The "Look What I Made!" Topic.

[DiogoJ42]

I know for a fact that plenty of us have other hobbies outside of theme parks. So I thought it's about time we had a thread for people to show off their latest project.

Anything remotely crafty counts. Art, model kits, painted gaming minis, knitting, papercraft, sculpture, Lego MOCs, cosplay, replica film props, built your own hanglider, made a bird table out of an old pallet... you name it! (Though if it's something built in a video game - Minecraft, RCT etc. - that's probably better suited to the Box Office).

Feel free to go in to as much geeky detail as you like with the build process. Threads like this are here to inspire others, after all. If your post is especially picture heavy, it might be an idea to break it in to sections using the spoiler tags.

**********

Now, as some of you know, I've spent the last 8 months building myself a flight simulator. While it's near enough finished, and functional, I've not got round to setting up an alternative image hosting site post Photobucket-gate.
However, it would be rude to start a topic like this and not post something to get the ball rolling. So with that in mind, I present to you a few pictures of the gaming table I made a few years ago for what ended up being a 14 hour non-stop Risk:2210 (with expansions) tournament.

Spoiler: Slaphead's gaming table

I started off with one of those folding plastic picnic tables - a purchase that has proved itself vital as a work bench in subsequent projects.

Next step was to get two 1x1m squares of MDF cut at B&Q, then fix batons to the underside that fit snugly around the table. I also fitted a latch on each side to hold the two halves together.

These were sized to fit a couple of "gaming mats" I had bought. I believe they are intended for use with that Star Wars X wing game (it's name escapes me). They have a rubber backing and fabric top, designed to be just grippy enough to stop boards or tiles from sliding about, while still letting you slide a face down card to another player if you want to. They also nicely deaden dice rolls.

I had already double-checked that all the game gubbins would fit on the table, but here it is triple-checked.

The mats were stuck down with industrial strength double sided tape.

The finishing touch was the hardest. I found some rubber safety edging with caution striping online, but it needed a lot of whittling with a Dremel to fit snugly. Fun Fact, it turns out this is exactly the same stuff you can now find in The Smiler's exit corridor!

The Risk weekend itself was a success. We all dressed up for the occasion. We went overboard with "theming" the house as a bunker, though no pictures of that have ever been uploaded for security reasons, naturally. We even rigged a webcam above the table, and fed it to the TV, so players could relax on the sofa when it wasn't their turn, but still see what was going on.

The table still serves me well whenever I have friends over for some board games. Though we have yet to repeat the insanely epic RISK marathon...

So, I for one look forward to seeing what cool stuff you lot are capable of creating. And yes, I will be making a very long post soon, explaining just how I came to have a life size light aircraft cockpit in the corner of my living room.

 

[rob666]

Cool stuff Diogo.
Come on...show us your best risk playing outfit again.

 

[DiogoJ42]

Oh, alright then Rob. As it's you...

Spoiler: 3 out of 5 of us who won't mind being posted here

(Oh, and that map on the wall behind us was made with UV tape. With my UV light, it glowed a treat during the game. Even had a laser slowly spinning on it like a RADAR scope.)

 

[IanSR]

The only thing I've built from crap was a hovercraft for me and mini-me to drive/fly up and down the road, it was made from some crashed drone motors, foamboard and a binliner, does that count?

 

[DiogoJ42]

The only thing I've built from crap was a hovercraft for me and mini-me to drive/fly up and down the road, it was made from some crashed drone motors, foamboard and a binliner, does that count?

Hell yeah, let's see it!

 

[IanSR]

I'll have to upload it tomorrow, too dark here now lol.

 

[Error]

That's damn cool Mr D, would love to see someone to do something like that but Dungeons and Dragons style.

 

[DiogoJ42]

Oddly enough, I do play Pathfinder (sometimes known as D&D 3.75)... but we play online through Roll20.com, at a "virtual" table. Not much choice when the half the group lives up north, and half in the south. But then, with the Giant themed campaign I'm currently running, I'd need a table the size of a tennis court to accomodate the maps!

It wouldn't be too hard to build one with a different theme. Those mats can be found here. I think they used to have some more generic, plain ones if space themed doesn't suit your needs.
Of course, you could go to town and build your own DM screen as well. I've seen plenty of cool ones out there.

