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#4319086 - 12/12/16 12:37 AM Universal Cockpit Project - 2  
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,179
Viper1970 Offline
Member
Viper1970  Offline
Member

Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,179
Bavaria, near Munich
Hello,

many years ago I had the idea of this project. Cause of my job and some other things in live, I only was able to make one prototype, that then wasn't ever really finished for years. After many moves from one place to another, the prototype looks more and more like a part of an F/A-18 cockpit which took a hit by a sidewinder biggrin.

In 2015 I decided to start once again from the beginning. I wanted to use as many of the old parts, as possible cause I have a very limited budget. It took me many months to plan the complete layout of the pit, for using it as universal as possible. I also want to use it with older sims like the old Jane's series, cause I never had the time back those days to fly those sims. That has made things much more complex and it becomes necessary to use another old PC with Windows 98 SE interfaced to the pit for running those old games, too.

As I want some working MFD's and gauges for the modern sims like MSFS, Falcon BMS or EECH All Mods, a third computer, which controls them via LAN, was also needed. The first PC, my "machine out of hell" rofl (attention irony - it's only a AMD Phenom 1100T with two GTX 680 in SLI, so no monster anymore) runs the modern sims only.

At the moment only the unfinished cockpit hull (no painting yet), most of the consoles, the changeable HOTAS systems (also no painting and lettering) and the center panel are made. Overhead panel is in production now, and testing of the electronics is only done seperatly outside the pit, so I have still to test all those things running together. Hope I could do this until the end of spring next year, to beginn with the paintworks after this.

I had also much help from many guys here from the forum and want to thank all of them once again. Without your help I never had the chance to come near to the point of my project, where I'm now! I definitely still have to fix many problems, which I even don't know of at the moment. I hope I could fix them too, with the help of you all.

If anyone has some questions to me, I will always try to help as much as I can, cause we all share the same love for flight, combat or driving simulations and that makes us really friends.

O.k, this is the planned project in it's finished state. I had to change it ever and ever again, but now I hope I have cosidered most of the needs for all of my simulators, I want it to use for. It's mainly for combat flight or attack helicopter simulations like Falcon BMS, DCS, Strike Fighters, Combat Air Patrol 2, EECH AM, the old Janes series (Longbow Antologhy, F-15, F/A-18 TSH, USAF, IAF etc.), but I also want to be able two use it for WWI-WWII sims or flying big birds like the C-5, C-17, C130 in MSFS.

That's why I have many controls integrated, which do not have to be in a real fighter pit. That was the compromise I had to make for the universal use, but I want to have it as real looking as possible for this circumstances.

All HOTAS parts are interchangeable, means the throttles or collective could be changed, the grips of the center- and sidesticks are also changeable (side- and centerstick are never used together at the same time as shown in the pic), center stick could be replaced by a yoke, sidestick could be replaced by the 4 lever throttle and at the place of the throttles a sidestick for use with Airbus like aircraft could be placed.


Last edited by Viper1970; 05/30/21 05:22 PM.

CockpitPC1: Ryzen9 5950X|64GB DDR4|512GB M2 SSD|2TB M2 SSD|Geforce RTX3090|Reverb G2|Win11Pro
CockpitPC2: PhenomII X6 1100T|32GB DDR2|2x 2TB HDD|2x Geforce GTX660 SLI|Win7Pro64
ComUnitPC1: Ryzen9 3900XT|32GB DDR4|2x 2TB HDD|Geforce RTX2070|Win11 Pro
ComUnitPC2: PhenomII X6 1100T|16GB DDR2|2x 2TB HDD|Geforce GTX660|Win7Pro64
ComUnitPC3: AthlonII X2 250|2GB DDR2|2TB HDD|Geforce 5950Ultra|2x VoodooII SLI|WinXPPro32&WinME
ComUnitPC4: K6-2+|768MB SDR|640GB HDD|Geforce 256DDR|VoodooI|Win98SE
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#4324441 - 12/30/16 01:16 AM Re: Universal Combat Flight Sim Cockpit Project [Re: Viper1970]  
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,179
Viper1970 Offline
Member
Viper1970  Offline
Member

Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,179
Bavaria, near Munich
O.k it's slowly growing biggrin! Still a huge work has to be done! My living room looks more and more like a garage winkngrin.

