Will,

Yeah... those servo driven gauges are REALLY nice.......  particularly if as you say you are going to do a GA cockpit.  But yup..... the cost adds up darn fast.  Looks REALLY "real" though.

Although also adding up the cost pretty fast..... I really can recommend the Goflight modules for the main "complex" avionics stuff.  The 166 radio unit functions almost exactly like the real thing and it works slick as heck.  And if you are going the "autopilot route" the GF MCP is amazing (although it looks visually more like a "heavy metal" unit.  Otherwise, simulating those particualr components and functions with "homebuild" is a pretty daunting electrical fabrication project.

How are you going to do the "glass cockpit" part for the GA type cockpit gauge layout?  The only GA type gauges that I have seen for "glass" are the ones from Project Magenta.  Is that what you plan to use?

I am envious of your idea to go with a "motion" platform.  That one is a bit beyond me  .


best,

.......................john


PS:  Ozzy....... the amount and degree of motion Will gets depends on if his lunch is solid or liquid  .

To be honest the glass cockpit plans/ideas are mostly my development of what you have already done and proved possible, modified to my situation and aesthetic requirements.  I doubt we'll see any knew developments LOL.

The bank and roll system (Floor wobble)is perceived as another "Guage".  FSUIPC outputs the FS data to project magenta.  PM then allows you to display this data on screen in  manner that your brain accepts as a guage.  The Servo driven guages on the other hand take this information and adjust a servo motor to display the same information.  If you take the electrical output that would run the servo and use it to run a relay you can then get the artificial horizon to be as large as you like, for example the entire floor of the shed.

Obviously it won't be or I'll hit my head on the walls at over 5 degrees bank.

I have several Ideas as to how this will be possible, the simplest is two electric motors, one for pitch and one for roll  running motorbike chain that the platform is suspended on.  There are clear safety issues LOL, BUT the inherant instability of the floor would work in the favour of the user.  What the FS and CFS series lacks is any perception of movement.  Imagine that all of the cockpit gear is mounted on a floor capable of tilting 10 degrees.  You push the throttle forward and start down the runway, all of your light comes from what is shown on the three screens in front of you.  The sound is supplied through a set of heavy duty headphones so you are in a state of "sensory deprivation".  As the tail lifts from the ground (Tail dragger) the back of the platform is lifted and the front dropped, at the same rate as the artificial horizon in front of you.  Then, as you pull back on the stick the front of the platform is lifted through the horizontal so that you are pushed back in your seat just slightly.  You inner ear is used to playing FS with no stimulation at all, I think any will be magnified.  If it wobbled when you leaned over to get your beer would it matter? 


Quote:


Youve seen what a lightweight I am - 2 pints and I'm incapable of holding a joystick

Will