Lodewijk
02-23-2011, 06:50 AM
Hello everyone,
Seeing as this is my first post on this forum, allow me to introduce myself . My name is Jan, I’m 36 and live in Pretoria (South Africa). The reason I joined this site is because I’m planning to build a Spitfire cockpit and need to do some research in order to determine the best way forward.
My Objective is to build a cockpit with functioning flight instruments, flight controls and motion platform. I have tried to break down the project into a series of tasks in order to clarify the process for myself. Here is what I have come up with:
1. Decide on type of aircraft – Spitfire Mk. V or Mk. IX
(Type doesn’t really matter that much to me, but it seems these are the most popular types as far as flight simulator software goes)
2. Decide on Flight simulator software to use
(This is where I need some advice. Which Flight Simulator software will allow me to both control the simulator from controls in a simpit, but also provide information for the functioning of flight instruments and a motion platform. Having done a bit of reading on Mike’s Flight Deck site it seems that providing the interface for control input is the easier part and that most Sim software would allow one to do this. The problem is which Simulator software would allow me to read information from it in order to drive flight instruments and a motion platform?
3. Find good quality plans, drawings and reference material for construction of the cockpit interior and the section of fuselage housing the cockpit. Any sugestions?
4. Get information and acquire soft- and hardware necessary for interface between input and output devices (i.e. flight controls and instruments) and chosen flight sim software.
5. Build Flight Instruments
a. First: main instrument display panel, altimeter, airspeed indicator, artificial horizon etc. Basically the six instruments on the main (centre) panel.
6. Build cockpit section of fuselage.
7. Build flight controls
a. Yoke
b. Pedals
c. Throttle
d. Landing gear lever, etc. etc.
8. Build motion platform (3 D.O.F.)
9. Flight Instruments
a. Build secondary instrument panels.
I would really appreciate any input, comments, suggestions and help, with regards to choosing the best flight simulator software and particularly which interface soft- and hardware programs or modules to consider for exchanging data with the flight sim software.
In summary, my main questions are:
1. Which is the best flight sim software for a Spitfire cockpit with motion control?
2. What hardware and software will I need to get the cockpit to talk to the sim software and vice versa?
3. Are there any additional steps that you think I should include in my program?
Any other sincere and related advice would also be appreciated
Seeing as this is my first post on this forum, allow me to introduce myself . My name is Jan, I’m 36 and live in Pretoria (South Africa). The reason I joined this site is because I’m planning to build a Spitfire cockpit and need to do some research in order to determine the best way forward.
My Objective is to build a cockpit with functioning flight instruments, flight controls and motion platform. I have tried to break down the project into a series of tasks in order to clarify the process for myself. Here is what I have come up with:
1. Decide on type of aircraft – Spitfire Mk. V or Mk. IX
(Type doesn’t really matter that much to me, but it seems these are the most popular types as far as flight simulator software goes)
2. Decide on Flight simulator software to use
(This is where I need some advice. Which Flight Simulator software will allow me to both control the simulator from controls in a simpit, but also provide information for the functioning of flight instruments and a motion platform. Having done a bit of reading on Mike’s Flight Deck site it seems that providing the interface for control input is the easier part and that most Sim software would allow one to do this. The problem is which Simulator software would allow me to read information from it in order to drive flight instruments and a motion platform?
3. Find good quality plans, drawings and reference material for construction of the cockpit interior and the section of fuselage housing the cockpit. Any sugestions?
4. Get information and acquire soft- and hardware necessary for interface between input and output devices (i.e. flight controls and instruments) and chosen flight sim software.
5. Build Flight Instruments
a. First: main instrument display panel, altimeter, airspeed indicator, artificial horizon etc. Basically the six instruments on the main (centre) panel.
6. Build cockpit section of fuselage.
7. Build flight controls
a. Yoke
b. Pedals
c. Throttle
d. Landing gear lever, etc. etc.
8. Build motion platform (3 D.O.F.)
9. Flight Instruments
a. Build secondary instrument panels.
I would really appreciate any input, comments, suggestions and help, with regards to choosing the best flight simulator software and particularly which interface soft- and hardware programs or modules to consider for exchanging data with the flight sim software.
In summary, my main questions are:
1. Which is the best flight sim software for a Spitfire cockpit with motion control?
2. What hardware and software will I need to get the cockpit to talk to the sim software and vice versa?
3. Are there any additional steps that you think I should include in my program?
Any other sincere and related advice would also be appreciated