Hello from Southern California

[Ebco]

Hi Everyone,

I am new to the board and I am looking for ideas and suggestions from the gurus in the area.  Other members suggested I look for people in my area that would be willing demonstrate their simulators before building one of my own. 

I am trying to see what the best and most practical (if that exists) way to get a Flight Sim going for my twin 9 year old boys that are aviation nuts.  I am a professional pilot so they got the bug.  Right now we are doing Microsoft  Flight Sim on a PC and our home TV.  I want to step it up a notch to something similar to what is found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mEpbgSBz4c without the Cessna panel.  I would just use Saitek or something equivalent.  Then I came across SIMPIT ICARUS AVENGER 180 DISPLAY SYSTEM that looked good but they are in New Zealand.

This is the level I am looking to be at with a 180 display that doesn't take up too much room. I like the idea of being able to switch between aircraft so the twins have different cockpit displays to interact with.  I am not the most tech savvy so I am looking for relatively straightforward platforms. I understand I will need to buy at least 2 projectors, better computer, a display, blending software etc. How do I get there?  Let's make this a Christmas to remember .  All recommendations are greatly appreciated and thank you for your time.

[blueskydriver]

Hi Nate,

Welcome to the CB as I mentioned before, you're at the right place too start this hobby.

For everyone else, is there anybody near Nate that would be willing to show their simulator to him and his sons? Nate is in Southern, CA, but if you're not close, but a state or two away, it might be doable...

Please show him what this sim hobby is all about.

John

[RayS]

Nate you're more than welcome to come by and visit me up in the Seattle area. It might be a good excuse to tour the Boeing Flight museum, and the restoration facility a few clicks north up in Everett. Paul Allen also has his own personal collection up in Everett for public display.

You could disguise the trip as a sooper-dooper airplane museum tour. ;-)

My own sim is a BeechCraft 1900D using X-Plane and the following:

1. X-Plane 10.4 (X-Plane is somewhat more forgiving than P3D in the performance arena
2. FlyThisSim Avidyne Avionics ( Soon I will be moving to a slightly more model-correct (And WAY Cheaper) avionics platform) Lots of great choices here....
3. Input Interface cards from Leo Bodnar
4. Output Interface cards from Ruscool Systems. (http://www.ruscool.co.nz)
5. A mix of real and simulated analog gauges driven by an Arduino card
6. Panels from http://www.flightlinesimulations.com/index.php/products/b200-350-pl21 Eric Tomlin does an AMAZING job at replicating these panels.
7. Transducers from Clark Synthesis to feel the runway bumps and hard landings.
8. Polk subwoofer to add the low-end audio
9. Buttkicker power amp driving the Clark Transducers.
10. Sherwood 100w stereo amp coupled to a studio mixer for mixing in all the various sounds.
11. 3 computers: 1 for main sim system, 1 for avionics, 1 for external hardware interfaces.

It all sounds expensive and if you want this level of fidelity, it might be a bad choice given it will all be operated by 9-year old children ;-) (You might be better off buying parts off eBay as the real parts stand up to abuse)

What ---isn't--- listed here is all the time and $$$$ spent just to say "Well that part was a flaming piece of crap!"

My baby: