HeyIm planning on a home cockpitI want to keep the cost down to a minimum and would like to work out the exact cost of the cockpit before I start building.Does anyone know where I can buy SimKit.com instruments in the UK?I have a place to get the servos cheap but I would like to buy the kits in the UK to work out import duties etc.CheersScott

>Hey>>Im planning on a home cockpit>>I want to keep the cost down to a minimum and would like to>work out the exact cost of the cockpit before I start>building.There is no such thing as an "exact cost of the cockpit". The only way to find out is to do very detailed planning beforehand, see what it takes to complete something, decide on a feature set and then buy materials and build.On the other hand, the stuff tends to go this route:1. You want to build a cockpit, and do some planning2. You start building big3. Mid-way you realize there is a lot better way to do this4. You scrap it5. You return to point 1.After a few iterations you might have something you like, and you are much wiser as in how to do stuff, what materials can be easily used with the tools you have around etc.My advice is to start with something small, realistic and doable, like a throttle quadrant. That's a handy thing and not super hard to do. While you complete it, read this forum and check peoples pages for ideas and *build your own mental image of your own big dream and how you are going to do it* - there are very many options to interface the electronics, there are different ways to do the instrument panels, whether to do an enclosed thing etc.Whatever you *think* it takes, it is probably double or triple in time and money when you actually start doing it. So it really pays to start from something small that you can later *use* in the cockpit. Once you spend a while on the forum and do some testing, your idea of the required time and cost will be much more realistic. There is simply too much information for anyone to explain it in a forum posting. And too much for you to absorb at once. Check out the forum archives and read peoples websites etc.>Does anyone know where I can buy SimKit.com instruments in the>UK?>>I have a place to get the servos cheap but I would like to buy>the kits in the UK to work out import duties etc.The stuff is shipped from the Netherlands, and UK is in the EU, right? So you should be fine with customs and VAT stuff.Good luck, and take my advice: plan well, do simple prototypes and build your idea of the thing first. Planning for a year before actually starting a big construction project *is* a good idea in the end, since you save a lot of wasted time and frustration.Tuomas