Hello from SoCal

[jskibo]

Just found the site and just started collecting parts for a 737 build.  Working on the pedestal now, hope to move to the MIP next and plan on ordering a revolution throttle in the next week.  Been simming since sublogic days, hell even before that on a Sinclair ZX-80.  Been a Real Pilot for the past 15 years, but spent most of that dormant (working on my Instrument now), also an A&P Mechanic.  I work as a manager at Boeing out in Long Beach (C17).

You guys have some great looking pits!

John

[matta757]

Welcome John! I am a fairly newcomer to this website too and the wealth of knowledge on here is extraordinary!


Matt

[Boeing Skunk Works]

Welcome aboard John. We like photos!

[MLeavy737]

Welcomoe John. The good old SubLogic days lol.. They were the best I just bought FSII on ebay not to long ago. Dont have a C64 but just had to have the game sitting on the shelf.  Look forward to seeing some pics. Good luck on the instrument rating! Bunch of real pilots here as well i believe that can answer questions on both sim building and flying.

Mike Leavy

[fsaviator]

Welcomoe John. The good old SubLogic days lol.. They were the best I just bought FSII on ebay not to long ago. Dont have a C64 but just had to have the game sitting on the shelf.  Look forward to seeing some pics. Good luck on the instrument rating! Bunch of real pilots here as well i believe that can answer questions on both sim building and flying.

Mike Leavy

Let me know if you want a C64....  I have five of them.  Also a couple C128s!  They're buried in storage, along with the the sublogic FS.  I bought five in case I needed parts to fix the working one...  man that was a while ago.

Sorry John...  not trying to hijack your thread.  Welcome!  You've come to the right place if you're building a 737.  So am I.

Warren

[MLeavy737]

Warren,
  Thanks for the C64 offer. I think im just going to get one from ebay, something that comes with all the goodies.. disk drive, joysticks,games etc.  Thats cool that you have 5! Those were great computers! I miss those days of hanging out with other geek friends playing and copying games all day lol. I remember clearly when i got FSII. Played that nonstop.. good times.

Hey also if your in the SoCal area there are some other pretty famous builders there. Not sure if you know any already but James Price and Matt Ford come to mind. Flown Matts sim, Great guy and awesome sim.

Mike Leavy

[Trevor Hale]

Welcome John...  Great to have you here..  Especially with your knowledge of aviation.  Thanks for being here.

Trev

[jskibo]

Thanks all for the welcome.  I hope to have some pics of the assembled Pedestal box later today.  Still needs sanding and some paint, but little by little.  Trying to decide now if I want to assemble the radios or buy pre-built USB ones.  Good and bad with both I guess.

MLeavy737 - don't know those guys, but will look for them.  I'm in North Orange County (Costa Mesa).

[jskibo]

Unpainted pedestal, slightly modified without the bottom curve





Sorry for the "iPhone" quality

[jackpilot]

Hi John

Warm welcome here.
Note on your pedestal:
Very nice start. You might need the indent at the bottom, space is real tight in the 737 and you will hit it constantly with your shoes!
You just need the round shape at the back panel, the rest of the indent can be square, no one will see it unless you crawl under one seat!

[jskibo]

Just put a deposit down on my revolution sim motorized throttle   Can't wait to see that at my door!

[Bob Reed]

Sorry John a little late but welcome and I look forward to watching your project grow! I hear that is a nice throttle.....

[jskibo]

So I know this isn't one of the normal short throw Projectors I see on the Cockpit sites (BenQ and Acer mostly), but I picked up this new Optoma GT720 http://www.optomausa.com/Product_detail.asp?productsubcat=27&productcategory=Game+Time&product_id=479&itemno=EPGT720 Seems decent, and its 1280 x 800 DLP (Dark Chip 3). Heck if it doesn't work I will let the kids play their PS3 on it

[bussgarfield]

Welcome to the site John.

Looks like you are much more advance than me on my 737, I have yet to join two pieces of wood together.

