I love flight simulators. A few years ago someone showed me FS4, I was hooked. I now have several flight simulators, including every Microsoft sim since FS5.1 (including combat).

My current setup includes a vibrating seat pad, 3D glasses, & IR Tracker.

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NEW

A few months ago, I started something that I’ve been wanting to do for ages…

Build my own cockpit ! It’s not brilliant, in fact it’s nothing like a real cockpit, but it certainly helps to add a feeling of flight.

I have used 2 or 3 monitors simultaneously for a while now. I used to have one 17” monitor connected to an agp graphics card, & then 2 smaller monitors connected to an old pci card that had 2 output sockets. The 2 smaller ones would display some of the aircraft’s gauges, & the gps or radio etc.

My setup has now been improved… I have a 21” monitor and a 19” monitor, both connected to a GeForce FX5600XT agp card. Several months ago, after reading about them one the net, I bought a ‘fresnel lens’ - This is a large, flat, magnifying glass, that enlarges the screen(s) & also gives a sort of 3D effect. It’s sold on the net as a TV magnifier. There are several sizes available, I went for one of the bigger ones.

The idea that maybe I could build a cockpit was going through my mind…but, if I did build one, I would have to either get rid of the fresnel lens (which I loved) or..buy a second lens. After a lot of thinking, I ordered a second lens, & the cockpit building began. I’ve never been very good at diy, or building anything really, but I was determined to have a go. After 2 or 3 trips to the local DIY store, & a bit of hammering, screwing, & sawing, I came up with this …..

I went to the local scrap dealer, & bought an old car seat. These are ideal, as you can adjust them just as you can in a car.

The 3^rd monitor you can see in the picture, is connected to a second pc. That’s right, I have a smaller pc connected to my main pc via a network cable. This screen now displays the GPS, while the other 2 show FS2004’s virtual cockpit.

Next...was to build a control panel, that would do away with the keyboard. I had read about this idea a few times on the net, & was sure I could do it – I did, but it was not easy ! It was a case of stripping an old keyboard down, & soldering several wires to the connectors. These wires would then be soldered to several new momentary switches. It sounds simple, but I certainly did not find it was. I may go into it in greater detail later.

Next, I put some hardboard in, giving the appearance of a round cabin. Much better than a big square box room

This is how my cockpit is looking now….

Notice the control panel in the ceiling.

More to follow

NEW FSX (Demo) Screenshots….

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