Scott (and Rob's...) Chicago 737-300 Build

[727737Nut]

Looks great Scott!  This is going to be an over the top set-up!!!  Enjoy your vacation. 

Rob

[XOrionFE]

Time for a little update...

I took a trip over to Rob's house yesterday and we spent the day building up the synchro interfaces for my 732.  These are needed to drive many of the gauges and just one of the many items on my to do list that can be checked off thanks to Rob.  I am going to call Rob's sim 732-001 and mine 732-002.    While at Robs I spent a little time in 732-001 which is just incredible.   Did a takeoff and landing and otherwise just stared at all of the eye candy.  Oh and his 4k displays are unbelievable...

Lots of fun....back to the work on 732-002....

Right now I can say the structural changes/upgrades to my sim are complete.  The yokes and columns work perfect.   I put the FDS rudders back in place and began work on modifying my TQ to remove the Throttle lever motors which arent necessary on a -200 (they didnt have autothrottle).   The TQ set I then got to work on programming the first Teensy to handle the tq.   I am happy to say that as of this afternoon 732-002 is now flyable!

Below are some pics of Rob and I working on the Synchros for 732-002 and the fruits of our labor.

Scott

[727737Nut]

Those sure are some sexy mechanical interfaces you got there!  It was a fun day building.

[Bob Reed]

I just received my first Teensy's and I am loving them already. Already find myself hunting on the bay for some goodies to go with them! lol

[Ridgenj]

Guys,  if you don't stop posting about the 200 you run the
risk that I might end up joining the "200" club.  Anyhow I am down for the NG to a 600.
As David Allen keeps telling me,  another STC to be filled.... And we are good to go.
Keep the seminal work going and many thanks for sharing your journey.
Cheers
Luis

Sent from my SM-T700 using Tapatalk

[Bob Reed]

I have been thinking about a 500.... Kind of the best of both worlds. We will see I am early enough in my build that I could do it. Would have to find a lot of parts. We will see.

[727737Nut]

I have been thinking about a 500.... Kind of the best of both worlds. We will see I am early enough in my build that I could do it. Would have to find a lot of parts. We will see.

Bob,
You can do that with PM, I did, remember?  Use the 767 option in PM  Other then AP annunciation it is really close.

[Bob Reed]

I have been thinking about a 500.... Kind of the best of both worlds. We will see I am early enough in my build that I could do it. Would have to find a lot of parts. We will see.

Bob,
You can do that with PM, I did, remember?  Use the 767 option in PM  Other then AP annunciation it is really close.

I know and have a few analogs as well! I am thinking about it...

[Caflyt]

 Time and space .......
Two things I wish I had. 
Great work Rob and Scott and keep up the good work on yours too Bob !

I have been swamped in my business lately and between that, three kids, and a great wife I'm sorely lacking in the time department. Looking forward to making more progress soon. Love to see others getting things done.  Please keep adding pictures!!

Craig

[geremy britton]

Scott - Brilliant work. Credit to you!
Are you interfacing all the guages?

[XOrionFE]

Thank you Geremy.  All real gauges will be interfaced and the credit for thst goes entirely to Rob and a few other unsung heroes out there.   I am just fortunate to have these folks as fellow builders willing to help.  Everyone here adds something to this project and I could not do it without everyone else.   Here is a little video I took while Rob was modifying a servoed altimeter of mine.

Best regards,
Scott

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb9fEGeZwp8

[XOrionFE]

I have been on a slow boat this spring with my build but making a little progress here and there.    I finished reintegrating my real TQ and rewiring / programming direct to x-plane via the teensy's and some custom breakout boards that rob designed.

I also just had a custom mounting plate made for my glareshield to house the flight director and autopilot modules.  Below are some pics of how it turned out.

Scott

[navymustang]

Impressive. How much of your cockpit is functional ?
Jim

[jackpilot]

Envious...

[XOrionFE]

Impressive. How much of your cockpit is functional ?
Jim

At the moment, not much.  All of the flight controls are working so in that regard it is flyable.   I have spent most of this last year just refitting and collecting all I need including not only all the real guages and panels but also the proper powerr supplies, teensy cards, synchros, steppers and other items needed to put all together.   Much of the work has been structural including raising the floor, putting in the real columns and yokes, cutting open the top of the FDS shell to accomdate the real overhead panel modules, and redoing my seat rails with custom parts from another member here on CB.

