My Ship: The Stargazer

[bpops]

I wanted to share with everyone some photographs of my semi-complete sim pit. This is something I started in 2007, and have worked off-and-on since then.

First and foremost, it's an Orbiter Sim Pit. All the controls will be tailored to the MFDs. But secondly, I also wanted to be able to use it for Flight Simulator X, so a flight yoke and control panel are dedicated for that use as well. I am not trying to mimic any real or fictional spacecraft, rather the design and layout was just something I chose and largely made up as I went along.

From the start, I had two requirements that the sim pit must fulfill:
1 - It seated two people. What's the fun in not being able to really show your friends?
2 - It was easily moved -- i.e. fits through doorways. To accomplish this, I'm building the sim pit in several sections that then bolt together with a large flange. The display and controls section are finished, and are seen in the pictures below. I'm still considering precisely how to do the seating section, but it will be FULLY enclosed.

If you're interested in seeing my work from start to finish, I've photographed nearly every step of the process:
http://picasaweb.google.com/budden/SimPitConstruction?authkey=Gv1sRgCPDHw4ekts_G2wE&feat=directlink

I'll post pictures here regularly as I make progress.

And thanks to Ed Nixon for being both a mentor and a motivator in this process.

 

[liber]

Don't forget to add life support...

Nice work.:speakcool:

 

[yagni01]

Looking good!

 

[Donamy]

What's the estimated cost ?

 

[bpops]

What's the estimated cost ?

When I first started I kept record of all cost, but since then stopped doing this. It's very hard to come up with a reliable estimate, especially considering I bought some tools for the project (but will use on other things), some things I purchased long ago (e.g. the computer running it, flight yoke), and I've bought many small things on a whim.

I can tell you what I do know: The display itself cost ~$1000 (including the 3 19" monitors and a TH2G). If I had to guess I'd say I probably spent around that same amount also on wood, screws, bolts, casters, plexiglass, paint, gloss, and other structural materials.

Then there's the buttons, cables (extensions for USB/PS2), a touchpad, keyboard, speakers, etc.

I'd say $2500 - $3000 wouldn't be a bad estimate. One could probably get away with cheaper -- LCDs have gone down since I bought these 2 years ago, and a better carpenter than myself wouldn't make so many mistakes in building and would require less wood

But for anyone considering doing something like this, it's far less a dedication of finances than it is of time. I've put quite a number of hours sweating in the garage to bring it all together.

EDIT: The more I sit here and think about it, I'm forgetting other things -- I had to buy a new video card that was capable of running on the TH2G resolutions, then there's really a ton of very small items that aren't expensive but add up super quick (wire, solder, nuts, washers, paint brushes). I was always amazed at how I could go to Lowe's and buy 4 or 5 little items and spend $50. So let's bump that estimate up to around $3000-$3500.

---------- Post added at 10:38 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:31 AM ----------

Don't forget to add life support...

Nice work.:speakcool:

Don't worry, there'll be a sto-away compartment for pop-tarts and beer.

Well, maybe just beer.

 

[jinglesassy]

i can see it now a beer-powered life support system lol