All parts have to be painted this spring. After this the lettering must be done and then once again painted with matt clear paint. Some things are still only templates made of cardboard. The frame of the center gauges will be replaced, to fit the above plan. The holes for consoles have to be made, so that they fit exactly in the cockpit body. At the moment they just lay around in the pit. Some aren't at there preset places. The ICP is missing at the pics, cause I havent made the support until now.

Behind the pit there is my (or better, will be my) workstation, which is also used for the WSO (my son). I believe, I should better say it's my place most of the time if we will fly together hahaha

The tape will be removed soon, but I had to use it for fixing the parts before I glued or screwed them together.

Most of the changeable HOTAS system is done, but I still have to make some grips. Next building stage at the moment is the FMC or CDU, which I use a cheap Android tablet for.





Last edited by Viper1970; 05/30/21 05:22 PM.

CockpitPC1: Ryzen9 5950X|64GB DDR4|512GB M2 SSD|2TB M2 SSD|Geforce RTX3090|Reverb G2|Win11Pro
CockpitPC2: PhenomII X6 1100T|32GB DDR2|2x 2TB HDD|2x Geforce GTX660 SLI|Win7Pro64
ComUnitPC1: Ryzen9 3900XT|32GB DDR4|2x 2TB HDD|Geforce RTX2070|Win11 Pro
ComUnitPC2: PhenomII X6 1100T|16GB DDR2|2x 2TB HDD|Geforce GTX660|Win7Pro64
ComUnitPC3: AthlonII X2 250|2GB DDR2|2TB HDD|Geforce 5950Ultra|2x VoodooII SLI|WinXPPro32&WinME
ComUnitPC4: K6-2+|768MB SDR|640GB HDD|Geforce 256DDR|VoodooI|Win98SE
#4372499 - 08/03/17 03:58 PM Re: Universal Combat Flight Sim Cockpit Project [Re: Viper1970]  
Joined: Jun 2017
Posts: 35
Kelly Offline
Junior Member
Kelly  Offline
Junior Member

Joined: Jun 2017
Posts: 35
Goldsboro NC USA
Interesting concept...a little bit of everything in one neat package. Ive been toying with a similar idea for a while but not the extreme that you have...be a good pit to enjoy a lot of different sims on without having to reconfigure or even build more than one. Has me convinced thats the way to go! Look forward to seeing more.

#4373150 - 08/07/17 02:18 PM Re: Universal Combat Flight Sim Cockpit Project [Re: Viper1970]  
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,179
Viper1970 Offline
Member
Viper1970  Offline
Member

Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,179
Bavaria, near Munich
Hello Kelly, thanks.

At the moment real live has catched me, so my time table has a huge delay. I will not be able to do all the painting this year, because I'm not nearly finished all the electronics.

I can do the paintworks only during the summer months (I have to use my balcony), so it's relatively unlikely to come really further this year. I also have made the big mistake to try to implement some 7-segment displays and warning lights in the pit and make them functional with all the simulations I want to use. This has made all much more complex as the solution I wanted to realize at first.

I hope things calm down a bit and I can work a bit more at the pit. If anything new worth mentioning happens, I will update this thread, but at the moment it still looks nearly the same as on the photos above.


CockpitPC1: Ryzen9 5950X|64GB DDR4|512GB M2 SSD|2TB M2 SSD|Geforce RTX3090|Reverb G2|Win11Pro
CockpitPC2: PhenomII X6 1100T|32GB DDR2|2x 2TB HDD|2x Geforce GTX660 SLI|Win7Pro64
ComUnitPC1: Ryzen9 3900XT|32GB DDR4|2x 2TB HDD|Geforce RTX2070|Win11 Pro
ComUnitPC2: PhenomII X6 1100T|16GB DDR2|2x 2TB HDD|Geforce GTX660|Win7Pro64
ComUnitPC3: AthlonII X2 250|2GB DDR2|2TB HDD|Geforce 5950Ultra|2x VoodooII SLI|WinXPPro32&WinME
ComUnitPC4: K6-2+|768MB SDR|640GB HDD|Geforce 256DDR|VoodooI|Win98SE
#4373860 - 08/11/17 01:49 PM Re: Universal Combat Flight Sim Cockpit Project [Re: Viper1970]  
Joined: Jan 2017
Posts: 35
sunrrrise Offline
Junior Member
sunrrrise  Offline
Junior Member

Joined: Jan 2017
Posts: 35
Hello Viper,
I like your idea, it's just great. I am slowly building similiar stuff, at the moment I am focused on gathering and extending my stuff. Can you please show me (and us) how you solve universal joint for multiple joysticks? Are grips easily replacable? I am thinking only about mechanical part, not electrical one.