And remember: you rarely have to build something 100% from scratch. Think outside the box, and you can almost always find something "close enough" that can be bodged to fit your dreams!

 

[RoyJess]

This thread is a bit like a box of chocolate, you never know what you're gonna get

Spoiler

I don't know if we got any modellers here? I don't mean the cat walk type

Here are some of my builds, not all the youtube video have embedded, so you will have to click on the links to view, also the links below each pic/video is a link to my diary builds

Spoiler

I even made the display case for it.

Diary builds can be found here
http://www.partworkmodels.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=150&t=5170
http://www.partworkmodels.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=150&t=5303

Spoiler

My Millennium Falcon, still an ongoing project



This one shows the inside too when I open her up



http://www.partworkmodels.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=168&t=6141

Spoiler

Something that you may be of interest, my Faller HO rides





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eobyXUium0

http://www.partworkmodels.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=86&t=6607&start=0

Spoiler

Some of my other models

http://www.partworkmodels.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=194&t=8152

http://www.partworkmodels.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=177&t=7576

From the film Flight of the phoenix, it was originally a boxcar kit which I modify to make it look like the phoenix from the film.

http://www.partworkmodels.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=172&t=6926

Spoiler

Here is my Han solo costume and belt with accessories

We attend an event every year know as Feel the Force Day which is for the disable

http://www.partworkmodels.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=6388

I'm also currently building a Full size RC R2D2

http://www.partworkmodels.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=7709

Spoiler

Any one into trains?

This is our smallest layout, so small that the camera couldn't focus on it and I had to use a magnifying glass for the camera to pick it up. This was made for Jess

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJzAS2l_Xw4

http://www.partworkmodels.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=86&t=7969

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4ffSyFiwRE

http://www.partworkmodels.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=86&t=6047&start=0

Our T gauge is the latest ongoing project

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6K9WxQki4o

http://www.partworkmodels.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=86&t=8373

 

[DiogoJ42]

Egad, man! I'll have to have a good look through all that when I get home from work.

 

[bluesonichd]

Some of the things I made over the years.

Orville was my favourite, lots of mold making. Latex. Fabric. Plastic pipe and wire and many hours of stress. Everyone loved him tho

There was also much fun had making Cupid Stunts boobs.

Love playing about with latex and silicone fx prosthetics tho

 

[rob666]

Can I say, as someone with zero ability, and ten fat thumbs, I am amazed at the talents held by the members of this site.
...though that red underwear in the last photo is going to give me nightmares tonight methinks.

 

[DiogoJ42]

Hey, you'd be surprised what you are capable of building when it's something you actually want to make.

Amazing stuff Roy. I've built a couple of the Faller models myself (Breakdance, Topspin and Wild Mouse. Think I have a couple of unbuilt ones stashed as well), but nowhere near the standard of yours. Mine just take up space and gather dust now.

As for those outfits Bluesonic.... wow. Just wow.

I've added cosplay to the list in the my OP. Can't believe I forgot about that one!

 

[DiogoJ42]

So, I promised I would show you my flight simulator. First, a bit of background... (fasten your seatbelts and return seat backs and trays to the upright position, folks, this is going to be a long one!)
Turns out there's a maximum limit on images per post, this will have to be split over several.

Spoiler: The Backstory

I've been a fan of flight sims since I first got FS98 and a rather crappy joystick many moons ago. Over the years, I've acquired a frankly insane number of controllers and gizmos to go with it. So it's important to note that the vast majority of bits, I already had. I dread to think what it would cost to buy all of these in one go!

Quite a while back now, must be pushing the best part of a decade, I got myself a dedicated PC from “Alpine Systems”. Essentially, a couple of geeks operating out of a flat above a shop somewhere in the Cotswalds, who build custom flight sim computers. At the time, it was cutting edge, though it may not be much by modern standards. But it's still more than enough to run FSX. I won't bore you with the full specs, but the important factors are that it has 2 GPUs with a total of 4 DVI ports, and an 8.1 surround sound card.

Up to last year, I had all the gubbins crudely bolted on to a corner desk. It was a massively inefficient use of space. Having seen some amazing home built cockpits online, I figured I'd have a go at making my own.

I didn't really have much of a plan, other than some ideas in my head. What started as a simple control panel very quickly expanded every time I thought “oooh, I could add blah!” … As you will find out when you read on!

