My Hangar

[tennyson]

I'm a lucky man.

I have a great gal, who supports nearly everything I do, so when we were looking for a house to live in, a few years back, I wanted one with enough room for my sim.

The house we bought has three bedrooms, with ensuites, a spacious open living and dining room, double lock up garage and a breezeway!

The breezeway was the size of a bedroom, only, attached between the house and the garage. Absolutely perfect for the cockpit!

So, only a month after moving in, I had my mates down from the coast, helping me build in the ends and turn this room into my dream.

That was over two years ago.

The Sim Room has a 6 foot slider for entry and a 1 metre by 3.6 metre foyer area.
I have just finished tiling it and it has a nice full wall graphic that I had installed with my Airline and Route Info. I have a laptop hooked up in the corner and it's attached to a 40" monitor. I play the Intro movie when guests come over for a fly, before entering the flight deck.



















So, I'm on the home straight now. I am currently finishing off my overheads. just spent the past few days installing all the power supply, power distribution box, usb, 240 volt outlet in the roof cavity.
Still have a bit of testing to go on the forward overhead, but it should be all wrapped up and installed in the next few weeks.

I got 32 flights set up, for my friends, over the Xmas break, so I can't be late.

It's been a fabulous build and a ball breaking, money pit, but I've loved every minute of it.

Now, I can almost smell the rewards of all my toil!



Frank Cooper

[Trevor Hale]

Wow Frank, that is amazing..  Love the idea of your setup.  Nicely done..

Quick Question..  Is that you or your mate that is a dead ringer for Hugh Jackman (Wolverine)?  LOL

Regardless of our struggles, you know as well as I do, that Working on these simulators is our happy place.

Trev

[tennyson]

Thanx Trev.
Wolverine is the installer for the Company that I got the graphic produced from.

Those guys really knew their stuff and I designed the graphic, had it printed and installed for 700 bucks. It's 3.6 metres high and 3 metres wide.

The helper of Wolverine actually owns the Company. Pretty good service, huh?


Frank Cooper

[Trevor Hale]

Lol yes that is excellent service. The graphic didn't look that big but that's awesome.

One of these days I need to visit your area and check that out first hand.

Nice hanger though.

[navymustang]

Frank - excellent work.  We are all envious of how far you are with your project.  AND yes - you are so right about having a partner that is supportive, or at least tolerant, of our hangars we build at home.

When I first started mine, she would make me put up a white board of all I spent, with a running total. I resolved that by offering her to take a year long sabbatical from her work and I would pay for whatever she wanted to do. She attended French cooking school for a year.  So now I can take down the white board and exercise more with all the good eating.  Seems like my mate and I found a win-win situation. 

[tennyson]

That's a great story, mate and so very apt.

We do tend to forget that our partners are the very patient and loving ones that put up with our obsessions day in and day out.

My wife has a genuine interest in my project and was there on many of my first flights.

What is even more remarkable is, she is an accountant, a very methodical and regimented (money wise) person.
So, pulling the wool over her eyes was no easy feat. She pretty much knows now, how much has been sunk into my dream, (we joke about the holiday home in the garage) but has told me on many occasions that it is my passion and keeps me off the streets and at home.

I love flying and have done the odd mile or two over my lifetime, so if it wasn't this, then it would have been the real thing, so she figures flying at home is a whole lot safer.

Hats off to all of our wonderful, patient partners who indulge us in our dreams....

[blueskydriver]

Hey Frank,

Just going back and looking at your post, you have an awesome hangar going there. I think my wife and your wife should meet, as they both do the same thing in life...accountant. It's a blessing because mine keeps me within my means and the black ink, and without her none of my simulation pusuits would be possible.

Kudos too all those special folks in our liives,

John

[navymustang]

Frank - your layout is so similar to what I am doing.  What projectors are you using?
Thanks,
Jim

[tennyson]

Sorry, Jim, missed your question, there, mate.

The projectors are a few years old now. I bought them off Nat. They are the Sisy one's from China, short throw, high def.

Here's a few vids, taken over the last few days after months of software upgrades.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNbf7FOR6GU

And one from today....still working on my alignment. Not easy with three separate PC's and projectors.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKbVQ956whA


Frank

[Sam Llorca]

I don't feel so bad now, and you shouldn't  feel so bad either Frank because you got company, I got bitten also with the Sisy ones from China too, can't even read the remote. Pretty expensive too for a China product.

[tennyson]

Sam,
Mine have been pretty good, only had one issue with one projector, but it's running ok at the moment.
My main issues were with software. Getting Fly-Elise and Windows and P3D V3.1 to all play together has been a real chore, but I'm almost there now.

Old mate Nat looked after me when I first bought them, so no complaints there, either.

When they are all set up, as I had them before, I've not seen a better projection from a home set up yet.


Frank

[Sam Llorca]

He took care of me too, no complaints there either, I was just shocked to see it was Chinesse units when I open the box for the price.

Cheers,

[tennyson]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZMCL6SditM


Frank

[tennyson]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_Uham5vfLw

[tennyson]

Thought I'd put a little update in here, as I promised Scott to keep him up to date with his overhead.

I had an overhead, all finished and fully wired. It was a simworld overhead with the wonderful simworld gauges and canbus technology.

My whole sim comprises FDS units, so the overhead was the odd one out.

However, a few months back, I saw Scott was selling his 737 FDS overhead panels and I jumped at them.

I have a good mate in New Zealand, who is also building a great sim, as well, so I offered him my simworld overhead and he bought it off me.

