My long-ago-described rudder pedal project has been back-burnered due to a design dilemma; now I have found fresh inspiration and a new challenge rolled into one...
Got a little freebie from work today; we were cleaning up the shop, and I got dibs on this. Anyone thinking what I'm thinking?


Yes, it's old... the spare lamp is shot... but it was FREE. Not $50, not $20.. FREE. I like FREE. FREE is good.   





Fired it up at home, just to get an idea of the throw distance needed for what i want. Not bad... but where to set it up?






Tried mocking it up on the floor, etc... then it occurred to me the best area would be right next to my existing workstation/simpit- this way, I can eventually go dual-monitor and not have to move my workstation. I'll be able to use the CRT with the sim for map views, etc. This has potential...




Another brainstorm: here's a very crude rendering of what I might eventually do here- I've got enough room overhead to mount it upside-down between the joists of the loft. Much better.
Now I just need a cheap LCD screen, and....mwuahahahah!!! (rubs hands with glee).
  Won't be the biggest image, but compare it to my 19" CRT to the left... it'll be about 48"-50" diagonal. Much better, and cheaper than a 60" plasma or LCD ($!!), even after $200 or so for an LCD panel.




Still not sure about incorporating a car seat into things... now I may have to figure out how to use just one seat, on wheels, for simpit and workstation, to avoid overcrowding the space. Maybe I can retrofit locking casters onto my chair...
And I've been thinking about rigging curtains around the loft to block the sun (big windows to the left of my workstation); that will help this setup a lot.
  Only other thing I'll need is a hunk of real projection-screen material (saw an old home-movie screen at the thrift shop once for $10; wish I'd bought it, but there's more out there)... or I could spring for some projection-formula white paint and some plywood or whatever.
Here we go again...