b737ng cockpit

I got the stuff from OpenCockpits in Spain. They delivered within a week to the Netherlands.
I ordered the 7-segment Displays (the yellowamber ones) some PCB’s and a front panel for the MCP.
It should become something like on the picture to the right.
I used a large experiment PCB to connect all the pushbuttons and switches.
All the back-lite LEDs will be mounted on it also. And the 7 segment PCBs.

This is how mine looks at the moment.
It looks nicer because I mounted the nuts for the switches between the acryl- and front panel. So they become invisible.

Below are some more pictures of the panel. And the Heading selector switch.
I did some extra work here by drilling a  hole through the 4 pos. rotary switch and mount a rotary encoder behind it. This way the resolution of the heading selection is adjustable.

I bought a MCP panel in Spain, (www.opencockpits.com)
Because this panel is quite long > 20 cm So it wont fit on my CNC machine.
And this is a nice example for me to see how they did it.
Ordered some experiment PCB to fit all switches and stuff.

I’ll be adding some pictures soon.

I’ve chosen the electronics hardware from OpenCockpits. These are spanish flight simulator enthusiasts that have now a complete range of electronic boards and cockpit panels for sale. I ordered some boards for my Nr 1 cockpit. And have connected them to the x-plane simulator. I can lower the HUD (Head Up Display) with a real switch and can see the up/down status of the HUD on a LED. Both connected to a IOcards Master card that is connected via a USB expansion card to my flight PC. See the video: HUD video

Cool huh!?

I’ve been busy, a while ago, trying to make an impression of my new version #2 cockpit.
I’ve searched for a proper 3D cad program to draw the cockpit. And I stumbled over Google Sketchup. It runs only on Mac and Windows. And I’m a Linux lover, but it runs quite well on a VMware Windows XP machine also. So that’s where I did most of the drawing work. And also on my Mac downstairs in the living room. (That runs a bit faster than a VMware machine). Read the rest of this entry »

Since this cockpit is a cockpit with only one captain’s chair in the center of a semi circle of outside view monitors, we need some extra hardware for the outside views. I ‘m planning to use three windows to view outside. (maybe 5 ultimately) 1 straight ahead and 1 for 40 degrees to the left and 1 for 40 degrees to the right (and optionally 2 times 80 degrees left and right) . I haven’t found a way (yet) to let x-plane make two different views on two different video outputs in the same PC…  maybe by running two instances of x-plane on the same pc. But that will take an awful lot of RAM and CPU power. Read the rest of this entry »

x-plane in action

X Plane 9 is the world’s most comprehensive and powerful flight simulator for personal computers. X Plane 9 offers the most realistic flight model available for home use.

So that’s why I use X Plane 9 in my Boeing 737 cockpit version 2. Read the rest of this entry »

the SemiCircle

When I started building cockpit #1, a B737NG single seater cockpit about 4 years ago (the year 2006).  Not very realistic of course, a single seater, but I lacked the space to build a full two seater cockpit.

Also the half circle of 7 pieces of 17″ CRT monitors did not allow a second center (seat), since a semi circle only has one center, where the observer (pilot)  should be. Read the rest of this entry »

Well, now, after a couple of years I think I can make the time again to make a start with cockpit # 2. Although number one was never finished. I did learn a lot from building the initial cockpit. I gathered a lot of information about Boeing 737′s, about cockpit building, about machining metal and all kind of plastics. And flight simulator software plus third party software a ‘real’ cockpit can’t do without.

I will give a quick review of the plans that I have at this moment. I can’t guarantee that this post will be up to date all the time. But I will try to update these posts regulary.