It was all packaged up and sent off to him and he received it from Oz in 2 days! now how's that guys, ever heard of international shipping in 2 days??

Anyway, I have been busy on the FDS panels and I bought another set of simworld gauges, of course, to go in the overhead. Unfortunately our dollar is weak and I paid a lot more for the second set of gauges......hmmm

So, I received the gauges a few weeks back and they are all nicely installed, so I got to and wired up all the FDS annunciators to my new FDS Sys1-XT card...piece of cake with the new connectors.
I also had an FDS overhead mounting kit that I'd bought a few years back, so I put that to good use.

Today, I removed all the panels and test fitted the frame, using the FDS mounting kit, to the shell. It is brilliant.

I now have forward and rear FDS overheads, with the brilliant IBL lighting and the panel can be accessed if anything needs fixing.

So, it's a big thanx to Cockpitbuilders for their for sale forum and another big thanx to Scott for selling me the great panels.
Here's some pics :

[Flying_Fox]

Looks nice Frank!

My FDS overhead was from previous generation - without DZUS fasteners and I had to kind of vandalize FDS mounting kit,  since my AFT overhead had to open the other way.

[tennyson]

Yeah, my rear is a mish-mash, but I managed to pick up a set of FDS panels for a pittance, so I was stoked.

There really isn't much in the rear overhead, but I do have a nice Ruscool IRS unit installed, so it will be nice to see that fire up and come to life.

I also bought a full triple intercom system from John at Ruscool, as well. John is a swell guy to deal with, no problem too big.

We certainly have some great people selling us gear, at the moment.

Frank

[XOrionFE]

Looking great Frank and I am so happy they found a home with a fellow CB Member.   It was a tough decision to sell these and give them up but my mind was fixed on the -200 and going down the path Rob did so I had to make a choice.   Now I will get to enjoy them still through your build and photos.  Thank you again for buying and please post some videos when completed.

Best regards,
Scott

[tennyson]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG0ut_wAees

[tennyson]

Both my rear overhead and forward overheads are now all but finished and all I'm waiting for now, is two FDS IBL dimmer slave cards, one for my forward and one for my rear.

I have trial fitted my rear overhead and it's sitting in the sim at the moment, but I'll have to pull it back out to mount the card when it arrives.

I must say that I vastly underestimated the monumental effort needed to fit and solder all the cables and necessary wiring to make these units operational.
I hoped to be real clean and tidy with my forward, but ended up just being happy at finishing it.

I finally hooked up my FDS Sys card a little while ago and tested all my switches and annunciators.
Switches were 100%, but I have several annunciators not lighting up, so I'll be chasing those tomorrow and fixing them prior to installation.

I'm really exhausted after all the wiring and fitting. I feel like I need a little rest, but I have some new GTX 1080's coming for my three IG's tomorrow, so I'll need to perk up and get those babies in and check them out!


Frank

[tennyson]

This one is dedicated to you, Scott!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxmlsigW9cE

Frank Cooper

[tennyson]

Oh, and I forgot to say before, thanx to you guys here at Cockpit Builders, whom I have been watching at Worldflight for the last few years, I'm trying to Contact Matt Sheils and enter the sim in Worldflight Australia this year.

I'm already preparing the sim, with all the necessary scenery software, thanx to you guys releasing the routes last week.

My great friend Richard Jellyman and his son Brody will be flying (really, not simulation) to my place for the week and they will share piloting duties, alongside a very long list of my best friends, who are all excited about being involved and raising money for Charity.

We hope to have live streaming for the event and look forward to being part of this great event that you guys have been involving people in for many years.

So, see you all in the skies in November!!



Frank

[Bob Reed]

quote author=tennyson link=topic=5291.msg42108#msg42108 date=1468676641]
Oh, and I forgot to say before, thanx to you guys here at Cockpit Builders, whom I have been watching at Worldflight for the last few years, I'm trying to Contact Matt Sheils and enter the sim in Worldflight Australia this year.

I'm already preparing the sim, with all the necessary scenery software, thanx to you guys releasing the routes last week.

My great friend Richard Jellyman and his son Brody will be flying (really, not simulation) to my place for the week and they will share piloting duties, alongside a very long list of my best friends, who are all excited about being involved and raising money for Charity.

We hope to have live streaming for the event and look forward to being part of this great event that you guys have been involving people in for many years.

So, see you all in the skies in November!!



Frank
[/quote]

Frank PM me.... I will put you in contact with Scanno, he is the one you need to talk to.

[tennyson]

Finally got my roof panels all in today, after struggling to get some time on the sim for a while.

I had a great, productive day. I had taken my pedal set out to replace the pots with bodnar 1,000,000 cycle pots and finally re-installed them today.
While I was around the front of the sim, I tidied up my wiring and cable-tied everything again.

Then I extended the wiring for my eyebrow lighting to the distribution box I have in my roof. After that, I was able to re-fit the panels in the roof.

It looks like a real aircraft flight deck now, without wires hanging out everywhere.....hahaha

I'm currently upgrading all the SSD's on my three visual PC's for Worldflight in November. I have FS Global 2010, FTX Global, FTX Vector and the Open LC USA and Europe software loaded. As well, I have a bunch of Airports that we'll be visiting along the way, so my generous FO's will feel like they are getting their Donation's worth...

Can't wait till November now...


Frank

[navymustang]

I see the copilot seat is equipped with an ejection handle - that's cool 

Sorry for the humor - your sim looks really great!