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Guest Tomlin

A 737NG Cost Evalution-Responses Wanted

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Guest Tomlin

HelloI have not been here in quite a while since my other interests (Irish music) have taken a lot of my time, but I have been planning a home flight deck project ever since first seeing the work of James Price and Mike & Dave Lehkamp. Many times I see people post the question of

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Guest PoRrEkE

i'd say -4750 $, + couple of montsh + much lower DakenSky prices ...don't mean to @ for them at all but I just see what I see, right ?also one could settle for 17" displays which can be found even less than 70 $ ... it's the dawn of the TFT's so lotza CRT's gonna be available soon. you can even pick some up for free if you ask around a bit. ABUSE this could be a good tip ;)Also seems EPIC is quite expencive !My F50 will have a final cost of around 3000 euro at the moment. Now I am at 2400. I still need to do quite a few things but I guess I won't need much more than some wood & paint and metal heating tubes for the pedals (as soon as I know how to weld).

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Guest Woof

Eric,I think your summary is pretty useful. I would emphasise the 'fringe' costs involved. I am only 25% or so into my Sim building project, but would estimate I have spent in the region of $9000 so far. Apart from the obvious (Project Magenta, Flight Deck Solutions, EPIC hardware, Microsoft, PC's, TFT monitors, FSUIPC, FSCommunicator), I have spent roughly the following:$1000 on tools, drivers, router, drills, saws, angle measurers, soldering irons - the list goes on.$800 on assorted hardware - wood for frames, aluminium for frames, screws, DZUS fasteners, bolts, spacing washers, lots of wire, paint.$1000 on assorted IT equipment - 16 port switch, 8 port KVM switch, 19" rack mount cabinet, CAT5 cabling.$2000 on 3 projectors. 2 good ones, one dud from Ebay.Although I'm only 25% of the way through, I've paid for pretty much all the FDS stuff (except the pedestal panels), but it's the 'other' things such as those above which really start adding to the cost.Well worth thinking about before you start.CheersChris

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Guest MattB

Hi Eric,You'll be looking at another $2400 for the various buttons/switches/knobs for the FDS panels.Regards,Matt Baillie

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Guest twabi2

>EPIC + expansion modules-priced as the upper level>package @$885>(This would cost more once additional cables and modules > are added as needed):(Why keeps everybody using such an exspensive (and quite old) system, when there are better alternatives? :sFSBUS, IOCards, PHCC <= free, build yourselfPhoton, ... (can't think of some) <= already built and tested, more exspensive

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Guest mbessler

>what is PHCC?Pic HomeCockpit Controller.An interface like FSBus, also built from PICs, but Open Source and more flexible. Esp. for the Open Source flightsim "FlightGear", as well as others. Toine (twabi2) eg. is building a space shuttle sim and will be using PHCC.More info on PHCC:http://cockpit.varxec.net/electronics/PHCC.htmlAn overview of home cockpit interface solutions:http://cockpit.varxec.net/electronics/inte..._solutions.htmlRegards,Manuel (PHCC developer)

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This is one of the main reasons that I'll be designing mine with GENERIC USABILITY and a MODULAR DESIGN!Personally, I like to fly all kinds of stuff. Frankly, I can deal with using a minimum of hardware at first with the ability to add a little bit at a time.This, combined with a completely generic cockpit enclosure, will not only undoubtedly save me mega $$$ but will be quickly configurable based on what I feel like flying that day.Sure, my dream is to have a full-motion system in my basement. That's not gonna happen, probably, so the next-best thing as far as I'm concerned is a great visual system.Therefore, that's where my $$ will go, and believe me, as little as possible to start. So a good projector system, or perhaps 5 20" displays wrapping around, oughta do it for me. I realize this may be taking the "easy way out" but then again, if I had $11,000 to spend on this, I'd -still- build a generic system at the lowest cost I could (with great visuals) and spend the rest on finishing my PPL, then IFR, then....2

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Guest Binkles

I think the prices you've listed are generally if you want to go the more expensive solutions.Working on what I've done so far.I've got a FSBUS system, that has cost me about $200 (including soldering iron, multimeter, boards printed and parts) for both the com board, and the keyboard. Remember the keyboard can do 64 switches thats' good for a start. The boards are cheap to make, and the switches, unless you want to go authentic (I'm going for close, but practical) are generally well priced.Using the main computer I have now, slow laptop, spare computer and wifes computer if need be, I then have enough to run the forward view, and 3 of the panels which although will not be as good as having a dedicated monitor for each one, will certainly be good enough.It's all dependant on what you are wanting to do. Authentic expensive, functional and not exact - a lot cheaper if you're willing to work on the options.The next part of my boards that I'm working on is the display boards for the MCP which combined with the keys that I've got working now will make a complete MCP. Having done that, I've got the LED board.I plan to eventually make a throttle unit, and I think that will provide me with a great deal of realism, and with the prices of projectors going down, I may buy one at some stage, though I can use the current one we have (wife won't be happy).Prices I;ve quoted are NZ$ which is about 1/3rd more than US$

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Guest Tomlin

I will definately be looking into FSBus. I found out this weekend that (after recruiting the help of a friend who is a drafter, and who actually got me into simming 10 years ago with FS4!) that not only is he a drafter, capable of working with plans and mechanical drawings, but actually works in a machine shop with all the machines needed to build my throttle quad. So, FSBus could be built and used to test it with FS without buying EPIC just yet, right!!??

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Guest twabi2

>So, FSBus could be built and used to test it with FS without buying EPIC just yet, right!!??If you're going to use FSBus, why would you want to switch to EPIC??FSBus is just as good (maybe even better) then EPIC, it's designed for the same purpose, so I don't see why you'd want to change!

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Guest Tomlin

The only reason I am saying this is because EPIC is all Ive ever known about till recently (getting closer to starting construction) and I still have lots to learn about FSBus and I also know there are others. If it's cheaper, and works at least as good, and there's someone who can help me along the way, you're right- why would I change it? Just depends on how well it works for me I guess and how much info I can get on how to buil/program/implement it. Glad my Pa'in-law is good at circuits and small electronics!

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