homepage Forums Technology Flight Sim Pit Builders Mechwarrior Cockpit

I am not sure any of us would spend the time that we do on such a hobby if it were not for the strong support of our spouses. I know mine is very supportive and usually says; "Can we afford it? Then go ahead."

Right side arm rest, trackball towards the end. Using a template to check for sizing. Additional sheet inside to strengthen door join. The rivets are really just for effect but they do actually hold ok in MDF.

The down angle is so its more comfortable on the wrist.

The green metal plate is actually for the door latch. I fitted the magnet from inside an old hard drive (very strong and worth keeping if you find one)to the door frame to keep the door closed but allow easy exit.



Trackball unit in position.




Aluminium sheet folded and holes cut.



The trackball is held in place with a block glued underneath that sort of pushes up on it to keep it in place.



Flexible cable conduit to run cables back past door into main body.



Painted and ready to fit.

There are 3 push-buttons to fit at the end and the "left mouse" button for the mouse is activated by your thumb (works really well)




Panel label fitted and switches wired up.

You are not from this world!

Freakin awesome!

Nope....Planet Earth Thanks!!

Picked up 2 Aura units (Bass shaker tactile transducers and amplifiers) for about $5 each in mint condish. The whole thing shakes and rumbles beautifully.

Fitted the amps under the left arm console and fitted one transducer to the inside of the outer wall and the other under the seat.

Added a number to the side. Masked off then white spray can, a little weathering.

MORE! MORE! MORE!




g.

That's some amazing attention to detail. Couldn't even notice it was made out of wood at first glance, after you finished painting those parts.

Thanks Nameless.

This is the simple interface box made up of a keyboard chip connected to terminal strips in an alphanumeric matrix.



Pretty simple, cheap and effective for my use. Rough diagram below.



For the panels it was a lot easier than I first thought. I used a method Goupil used on his F16 pit at "check 6".

I drew up the panel art using Visio and sizing from the graph drawings from the beginning.

Make up the artwork, print it using a colour laser on thick sheet.

Then I cut 3mm MDF panels using a paper copy of the panel glued on and cut to shape. Pulled off the template, glued on the finished print and trimmed where necessary. Sprayed it with clear satin spray lacquer (Tamiya) and fitted the switches.








Its not perfect, probably needs a little more spray and more care on the corners.

You can back light these if you wanted to cut a small area out behind each text area on the MDF then fit a diffused light source behind. I wasn't prepared to do the extra work at that stage. Would look better though.

I have to use a light source inside to illuminate them.

MDF box to mount the PC start/stop switch (wired over from the motherboard) and HDD activity light. Flashes through diffused plastic for effect.

The resident expert in backlit panels is Gene Buckle. I am not sure working with mdf would work that well for backlit panels, machined acrylic seems to be the optimal material, and the heat generated by the light source must be accounted for. But perhaps Gene has more dimension constraints to deal with. Oh, talking about the heat, any plan in adding some form of ventilation?

Yep I agree for back-lighting use clear and mask off the bits that dont need lighting. I'll check out Gene's project a little more to see how it's done.

Rear of main panel with the switches wired up.




Module for the clock, just a bit of added bling. Shown upside down in this pic, mounts on the top of the interior.



Finished product.



Powered from the clock supply (hacked from an old clock radio)

Edge lit panels are difficult to do unless you've got ready access to a CNC machine or a laser. With the CNC machine, you can do reverse lettering on black painted clear acrylic that looks very nice. If you've got laser, you can create a "real" front-engraved edge-lit panel that looks identical to the screen printed type done commercially.

g.

Temperature module and fan control.




Some of the wing before I cleaned it up.





Internal with the monitor and other modules fitted fitted.



In game vision.

Man, if you could add some motion hydraulics! Then you would also have to add a slot in the side for food delivery, possible a rest room too. Which reminds me, where is the beverage holder?

Awesome work!

Jaw dropping work Choowy, thank you for taking the time to post your work. If you have any detailed questions regarding edge lit panels feel free to message me, I worked in Aerospace building thousands of panels filtered for NVG use (or anyone else for that matter).

Yeah where is the beer/liquor/mixed drink holder/refrigerator in that bad boy?

*jaw drops*

I didn't quite catch the finished project on Frugal's, surprising as it may sound. That pit looks even more impressive with all the switches in place.

...I figured this was a MechWarrior 3 pit, but I don't see anything resembling a hat switch or numpad for changing your view from side to side and such-assuming you use the floating reticle, that is. (That's how I prefer to aim with a mouse.)

Thanks Slammin, a beverage holder, I missed that one. Don't give up hope completely on the motion, it could be added later.

Thanks Lipfert, you should post a thread on building the panels, it would be great to see how that could be achieved in a diy forum. I think Gene Buckle also has experience.

Yes Nameless its MW3, I havent got the hat switch as I never used the look left and right too much. I do use the trackball for the targeting reticule however.

I picked up a really nice Thrustmaster Top Gun joystick (mint condition $5) that would look cool in it but I just think its easier to use a mouse/trackball.


Started work on the last switch panel, its not essential for playing but it does help. Its the targeting panel (numpad in game) that lets you target certain places on the target mech.