My first cockpit

[Skylane]

I know it sounds a little like My First Sony, but at 51 yo it sort of feels that way to be honest.

Here how I progress im my project building a generic Cessna like pit.
My heart lays with the smaller single piston engined planes and VFR flight.

I chose for Vrinsight ProPit and Saitek stuf for it is reasonably priced compared to eg Simkits and it seemed a good start for it's my first pit.

Goal:
Full surroud vision simulator on a motion platform.

http://www.revaservice.nl/Pics/Generic_Cessna_17s.jpg

http://www.revaservice.nl/Pics/Generic_Cessna_22s.jpg

http://www.revaservice.nl/Pics/Generic_Cessna_04s.jpg

http://www.revaservice.nl/Pics/Generic_Cessna_05s.jpg

http://www.revaservice.nl/Pics/Generic_Cessna_02s.jpg

http://www.revaservice.nl/Pics/Generic_Cessna_07s.jpg

http://www.revaservice.nl/Pics/Generic_Cessna_08s.jpg

http://www.revaservice.nl/Pics/Generic_Cessna_16s.jpg

http://www.revaservice.nl/Pics/Generic_Cessna_28s.jpg

http://www.revaservice.nl/Pics/Generic_Cessna_29s.jpg

http://www.revaservice.nl/Pics/Generic_Cessna_26s.jpg

http://www.revaservice.nl/Pics/Generic_Cessna_24s.jpg

[Matt Olieman]

Quite impressive, love the way you built that and so portable :) :) :) take it where you want :) Looks fantastic, very nice work!!!!!

[twisted8]

what a clean design! beautiful job!
My only suggestion would be to switch the throttle quadrant to a Cessna style. Desktop aviator (http://www.desktopaviator.com/Products/Panel/Throttle/index.htm) makes an affordable one. Great work!

[Mike.Powell]

You've set the standard for a compact sim design.

Your pictures show it is possible to create a realistic sim with limited space. This should encourage more would-be sim hobbyists who are concerned that they have to build a garage-sized project to be effective.

[Skylane]

Thank you all very much for your positive remarks.

Mike, what do you mean by limited space ??? It's about as wide as the real thing aprox 3ft6 :)
The Saitek radio panels are out of proportion, they are 11" wide !! Bendix radio's are only 6" wide.

Matt, I'm building the sim in modules in the workshop of my company, take 'm apart, bring 'm home, dregg 'm up the stairs to have a complete room filled when it is finished :D

[flatlandpilot]

Nice to see how compact and "portable" it can be.

[JWS]

Very nice and it shows you don't have to use fancy gadgets to have a nice pit.

JWS

[AK Mongo]

Beautiful work!

How do you like the Saitek radio panels? Are they easy to tune?

How did you construct the curved glare shield?

[Bjarne Horsbøl]

Like it ! Like it ! Like it !

Your work with wood and use of hardware to a affordable price, I think will inspire a lot of builders.

Hope you will have many good hours in your sim. :D

Best regards

Bjarne Horsbøl

[Per Alm]

I like your pit very much. Beautiful work!!

Regards

[KLM077]

Nice setup!

Cheers

Bas
KLM077

[Skylane]

AK,
About the Saitek radio panels.... yep I've seen better encoders, but the more I use 'm the better they get so far :shock:
By the way... it is not (only) the poor quality of encoders, it's more a Saitek programming issue. Maybe Saitek will be so kind to provide us with a user defineable INI or CFG file to configure the behaviour of the encoders to make 'm more or less sensitive.

When the pit comes to a finish I will modify the radio's anyway. For the Com and Nav radios I will remove the rotarie selectors on the left side of the panels for they will have a fixed function each.
In the third panel I will leave 1 rotarie intact... I use the rotarie to choose DME/Transponder (I think I will probably replace it with a toggle switch)

I think somewhere here is my Audio switch panel, panel lightning, ATC switch controls....:cool:

http://www.revaservice.nl/Pics/Generic_Cessna_37s.jpg

[Steve A]

Brilliant sim, i keep comin back to have another drool over it. By the throttle... is that a mouse touch pad thingy ?? I talked about adding one to my mip a while ago but never did, if it is are they any good?

Hats off to your skills.

[Skylane]

AK,

About the round shapes.... see the "my cockpit Update" threads Round bottom & Round bottom2.

I like this pic!!!

http://www.revaservice.nl/Pics/Generic_Cessna_36s.jpg

I never said it would be a tiny pit :mrgreen:

http://www.revaservice.nl/Pics/Generic_Cessna_30s.jpg

Trial run.

http://www.revaservice.nl/Pics/Generic_Cessna_34s.jpg


Yep... that's right, no butkickers.... Blockbusters on each side
(the tv-sreens would have to stand on something... just joking)

[Goldmember]

Awesome! Do you want to share an estimate of the budget for this beautiful sim with us?

[Skylane]

Sure do Arjen, the mrs and me agreed on aprox 5000 Euro's to spend on the complete sim. (her idea by the way... for my wife wanted me to have a substitude for my passion for RC model airplaining wich I do not have time left to practice due to our business)

However at a certain piont in your life you have gathered so many "usefull stuff" that it would be unfair to give an exact calculation on the sim when it is finished, for so many things will come from scrapp and left-overs, rebuilds, modifieds and so on.

E.g. In the late 70's through the 80's I used to be a Bass-player (more or less professional....) so the "blockbusters", amps and all kind of other usefull audio stuff to make a lot of noise are from that time... hard to estimate/rate a value on that.

For the last 8 years I have my own business in nursing and rehab aids wich many of 'm are custom made (by myself)..... so lots of left overs here and there in terms of all kinds of machinery and materials like all sorts of wood, brass, aluminium, steel tubing, stainless steel and so on.

When I die someone will value what I have established.......:neutral:

[Skylane]

I thougt I would post some new pics from my cockpit project.
I have about 87 hours flying time already... although the pit is far from ready

http://www.revaservice.nl/Pics/Cockpit_swiss_lugano_01s.jpg

http://"]http://www.revaservice.nl/Pics/Cockpit_swiss_lugano_02s.jpg (http://www.revaservice.nl/Pics/Cockpit_swiss_lugano_02s.jpg)

http://www.revaservice.nl/Pics/Cockpit_swiss_lugano_03s.jpg

[Per Alm]

Sweet!!!:)

Regards

Per Alm

[Viper90]

Nice setup, good job ;)