Full motion base... acquired! Now what...

Hi all,

I am new to the forum and in need of some help. I am working with my local university on a project to build a full motion sim running fsx. A few options are available as to what aircraft we want to use, I personally would like to make a full motion Piper Seneca II (PA38-200T). This would allow PPL students a bit of an idea what to expect when going for their CPL-IR.

The motion base itself is able to receive 6 two-byte signals, for the six axes, either through ethernet connection or through an interface card in the respective PC. My first issue is extracting the inertia readings in a two-byte format from fsx for the 6 axes. From there I will be able to use a conversion programme to actuate the signals. After a bit of reading I believe this may be possible using FSUIPC4 together with WideFS.

I'm a bit lothe to shell out £50 unless I'm sure so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

A bit about me; I am a 737-800 First Officer in Europe, this is a bit of a side project for me before I look at building a full motion 737 sim which I hope to do a bit of charity work with.

The base in question is a Maxcue 600 series with a 1 tonne max weight allowance. Please see the attached photo that came with the brochure:

Attachment 7515

Many thanks in advance,

James

Hi James
I don't find the Motionbase.com on google:mad:..
How much is the Maxcue 600 series?
good continuation for your project.
thank you
rakouth

Hi James,

this looks as if it is quite professional. Concerning software, maybe this might be a good start what to look out for...FLIGHT SIMULATOR FSX Link2fs motion platform software VB6 Visual basic 6

Cheers
Chris

I would suggest to give Ian's 6DoF motion driver a try:

6 DOF Motion Software for Hexapod Flight Simulators.

Basically has done all the math for you: It sends out position signals that are needed to produce the various cues, with data derived from FS9/FSX or X-plane. Should not be too hard to interface with your platform.

I'm also planning to build a new 6DoF rig for use with this software.

Wow, thanks everyone for the fast responses!

@enela - i will check the brochure for you and find their details. The base cost around £40,000 new I think. I only got to have a play with it yesterday for the first time. It was built in '98 I think so interfaces are quite dated but it is electrically actuated which should give a nice response time.

@choffmann - that's terrific, i was looking at some forum posts about that Link2fs earlier but had no solid info to go on. I will test it and let you know the outcome. I plan to host some youtube clips on this thread if it gets working in the next month or so.

@Roland - as above, this looks equally good. I will test them both out and document how we set up the interface.

I shall let you all know how I get on.

Cheers guys,
James

Quote:

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Originally Posted by enela

Hi James
I don't find the Motionbase.com on google:mad:..
rakouth

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Hi enela,

I believe the Uni paid around £40,000 for the unit. It was bought back around 1998 I believe but has never been used, would you believe. They showed me it on Wednesday and I was blown away. It looks more advanced than some of the full motion 737 bases we used during flight training.

Anyway, here are the contact details of the people who supplied it I think:

Motionbase PLC
178-180 Hotwell Road
Bristol BS8 4RP
England
Tel: (+44) 0117 907 7690
Fax: (+44) 0117 987 3112
Web: Motionbase.com
Email: sales@motionbase.com

Cheers,

James

Any low cost motion ready made hardware out there?

Thank you James.
rakouth

Hi James

You may want to email me regarding the shell and parts, as I could be able to help you out.

Best Regards