Hey Guys. I'm new -HELP!!!!!

Hey Guys,

Well i'm new to cockpit building and currently doing an evaluation of the costs and the skills required to build this thing. I'm interest in building a 737NG, thinking of a time period of about 5-7 years and a budget of about AUD$30000 to complete the whole thing.

I'm absolutely clueless about where to start, FDS's PNP's look great but i reckon you can save money on building the MCPs, EFIS, etc yourself just purchasing the panels and the electronics and putting the thing together yourself. I know nothing about electronics, so don't ask me about i/o cards and how they fit into everything. I would love to learn, because then if something goes faulty i could fix it.

Can anyone advise on this, does anyone have information about however thing fits together from the button/switchs you push on the overhead panel to the i/0 cards to the FSUIPC to FSX and project magenta software to what is displayed on your PFD?ND etc and outside the cockpit.

Are there any suppliers out there that put these kits together with full instructions.

I would really appreciate help on this matter.

Regards

Matt

Hi Matt,

Welcome to the best place you could have landed for this project. First of all, I think you have selected an excellent aircraft for your project, since there is a bit more info and a lot more hardware available for it than the Airbus lineup. I have an A320 in the works and I am sure the Boeing line would have been easier.

As far as your skills and what it takes to get it all going, there can be a bit of a learning curve, but the folks here are very skill, knowledgable, and always willing to help. Browse around the site, look at the different forums, you will learn a lot. Read about FSUIPC - if you are going to use MSFS as the basis for your sim (most do) then FSUIPC and understanding it is a great place to start getting your feet wet in learning how to interface your sim. OpenCockpits is great hardware *** are several others. There are some ecellent panel makers, like Cockpitsonicusa, hispapanels, FDS, etc.

Soon you'll be neck deep, it's awesome!

BuddyM
A320 builder
Tampa, FL USA

Thanks Buddy,

I'm going to need all the help i can get, if there is any other essential reading out there for beginners please let me know.

Regards

Mathew

G'day Mathew and welcome to MC.org, where abouts in oz are you? I'm in Perth..
You are about to take on what I started five years ago and you ask the same questions many new builders do, it's like how long is a piece of string? If you plan on 30k I think you will have a heap of change, if you have a look at my sim pics and website what you see cost about AUD9k. Admittedly I have built most of it myself and that has saved a heap but I would suggest there are a few items that I would consider 'essentials' for a B737!

• First of all Mike Powell's book "Building recreational flight simulators" available here - http://www.mikesflightdeck.com/upcoming_book.htm I got it for Christmas and it's great!

• CP Flight MCP & EFIS units, these are the brains of the sim and worth every penny, it's fantastic gear and can't be beaten.

• An Aerosim Solutions TQ of course lol!

• A steel frame to keep it light and portable

• A decent and trusted interface system

• Good quality avionics such as Project Magenta at $2,500 or Sim Avionics at $500 - easy choice there!!!

• Solidly built flight controls for maximum immersion, make it feel like a real aeroplane!

Everything else is pretty easy to acquire or make with basic tool skills . Make your sim flyable as soon as possible because it really helps maintain the interest and don't plan the completion date, it's an ongoing thing and the build becomes the hobby, it's great fun! I can help out with backlight panels, these are about to join the product list and my new website should be up in about two weeks. I produce mechanical components such as TQs, gear levers, flight controls etc and being in oz, I will be cheaper than the offshore vendors! That sounds like a big plug for business I guess and I'm already too busy as it is, shame on me! Keep Aerosim Solutions in mind all the same!

Cheers,
Gwyn Perrett
MyCockpit.org
Aerosim Solutions

Hey Gwyn,

Thanks for your email. I'll be in Melbourne very shortly in the process of immigrating.Yeh, you got another South African coming your way.:?.

Thanks for all the advise, I most definately will go and have a look at your website when it is up and running. Must say i prefer you price range!:shock:

Kind regards

Mathew