Overview. (My old one 2001)

Probably like a lot of other people, I thought that motion for a flight simulator cockpit is a rich boys realm and never achievable on a low budget. Well.. wrong.. with a bit of Kiwi (a friendly slang name for New Zealanders) ingenuity and a lot of simple talent, a close imitation can be done for very little outlay. To get motion started as a simple idea, then grew into an obsession. The budget was $0 but like lots of things that grow into an obsession, money was needed to make progress.

THE TOTAL COST TO GET THE DATA FROM THE FLIGHTSIM COMPUTER AND MAKE THE COCKPIT ROLL AND PITCH IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE HORIZON (WHEN REQUIRED) IS ABOUT $400 N.Z. (ABOUT $200 U.S.) However, being a radio ham operator, and working in the electrical field, helped.

This unit I built was a "made from junk" unit and was only built to get information (angles, speed etc) for the simulator I was actually going to build, latter on, using good gear. It performs so well, I thought that I would pass this info on, as some of the flightsim community have made absolutely amazing cockpits and to plonk them on top of this simple motion platform would really blow their mind. I have been through hell on this (Cheap and simple) as I did'nt want to throw money at it.. also in the formular was simplicity.. used ready available things, as ultimately, the unit was to be scrapped.  My aim in the future is to build a proper platform (that's why I need the figures) using a dual cockpit (islander, Cessna 310 ??) with a hercules C-130 as a flight model and fly around NZ.

I havent done much with the actual cockpit itself as the unit is a test unit.. BUT it goes so well, I dont want to wreck / sell / dismantle it (the whole unit) and start on the new one untill I've totally finished playing with it.. I have a friend that's got his own plane (piper) and he was very impressed with the motion and when I changed it over to combatsim II I couldn't get the bugger out of it.. I could only sit outside and watch the motion and have more beers !!!!

It's the old thing.. I've had heaps of enjoyment out of other peoples input into our flightsim community and now its time to give some back. A special thanks to people like Peter Dowson for his brilliant works, Claude Hanssens for his Chcomm program, Sean Galbrath for proving I'm not the only flightsim nut in New Zealand (never met him but the name rings bells from years ago.. I started with fs.1 in the 80's), my wife Liz, for hanging in there hoping I'll become normal one day.

I need to apologize for the crappy website.. never had the inclination to have a website and only doing one to be able to pass my flightsim experiences on. It is not "step by step" instructions but a fairly broken down list of what I done. Should be enough for some-one else to do it the same.

You may have to press “Update” or “reload” to see the latest pages if you been here before.

Stop press !!!! I finally got to meet Sean Galbrath at ‘Flight Experience’ … Great guy !!

BASIC PLATFORM CONFIGURATION.

Overview.

The basic platform is just a fire-proof door plonked on top of a car driveshaft and driven by car windscreen wiper motors through car steering box’s.

Sounds pretty simple and in reality it is… BUT getting it to move in relation with the screen certainly made me think with the other side of my brain.

Following are some pictures with brief descriptions and hints…. and notes of blunders or how I would have done it differently.

How it all started… CFO John W. in the “box” on top of the platform. A general view with the top open

Tilted with pitch and roll …. It doesn’t look much but when you in it, its heaps for a Cessna or C130. Remember I’m not building a fighter sim.

Close-up showing front of drive shaft front. And drive shaft rear. (you can see the motion control computer as well)

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The front showing hinge’s for the “bonnet”, lift out door for where the main

Super close-up showing drive shaft brackets. (Both welded on) computer goes and also the motion control computer underneath it.

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The 2 frame runners that sits on the floor are 100 x 50 x 3 mm “C” channel, and the center cross member is 100 x 50 x 6 mm “C” channel and the other

cross member, that also holds the pitch motor, is 50 x 50 x 3 square.

I don’t expect anyone to copy what I’ve built but the general dimensions are….

Total width of steel base. 900mm

Total length of steel base 1780 mm (Same as the “box”)

Height from floor to base of “box” 460 mm

Width of “box” 840 mm

As a note on the “box”… all panels are 600 mm wide. (I cut full sheets in half and went from there.)

The floor of the “box” sim is actually an old fire door… ideal for the job… check you local housing wrecker and you will probably pick one up for $10 or $20 as no-one

wants them.. Be sure to get one that is plywood right through.. about 40mm thick. Some of the newer ones are not ply so check… and above all.. DON’T ask for a

fire door as the price will immediately sky-rocket. This door was bolted by only 2 bolts thru to the angle iron that runs out from the top of the drive shaft. The only

other fixture to the fire door underneath was to the pitch and roll drive units. As flimsy as this may sound, it turned out really strong.

The “bonnet” as I call it (The cover over the main computer screen) hinges forward along with the sliding section and completely opens out the platform the main monitor etc etc is sitting on. You can see the hinges in the picture of the front of it.

SOME PICTURES TAKEN DURING WRECKING IT. (June 06)

CONCLUSION.

I think as a test unit, this turned out really well.. way beyond what I expected and it certainly proved it use.

I could see some of the wonderful cockpits other people have built sitting on this and some very frustrated wives/girlfriends/Mums as a consequence of hours flying.

IF I WERE TO BUILD THIS AGAIN ?

I would make a square tapering box sort of thing and have it between my legs, so the top of the drive shaft was up nearer the center of gravity and the roll motor didn’t need springs to even out the load. (They are at the side of the sim, between the “box” and the frame) This wouldn’t be a problem if you were building a fighter as a lot have a box sort of thing running up between you legs (leg either side) at any rate. In a “twin” the top of the drive shaft would be as high as possible up underneath the throttle quadrant. A thing to remember on this though, is if you raise the drive-shaft universal, you also have to raise the ball-joints that are attacted to the bottem of the sim. (They need to be in the same plain)

Another thing I wished I had done was build in 1080 degrees (3 complete rotations) of lateral rotation. Rotation is not really an aviation term but with turning around, it play funny things with the brain. Add that to what you are seeing and your brain would REALLY click over. It could be easily done by (simple terms) mounting the bottom of the drive shaft onto a car wheel / hub and mounting the motors off brackets from the wheel, rather than from the cross members.

Updated 11-June -06