Now then, on to the build itself. This is presented in roughly the order I worked on each part, which is far from logical in some places.
I apologise for the quality of some of these photos, they were mostly taken with my iPrat, in bad lighting conditions. Better images can be found in the “completed” gallery at the end.

Spoiler: The starting point

Just how big is a cockpit? Well that depends on the plane. A lot of sim geeks build 737s, but I've always preferred light aircraft. It's way more fun to fly a smaller plane. My steed of choice has always been the Beechcraft Baron 58, so after much searching, I managed to find a blueprint of the Baron's instrument panel.
This was pretty much the only part of the build that is based on any real measurements. Everything else was sized to fit what I had built so far. So I'm in no way claiming this is a 1:1 exact replica.

So after pottering about in GIMP to see how my existing gadgets would fit in a Baron, I printed it out life size. The positions of a few bits changed from what you see here.

Next step was to transfer this to some good old MDF.

But how to cut it out? Someone at work recommended one of those “vibrating” saws, and he was right. I could never have done this with a jigsaw! Combined with a hole cutter and a Dremel, it turned out nicely.

Soon, I had the main parts ready to go.

This all needs something to hold it up. A bit of shelf board forms the top of this table, the legs are made out of bits from an old wardrobe (Almost all of that thing got recycled for this project)

Here it is in the corner. I've added a cross brace, and another leg in the middle. Behind it you can see what will eventually support the monitors. A large corner shelf and three extendible legs from IKEA.

And here it is with my 3+1 monitor stand in place.

So the next logical step was to test fit the panel.

Oh yes.

… to be continued...

Spoiler: Doesn't look Much Like a Plane yet

Let's slap some paint on this thing! In the picture below you might be able to see that I have already fitted a few parts to the lower panel. Namely, some USB ports, mic connections for headsets, a trio of pull switches (more on those later) the parking brake, and a storage cubby hole. Also note that I designed this to accommodate yokes for both pilots. At the moment I only have the one yoke and one set of pedals, but if I can ever grab a second set cheap on eBay, I plan to upgrade.

It was about this point, while debating how much extra support this would need from behind, that the first of many “new ideas” hit me. Why stop with just the panel? Surely I should make this feel more enclosed for maximum realism. So I dug out the old mitre saw and cut up some more of that old wardrobe...

Yeah, that should do it. Another plank, a bit of hardboard and some coving later...

I took a break from heavy woodwork to start working on some minor details, such as painting a few of the control switches a more accurate colour. For example, the fuel tank selector knob became red (it was black before).

I knew from the start that there is one dial the Saitek gauges cannot replicate (more on those later), so I knocked up a dummy for the Instrument Air Pressure gauge. A funnel, a print off, some black and clear plasticard, and bob's your skutter.

… to be continued...

 

[DiogoJ42]

Spoiler: Things Start getting Silly

A quick paint later and the window frame is looking a bit better. But I still think it looks a bit too open.

I know what this needs... Doors!
Two layers of hardboard on a wooden frame, with batons on the insides to fix arm rests to later. Quick coat of white.

It moves and everything!

Fun fact for you: attempting to get hinges to align is probably the most arse-awkward thing I have ever attempted. The Starboard door is not nearly as well hung, if you will excuse the phrase, as the port one. It drags on the carpet somewhat. I fitted tiny roller castors to the outer edges of the doors to stop the whole thing tipping forward and crushing me.

Hmm, well since I have doors, on the real Baron, right next to the pilot's left knee you find the main circuit breaker panel. I did consider getting real breakers, but they go for $20 a piece. Then I thought about making dummy ones from plastic rod. Then I found a guy in New Zealand who sells resin castings of the things for exactly this reason. It's amazing what you can find online if you look hard enough!

So an evening's work with plasticard and these castings later...

That's a genuine hour meter by the way. More on that later.

The question of what to do with the surround speakers came next. I have 4 floor stands for them, but they are a bit of a pain in the rear. I thought I'd try knocking some supports up that could cantilever off the roof. PVC pipe is wonderful stuff.

And when not in use, they can slide out of the way.

truth be told, this system doesn't really work too well. The rear speakers are too heavy and sag down too much. The side ones are fine, as the poles are shorter, but they tend to get in the way of your head when you enter and exit the sim. I may have to go back to the floor stands in the future.
… to be continued...

Spoiler: Put the Gubbins on the Thing

At this point I thought it best to test fit the instruments. Lower panel first.

Then the main stuff. The main panel needs to be removed to get the shaft of the yoke through it's hole.

And yes, there is a cigarette lighter in the real plane. No, this one is not functional.

I've had a rather funky keyboard arm for a while. It used to be bolted to the old desk, but now, I've fixed it to the wall. Landlord be damned! This means I can swing it out of the way once a flight is set up.

Meanwhile, work on the overhead. The inside of the roof was lined with white leatherette. I found a couple of car sun visors on fleabay, and painted them white, colouring in the hinges with a silver paint marker, then fitted them. There is also a pair of eyeball spots with a 12V transformer. The switch panel you see is the from VRinsight. The assignments have been through several stages until I found a set up I was happy with.

Meanwhile, a new gizmo turned up. Another controller I would modify, removing some switches, and mounting it sideways. All will become clear in due course.

Kelpie was starting to get fed up of our second sofa being covered in computer hardware, so now seemed like a good time to re-rig the monitors, front speakers, and a few other bits. The sub is perched on a stash of old IKEA bits and bobs from past projects. The strange looking box sitting on top of the PC itself is a “Buttkicker” amplifier. This feeds a 50W bass shaker under each seat (more on those... eh, you know this bit by now).

The next problem to tackle was the central pedestal, that divides the foot well in two and holds, among other things, the throttles.
After much thought, I knocked up what at first glance may look like a Duplo Dalek.

MDF base, hardboard panels, and a few wooden spacers. Just don't go kicking it around and it'll survive.
Best check it fits before I go much further.

Phew!
Paint it and stick some bits on it.

And in place, it looks like this:

… to be continued...

 

[DiogoJ42]

Spoiler: The Spiral in to Insanity

I couldn't put it off any longer. It was tome to tackle the horror of.... wiring!

You're probably wondering what this looks like “backstage”. Well, like all sets, the answer is “fugly”. I tried, I really tried to make some attempt at organised cable management. But with somewhere in the region of 50+ cables for USB alone, things are never going to be pretty. That's not to mention the power feeds for all kinds of transformers. There's also a 12V supply that goes to that hour meter I mentioned a while back, via one of the pull switches. With this I have a running total of how long I have flown for!
Another pull switch feeds the huge blower you see here, ducted to a pair of vents in the panel. This may seem like overkill at first, but think for a moment about how much heat all this gear, including a total of 5 monitors kicks out. You need it in the summer!

In total, there are 3x 12 port USB hubs behind the main panel, and a 10 port hub inside the pedestal. You can just about make out some of them here.

Meanwhile, I cut a couple of lengths of aluminium tube, stuck some wooden balls on the end and painted them black, these will eventually fit over a couple of toggle switched and become the cowl flap levers.

I also started working on some inclined floor panels, that will eventually have the rudder pedals on them. Nothing too fancy, just some old chipboard and a riser baton at the back.

I had to employ Kelpie's fabric talents for the next job: upholstering the doors with tan leatherette. The arm rests are simply a bit of wood, with foam on top, wrapped in the leatherette and screwed to that baton fixed to the door earlier.

I had hoped to find real door handles. But the genuine article can go for up to $200 in terrible condition. Alternatively, a pair of domestic door handles that look “close enough” only cost £30. Yeah, the second one.
Here's the port door with the breaker panel in place.

And the first of many, many data placards. These were printed on sticker paper, cut out and the edges touched up with a black Sharpie (very important to avoid a white outline). Then stuck on to plasticard and screwed in to place.

And just what on Earth is this thing, you ask? Well, buried deep in the foot well of a real Baron, you will find an emergency shut of valve for the pitot air feed. This is only a dummy, made from a plastic bowl and a cheap switch from eBay. You can see it in situ in the completed pics.

… to be continued...

Spoiler: The Glaringly Obvious Pun

But far the most complicated part of the whole build turned out to be something I had initially assumed would come under “finishing touches”. The glare shield that covers the Lovecraftian horror of that rat's nest of wiring.

I started off with a huge sheet of dense foam, and cut it to a rough shape.

The slot you see in the top will house some LED strip to illuminate the instrument panel.

