Building an Airbus Cockpit

Hi people, still with me???

First off, a big thanks to people for visiting the site and especially to those who have gotten in touch with me recently. It's always good to meet new builders and share ideas. So thanks guys, and keep the emails coming!

I've got a few things to talk about in this entry, most of it good news! So lets start with the bad news...

USBKeys card

So as noted in my last entry, this card arrived and I was really looking forward to using it. I bought it from Opencockpits in Spain and they are very cheap really. The manual that comes with it is next to useless but luckily Mr. Ian Sisson (Jedi master of cockpit building) has written some very useful documentation to help. Even with all this and his kind repsonses to my emails, I got - nowhere. The card installed and was recognised. But none of the switches worked. pulling apart all my soldering and just crossing wires from the two matrices produced - nothing. I was very disappointed. Ian went through some problem determination with me and as far as I can tell the card is not faulty or damamged. It just does not work. I sent an email down to the guys at OC, and have had no reply.

To be fair to them, they are usually quick to reply, and most of what I could find on forums about this card was positive. Maybe I got a bad one? But I am very disappointed at the lack of response from them on email. I am also disappointed it did not work! I was looking forward to getting a lot more switches connected to the cockpit...

EFIS and Engine Panel

Now for some good news - these panels are almost complete. I have connected the engine panel with start/cutoff switches, an engine mode switch (using a rotary switch) and a parking brake on the same panel. It all works as expected. I got my white-on-clear labels and made a few for the various panels. I think they look really good, if a little crooked! The captain's EFIS panel is mounted too. It's not connected yet (thank you USBKeys card) but I think it looks great! Makes the FCU look rather bare by comparison... I intend to buy a BU0836 card from Leo Bodnar which allows momentary switches to be easil connected. It's a little cheaper than the BU0836X card so I will put all momentary switches into that. I will still need the X card for rotaries.

ECAM

Good news - I won a 17" wide monitor on eBay at a great price. Bad news - same damned problem when it is rotated on it's side! The viewing angle just does not allow the pilots to see it clearly. I was gutted about that. So I decided to put it in in normal orientation - it's not right but it works. I had to do some modification to the ECAM stand to make the monitor fit - there are problems with made-to-measure when the plan changes!

I undocked the EWD and SD onto it, along with the Squawkbox window and a couple of small things. Looks good I think. No frame rate hit either, that I can see. I have to remake the panel overlay for that one as the old one for the 15" monitor is totally wrong now. One potential problem I can see is with the mouse. I will still need it to interact with Squawkbox and such. That's no problem right now, but when the overlays are in place, I think it would be easy to lose the mouse completely. Need to think about that . . .

Other News

I've asked my siblings to get me Mike Powell's book on building recreational simulators for me for Christmas. Here's a link to it. Looks like a good book and it has had good reviews on the forums too. That will give me some new ideas and maybe point me to some new solutions.

Still waiting for some decent weather so I can get the First Officer's side up and running. I've got the sidestick waiting. I need two more monitors - another 17" for the first officer's PFD, and one for him to look out of, using a splitter. It will be a mirror of the captain's side. Seems the easiest solution for now. I'm think a couple of 19" widescreens would do. Once the first officer's EFIS is built, I will run all the wires to both into the same card slots. Both EFIS will work exactly the same.

Oh, I installed the headsets too - don't think I mentioned that before. I got a simple USB soundcard and connected my single-sided headset to it. All ATC and Teamspeak (used for company comms) comes to my ear, all other sounds through the main speakers. For once, something worked as I expected! I'm using a simple Y connector to have the first officer on the same loop, so both pilots can communicate with ATC and still talk to each other easily.

I am approaching a point where I need to start thinking about ouputs for numerical displays. My recent experience with OC has left my confidence in them very low. Not sure what I will do on that score. I like the look of the LCD displays that are available. Stay tuned on that score!

That's it for now, guys. thanks for reading and stopping by. Have a good Christmas too!

Hi people,

Just a brief entry to reassure you that I have not given up... There should be some movement very soon. I have literally just received a USBKeys card from opencockpits. The postman rang the bell as I started typing. This nice piece of kit should allow me to connect 88 buttons and switches to the pit. More than enough, and it's cheap as chips! I will report on this as soon as possible.

I have also added a new video with an overview of the cockpit and a little tour from the captain's seat. Looking at it now, I feel embarrassed to call it a cockpit! I have a lot of work to do. I've won another Attack 3 joystick on eBay, and I am bidding on a monitor.

The plan from this point is as follows:

1. Complete the glareshield;
2. Complete the ECAM;
3. Start the RMP;
4. Finish the First Officer's sidestick.

So stay tuned - there will be progress soon. And thanks to the people who have sent me comments and chosen to join as a member - I do appreciate the input, help and support.

