Starting Over

[Trevor Hale]

ROFL..

I need to paint it Black, but it is 1/4" MDF/Hardboard

I was trial testing the positions of my panels, before I add the Plexi glass to all of them and drill for the switches.

Lighting was crappy, I took the photo's last night, Stuff all over the Living room, My wife was not impressed.. LMAO..

It would be a perfect color for the 777 indeed.

Trev

[gokhotit]

Ah the ever blessing (or cursed) rebuild. I am on rebuild (and re-design) number 3 of THE SIM CONSOLE. Started out with just a little storage box that sat ontop of my monitor, moved up to building out of a full tower case, and now I use the Go-FLIGHT console as a base. I may, however, one day have to give up on the whole "console" idea and work on a pit of some kind, due to the fact that I am getting a whole bunch of external "doo-hickeys and thing-a-mabobs" that hook into it, more cables going everywhere, that generally knot up around my rudder pedals. My only constraint is the same as everyone elses here: money, and the wife.

[Michael Carter]

Ah the ever blessing (or cursed) rebuild. I am on rebuild (and re-design) number 3 of THE SIM CONSOLE. Started out with just a little storage box that sat ontop of my monitor, moved up to building out of a full tower case, and now I use the Go-FLIGHT console as a base. I may, however, one day have to give up on the whole "console" idea and work on a pit of some kind, due to the fact that I am getting a whole bunch of external "doo-hickeys and thing-a-mabobs" that hook into it, more cables going everywhere, that generally knot up around my rudder pedals. My only constraint is the same as everyone elses here: money, and the wife.

Wiring and cabling can become a nightmare in short order if planning isn't taken into consideration. It's always a good idea to write down the wiring diagram of your components for the sim.

[gokhotit]

So true..I do write down how it wired together, but everything ties into my console, so I have all the connecting cables going everywhere.

[mauriceb]

There is one more option Henry. Scrap the whole thing and forget about this madness before it's too late for you . Even now, that thought still comes to my head every now & then when the going gets tough and when I think about what is yet to come (work & expenses).

I'm pretty sure I would have quit by now if I didn't think of all the hassles to get rid of this monstrosity and to at least re-coup most of my costs. Not counting proving to my wife that she was right all along and that this was a crazy enterprise to start with. Why oh why did I ever get afflicted with this love for aviation??

Maurice

[andarlite]

Maurice, I sure thought about scrapping it this weekend.... wasted the whole weekend trying to do something that should be simple.... attaching the glareshield to the MIP frame.....arrrrrgg....... just seems so unstable.... but I thought of a bright idea this morning so have to try it tonight.

I'm building the cockpit in our family room (playroom) and since I'm in effect doubling the size of the cockpit, I announced to my wife that the sofa and coffee table must go..... she pointed out that if I were to get rid of my model train layout (9 ft x 4 ft and hasn't been touched in over 6 months because of the cockpit project) that there would also be plenty of space..... anyway, the good news is that she finally agreed ......sheesh, can you imagine thinking that the sofa and coffee table is more important than a train layout (or a cockpit)?

Regards,
Henry

[Tomlin]

Henry,

I too used to be a model railroader. Great hobby there- I cannot believe how expensive THAT hobby has become. I discovered Train Simulator by Auranz a few years ago- I think I liked that a bit better 'cause you could build a layout as big as anything, and then get in the train and go somewhere, kind of like RC aircraft vs. Flight Sim. At least in flight sim, you can 'go somewhere' instead of in circles. Of course, I cant resist going into a model RR shop now and again just to see how far the hobby has come since I left it probably 20 years ago.

At any rate, sounds like a good time to rebuild (AKA downsize) the model railroad or get rid of it all together for the 'pit! )

[andarlite]

Eric

Boy, you're not kidding, model railroading is extremely expensive...especially N-scale. My layout is modelled after the rail yard of my home town .... a lot of fond childhood memories there (so I could never bear to tear it apart). I only started 3 years ago so I think I got into it when it was already at the expensive stage. We won't even go into the part where I got my son some Lionel stuff......now that's EXPENSIVE.

Now look what you've done, I think I'm going to fire up the train tonight instead of the cockpit.

If I had the money that I sunk into that hobby right now, let me tell you I would be quickly driving over to Flight Deck Solutions (I just found out that they're located up the road from where I work).

Regards,
Henry

[andarlite]

So here's where I've gotten to since I announced that I was starting over:




My new full size pedestal:



That's my old pedestal in front of the FO side:



My next big step is to make the MIP panel, then the rest of the panels for the pedestal, an enclosure for my CH Products throttle quandrant to look more 767-ish, glare screen, overhead, FMS, etc etc etc (will it ever end?).

My MCP consists of a Goflight RP48 and a few toggle switches and pushbuttons.... for the moment.... but it works well. This wouldn't have been possible without a great program that Bert de Keizer wrote to interface Goflight modules with the Level D 767. I also have a couple of other Goflight modules (GF-166 radio's and remote RP-48's).

The overhead structure (and front windshield) was just whack together and just temporary.

Well, gotta get back to it.

Regards,
Henry

[Michael Carter]

That really some cool stuff Henry. I didn't realize the newer airliners used such an angle on the MIP. I see so few from that perspective I never realized this.

The 727 MIP is only 12 degrees from vertical.

Can't wait to see it with he MIP in place. Keep up the great work.