But how to [ahem] stiffen it? At first I thought a double layer of the foam would do the job, but experiments with offcuts proved that not only wouldn't this work, but it would be too thick.

Eventually I used sheets of foamboard, a big one on top and several strips round the sides. Be careful what glue you use for stuff like this. The only thing I found that doesn't dissolve this foam was Bostik. I got through about 10 large tubes of the stuff. I'm actually surprised the shop didn't try to stop me buying that much solvent in one go!

Cladding it in black leatherette was insanely tricky, due to the compound curves on the front edge. But with m'lady's help, we got there in the end. Here's a few pics of it in place.

I decided to add a bit of white stickyback to simulate the curve of the windscreen meeting the fuselage. It wrinkled up a bit, and I might redo this in future.

At this point, it was time to power up those LEDs and see what it looked like.

Ooooh....

(Notice at this point that the controls for the LEDs and the speaker volume is fed through the hole for the co-pilot's yoke. They will be relocated soon).

I've also clad the foot well in carpet by this point. Funny story, we live right next door to a carpet shop. Despite me repeatedly asking for them to sell me a small quantity of the stuff, they just weren't interested. Eventually I had to order a 4m roll of cheapo carpet online. So much for supporting local businesses. I've more carpet than I know what to do with now. I'm thinking of selling offcuts to gullible enthusiasts. Anyone interested?

While working on this, I was also starting to apply stickers to the circuit breakers. Better pictures in the completed gallery.
The door panel.

And the lower right panel.

… to be continued...

 

[DiogoJ42]

Spoiler: It's Alive!

Somewhere around this point, I realised that while it was far from finished, all the major components had been connected up, and there was no good reason not to start working on the software side of things.

I'm using a combination of several programs to make all this talk to FSX. Primarily, a program called SPAD.next. Put simply, it enables you to make those Saitek controls do things they were never intended to do. I also use FSUIPC for some bits, and the VRinsight radio stack has it's own proprietary software. Plus there's TrackIR for view panning, and Voice Attack for some basic ATC communication without needing buttons. All this, not to mention a couple of other plug ins for weather and so forth, need to be booted up in the correct sequence with FSX itself. I really should write out a check list for it at some point!

After many weeks of frustration, I eventually managed to get things working. These pics from the first time I got it running were a joy to take.

It really is a build of two halves. Just when you think you are almost done building, you then realise you have to spend almost as long again making it actually work!

But the building is not over yet.
… to be continued...

Spoiler: Sit Down Next to Me

What to do about seating? Well, I did have an old bucket style racing seat that had served me well for many a year. But it wasn't going to work for this. I eventually passed it on to a good home, where it is now serving as the car sim seat it always wanted to be.

I found the perfect pair of seats online, and Kelpie very generously got them for me as a birthday pressie. But being car seats, they needed some bases to sit on. These needed to be strong, so rather than build something from scratch, I found some wooden wine racks that were build like a brick privy. A thick MDF top was screwed on.

After painting them black, it was time to bolt on the seats. They are on runners, and can slide back and forth.

As for seatbelts, well, this is the one place I splashed out on real aircraft parts. There's an amazing surplus shop on eBay, and I was able to get hold of a pair of 5-point harnesses from an RAF Nimrod! Now, technically, light aircraft such as the Baron just have mundane 3-point belts, not much different from those in a car. But sometimes the “rule of cool” trumps reality!
At this stage I had yet to fit the crotch straps, as they needed extending (more on that later).

And here are the seats in position.

Meanwhile, the doors still needed some detail work. But around this time I thought to myself, “All good planes need a name. And all good planes are named after the pilot's missus. What this needs is some nose art!”
Now, I found a guy in the US who sells vinyl stickers of nose art, both from real planes, and custom. It turns out it's rather hard to find examples that are not ether a) too American, b) too military, or c) too pornographic. But we went through the site until we found one that we both agreed on. My bird has a name, and that name is...

The Kinky Kelpie!

On the inside of the doors, these strange looking caves eventually became map pockets.

Screwed and glued on in place.

… to be continued...

Spoiler: It's All About the Details

There are far too many stickers to count on this thing. Just like building a model kit, it doesn't come alive and look “real” until those finishing touches are in place. Some are more practical than others, like the “no hold” signs on the outside and inside of the roof (by this point the window frames have also been clad in white leatherette). These are here to hopefully stop my instinct to swing in and out of the seat holding the roof!

