Where to start?!?

[docmeister]

Hi all. Well let me start off by saying that after I read some of the entries on this site it has made me finally make a decision. I have been looking for something to occupy my time, and me being quite the Flight Sim enthusiast what better challenge than to build my own cockpit. Now!!!! where to start??

If anyone would like to point me in the right direction or would like to feed me any useful information, then I will be all ears.

[Michael Carter]

Start investigating what you would like to build. Read a lot on this forum and ask questions.

Many ideas came from other members here during the course of my building.

Start visiting the various hardware and software vendors to get a handle on costs and what is available to you for the build.

I think it's also very important to be intimately familiar with the aircraft you're going to build. Even if you are not a pilot, research the aircraft inside and out like you fly it every day. It's tough to replicate something if you don't know anything about it.

Most importantly though is to have fun and keep flying during the build. My sim was never out of action for more than two days at a time during the construction. It could fly nearly every day.

Welcome aboard!

[docmeister]

Thanks Michael for your reply. I really should start small but I want to build something I can add onto as I go, even though I a fairly restricted for space. However, I will take your valuable information on board and start doing my research.

Cheers :D

[Michael Carter]

That's pretty much what I did. A piece at a time. I didn't set out to build a dedicated sim, it just morphed into that from a desktop.

I started with a few scratchbuild panels and a Hagstrom encoder and that turned into the whole overhead mounted above the desktop arrangement.

I built a very crude throttle over the top of a Thrustmaster FLCS unit and that turned into a replica of a 727 throttle and center control stand.

Next came the MIP and I knew then I was in too deep to turn back. It took almost a year to get an instrument display into my MIP and I continued to use one monitor for a combined view of outside and inside. It was almost another two years before I had instruments for the engines and continued using the pop-up engine display on an outside view until this came about.

It's a long process and no two are built the same way or using the same methods, much less in the same order.

One thing that gets many down right at the start is that there are no instructions to build a simulator. No manual, or guidance, except what you can find here at this site.

Sometimes it takes a lot of imagination and trial and error before getting to the point that some of the builders here have. Without that imagination, ingenuity, and willingness to try even the most seemingly outlandish ideas, some sims would be dead on the apron before even pushing out the first time.

[NoutvanZon]

hey,

the main part is the research. You have to do a lot of research to avoid any big problems and make it all cheaper

Follow my running guide here: http://web.me.com/nout.vanzon/

Im still in the research phase, so were pretty much on the same page!!

Hope it helps,

Nout

[Sweetwater]

Neat page Nout! That should help a lot guys get started...;)

Jeff

[NoutvanZon]

thanks Sweetwater,
If you want to tell people about it, go ahead
Im hoping to help anyone I can