MIP measurements/layout

[Pinello]

Is there any document with measurements for the instrument layout for the MIP in the 737-300 floating around anywhere?

 

Regards

 

[frumpy]

Did you find any?

There are the measurements for the NG floating around, you might need to start from there.

The main instruments in the B58 have a diameter of 3 1/8", this seems like a standard size and

might also apply to the ALT/VS indicator. You can also check the IXEG textures folder, if you

find the background texture - then resize and print it (not sure if that texture is there, though).

If everything fails, you might still be able to check out an old 737 sim and take measurements.

 

[Dozo]

Hi @Pinello, I was wondering of you found any measurements. Looks like all the commercial cockpit vendors focus on the NG and the MAX.

[tkyler]

In order to build the thing in 3D, I created some drawings of my own that I could probably develop a bit further for you  (and corroborate with Rob Archer) and send you a DXF or DWG.  It may take a week or two as I'm traveling about for the next 10 days. Alternatively, I can get you a really high rez orthographic rendering of both our panel layouts when you can probably scale the dimensions off of somehow knowing a reference dim.  That I could get to you pretty quick.

-tkyler

Edited July 11, 2020 by tkyler

[Dozo]

I would also be interested in the proper dimensions as I'm considering building a home cockpit (MIP only at first) myself. The problem is mainly: what gauges to use and what to build myself... I wish I didn't like this plane so much and hadn't seen Rob's cockpi, now I'm in love

[Litjan]

I think building a cockpit would be a great hobby - I have two left hands (with all thumbs), so it isn´t for me...

I think, though (apart from the fun of building it) that the future is in VR.

I would just build a seat and flightcontrols mimicking the real ones (so you can grab them by reaching for them in VR). Probably a lot cheaper than building the cockpit, a LOT less trouble (getting everything to work) and you also get the benefit of being able to really lean and look out the window like you can in a real airplane (not with just a few screens giving you all sorts of trouble, too).

So yeah, my personal opinion - the days of home-cockpit building are counted. At least as far as trying to create a realistic flying experience. It can still be fun if you like tinkering.

Cheers, Jan

 

[Dozo]

Thanks for your insight about this. I have considered this lately as an option as well, but I'm not sure whether it's for me. I like to tinker with microcontrollers like the Teensy (an Arduino clone) although I'm certainly no expert and I like searching for stuff on ebay. The real limitations for me are funding and physical space. Also, every company providing (sim) cockpits and parts seems to be focusing on the 737NG while I fell in love with the B733 because of it's steam gauges and FMC (I also own the great B732 by FlyJSim, but I like the benefits of having more automation available). Your plane is the ideal mix of old and new to me.

Maybe I should ask my VR adept colleague about VR and maybe I could lend his equipment sometime and maybe you are right. It would save in the physical space department although I like those blinkenlights and knobs

Edited July 13, 2020 by Dozo

[Litjan]

Well, you can see plenty of blinking lights and knobs in VR, too! You just can´t touch them...well, the VR controllers "buzz" a little bit when you do, so there is haptic feedback for "touch".

I have seen some succesfull homebuilt cockpits, but I have also seen an unproportionally higer amount of woes and sorrow related to that. People asking (crying) for help on various forums (including this one), asking for datarefs, commands, "detachable displays", endless expermentation with Arduino, XPUIPC, fly-with-lua and so on.

Eventually most give up, because it is very complex and our aircraft (like most 3rd party) is not designed with the idea of being "home cockpit compatible".

Compare this to VR where all you need to do is put on the headset and immediately you sit right in that cockpit - and the feeling of realism is incredible. Yes, there are some things to get used to and technology has some improvements to make as well (mostly resolution, but also cockpit interaction) - but if you want to fly in a "real" cockpit more than you want to work on a "real" cockpit, I would go VR.

Jan

 

[Dozo]

1 hour ago, Litjan said:

Well, you can see plenty of blinking lights and knobs in VR, too! You just can´t touch them...well, the VR controllers "buzz" a little bit when you do, so there is haptic feedback for "touch".

I haven't experienced this at all, although I have seen some videos about flying in VR. I think the biggest disadvantage would be that you need to attend to your aircraft all the time, even on 4 hours flights - I like to start a flight, do work or other stuff during cruise and come back before T/D. I wonder if that would equally be possible with a VR setup.

1 hour ago, Litjan said:

I have seen some succesfull homebuilt cockpits, but I have also seen an unproportionally higer amount of woes and sorrow related to that. People asking (crying) for help on various forums (including this one), asking for datarefs, commands, "detachable displays", endless expermentation with Arduino, XPUIPC, fly-with-lua and so on.

Eventually most give up, because it is very complex and our aircraft (like most 3rd party) is not designed with the idea of being "home cockpit compatible".

I guess that's the outcome for most of the projects that are started indeed. It helps to have real live project management experience I think, so there can be some sort of 'projectplan' and budget. I do realise that's not any form of a guarantee for an undertaking like this of course. You're spot on as for the number of moving parts and targets in such a project. In the end there's a lot of dependencies, but a lot can be accomplished. The problem is that for every nice video on YouTube there might have been challenges for days, weeks or months. Those are not seen and easily overlooked I think.

All in all the VR path might be one to explore further, before pouring thousands of euros in parts (and still have nowehere near a complete experience).