Nigel.

Hello people,

It was all going too well really. You may recall an unpleasant car episode I had earlier in the year which cost me a fortune that was set aside for the cockpit. That led to me buying a very cheap car to get in and out of work in. You get what you pay for, right?!? It's dead. I've had to take out a very expensive HP deal on another car. It's costing me a lot per month and as a result, investment in the cockpit is about to grind to a halt.

I may be able to keep moving in slow steps - I still have plenty of building materials and so on. The problem will be the more expensive purchases still required. I need more monitors and the TH2Go module. Going to need more BU0836X cards (two, probably) and a lot more switches. Still need the 7 segment displays too, although I'm wondering about using LCD displays. There is a lot to do and the project is nowhere near finished.

Guess I'll have to hit the overtime as hard as possible!

On the upside, as previously noted, it's flyable and the mouse/keyboard input is greatly reduced. It's enough to keep me happy for now. These projects don't get done in a day I suppose. . .

Testing has been continuing over the last few weeks. I've completed a number of flights now, including to Frankfurt and Jersey. The cockpit seat is quite comfortable for 90 minutes anyway. The frames are good and my landings have certainly improved as a result of the smoother display and control response. I've got the FCU all connected up to my BU0836X card. The next step there will to connect the EFIS and autobrakes. Once I've got that done I can close the instrument panel from the monitor - won't need that any more!

One problem I've noted is the altitude and speed increments. I can only increment in 100s or 1000s for the altitude, through FSUIPC. Can't have both, so I think I will have to change the encoder for a dual one. Maybe the same for the speed although that is less of a problem. The heading is assigned in FS so it works easily - the faster you turn it, the quicker the heading bug moves. Leo Bodnar is now selling dual encoders for £18 a piece -  a very good price indeed. They even come with connection instructions!

Another problem turned out to be the 15" monitor. A totally unexpected problem is the viewing angle. If the monitor was right-way-up, it would be clearly readable from either pilot's  seat. But since it is rotated through 90 degrees, it is not readable at all unless you are looking straight at it! I suppose it would not be expected that a user would be above or below the monitor... So it's useless for the ECAM display. For now, I've moved it up on top of the glareshield and I'm using it as a cockpit view. I undocked the PFD, ND and EWD onto the lower monitor. This works better really and gives me an idea what it's like looking out the window at the runway without anything else on that screen! Again, no frame hit. Excellent. I flew back from Jersey in that config last night and I was happy with the effect.

So I need another monitor for that position - ideally a 17" (not widescreen) monitor. I'm shopping around for that. I've also ordered some new knobs for the encoders. Smaller, slimmer ones from Maplin. These I will use for the radio controls. I think the next steps will be to start constructing the radio panels, ECAM control panel and engine control panel. I'm still wondering about seven segment displays but I think the best way to go is the Opencockpits kit. It's cheap and there's lots of help out there for it. I'll buy some sample kit and see what I can do with it.

There will be more painting and general finishing of some of the components too. We are not quite 'in the cruise' yet, but getting closer.....

FIRST FLIGHT COMPLETED

Oh yes, I have actually completed a flight in the cockpit! Okay, so it was a takeoff, fiddle with the settings and so on, then land again. But I was getting upwards of 60 frames per second! It feels good, sitting in there! So once again there is excellent progress in the right direction.

Of course, there are some problems. Cable management is tricky - there is not a lot of space behind the cockpit for the PC itself and getting back there to plug things in is difficult. Only because, really, the room is too small for it! Must throw more stuff away... Also, the cables connected to the touch screen don't fit in the pedestal enlosure - I'm going to have to cut slots in the pedestal so that it fits flush. Something I did not think of.

Another issue is that the VGA out put on the second GPU is not working - the card is recognised and apparently all happy, but I cannot get a monitor output from it and cannot activate the multi monitor settings. I've emailed the good people at DinoPC tonight for a little help with that. Hope it's nothing serious...

Next step is to get a spare keyboard for it, probably a wireless one. Then I need to start working on getting the various switches and so on connected. I'm going to try to get hold of a USBKeys card from Opencockpits and see if I can make that work. From what the Jedi Master, Ian Sisson, has told me, it will be adequate for most of the controls needed.

I also got a new soldering iron, and now I understand why I was having so much trouble soldering. The one I had already might as well be stone cold! the new one, second hand from Amazon, is brilliant, and I'm a lot less worried now about soldering.

