board or one of the new simmeters board thats capable of a 128 inputs. The good news is the selection of products available now compared to even a year ago.

[jmig]

Love the projector. I was wondering what the vertical tubing was. I use the TrackIR also and would recommend it to any one who flies fighter type aircraft. Jet or prop.

[HitchHiker]

Thanks, its not really the greatest proj. but it does the job and the price was right. Its a business class Infocus LP640, but even if its not the nicest it would be pretty hard to go back to just a monitor. I'd definitely suggest one if any potential or current sim builder has the bug bad and has the room, heck you dont even need the room just the wall with a well placed mirror!

The track IR is a great device, one of the best sim related pieces I ever purchased. Its not mounted the way I'd like as it kinda gets in the way (not much though). In the future I'm thinking of a backwards approach by turning the clip around and figuring out a way to mount the camera behind me. LOL we'll see ideas are great but only if you have the time and money!:D