King Air 350 - Dimensions and Panel Question

[RPPerry3]

I'm building a KA 350 cockpit based on XP11 AirFoilLabs 350. Any Panel dimensions or instrument measurements you are willing to share are greatly appreciated!

Bonus Question...
Can anyone tell me what these 2 areas I've highlighted are and the buttons/annunciators there?  I'd appreciate it!

[RayS]

The upper row of buttons looks like the mode select controls for the pilot's ND.

I'm not sure what the center lower buttons are for.

This is interesting because there are so many configurations for the 350. When I first started on the B1900D I was struck by the vast number of customizations on the MIP.

In retrospect it was a good choice because I could do whatever I want and still be considered authentic to the 1900.

[navymustang]

As Ray hinted at - I would recommend that you pick a panel configuration that fits your budget and your technical skills. I've built two King Air sims for customers and the panel layouts were dramatically different. I would truly consider a glass cockpit rather than steam gauges since that technology will keep your sim looking current for years to come. And, as new software comes out, it makes it easy to update your sim and keep it fresh and current.

However, I do love the old steam gauges.

[RPPerry3]

As Ray hinted at - I would recommend that you pick a panel configuration that fits your budget and your technical skills. I've built two King Air sims for customers and the panel layouts were dramatically different. I would truly consider a glass cockpit rather than steam gauges since that technology will keep your sim looking current for years to come. And, as new software comes out, it makes it easy to update your sim and keep it fresh and current.

However, I do love the old steam gauges.

Technical skills I have, but experience in cockpit building.. i guess we'll find out.  I've designed and built a few large CNC routers which have made parts for actual gliders and Exp Aircraft. To support your comments though, the more I'm working the more I think going simple where I can is a good idea.  Aesthetically, having a layered panel and pronounced 3-D bezels and instrument details along with all the actual Beechcraft safety and advisory placards and texts around the various panels and instruments will give me an amazing sense of immersion I'm going for.    The plan is to use AirManager (already playing around with datarefs and the datareftool for XP11 (with the AFL KA 350).  Captains Instrument and all but the Oil  pressure/temp gauges will be on a 24" monitor behind panel, FO side will be on 19" , and I have a 10" touch with 1:1 GTN750 for the central NAV. The rest I'm making as dedicated instruments (Collins NAV, COM, ATC).  The only non monitor ran instruments will be the ALT preselect, radios, Fuel, and Oil Instruments.  Simple enough with SimVim, but since switching over to AirManager this has become a lot more work.  Not sure if someone already has most of the LUA scripting done for the AFL KA350, if so I hope I find it.

CHeers

[ame]

I started building a version of the Collins radio panels:

https://www.cockpitbuilders.com/index.php?topic=7761.msg55676#msg55676

I'd be happy to share what I have, but it's currently, er, stalled.

[Joe Lavery]

The plan is to use AirManager (already playing around with datarefs and the datareftool for XP11 (with the AFL KA 350). 

Paul,

I just finished a series of articles for the mag using Air Manager, you can use it for more than just the instruments. In addition it comes with over 1000 different gauges etc.

Cheers
Joe.

[RPPerry3]

Life, time (or lack there of), money and health have all made pursuing a homebrew cockpit sim a distant reality and I'm just now finding a balance where I have all of them to at least begin materializing the dream. 

While I prefer X-Plane 12 for flight sim, it looks like MSFS 2024 is better optimized for a smoother experience and less expensive hardware for triple 65" screens, and the visuals are hard to beat.  I have enjoyed a few hundred hours in the Blacksquare KA350 but the AFL 350 in XP12 is very fun to fly and feels a little more "lively".  It's funny how now that I'm actively printing bezels and laying out the cockpit footprint on the garage floor that I'm torn on a which SIM to build hardware for. 

[jackpilot]

Good Morning,
I heard very good comments about XPlane.

One of the major difference with FS is that Xplane resides on your computer not on MS servers. Which means that  you are master on board !
If operated at full potential FS needs to be connected to the internet, and each and every mandatory update brings its own issues.
All depends on your priorities.

PS: I am using P3D and 100% happy with it.