Hey from North Carolina

[PDT 200]

Been a lurking member for almost a year and have been FltSimming since Commodore 64 version of FS from Microprose. Learned to fly in 76-77 but was grounded in 93 when I couldn't pass the Medical. Been using a multiple monitor setup for a few years now and am working on a fairly ambitious SimPit. I have a Matrox 3htogo and 3 projectors for the outside view and 3 monitors for the PFD,MFD, and FMC/GPS. I have the Airliners setup from GoFlight with the EFIS and 2 other switch modules. All of this to be integrated together within the shell that I have the plans for. This will be a fairly generic setup to allow for GA aircraft and Regional craft (ERJ, CRJ, F100 Dash). Attached are 2 shots showing how it was setup in my office before the projector and the other as a test setup in my building. Been able to glean a lot of information from this wonderful group and as I build and try to get all the GF modules switched mapped to various functions I will most likely be asking questions of those who have gone and done it before.
Regards,
Brian

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-3/1159387/TheMessweb.jpghttp://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-3/1159387/simroom2web.jpg

[737NUT]

Welcome aboard!! Do you have a website?

[PDT 200]

No I don't. I was (guess I still am) VP Operations at Piedmont Virtual and CLT Hub Manager for America West Virtual Airlines. Piedmont got folded into Eastern while I was on a LOA and AWeVA just up and stopped although some pilots were still logging time last I checked (Jan 08 ) But no website.
Regards,
Brian

[Matt Olieman]

Hey Brian, looks like home sweet home :) :) :) I showed my wife the pic on the left, and she Say's she's been there. It had a familiar look. :) :) :) I think we've ALL been there.

Welcome aboard!!!!!

Matt O.

[PDT 200]

The room in the first pic is now very different. NONE of the stuff in the pic is in there. It has all been removed to the building and a twin bed, dressing table, dresser, cedar chest, and rocking chair have taken over. I getting ready to move my Mom in with us instead of her living by herself. I'll be restarting work on the sim in a week or so. I still have to run some power outlets to the floor of the room from the circuit box and finish putting in the wall insulation and then the wall paneling. Then it's shell frame building time. Will be posting pics as I go. As I see it right now the hardest thing I have to do is set the GF switches for mouse clickable only spots on certain overhead panels. I'm going to try using "KeytoMouse" avaiable through WideView to get the X Y offset and program the Switch. This way I can do things on the overhead with out a mouse, the whole point of building a cockpit. Anybody got a better idea for finding the offsets I'm all ears.
Regards,
Brian
Pic of building that houses my FltSim 16X24 2 story barn.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-3/1159387/Image32web.jpg

[Matt Olieman]

Nice looking Barn Brian, I'll take one of those :) Better yet, a two story at that. Did you build it?

Matt O.

[AndyT]

Wow. 2 stories. That looks bigger than where I live now.
Could you please put pix on different lines? That would be awesome!

[Michael Carter]

Welcome aboard!

That's a really nice building for the sim. One word of advise, put in more outlets than you think you'll ever need. You'll need them. Eventually.

As far as the offsets for your particular panel, sometimes they just don't exist because of the way things are coded from the publisher. It's a PITA having to use K2M because you have to have the virtual panel displayed for it to work properly. It sort of defeats the purpose of having a hardware panel in the first place.

There are work-arounds that have been suggested to me for the one problem I have with a Sperry panel, but it's not something I want to waste a video output on for one function, as critical as it may be.

There are several RR pilots here besides myself, and a couple of them are Boeing and Bus pilots. Glad to have another among the ranks.

Good luck on your build.

[Taupax]

Hi PDT nice barn mate makes my spare bedroom pale in to consideration :(

[steveeverson]

Amazon.co.uk: StarTech.com USB 2.0 to VGA Dual Display Adapter: Electronics & Photo

thought this might help- i have one on my sim for the eicas and standby displays- but figured you could also use it to get another output for an overhead panel that uses key 2 mouse - i guess once its set up you wouldnt need to actually have a monitor connected- then the computer still 'sees' the panel and k2m can click it...

handy bit of kit for us sim builders though

Great Barn by the way- if it's that good- cant wait to see the finished sim!

cheers
Steve:p

[Michael Carter]

That's a great device Steve. Thnks for posting that. I have plenty of USB ports.

