Cessna 172P build

[James Parker]

Hi guys!

I'm James from Turin,Italy.

I've never really wrote anything useful on this site but have always been a big reader and have avidly used the immense amount of threads of the past as a reference for my latest project.

It was born with the idea of making a simple but completely realistic simulator to be used by the local flight simulator group of Turin(Home - GAPSIV (http://www.gapsiv.webs.com)) and was also built as an end of course school project for my "Esame di Maturità, the A-level equivalent of Italy.

It runs on one computer for the moment with two monitors that drive the instruments and one for the outside view(would love a triple projector set though).
I hope ,with a few modifications, it will run on the upcoming A2A Simulations Cessna 172 with RealityXp gauges!

One big thanks goes to my dad for the hours spent in the workshop building the unit and to Louie Mendez of DIYRealism and his excellent parts!

Enough with the chatting for now and here are the photos of the build.
http://i870.photobucket.com/albums/ab261/JamesParker737/DSCN2517.jpg (http://s870.photobucket.com/user/JamesParker737/media/DSCN2517.jpg.html)
http://i870.photobucket.com/albums/ab261/JamesParker737/DSCN2519.jpg (http://s870.photobucket.com/user/JamesParker737/media/DSCN2519.jpg.html)
http://i870.photobucket.com/albums/ab261/JamesParker737/DSCN2675.jpg (http://s870.photobucket.com/user/JamesParker737/media/DSCN2675.jpg.html)
http://i870.photobucket.com/albums/ab261/JamesParker737/DSCN2677.jpg (http://s870.photobucket.com/user/JamesParker737/media/DSCN2677.jpg.html)
http://i870.photobucket.com/albums/ab261/JamesParker737/Photo0370-1.jpg (http://s870.photobucket.com/user/JamesParker737/media/Photo0370-1.jpg.html)
http://i870.photobucket.com/albums/ab261/JamesParker737/Photo0372-1.jpg (http://s870.photobucket.com/user/JamesParker737/media/Photo0372-1.jpg.html)
http://i870.photobucket.com/albums/ab261/JamesParker737/Photo0414-1.jpg (http://s870.photobucket.com/user/JamesParker737/media/Photo0414-1.jpg.html)
http://i870.photobucket.com/albums/ab261/JamesParker737/Photo0416-1.jpg (http://s870.photobucket.com/user/JamesParker737/media/Photo0416-1.jpg.html)

Please give me tons of advice and the always appreciated suggestions i would love to hear!

[Matti V]

what size you hace gauge holes ? and what size have monitors ?

i made now my cessna panel but have4 pcs, 15" monitors and one widewiev 23" what can use, (think only how one computer can run all) i think 3 need use gauges and one big need use (later 3 big,i hope) outside wiev.
now i have only 3 monitor use but working fine. 23" outside+2 gauges. no good need more gauges then made gauge panel better.
have some 15" monitor at carage hall what can use too. but think need more video card too can use. or change video card 2 pcs, Guad card have 4 out/card. = 8 monitor(my dream)

[xplanematt]

Lovely sim, you and your dad did a great job! Are the yokes real/surplus, or are they from DIYRealism?

So you are thinking of getting "physical" steam gauges.....this definitely takes your sim up a notch. Before you go spending big $$$ on COTS simulated instruments, you might want to pick up a couple of surplus REAL instruments on ebay (or from your local aircraft scrapper, if there is one around). The good news is that most of the goodies in a Cessna panel are DIRT CHEAP. Literally, you might spend much less on the real thing than you would on pre-made simulated gauges. The level of expertise and complexity of interfacing varies from one instrument to the next. Airspeed indicators are very easy. A turn coordinator is also relatively easy with servos, but only if you get the kind that has the metal "pendulum" arm instead of a ball (no ball-in-glass models). Attitude indicators are a little trickier. An ADF pointer is easy. VOR/OBS indicators are a different matter, but I can tell you that you can drive a real OBS with "simulated" FM signals from a PC sound card (I am doing this on my sim, I had help from a ham radio operator who knows a lot more about the composition of a VOR signal than I do).

Anyways, keep up the good work, and have fun with it. :)

[James Parker]

Hi guys!

Thanks for your kind words to both!

Matti, the hole size is 80mm diameter for the larger instruments and 57mm diameter for the smaller ones.
It runs on two 19inch wide monitors, although the original(and final..)plan is for it to work on a 19 inch wide for the left instruments and a smaller monitor for the left side, at present i can't fit a 15inch though.
You are right, in the end i had to make it run on two pcs. One for the left side instruments(VGA) and outside view (a HDMI projector) and another (crappy old) computer with wideview for the right side(VGA).

Xplanematt, the yokes are surplus from a real 172 but all the rest is from Diyrealsim. Super quick and easy to mount and they are aesthetically perfect.