#4374051 - 08/12/17 06:47 PM Re: Universal Combat Flight Sim Cockpit Project [Re: Viper1970]  
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,179
Viper1970 Offline
Member
Viper1970  Offline
Member

Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,179
Bavaria, near Munich
Hello sunrrrise,

they are easily replaceable, but the electrical part isn't perfect at all. I have used an external solution with a plug and a connector for the wires to the grips.

There are other solutions with which you could do the electrics and the mechanical connection all in one, but they are far a way from my budget. One connector about 50€. It's like a professional version of the warthog joint.

I have made a simple mechanical joint with one center stud and two smaller once left and right to avoid a twisting of the grip. The solution I made for holding the grip at the base so that you aren't able to pull it off, is only a small hole in the bottom of the grip itself and also the center stud. Those two holes are aligned, so you can fit a little lock pin in it.


CockpitPC1: Ryzen9 5950X|64GB DDR4|512GB M2 SSD|2TB M2 SSD|Geforce RTX3090|Reverb G2|Win11Pro
CockpitPC2: PhenomII X6 1100T|32GB DDR2|2x 2TB HDD|2x Geforce GTX660 SLI|Win7Pro64
ComUnitPC1: Ryzen9 3900XT|32GB DDR4|2x 2TB HDD|Geforce RTX2070|Win11 Pro
ComUnitPC2: PhenomII X6 1100T|16GB DDR2|2x 2TB HDD|Geforce GTX660|Win7Pro64
ComUnitPC3: AthlonII X2 250|2GB DDR2|2TB HDD|Geforce 5950Ultra|2x VoodooII SLI|WinXPPro32&WinME
ComUnitPC4: K6-2+|768MB SDR|640GB HDD|Geforce 256DDR|VoodooI|Win98SE
#4380294 - 09/19/17 05:43 PM Re: Universal Combat Flight Sim Cockpit Project [Re: Viper1970]  
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 57
50sqnwopag Offline
Junior Member
50sqnwopag  Offline
Junior Member

Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 57
Lanarkshire.
I'm liking the multi crew role a/c ;-)


"What join the Regiment.....?! nah I'll run them over n if that doesn't work then I'll shoot at them,cpl"

"But I'm a lover not a fighter cpl."
#4382087 - 09/29/17 02:57 PM Re: Universal Cockpit Project - 2 [Re: Viper1970]  
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,179
Viper1970 Offline
Member
Viper1970  Offline
Member

Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,179
Bavaria, near Munich
Yes, the idea came from someone here or in another forum, didn't know exactly anymore.

I told about making a desk for my work pc with a simple HOTAS to test my own made mods for some of the simulations I have. He made a joke and told me to connect the desk behind the cockpit to make a double-seater. That's how the idea was born biggrin

At first it was meant to fly together with my 19 years old son, but he has a lot to do with his studies and the rest of the time he's on the run. Maybe my girlfriend has now the desire to learn flying but I didn't think so hahaha


CockpitPC1: Ryzen9 5950X|64GB DDR4|512GB M2 SSD|2TB M2 SSD|Geforce RTX3090|Reverb G2|Win11Pro
CockpitPC2: PhenomII X6 1100T|32GB DDR2|2x 2TB HDD|2x Geforce GTX660 SLI|Win7Pro64
ComUnitPC1: Ryzen9 3900XT|32GB DDR4|2x 2TB HDD|Geforce RTX2070|Win11 Pro
ComUnitPC2: PhenomII X6 1100T|16GB DDR2|2x 2TB HDD|Geforce GTX660|Win7Pro64
ComUnitPC3: AthlonII X2 250|2GB DDR2|2TB HDD|Geforce 5950Ultra|2x VoodooII SLI|WinXPPro32&WinME
ComUnitPC4: K6-2+|768MB SDR|640GB HDD|Geforce 256DDR|VoodooI|Win98SE

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