Greetings, folks!

[FeedSeven]

Alex here, in Vacaville, California. I've just stumbled onto this site after rummaging around various articles, and am surprised I haven't seen it before.

My personal sim-pit began with a couple PVC stands intended to do nothing more than hold my stick & throttle in a comfortable location. I suspect it's a familiar story for many, as "just one more thing" quickly became a mantra. Currently, I've decided to scrap the old 'pit in favor of starting over. While a fair bit of structure had been built up, there really wasn't much function. I'm also still very much learning to use the CNC router I justified mostly for the cockpit building capabilities. The real reason is that the structure had been built up over time, with additional panel space tacked on with no good plan for how it was all supposed to work together. Now I hope to learn from everything I did, and make the pit of my dreams. No specific airframe will be duplicated. Instead, I'll be working hard to determine which controls and layout will work well for the multitude of aircraft I enjoy tooling around in.

Anyway, glad to be here, looking forward to browsing all the threads here, and wish everyone continued success and good luck with their own projects. :D

[Efe Cem Elci]

Welcome aboard! You'll look back upon this day with mixed feelings :)

[notgotaclue]

Run away now while there is still some hope left for you, if you stay you will find yourself browsing Ebay at 2am looking for "something" for your pit. You wont even know what it is until you buy it.
I just bought a life vest.....WHY????? my pit is in a garage, the chances of it crashing into water are quite slim But I saw a life vest and thought "I have to have one for the pocket in the seat".
I also bought oxygen masks - WHY????...even if the pressure goes to pot I am at 65 foot about sea level and hypoxia will not set in, all I have to do is open the garage window and let a bit of air in.
Why do we buy these things - leave now before you get like the rest of us -
We are people who live in garages and spare rooms, asking for clearance to take off from a 14 year old, 3,000 miles away in his bedroom.
Dont say you havent been warned.....
Allan ( off to ebay to find some LED's for my emergency exit )

[FeedSeven]

Ah, gents ... unfortunately, I'm already there. I can't believe I haven't run across this site before, but I've already got a moving box full of real aircraft panels off eBay, another filled with old joysticks to be cannibalized, several opencockpits cards, a card from Hagstrom, 3 of Leo Bodnar's boards, and several hundred toggle switches, pushbuttons, and LEDs. I'm all too familiar with how it goes! The biggest splurge so far has been the CNC ... which of course I justified with the fact that it can be used for other things. :)

In any case, I appreciate the friendly welcome. I'm sure I'm going to enjoy it here. :)

[Geremy Britton]

Run away now while there is still some hope left for you, if you stay you will find yourself browsing Ebay at 2am looking for "something" for your pit. You wont even know what it is until you buy it.
I just bought a life vest.....WHY????? my pit is in a garage, the chances of it crashing into water are quite slim But I saw a life vest and thought "I have to have one for the pocket in the seat".
I also bought oxygen masks - WHY????...even if the pressure goes to pot I am at 65 foot about sea level and hypoxia will not set in, all I have to do is open the garage window and let a bit of air in.
Why do we buy these things - leave now before you get like the rest of us -
We are people who live in garages and spare rooms, asking for clearance to take off from a 14 year old, 3,000 miles away in his bedroom.
Dont say you havent been warned.....
Allan ( off to ebay to find some LED's for my emergency exit )

Story of my life. Furthermore i find myself constantly upgrading, mdf homemade yoke, then, diy yoke using real cast yoke, then, usb single plug and play yoke, then, usb dual linked yokes... whatever next. The worst thing is at each stage i think i can't possibly upgrade, and a few months down the line i find myself with a smaller wallet and the next step up.

same story with throttles, saitek tq, to, goflight tq, to homemade tq, to usb non motorised tq, to usb motorised tq.

the worst part is when you factor in space, it goes from desktop, to 2 desktops, then 2 desktops and a pedestal, then you move into a small spare room, before you know it the sim is in the master bedroom or living room and you're sitting in your 'living room' which is actually the kitchen, and you're sleeping in a tiny box room. (Fortunately or unfortunately i have not reached this stage yet)

Life eyy...

[Efe Cem Elci]

Geremy: dual linked motorized yokes.

[notgotaclue]

the worst part is when you factor in space, it goes from desktop, to 2 desktops, then 2 desktops and a pedestal, then you move into a small spare room, before you know it the sim is in the master bedroom or living room and you're sitting in your 'living room' which is actually the kitchen, and you're sleeping in a tiny box room. (Fortunately or unfortunately i have not reached this stage yet)

Life eyy...

I hear you,
My car was quite happy sitting in the garage, then I had this bright idea to buy the nose off a business jet and turn the garage into a departures lounge with a door leading to my cockpit.
The car is now on the street being shat on by birds and a lovely target for the local yoof who fancy taking an old farts people carrier for a joyride.
I now have bars on my garage window, triple dead bolts on the door and 2 (yes 2) alarm systems to protect my new toy and the gubbins within.
I blame the wife for allowing this madness.
Allan.