Flight Simulator Cockpits

Lately I've noticed a more consistent stream of mainstream or entry level hardware & software coming into the market. I think with the increased interest in FSX , the average GA pilot spending more time on the ground due to fuel costs & more people interested in building a simulator, there is a growing need to bring more realism to flight simming.

Not much doing on the cockpit today, but I did make some progress. I want to eventually mount a car seat to a base and also include a pedestal. As you can see the base is in place.

FsXpand

One of the goals I wanted to accomplish with my cockpit was the ability to fly various types of aircraft and have the gauges displayed semi-accurate on the panels. Now my cockpit does lean towards a civil air setup but with the 4 12.1" displays under the glareshield I can pretty much display whatever I want.

Initially I wanted to build my own MCP but after much review of the hardware and time to complete, I figured the GoFlight setup would fit the design and offer a better product then I could put together. The module plugged right into my USB and once I downloaded the updated software everything worked as it should, well there is a slight issue with the vertical speed wheel, but GoFlight Support is great and this will be taken care of soon.

Now onto building panels, my first panel includes lights, anti icing & generic engine commands. In the spirit of doing my cockpit on the cheap I decided to use 8x11" adhesive inkjet sheets and photoshop to develop the cockpit panels.

I decided that a black background with white letters would contrast nice without any back lighting. Initially I was interested in picking up a cnc router and engraving plexi, but the cost wasn't in my budget.

Once I had the monitors mounted it was time to create some bezels to clean up the appearance of the displays. Using a table saw and a bridge I cut the bezels all consistent with each other.

The fourth monitor was of a different design and couldn't be easily mounted flush with the other three. Personally I like it because it presents the monitor better while trying to read information from it.