Hi all you guys!Thought I should introduce myself as I suspect I will be a frequent poster in this forum. I am a devoted vPilot. 36 years of age and on my way to settle down in Canada, where my fiance

Welcome, Mats,I can't help you with question one, but I do have an opinion on question two.I believe that the first major steps should be research and planning. Several of us have written on the topic of home simpit construction, and that would not be a bad place to start. Rolan van Roy has an excellent guide titled "DIY cockpit controls - How to build your own flightsim cockpit controls" which I believe is aviable as a download from Avsim. Another good write up is by Kev Saker called "How to Build Your Own Cockpit". It's been a while since I looked for it, I think it may be in the how-to section over at FlightSim.com. My own contribution can be seen on my website (link below). These resources provide some idea of what the project might entail. Of course you also need to decide upon, and research, your target aircraft as well. Having made that decision, you then decide the "level of fidelity"; is it to be a generic, sort-of copy, a reasonably functional copy or an authentic-to-the-last-switch, can't-tell-it-from-the-real-thing $$replica$$? You get the idea. Now you plan, dimension and document; basically build the simpit on paper first. Changes on paper are relatively cheap. Not so later!The actual order of construction is something of a personal choice. If you want to fly soonest, build the smallest portion that will operate, then develop an upgrade path that suits your personal desires. If you're more interested in building, bite off a bigger chunk to construct before bringing a minimal system up.Whichever order you do choose to follow, please take pictures, post them and keep us updated on your progress.And once again, welcome.Mikewww.mikesflightdeck.com

J. Hirayama, a fellow simmer in Japan has a 747 throttle quadrant with moving levers. Here's is site. http://www.wakayamanet.or.jp/jun/fs/mycockpit-e.htmlClick on "thrust levers". Electrical diagram is provided. He actually has a downloadable video showing the levers moving. The link was found on P Cos's site, A320 Project. http://www.avsim.com/hangar/flight/a320project/main.htmlYou may want to vist Pete's site for panels and hardware.Richard

Welcome aboard Mats! First, what kind of controller board are you going to use, or if have one? EPIC, Keyboard Emulation, or interfaced PIC? Right now I am working on B767 throttle quadrant, interfacing 2 stepper motors which will be attached to the thrust bar. It's easy to interface the circuit but its not easy to do all of command in EPL (For EPIC which I am using) I am trying to figure out the values from idle to full thrust and cutoff once I disenage it. I will post it on my webpage once I solved the problem. (My webpage isn't completely ready, keep checking on this form)

Hi MikeThanks for your reply! Of course the first thing to do is research and planning. I was just busy getting started, but I'm realizing that I have undertaken a ten year project ;)It will however be a 737NG and something betweeen a "reasonable functional copy" and a "authentic-to-the-last-switch" simpit.Will put up a site with my progress when any is made...lol

Nice throttle quadrant. Seems like a good solution!Thanks for the link Richard! :-wave

HiI haven't decided on the interface yet. But EPIC or some other PIC solution seems to be right for me. I have to do some more research on the pros and cons for the different systems first.Looking forward to your webpage! ;-)