But that said, it was a ton of work and I have a ton to go.   The great part now is that I am just about done with all the structural stuff, power, etc and now the real fun begins on wiring all the gauges in order of priority for flight.  Rob has done all of the hard work in terms of figuring out the interfacing and writing the teensy sketches.   I just have to wire and make slight mods to his sketches for my input and output numbering.   A lot to do but the hard part is really done....just busy work.

[XOrionFE]

More progress...

For my overhead I have a real frame and all real panels.   The frame however is from a classic and therefor has a different lower light panel than the -200 mainly noticeable in the way the start switches are implemented.   I have a reall -200 panel and also real Cole start switches.  The start switches are also from a classic or new model.  In order to make life simple I have opted to use the newer lower panel setup rather than staying completely true to the -200.  That said, I needed a lower panel light plate because the one I have is for the -200 and doesnt match to my frame or start switches.

FDS came through for me supplying a lower light plate panel that with a few mods to the frame and the panel work out perfect (see picturea below).  You can see how accurate the FDS panel is as even all the screw holes match up perfectly to the real frame!  I also know from persoanl experience that the backlighting of their panels is exactly the same looking as the real deal and also a perfect match.  Thank you Peter Cos!  You guys are the best in the business hands down and great friends to this community of builders.

Thanks all for following,
Scott

[Bob Reed]

Looking good Scott. Going to be nice to see her get in the air!

[XOrionFE]

Thanks Bob

Pedestal back in today also

[XOrionFE]

Well, here comes some big news.    I am officially tabling this project and reversing course back to an NG.  I know many will see me as crazy but actually I am not.  I have many good reasons for this and will lay some of them out here.   I am really torn actually between the two to the point that I called over a very good friend on Monday night who is also a fellow CB member, CPJ aka FirstInFlight.    CP and I basically conducted sort of a SWOT analysis of the two options trying to remain as objective as possible and the NG build (or going back to the NG if you will..won the debate hands down).  Granted, there are many opinions mixed into our results but they are informed and based on great experience.

So what sparked this?    I had started working on my -200 again as summer is slowly coming to a close and while doing so I started messing with networked X-Plane and doing some flying again.   There has always been an issue with weather and syncing of clouds in X-Plane that have been driving me nuts and Iwas hoping Skymaxx would resolve it.   Well, no luck.  Cloud syncing is horrible on networked visuals.  i tried multiview with immersive desktop pro and while that resolves the cloud sync issues performance was just not good enough due to the massive amount card has to process with 3 views.  i could only run two views with the demo and that was bad enough even using a GTX 1080 card.   In other words, not a good solution.     Then I asked a friend (someone well known in our community and an x-plane guru what he was doing...).  He said that he had switched to P3D v3 and it was incredible.   What?   I had to see what he was talking about so I bought a copy and installed it...native.   Setup a typical 4 view setup with three screens in surround on one computer and WOW.  I was amazed at how good this thing looks and performs off one pc!   And using my older 780 card no less.   Not only that but weather syncing, water, seasons, and last but not least, testing the latest Prosim flight model on it just blew me away.

Now back to the -200.   I am not a genious when it comes to hooking up the real parts to our sims.  That genious comes from other pioneers like Rob and others who I wont name but are out there.  Without them and their efforts and help there is no way I would have ever even tried to tackle the -200.  rob has been awesome and I owe him a debt of gratitude for all his help.   But alas, I like to truly understand and be able to handle the building myself and have had a really rough time wrapping my head around this project as it is truly massive.  I dont understand electrical safety principles enough to feel safe in working with some of the foreign to me power like 400hz and such.   Electronics is also not my strong suit.   I can understand how to interface using products like OpenCockpits or FDS as well as Phidgets mainly because the hard work has been done by the software folks (ie. Tekworx, Prosim, Sim-A, etc).   Working with real parts, synchros, pwm, steppers, etc is much more foriegn and has a learning curve to it).  I simply dont have the right amount of time to commit to it.    I am however very comfortable with using Prosim, Interfacit, etc so felt in our SWOT that It was much wiser to go with what I personally understand well and can troubleshoot when something goes wrong.  Finally, if I am going to spend large amounts of time building I want to really love the end result and that includes the sim environment I fly in.   The weather must look great. The water should look great.  I should have seasons.   I should have a wrapping view and immersion without compromising performance and frame rates.   I should be able to run my visuals on one pc rather than 3 or 5.   Afterall I am spending tons of money and time...

