Hi,I started out with two monitors than I bought an AETI yoke and got rid of my CHproducts crap, added 7 Go Flight modules, and now I find myself building a low budget home cockpit.What really bugs me is that I cannot find a GA glasscockpit. All I can see is specialised airliner stuff. The TRC stuff is way out of my price league. There must be some single or twin engine GA stuff or is there not?Pls help.Alex

I'm with you. If you find something, please let me know or post it here. I agree, TRC is great stuff but out of my price league too.Thanks,Gerry

Not sure I understand the definition of glass cockpit for GA aircraft, but check out the various moto-tec cockpits in http://www1.kcn.ne.jp/~moto-tec/ This site used to have pictures of the internal structures as well, but can't find them anymore. He uses LCD panels closely mounted to the instrument cut-out's, with FU-III and FS2002 Roland

Dear Roland,the link sure looks very interesting but I cannot figure out what language this is. All my browser shows me are a bunch of hiroglyphics.Can u help me?Alex

It's a japanese site. I can help you with chinese, but not with japanese. If you can read japanese characters, then switch your browser encoder to japanese characterset. In my case, I just look a the pictures. You have to admit, the guy is a profesional cockpit builder.RgdsRoland

Hmm, I thought of something. Why not simply make a generic cockpit (e.g. with FS Panel Studio) for a single and a two engine GA airplane, and display this one on a small LCD built in the cockpit through a 2nd graphics adaptor. Should work, shouldn't it. Excuse me if hat is a stupid idea or already doen by many guys. I am quite new to this.Alex

Cirrus Design has a beautiful interior. If I wasn't building an airliner, this is the model I'd choose.http://www.cirrusdesign.com/images/gal_int...ments_hirez.jpgThis is a shot of the interior before they put in a flat panel display for the primary flight instruments. All of the analog gauges in the new interior are along the bottom trim.I flew this puppy a few weeks ago and she flies like a dream and snaps like a fighter jet. Quite an amazing little piece of machinery!

PeterKAre you looking for an exact aircraft like one of Burt Rutansbirds out of Mojave or some NASA hy brid plane... There are no rules here..Make you own..There are plenty idea's in flying magzine articles..Hey the picture above this respones looks pretty High tech!peteheres a cool GA glass cockpit for home usehttp://www.habu2.net/sims/glass_2.htm

Uhh guys,I guess you overestimate my technical skills and my budget. My plan was a lot more simple. I built a middle console from wood it holds one monitor for FSFlightmax and the RealityXP stack or part of it, as well as some throttles and knobs that I took together with the PCB from my old CH yoke. I also built a desktop dashboard that holds my AETI Yoke and several GoFlight units. The whole thing is only a prototype. When everything is o.k. I will take all the measurements and will rebuild the whole thing of fibreglass. I plan to cover it with leather. I will post some screenshots soon.Now my only idea was to integrate one additional monitor to integrate some GA gauges in the dashboard. I would not want to go through all the EPIC and WideFS stuff as I know I am too dumb for this.Right know both monitors are working from a GF4Ti4600 with two RAMDACs and I simply wanted to add a 2nd video card to have three monitors in total. I will be glad for any ideas or advise that is appropriate for my knowledge and building skills which are both limited as well as my budget and time.Cheers,Alex

Hi Alex,After drooling over the TRD hardware, I too have been contemplating other alternatives for realistic-looking GA cockpit instruments. The most favorable one is pretty much as you've described: wooden panel over CRT with cutouts for the gauges to show through. Though it's not as glamorous as TRD, it's a lot more economical, looks more like a traditional cockpit than an uncovered CRT, and the gauges will fit the aircraft (e.g. markers on the ASI, green ranges for RPM, pressure and temp).The hardware for this setup is pretty straigtforward and what I'm thinking about is which way to do the software. Are you looking for a Project Magenta type of solution? I was contemplating writing such a thing but making custom panels in FS might be faster since you, like I, have more than one screen on the PC. Custom software would be better suited to a multi-PC setup.Peter http://bfu.avsim.net/sigpics/PeterR.gifBFU Forums Moderator[table border=2 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=1][tr][td][table border=0 cellpadding=8 cellspacing=0][tr][td bgcolor=#540000]http://bfu.avsim.net/sigpics/logo75t.gif[/td][td align="center" bgcolor=#FFFFF6]Bush Flying Unlimited"At home in the wild"Looking for adventure? Come join us! * [link:bfu.avsim.net|Web Site] * [link:www.cafepress.com/bfu,bfu2,bfu3,bfu4|BFU Store] * [link:bfu.avsim.net/join.htm]Join!][/td][/tr][/table][/td][/tr][/table

While you're correct that a CRT without the "cutouts" for the inst looks less good than one with them, it's also easier to load different panels. I have a custom G-18 panel set, but if I just want to try out a different twin, lets say the King Air, I can just spread out the K/A panel across my two inst monitors. If I had cutouts, I couldn't. I love the inst arrangement of the G-18, and I could change the indicatiors for the turbo baron I like, but it needs to have a different panel, as for me,that's part of using a different A/C.I created a wood panel that mounts in from of my yoke with cutouts for the entire 15" monitor(s), pained the panel and the monitor satin black, and sealed the gaps with grey weatherstripping. I made panels with a black background bitmap, and it looks fine, as the monitor blends in with the panel....--jeff

That's true. You kind of want the feel of a different plane by having its unique instrument layout. Hmmm. I guess it depends, too, on the number of different planes you fly. Maybe I could have cutouts for the planes I fly the most and do without the cutouts for other planes. The best of both worlds!I believe I've seen a photo of your panel. At least I remember the nice job you did with weatherstripping the CRT surround. If using cutouts for the instruments, they too would need weatherstripping to complete the isolated look of the instruments.Ah, it's very good to have these forums!Peter http://bfu.avsim.net/sigpics/PeterR.gifBFU Forums Moderator

I'm going to try to shoot a up and running pic from the pilots perspective tonight. That will give everyone and Idea of how it looks as a panel --jeff