Almost finished my patented flaps lever for the Saitek lever. It actually works! Just needs a spot of painting and final finishing. Really pleased with it. My good friend Simon Newman recommended I try making it from balsa wood. That stuff is unbelievably easy to work with. Doing woodwork with a scissors cracks me up!

Stay tuned for more - I think the next few weeks are going to bring leaps and bounds towards completion.....

Pedestal

I was able to order the touchscreen from Hong Kong and it was delivered in two days. Such a quick service! I've built another section of the pedestal on the captain's side and positioned the touchscreen. Looks about right though, so hopefully it will work. I built the new section with three sides and it shares a wall (?) with the centre part of the pedestal. The theory is that it's easier to take apart if I need to. Less waste of timber too. Whatever I'm doing these days, the carpentry skills are improving. It fit perfectly.

No sign of the new computer to connect it to yet.

MIP

Today I did a lot of work on the MIP. I've mounted the ECAM monitor. I've recycled an old 15" monitor which is not really the right size, but on the other hand, I've got this monitor already. If I ever replace it, I'll pretty much have to pull the whole ECAM section apart and rebuild it. Which is achievable, but a pain in the ass. Anyway - cross that bridge if I come to it. Got plenty of other bridges to cross in the near future . . . So I also made the cut out panels to overlay on the monitors. As you can see in the photos section, it looks like something now. Might eventually be a cockpit thing.

Paint

In other news I got started on painting some of the parts. MDF has to be primed first. Then I sprayed the main parts with graphite spray paint from Plasti-cote. It's too dark, without a doubt. Not sure what I'm going to do about it - I do kinda like the look of it. If I can find a better match the parts can always be resprayed. Watch this space.

I've still got plenty of timber left to work with until next payday. Ordered a few more switches too. So once the new PC arrives, I think the cockpit will be ready for a flight, although 'finished' is still a long way off!

Well, I've run out of wood and budget for June/July. It's been excellent! I've made:

1. massive progress on the MIP;
2. finished the seats;
3. finished the captain's sidestick;
4. remade the throttle part of the pedestal.

Obviously there is still a lot to do. All the bits need to be primed and painted. But I can see the project taking shape (I know I've said this before) and it's great. I know this is going to work! And it feels good.

I should be ordering (I've said this before too!) the new PC next weekend. Then I must wait for next payday before I can move on again. Key tasks for next month (July/August) include:

1. Mount the ECAM Monitor;
2. Prime and paint as much as possible;
3. Finish the overlays on the displays;
4. Order the FMC touchscreen;
5. Install the new PC and load it with the FS software.

If I got all those things done, a test flight in the cockpit should be possible in about 4 weeks time. As far as finished goes, well, my friend Nout hit the nail on the head. It will never be finished! But I think it will come closer and closer to as realistic as I can make it. So, time to completion? At the current rate, I think both sides will be fully operational in less than 6 months. Before Christmas let's say.

Depends on how the interest rate on my mortgage behaves really!

After another day of labour, the captain's sidestick is pretty much done. I've made good progress on the MIP, captain's side in particular. Next step is going to be mounting the captain's PFD/ND monitor and the ECAM monitors. I'm running out of timber, so scrounging through the offcuts for useful bits now! Most of these parts will not be visible to the pilots anyway so who cares if it's rough old chipboard?

It's very satisfying to finally be moving forward. Seeing the damned thing taking shape after thinking about it for so long is vindicating. I really hope it will all be worth it. Might need a bigger house though. . .

Yes, you read it right - progress in the right direction! I've finally got the new computer on the way. Managed to secure a bit of cash this month and it's finally sorted. The plan has changed slightly though - I'm now looking at a machine with two graphics cards in SLI mode, so a total of 4 monitor outputs. I ran into a problem in researching the Triplehead2Go. Apparently it is not possible to pivot or rotate the displays. This presents a problem as the touchscreens for the FMC and the ECAM display both need to be on their sides. So, a trade off. Out with one TH2Go unit, in with the extra cash to upgrade the computer. It's just crazy enough to work...

What else? Since I am on a week's leave, I've been hitting the carpentry. Now I've got progress I can actually see and touch! Both seats are finished (for now), and the PFD/ND monitor stands are well under contruction. I'm beginning to see just how much work will go into all this. Also, it takes up a bit more room than I thought it might! Just setting up the seats at their eventual width kinda fills my living room a bit! I will have to sell some more furniture on eBay I think...

Tomorrow I hope to finish the ECAM monitor stand. I'll also take some photos and upload those ASAP.

I learned a lesson this week - don't give out my Windows Live ID to people! So the forum is now open if you have questions and queries. You can stalk me from there instead of in MSN.

You know who you are! Try GOOGLE for some answers...thats's how I found them!