just to say hello to everyone
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just to say hello to everyone
Hi, welcome to the site. Have a look around, lots to see and read here.;)
Hello and welcome to the fun-factory Synapticaction.
What's your name and what aircraft are you interested in?
Ken.
g'day
Hey there. I have probably only started cockpit building about 2 weeks ago. I was really keen on Flightexperience and went about 7 to 8 times. I really enjoyed it but the cost was astronomical! So I decided to build my own cockpit.
At this stage I am just in the designing phase, and really learning everything from scratch. I am hoping to build a 737-800 or airbus 320. Good to see some kiwi people get into it too, how is yours comming along?
Every one learns from scratch. There's no instruction manual for building a sim. Besides, we're men, we wouldn't read it anyway. :roll:
About the best way is to learn by doing.
You realise the sim at Flightexperience cost $600K apparently. The guy who runs the Wellington one (Steve Peters) is an aircraft leasing man and treats it as such. Rest assured your homebuild will cost more than you`d like too!
I have a very cheesy desktop setup here, which I thoroughly enjoy though it needs heaps of work. The big spend was a good $800 spent just to get the primary flight controls covered. My plan is a medium - large GA twin, originally a KingAir 200 based on the Aeroworx model but I am racked with indecision and sometime feel I might get sucked down the 737 Classic route. I`m not a fan of the NG`s / Buses as I do like old-fashioned navigation. My only custom panel so far is a switch panel, including a decent undercarriage lever. I interface using one Opencockpits card and a number of cannibalised USB gamepads. I`ve been busy playing with custom panel layouts on a second monitor, with a view to putting the monitor behind a panel with cutouts. This would suit an EFIS KingAir nicely.
You didn`t say where you`re based. If your in the Wellington area I`d be happy to assist..
Cheers
James
Hi James
I am based in Auckland, otherwise would love to catch up. You talked a little bit about your interface, which would you recommend? I have bought a $12 keyboard from the warehouse and deciphered the code for it (which combinations of the short port and long port produce which letters, and thought I would allocate functions for these in the settings). But it gives you some limitation with the type of switches you use. How does it compare with the EPIC card and how expensive is the game card?
Thanks
Hello to everyone else who said hello,
yeah I don't think my simulator will be as detailed as that of flightexperience, and trying to keep within a reasonable budget is quite a challenge. You could buy a lot of the things from project magenta or flight deck solutions But I have to be honest I really enjoy trying to figure the cheapest way of doing it yourself and hacking and manipulating everything one can find to try and make it work for a simulator.