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

[sagrada737]

Hi Scott,

Great work on your system wiring!  We can all be inspired by your expertise.  The cockpit photo is quite impressive.   Looking forward to flying your Sim someday soon.  Keep up the good work!

If possible...   Post some detailed photo closeups of your MIP and other cockpit details.  Thanks.

Mike

[XOrionFE]

I have created a walk-through video of the cockpit in its current state that shows a lot of the details.   

Enjoy

Scott

https://youtu.be/v2Vx_mZJjUo

[B747-400]

Excellent, Scott!

Thanks for giving us an in-depth view of your sim!   
Keep up your great work!

Cheers
Hans

[kurt-olsson]

Thanks for the video!!!

[sagrada737]

Hi Scott,

That's a wonderful video, and you have done a great job of showing the detail of your Sim setup.  Your attention to detail with respect to interfacing the various systems is admirable.  Congratulations on the  clean wiring job.   Looking forward to seeing your project in person.

Mike

[kurt-olsson]

Where canbi buy those awesome power buses? The one hou use with plastic cover.

[Trevor Hale]

Great video Scott.

Found myself watching this today at lunch and I was glued to the monitor. Nicely Done.

I love your tv screens. And the fact you can move them out of the way is even better for working on the project.

Awesome.

[XOrionFE]

Great video Scott.

Found myself watching this today at lunch and I was glued to the monitor. Nicely Done.

I love your tv screens. And the fact you can move them out of the way is even better for working on the project.

Awesome.

Thank you Trevor.   They work out nice for my space though I would love to see one of Nat's projection setups....on second thought maybe better I dont....might cause me to tear out my ceiling next...lol

Glad you like the video

[XOrionFE]

Where canbi buy those awesome power buses? The one hou use with plastic cover.

Just google "Blue Sea Busbar" and you will see a bunch of sources of them.    They are not cheap but I think worth it.   Very nice.

[Nat Crea]

I would love to see one of Nat's projection setups....on second thought maybe better I dont....might cause me to tear out my ceiling next...lol

You should send me your room dimensions just to make sure its not possible

Nat

[FredK]

Scott

Very impressive for sure.  It is amazing what you have accomplished within what looks like a constrained space area!

Thanks for posting the very informative video!

Fred K

[XOrionFE]

@ Nat and Fred

The room footprint for the shell and rack  portion is 12ft (3.65m) by 14ft (4.26m).   There is about another 6ft on the front side of the rack for walking around and to access another storage closet.    The shell is sitting with the front to back in the 12 ft space so basically sideways in the room which allows the power rack and computers to be on the side and closer to the nose.    I used to have a 12ft diameter curved screen with 3 projectors and they fit fine but barely due to room height.   The ceiling for the most part is 89"(226cm) but there is a soffit for the heating ductwork that is in the way and only 80"(203cm) of height under it.   My old projectors had the lenses just under that soffit and the image only had like a 2 inch drop from center of lenses so barely worked fr a 210 degree wrap around setup with image height of 48in(221cm).   

Problem now is that I had to raise the floor to fit the yokes and I am 10 cm higher then it used to be.

What I need is mini projectors!

[Nat Crea]

Yep ceiling is a killer...maybe projectors that have x-ray vision?!

Nat

[kurt-olsson]

Hows it going? Are you working on some gauges or switches?

[XOrionFE]

Hi Kurt,

The -200 project is on hold...

I am not happy with X-Plane 11 and was hoping for a much better new version than what I am seeing.   On the other hand, Prepar3d with AS16, REX, and ORBX is the bomb.    There is almost no way to build a -200 in Prepar3d without a lot of programming requiements being developed.  I looked at the Milvis -200 and was not impressed.   Capt Sim is also a bust as far as I am concerned.   To continue the -200 really requires X-Plane as the base.     So for now I am shelving the -200 and switching back to an NG running on Prepar3d for my main ride.   Once that is complete I may continue working on the -200 mip and gauges as a side project with X-Plane when XP11 is much more further developed.

A new FDS MIP has been ordered and right now I am running using the -200 mip with NG front panels.   Actually completed a full flight from KABQ to KDEN last night on pilot edge with fellow builder CP (aka FirstInFlight).   We had a blast.   

Scott

[kurt-olsson]

Cool. Great to hear an update from you, really nice to run two sims.   I am also "in the middle" due to addons. I know that i want to use x-plane and wish that the ixeg 737 was a 800, then it would be my final setup. But i am using x737 untill pmdg comes along.

Happy flying!

[XOrionFE]

Been a while so thought I would update.    Looks like I will end up with two sims.   Its the only way I will ultimately be happy.  My FDS mip will come in April.  As I await it I continue to work on my 732.   But I have some news in that front.   I decided to upgrade my computer's motherboard, cpu, and memory to see if I could get more frames out of XP11 and the investment paid off.  With an i7700, 32 gig DDR4 memory, SSDs and the 1080 gtx card I am able to get very good results running all 3 60" screens at 1080 with 3 view points (which is essentlially like running three instances of XP on one machine.    With that working and combining with the use of ortho scenery X-Plane is really looking and flying fantastic now.

So, with al the electrical bus planning and work wiring behind me it makes the most sense to complete the -200 right where it is at in my FDS shell.    I will likely setup my FDS Mip and Prosim as a separate sim all together.

The -200 is coming along.   With the help of Rob and another friend I have the TQ all programmed using Teensy.   In addition, my APU panel and the "T" on the overhead are complete as well as the landing gear panel.   Next is the Bleed air panel which I will tackle next weekend.

Some more pics

[Bob Reed]

Looks great Scott. With the help of Trevor I have started messing with Arduino. We will see where that leads..  lol

[kurt-olsson]

Thanks for the update!

I will also interface the bleed panel in short period of time.

[Nat Crea]

Freaking awesome Scott!

Nat

[XOrionFE]

Been a while since I posted any updates.  Well the latest news is that I have made a change and decided to build the -300 instead of the -200.    The IXEG is a phenominal aircraft model and well, I have come to start liking the idea of striking the perfect balanace between the old and the new.   I still get my steam gauges and that old school feel along with OEM ambiance but at the same time modern amenities like a working FMS and if wanted, full vnav, lnav with autothrottle.   Finally, since Rob has much the same (almost sister ships...) I can leverage his code much easier without having to convert all the datarefs.

So here is a picture or two of the current flightdeck.  Engine gauges will be working very soon and will post a video when done.

Many thanks to the following contributors for their assistance in making this latest change possible:  Jorg (Yoda), Rob, SBD3Dauntless (for supplying the magic pri eng  panel..), and Phil for the -300 pedestal.   Also would like to thank all the other forum members who helped in looking for the panel and pedestal I needed including Jack, Steve Cos, and Jim. 

Best,
Scott

[navymustang]

Fabulous looking flight deck. Much more intimidating than modern day NGs.   

[Fcoq]

What a beautiful cockpit!!

Franck

[XOrionFE]

Thank you all.

Here are some pics of the primary engine display panel wiring and interface.   The red board you see is a custom breakout board Rob designed for the Teensies.   There is a ULN2803 circuit installed (board can accomodate 2) that essentially acts the same as having 8 relays for the korries.  Same concept and chipset I believe as the Opencockpits Outputs card.   The daughterboard you see pictured is for adding some caps and resistors inline for the N1 & N2 guages to " trick" them into working (dont ask me...this is where Rob's circuit genious comes in).

Enjoy

Scott

[B747-400]

Hi Scott,

great flightdeck, good job! 

How did you fix the cables in the cannon plugs? Or is the cable diameter fixing itself?

Cheers
Hans