The "New" guy in town

[JSchibelli]

Hello Everyone,

I Just wanted to introduce myself, My name is John and wanted to share my project with everyone.

I have always dreamed about flying ever since I was a little boy but recently decided to make my dream come true. I thought long and hard and decided to build a 737-800 scale 1:1 home cockpit as a way to prove to myself and show my son that you can do whatever you want as long as you put your mind to it, regardless of the challenge.

Recently, he was diagnosed with a rare and non-curable form of Muscular Dystrophy so this project is super special and has great meaning. I look forward to sharing progress and also have a blog for progress and resources if anyone needs anything.

Nice to meet everyone!

[Trevor Hale]

Hi John,

Welcome to the group.  That is exactly what the forum is for, create a thread and show your progress, making memories for you and your son and the rest of the world to see.

Feel free to ask for advice along the way, and I wish you the best of luck with your project.  It will be very good to work with your son on it.

Trev

[JSchibelli]

Thank You Trev,

I look forward to sharing and getting feedback on my progress during the build. There is so much to learn and this is a remarkable meeting ground to get some great idea's. I started a blog in hopes to shed some light on the thought process and sharing of my resources. It's www.schibelli.com.

John

[XOrionFE]

Welcome John,

From reading your blog it sounds like your doing your research.   Your budget I think is reasonable if you want to build a number of items such as the shell and if you can get some good deals over time.  I think you will really enjoy this endeavor If you are patient and persistent.   It will be great for you and your son.  If you can find time for a road trip to Chicago you and your son are welcome.  You didn't mention how old he is but I have 7 yr old triplets.   2 daughters and a son.    Anyway, welcome aboard and we'll try to be as helpful as we can.

Best regards,
Scott

[MLeavy737]

John,
   Welcome to the club! Sounds like your starting a great project for great reasons! Too bad im not up in LI,NY anymore with a working sim to give you some pointers.  Down in TX now.

  If i could give you some good advice i think it would be to go take a drive to Scotts (XOrionFE).  There nothing like seeing one of the best sims in the business here to give you ideas and  ask some questions. Also Scott is a great guy with alot of knowledge!

Mike L

[Bob Reed]

I love your Blog layout. Nice job! My advice? Be ready and willing to compromise! Remember the idea is to "simulate" the flying experience. People get hung up on the simplest of things. An example, Color of the panels.  Have you ever looked into a working cockpit as you where boarding a plane? What you see in there for some of us builders would be shocking. Hand touched up panels, even panels of completely different colors! A Brown panel in a 737?? Yup I have seen it. That is just one example. My other suggestion is set up a desktop rig so you can fly. Remember the reason to do this is to fly. Sometimes we forget that and get lost in the building side.

[MLeavy737]

Like Bob said, don't go all that crazy in the details, paint color, perfection etc. because here is what is in the real ones most of the time!
And I can tell you that when your flying them the last thing you notice is a different color bezel or a scratch

Mike L

[Joe Lavery]

Hey Mike, it looks like that Plane's falling apart... 

Welcome back by the way and welcome to you John, you'll find a wealth of knowledge here and most are only to willing to help. I leaned heavily on these guys (and gals) when I started out.

Regards
Joe.

[JSchibelli]

Welcome John,

From reading your blog it sounds like your doing your research.   Your budget I think is reasonable if you want to build a number of items such as the shell and if you can get some good deals over time.  I think you will really enjoy this endeavor If you are patient and persistent.   It will be great for you and your son.  If you can find time for a road trip to Chicago you and your son are welcome.  You didn't mention how old he is but I have 7 yr old triplets.   2 daughters and a son.    Anyway, welcome aboard and we'll try to be as helpful as we can.

Best regards,
Scott

Scott,

Thank you for the great offer. My son just turned 8 yrs old two weeks ago. The offer is extended back at you the next time you are in the New York City area. What I am shooting for is a fully enclosed shell, and I'm trying to determine how to build the support flooring and locating good dimensions for that. It's being built in the garage but I will be moving it to a dedicated flight room in the house, so it's going to have to be modular. Any thoughts?

John
Also, lets keep in touch, you can email me any time

[JSchibelli]

Scott,

Just found out we'll be flying into Chicago most likely next week..but it will be a very short stay I'll PM you but not sure if we can make it happen this trip to see the sim. I'll PM you with some contact info and maybe get the kids together or point us in a good direction for a night in Chicago.

John

Who knows, Maybe Mike will fly us there LOL