Scratch: Simpit-Flight Sim cockpit case - Overclock.net

PropNut · 09-01-09

Well, CyberDruid inspired me to build an airplane simulation PC case (dont worry I have not told my wife that you did so CD, so you are safe...for now)

I love flight sims, expecially WWI and WWII fighter sims. I play Rise of Flight for the former and Il-2 1946 for the latter.

I am making as generic as possible a simpit (yes, it is a word), so I can fly everything from civilian to fighters ( I am not much interested in Heli's so no cyclic control, etc) nor am I interested in jets (no multi fuction displays..MFD's).

The construction will be plywood for the most part.

I have already built the rudder pedals, control stick and seat. Next I will build the carcus around these and then work on the instruments and other controls (trims, throttle quadrent, etc).

Here are some pictures of the seat, control stick and rudder pedals:

comments are welcome

clbkdaz · 09-01-09

This has some real potential here.

So are these instruments going to be functional? I'd be pretty interested in how you might be able to wire all this to work.

nategr8ns · 09-01-09

dis will be epic

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dominique120 · 09-01-09

WOW!!!
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Put the Rig under the seat as a seat warmer

PropNut · 09-01-09

Dominique, that is a good idea but under the seat there will be the bass unit of my speaker system, the vibration will give it a bit more "immersion".

Clbkdaz, it is possible to use working instruments with programs such as Il-2 and Microsofts Flight sim X, but I am going to use fake units for now. I can always replace them later. They will have backlighting for the coolness factor but will not work otherwise. I use a program called Freetrack to slave the movement of my head to the pilots viewpoint in the game, this way I can look down to see the onscreen instruments, etc. This gives me 6 degrees of freedom (forward, back, left, right, up, and down), there is a commercially availible program and hardware unit called TrackIR (Youtube it, its COOL) but I am happy with the free option.

I forgot to mention that I am using an LCD projection system for a monitor, the room is 14x16 so I should be able to get a 300" screen size (but only 1200x1050...or some such...resolution) so it should look awesome when it is done. I will post some videos of the action.

I built the two side units tonight, they will house the trackball (on the right) and the throttle quadrent on the left. The right unit will be hinged at the bottom for egress. I will try to get pictures on thursday or so.

The computer (Q6600, 9600GSO, 4 gigs, air cooled) will be housed in the back of the cockpit behind the pilot seat. This will be accessable from a hatch, with many cooling fans. I am thinking of purchasing a squirel cage fan unit from the junk yard to push air back onto the pilots face...so many nifty ideas...so little money!