747 Cockpit Project

[Ruiner494]

Hi there guys, i am just beginnning to plan my own 747-400 cockpit but i have a very small budjet. I have worked out the dimesions i want but i need a good cheap place to get a mcp for it. I have a saitek yoke throttle and rudder pedals but i want more. I also need help on how to do the wiring and where to get all the supplies from. thankyou in advance ruiner494

[MortenHa]

Ruiner494

You need a plan!

Apart from the physical construction you need to sort out these four interdependable questions :

1. Core simulator? - FS2004, FSX or others?
2. Hardware interface? - Opencockpits, Phidgets, FSBUS etc
3. Software control interface (the software that runs the aircraft systems) ?- PMSystems (and other products from PM as well), default FS aircraft, advanced aircraft models (PMDG)
4. Hardware control interface (the panels, buttons, LEDs etc that you intend to use)?- Flightdecksolutions, Simkits, Opencockpits)

Try finding out which system will give you what you want, then ask yourself if this is doable with all of the four questions answered.

Morten

[MortenHa]

After reading your post a little closer, It seem that you intend to start off your project with implementing the MCP first (good choice, that is where we started too).

The MCP component/system is produced by many of the main sim hardware manufacturers. So it's not an easy job picking the one you think will work best (and be cheap). And I'm not going to recommend any for you. But consider this if you intend to expand later on:

The hardware interface solution you choose should be expandable. And of course most systems today are expandable. But choosing one supplier that can cover most of your needs for today and the future, would be easier to manage in the long run.

Some suppliers offers solutions covering questions 2,3 and 4. This generally means that the solution could be considered plug 'n play (Beware! it almost never is). Just plug in the MCP, fire up the sim and you're ready to go! This is generally also the most expensive solution!

Others only cover question 4 and you have to buy other components covering question 2 and 3. But this opens up your project to expansion right away. And it is generally cheaper to.

So buying a MCP solution that is plug 'n play (covering q2,q3 and q4) might not be the best bet in the long run.

Example:
Flightdecksolutions will give you the panel only, this includes switches. rotaries and LED's. (covering q4) But it does not take care of q2 and q3.

For q2 you can buy Flightdecksolutions own interface module InterfaceIT, or choose Opencockpits IOCARD suite.

For q3 you could buy Project Magenta's MCP software module, or you could try ON-737 from opencockpits.com, it's freeware


It is not possible to help you further before you make a decision on what MCP supplier you choose to go with.

Wiring diagrams are way down the list yet

Morten