[PDT 200]

Thanks for the comments. The barn is by Quality Buildings Unlimited and cost about $8988.00 for just the barn. It took 2 guys 2 days to build. They started on a Monday and were finished roofing by Tuesday evening. It's taken me a bit longer to insulate the second floor and run power to the building. I've spent between 500-1000 on insulation, walboard, wire, fittings and other small stuff. I currently am in NY packing things to bring back to NC for my Mom to move in with us. I've been up here since Nov. dealing with my Step Father's brain tumor that he died from late in Jan. He was 92 so it wasn't like he was cut down in the prime of life. He lived good and didn't suffer long from the tumor. It was discovered in late Oct. So now that all the affairs have been handled and bills paid, it's time to get back to my life and the Sim project. I'm starting to have withdrawl symptoms.
I wondered about the K2M working if the popup of the panel is not displayed. I guess if it's not displayed then none of the klick points or assignments work. I'll experiment with it.
The USB video might be an option. I believe I saw it on the Matrox site when I got the 3head box. As I get more into mounting the module switches I'll have to play with assignments to make them work the way I want them.
I have panel switch diagrams for the ERJ-145 and CRJ-200 enroute from Sporty's. Had to talk to a Customer Svc Rep to get them as they are not listed in their catalog.
My main panel display is a 26" hd widescreen ILO tv that works very well to display an almost life size display of the pilots side.I also have a 19" LCD widescreen monitor, an 18" LCD and a 17" LCD. I'm thinking the 18" for the MCP and the 19" for the overhead. That leaves the 17" for the FMC or GPS. At least I can fly different types without major mods. If I have to use the mouse then so be it. At least the keyboard will be hidden away. Putting together a wider box for the center console to replace the GoFlight one to fit the 17" monitor shouldn't be hard. I have 2 car seats from a 89 Mecury Topaz to use for the cockpit seats. Getting the height and distance to mount them will be fun.
I plan to have 3 , 4 outlet floor mounted recepticals for powering the sim along with some surge protected strips. So far I'm only using 1 computer but I do have 4 more available if I want to network. 2 are P4's at 3Ghz and 2 gbs ram. The other 2 are PIII's at 1Ghz. and 768Mb ram. I'm going to stick to FS9 and XP until I design and build a computer that will handle FSX and the bugs of Vista are fixed.
So until I start building again, next week I hope, talk at you all later,
Regards,
Brian

[Lezam]

The barn is great! Welcome to the forums

[Matthijs Borgdorff]

A whole barn huh? That's a great idea actually. I was thinking of getting a bigger house but you're right, why not just get an extra house!

Good luck with the moving and everything else. Can't wait to see what that barn is gonna look like from the inside! :D

[PDT 200]

Well the sim has been disassmebled and further building of the upstairs has commenced. All of the insulation is up except for a small area over the stairway. Walls are starting to go up. Have the first 4 feet covered. The rest will be done with a very light weight plywood that is easy to cut and handle. As the building gets put into shape I am also getting more stuff to add to the pit. Monday will have the FMC from FDS placed on order. (Peter from FDS doesn't know it yet (well he does now)) and a boeing style yoke from as yet to be determined source. Input welcome here.
Here is what the bedroom/office looks like now as well as the WIP on the barn.
Regards,
Brian
note last post in this thread

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-3/1159387/Work-in-Progress.jpg

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-3/1159387/Moms-Bedroom.jpg

[BlackWidow]

I would recomend Joe Cygan for the Yokes http://www.innovativefsp.com/yokes.html

[PDT 200]

Those are great but right now to much DIY involved. I'll probably go with the Jet Liner yoke from PFC. It is a complete yoke with 12 functions on a base USB and ready to go. I'm hopeing that the FMC is avaiable with out too much wait time. The FDS website says 10 week lead time but that is from release. Will talk to Peter about it tomorrow when I order. I wish Joe would do an ERJ type yoke that I could use to replace the CH yoke :roll:. Oh well sometime in the future perhaps. If he would do an ERJ panel kit I'd be standing on his door step cash in hand. That CRJ kit is mighty tempting but for some reason I love the ERJ's.
Regards,
Brian