The real gauges of the -200 cannot be beat or compared to. They are awesome.  If you ever get to see Rob's sim in person and in operation it is awe-inspiring.   You will leave like Indid with a sense of "I have to have that".   But unfortunately I also want the new found awesomeness I just experienced in P3D (bet some of you would never expect me to say x-plane has been beaten but I will...go ahead and flame me) and I cannot see a way or better to say I dont know how to get my -200 gauges to work in P3D like I could with Rob's help in XP.  So i go back to what I know best...the NG and Prosim.   These two are an awesome combination that is frankly hard to beat for me personally.

So the -200 may go for sale.   I can tell you thatbwhat I have would be verybdifficult tonpu together today and I dont intend to let it go cheaply.  The right buyer will understand.

For now, I am starting a new direction and will post new pictures in another thread.  The NG will still have a real overhead with real panels for the most part.  I intend to use the real Korrys at 28 vdc in all their glory.   I may compromise with the meters and use the old school ones.   The -200 mip will be used but with an NG face.  I intend to use my real -300 glare but remake it into an NG using the authentic 6paks and Master Caution/Fire warning indicator switches.   So some old some new.  The rest of the cockpit doesnt change.

Well, thats all for now.   If anyone has serious interest in building a -200 and wants a complete setup to get started send me a message.  Be prepared to cough up some dough but it will be worth it if you really want to pursue as I have pretty much evry gauge and panel neccessary.  I also have the ever important and ellusive 400hz 500 watt power supply required for this beast.  You wont find one anywhere.

Best regards,
Scott

[Ridgenj]

Dear Scott, looks like an incredible decision but guess what, you are not alone.
Had a similar issue with xplane and decided to go back to P3D Prof.Plus and on top Peter Co's delivered the new FDS Internet radios and ProSim737 is the appropriate software for me.
Interesting enough,  I had a long  conversation with one of the guru's of our hobby, David Allen and he convince me to use FDS plus all my original Korry's and switches. BTW, he is interested in building a 200.
So, it is not unusual to switch plans, in particular, if you want to fly in this lifetime.
Cheers
Luis

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

[XOrionFE]

Thank you Luis

[jackpilot]

Sh...was such a good reason to fly-in!
But I can understand the facts

My sim is now  inop as I prepare for a major overhaul too
Leaving dear old PM /fs9/XP on 5 PCs for a more up to date setup with the latest MCP/CDU hardware
With a bit of apprehension as I feel I could "repair" any glitch with my old setup and having to adapt to new softs and realities...
Anyway all the way with you whatever you build

Jack

[XOrionFE]

Sh...was such a good reason to fly-in!
But I can understand the facts

My sim is now  inop as I prepare for a major overhaul too
Leaving dear old PM /fs9/XP on 5 PCs for a more up to date setup with the latest MCP/CDU hardware
With a bit of apprehension as I feel I could "repair" any glitch with my old setup and having to adapt to new softs and realities...
Anyway all the way with you whatever you build

Jack

Thank you Jack.  You are the quintessiantial fs9 holdout.  You really got mre mileage out of a platform than anyone in its history.  Bravo.  Nice to see you are still at it and going to upgrade.  When done I wish to visit.  Long overdue!

Best regards,
Scott

[sagrada737]

Hi Scott,

That surely is a major decision - especially after all the hard work you did sourcing the -200 parts and putting together that beautiful flight deck.   But as they say...  "The last 10% of the project is 90% of the work."   This certainly holds true for a lot of things - Sim construction as well.

From what you described, you have done your best to sort out the issues.  It takes a wise man to discern when to call a halt to a project, re-asses things, and move on.  Your decision to go with ProSim and P3D sounds like a good one, since you are able to quickly get these systems up and running quickly.   Even though you have sold a lot of your previous gear, you are going to have a great deal of fun putting together a new system that will no doubt out perform your previous Sim efforts.

Best wishes on the new project.  It's going to be fun to see your progress develop.  We are all rooting for you.

Mike

[Bob Reed]

Scott, I know how you feel. I too switched back from X-Plane, not by choice. I can not find a 737 you can remove the stock autopilot from. When I would try and use PM the APs would fight for control of the aircraft and you would crash. I fought with it and fought with it. I switched back to FSX and was in the air and flying in less then a couple hours. So I left XP behind reluctantly. Anyway good luck with your new build....