Others are more for show. The seat bases looked a bit plain. But they are not ejector seats, so a warning triangle would be wrong. (Again, better pics in the final album).

The doors could probably be a bit longer, but it was a compromise for practicality. You don't really notice when you're strapped in.

Those pull switches. The “oxygen” one does not actually do anything, but the other two are functional!

Found this one online and knew it would be perfect for filling some empty space on the co-pilot side.

Remember I mentioned the crotch strap needed extending? I didn't want to damage an original military relic, so I bought a cheapo seatbelt on fleabay (as in “I seriously doubt this is strong enough to save a life” cheap). A cut or two, a bit of sewing from Kelpie, and a riveted button to clip the original on to. Plus a black hair tie to keep it in place.

I decided to do some rejigging on the overhead panel. I had a few spare switches on there, so had a bit of fun. (note also in this pic, one of the spotlights has a narrow, warm LED, with thick foil and a pinprick for night flying. The other has a cold wide flood, for daylight flying.)

The buttons on the left are things you wouldn't find in a real plane. View controls, and a few other sim commands. Top left is a “call stewardess” button. Press it and it goes “bing-BONG!”. It's a good way to get Kelpie's attention.
The right hand side has de-icing controls at the bottom, fuel dump and engine fire extinguisher at the top, as well as cabin “seatbelt” and “no smoking” lights. These have no function in a light aircraft, but again, I’ve programmed them to go “booong!” just because.
The middle row activates “alert states”. Each one triggers a green, yellow or red alert siren from Star Trek, and makes a bunch of warning lights on the instrument panel flash the corresponding colour. I wanted to have blue alert, but the lights in question don't have blue LEDS.

Oh, and that silver box in the middle?

With a bit of tweaking the plane's .config file, these switches activate various colours of air show smoke trailing behind the plane.

… to be concluded...

 

[DiogoJ42]

Spoiler: Finally, I Picked Up the Real Camera!

Well, there are still a few final tweaks to make, but it's complete enough to show you. Keep in mind that the flash shows up all the imperfections that you never see with the eye when flying in a darkened room. It also shows up just how much dust has already built up. I need to commission Kelpie to make some dust covers (I already have some “remove before flight” tags to put on them).

The “nose art”.

The dummy circuit breakers.

Details of the port door.

The dummy emergency pitot air shut off.

Various shots on the main instrument panel, with and without flash.

The overhead panel. The “brushed metal” effect sticky back on the “chemtrails” cover is peeling off. No glue seems to counter it's urge to curl. I'm thinking a small screw in each corner might be needed.

The throttles and autopilot panel.

The lower pedestal, rudder and aileron trim, cowl flap levers, and fuel select. There's even a slide out drinks holder in there! At the very bottom is a pair of cut off switches for the bass shakers in the seats, in case I'm ever flying with a friend who doesn't like that sort of thing.

The seat bases.

The inertia reels for the shoulder belts came with a locking lever, so that needed working in to the design.

Pilot seat from the front.

Left lower switch panel, speaker volume and panel lights. The red tape round the battery master is temporary until I can be arsed to paint it properly.

A few wider shots.

I've discovered it is nigh on impossible to expose both the monitors and the panel properly at the same time.

And here's a few screen shots “me pointing my iPrat at the screen" during a test flight from Land's End St. Just to Humberside earlier this week.

Preflight checks in Land's End.

Releasing some poison somewhere over Cornwall.

Forward view crossing the Severn estuary towards Cardiff.

Parked up after a successful landing in Humberside.

Finally, here's an image of the type of cockpit that inspired me. (Although this one has a Glass cockpit fitted. I prefer to keep it old school).

Well, there you have it. Naturally, this will never be 100% finished. There's always some new software package to install. One of these days I plan to move the sim in to the spare room (after a major sort and tidy), freeing up the corner of the living room to be Kelpie's long awaited office space. That would probably be a good point to install the co-pilot controls. And of course, that trio of old-but-great-quality 24” monitors could always be updated for something bigger...

 

[bluesonichd]

I can’t even do words about how long and the effort to build all that Mr D !

How even where to find the time.
If my projects take me longer than 3 weeks I give up

 

[DiogoJ42]

Well put it this way: I started in August!