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Here is the MCP Pro that I bought form Trevor Hale, through the classifieds here on this forum. Smooth transaction, prompt shipping, and delivered as promised. Great customer service throughout the whole process including easy to follow detailed instructions. And this item truly is plug and play, download the drivers, make three or so choices, fire up FS and you be autopilot in’.

So as you can see there has not been a whole lot of changes, but there has been progress. I have re-layed all the wires and cabling with zipties and labels, so it now looks more like aircraft cabling than just random chaos. And have mounted things more permanently and now have power to my six-way adjustable seats ala used Mercedes.

I really have liked the way the bare monitors looked and have resisted mounting the MIP I built (737NG Style). The original intent was for this to be a V-22 Osprey simulator hence the name Huev-22 as it is an old UH-1 Huey Cockpit section. Having everything bare and utilitarian really makes this ‘pit feel like a futuristic military aircraft of sorts. But now I need to hang the MCP from something.

I Bought this old C-130 panel form eBay for this end but now I have decided to make a whole other sim from it, and some other parts I have laying around. It will be a reconfigurable commercial jet sim.

I bought another panel from eBay last week a, a TRC 472 C-172 type simulated MIP. I went to Northern Avionics, Anchorage, Alaska to buy panel labels for it and wound up buying a whole other C-172 panel. This was a real, water-jet cut panel. I paid 30.00 for it, I won’t tell you how much the simulated panel cost me in comparison, but ouch.

So true to my nature I am now moving forward on several fronts at one time. There probably won’t be much progress on the HueV-22 pit, in fact after this weekend I will strip the monitors to support the construction of the other pits as it has 5 LCD monitors that could go a long way to getting the other pits going. The work sim (737-900) will be stripped of it’s computers as well. In two weeks I should be able to display : 1ea C-172 IFR Certifiable trainer, 1ea C-185 Entertainment sim, 1ea reconfigurable commercial jet simulator, 1ea C-130 procedures trainer, and one very basic GA sim with Glass Cockpit.
I have been collecting parts for two years now and I think I’m ready assemble all of these to flying condition.

Can you post a picture of the 172 panel you got for $30?
was it from Northern Lights Avionics maybe?

I'd like to see that too. Eventually I would like to do the same with my PFC console setup.

Matt Olieman

The Panel was from Northern Lights avionics. It was either a mock-up or a mistake as it was water-jet cut, but had not been painted yet. It was sold for 30.00 as they had some time into it, but was not useful to them, so in appreciation for the low price hand-out, I went inside and bought 50.00 worth of panel stickers and really cool placards that add a touch of realism to any sim panel. Checklist placard, panel marking kit, emergency procedures placard, IFR Odd/Even Altitude Placard. All are metal, with mounting holes and adhesive backing. They have log books and all sorts of neat stuff for the pilot ans simmer alike.