Thanks for the link to the projector. I will eventually be going down that route (funds permitting) so it would be interesting to hear how you get on with the Optoma. I see it also has 3D capability (with the 3D glasses).

As you have probably gathered already there is a wealth of experience here and they are a really friendly bunch.

Has anyone else considered the 3D aspect of visuals?

Gary

[Bob Reed]

Welcome to the site John.

Looks like you are much more advance than me on my 737, I have yet to join two pieces of wood together.

Thanks for the link to the projector. I will eventually be going down that route (funds permitting) so it would be interesting to hear how you get on with the Optoma. I see it also has 3D capability (with the 3D glasses).

As you have probably gathered already there is a wealth of experience here and they are a really friendly bunch.

Has anyone else considered the 3D aspect of visuals?

Gary

I think one of the deals with 3D is the software you are using must support it fot it to work right. Have you ever seen a 3D movie without the glasses on? It looks real bad! Not sure what they do but it appears they offset the convergance (?) to get the effect.

[jskibo]

Using the Nvidia 3D, you can "fake" 3D on most any game, however it has varying degrees of success depending on how the models were built in the game and such.  I've seen a few using a 3D monitor.  Some are really incredible, however others look like hell.  Not sure as to how FSX would look as it was something not set up.

I'll give it a test run after I get the PJ.  Not the reason I bought it, but it might be interesting for a little while (before the motion sickness sets in )

[jackpilot]

3D is made out of two images, taken from two lenses to mimic our human pair of eyes.
Each image is color coded (old system) or polarized (new system) so that when the appropriate filter is placed on one eye you cant see what is intended for the other eye and vice versa. hence the old glasses with one red and one green lenses or the new glasses with both eyes clear but polarized one vertically , the other one horizontally.
I do not think that you can have a proper 3D vision unless the images (filmed or computerized) are set for that originally.
Do you remember that Sublogic ATP had that feature with one pair of red/green glasses!!!. I still have them. The effect on approach at night was  stunning , the only drawback was that the image was fairly dark and that you had to see everything else around you with these bicolor lenses. .not really realistic. But it worked beautifully for the outside view. Now , with the polarized clear glasses, it would be no prob at all.

[jskibo]

3D is made out of two images, taken from two lenses to mimic our human pair of eyes.
Each image is color coded (old system) or polarized (new system) so that when the appropriate filter is placed on one eye you cant see what is intended for the other eye and vice versa. hence the old glasses with one red and one green lenses or the new glasses with both eyes clear but polarized one vertically , the other one horizontally.
I do not think that you can have a proper 3D vision unless the images (filmed or computerized) are set for that originally.
Do you remember that Sublogic ATP had that feature with one pair of red/green glasses!!!. I still have them. The effect on approach at night was  stunning , the only drawback was that the image was fairly dark and that you had to see everything else around you with these bicolor lenses. .not really realistic. But it worked beautifully for the outside view. Now , with the polarized clear glasses, it would be no prob at all.

You're right, however.....

http://www.nvidia.com/object/3D_Vision_Main.html  Nvidia has a way of doing it and this PJ is compatible
http://www.nvidia.com/object/3D_Vision_3D_Games.html   FSX is listed as Excellent results

Not the reason I bought it though.  Actually it was the cheapest short throw WXGA DLP PJ I could find with nice specs and a great price ($585 each off ebay, 2 new, 1 used 6 hours). 

So after looking at some amazing curved dispalys being done with SOL7 (NTHUSIM), I decided to buy the three and take over half the garage  

Plan is a 12ft diameter, 3840 x 800 display usng three PJ's and a triplehead2go.  Going to build a temp screen and support with PVC and drop cloth to test it out and get my setting correct before embarking on the final screen.  With the space I have, that should get me around 19ft of visuals.

[jskibo]

Quick update:

Got my CPFlight MCP, EFIS, and Transponder panels in (used from Holland).  All seem to work well. 

Big news, got a note from Revolution and my Throttle will ship on Monday.  Bought the low cost motorized one with backlighting option before the last price increase.  They said 10 weeks to build but it was more like 6 weeks.

Can't wait to try it!