Greetings

[Birdman]

Hello fellow members. I'm a newbie at flight simulators, but have nearly 500 hours flying experience and got to commercial pilot status with instrument rating before 'retiring'. My day job is chemical engineering :)

I plan to build a flight simulator over the next 12-18 months, but need to do a lot more planning before I get started with the build.

[notgotaclue]

Hi,
Spend a few months reading up on everything, including every post on this site to get it in your mind before you think of picking up a soldering iron or hammer.
That is what I did and I still ended up putting my first effort of a MIP in the bin. ;)
I finally found a real nose and have made a 737 cockpit fit inside it.
Have you tried fitting a 737 cockpit into a business jet nose? I broke the laws of pyhsics a few times and (even if I say so myself) the results are pretty impressive.
This picture is from a few months ago but you get the idea of what I did.
Allan.

[Birdman]

Thanks for the advice Allan, and that project of yours is certainly impressive :-)
I guess the fear I have (and probably many others ) is spending months building a cockpit and not being satisfied with the end result. I guess that is inevitable to a greater or lesser extent because you will be learning more as you go along, meaning you could have done things a little better if you had that knowledge when you started.

[notgotaclue]

I doubt if anyone who builds is totally happy with the end results, short of spending a few million..... It is all about compromising, I was not haapy with my home built MIP, even though it took me months to build - I knew that so I threw it away.
I am pretty happy with how my build is coming along, the only thing I am disapointed with is that I had to cut a large section on my nose to fit the 737 MIP in, from the inside it looks good, but the outside has lost the lovely smooth finish of a real plane. I can live with that as I wont see the outside when I am flying. I also have a bit of a mismatch with the over head. It is from the hawker jet I bought and does not go with the 737 instrument panel, once again I can live with that.
I know when I finish building I will have something special and have enjoyed the journey - even if I did end up spenidng a lot more than I thought I would. That is the problem with this hobby.... whatevr you thought it would cost, triple it and double the build schedule.
Allan