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F-14 Simpit


evvatc

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It's been a long time coming but I'm finally at a point where the front, left and right vertical panel is functional enough to use.  I started out with an Akers Barnes simpit. More information on these cockpits can be found here.  http://www.62ndfightingfalcons.com/62-abc-cockpit.html

I was satisfied with this until one day a friend at work, who is also in to flight simulation, started talking about building a radio stack using an arduino.  His projects can be found here...http://thegeekforge.com/  With his teaching and code, I was able to put together a radio stack. I based it off of UHF style radios found in military aircraft since that is mainly what I fly when I sim.  Building that radio was the first step in the goal of removing the keyboard and mouse from the simpit.  The level of immersion that can be achieved by actually turning a dial or flipping a switch. 

 

So the next step for me was building a landing gear lever and parking brake.  I was able to incorporate a gear transition light as well. After that came a tail hook lever.

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And that's the way my simpit stayed for a very long time. Until the December of 2013.  That is when I decided to start building a pit that resembled an F-14B.  Here is a link to my build progress over at  Hornetpits.org  

I have always been a Tomcat fanatic. So it was a no brainer when it came to picking the aircraft to model. A really big problem was that there wasn't an F-14 for FSX or P3D that I felt contained the level of fidelity to run a cockpit on.  That was until the Aerosoft F-14 came out.  This was what I was waiting for.  A little over 3 years in the making, here is where the project is today.

 

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I still need to finish up some labeling on the left and right vertical panels but it is fully functional. After a little break I plan on building the left and right panels also.  Whatever I have to do to get rid of the mouse and keyboard...

 

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What are you using to run the multiple monitors on? Looks like you are using push-pull switches for the fuel cutoffs? Have any close ups showing how you connected the face pieces? Do you have the fire extinguisher buttons under them or do they not come out far enough? Best of luck with the rest of your build, can't wait to be able to get mine started.

 

 

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2 hours ago, Hobo said:

What are you using to run the multiple monitors on? Looks like you are using push-pull switches for the fuel cutoffs? Have any close ups showing how you connected the face pieces? Do you have the fire extinguisher buttons under them or do they not come out far enough? Best of luck with the rest of your build, can't wait to be able to get mine started.

 

 

The panel running the gauges is running off a networked laptop.  The VDI and HSD are two 7 inch HDMI monitors run off a GTX970 on my sim rig. 

 

The Fuel Cutoffs are push-pull switches.  I do not have the fire extinguisher buttons behind them yet but they stick out far enough that it shouldn't be a problem.   The face pieces are just screwed on to the threads. I just removed the knob that came with the switches.

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Nice work. I didn't notice the AoA and Wing sweep gauges before, have any closeups of those as well? They do not look like video display like the engine gauges, are they functional? If so, can you give us a description of what you did with them when you get a chance? Thanks. Again, sweet workmanship fellow Tomcatter.

 

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The AOA and Wingsweep gauge are not functional, yet. Still trying to figure out how I'm going to implement that.   What I have there now are place holders. 

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Right on. I too am looking into creating something for them and the engine gauges. I have one genuine engine gauge from the ac, but not sure I can tell what runs the small motors from all the other stuff. It's all packed away right now. I will try and post some photos when everything is ready to be worked on this summer. I am guessing some kind of small stepper motors rotating a tape of some kind, but will get into it further later on. Will have to learn how to program those buggers to operate correctly, that should be a chore for me :) Best of luck with your pit.

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Really cool man! I like how you lined up the monitor and the cockpit view so it looks like an extension of the pit rather than a repeat of everything. Great job

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