Brewing Master

Question:

Doc … you ought to take a digital pic of that thing … I’d love to see it. Doug

Response:

Doc … you ought to take a digital pic of that thing … I’d love to see it. Doug

It will be done! In the meantime Doug….just today….I’ve seen something that is, well, different, and I’ve asked the sim amigo [Jim] if I can get some pics so as to share it with the gang. Get this…and due note must be given here…he credits Bob MacKay [at Micro Wings and the author of many excellent how-to articles dating as far back as FS4!] for the idea –anyway–I go into the sim room and the guy has 4 items which at first took me aback! Catch this Doug,  he uses a FRESNEL lens in front of his 17" flat screen monitor with 3 mirrors [2 'single' sided and 1 'double' sided] and a cut-out sort of  thing which sits in front of him and, via precise mirror placements, effectively  ’splits’ [because he didn't want to shell out for a second but solid performing 17" flat screen monitor] —anyway, he splits his instrument view from his beyond the nose view so as to drastically increase depth perception [toying with the neurons again!] and get ‘away’  from the single ‘here it is in one shot’ thing which most of us have [short of using 2 monitors]  where you see, basically, where you’re going by simply having your eyes look to the top of the screen and lowering your eyes to see your instruments on the bottom yet both eyes can’t help seeing the whole picture WHEREAS in the real-thing itself, it’s a forced,  one [instruments] –or– the other [beyond the nose]. Thus, in the normal sim on a single monitor, depth perception wise, you ‘do’ take a beating because it’s so heavily one dimensional! Bang—it’s ALL there—often flat and minimum effect between sky and instruments. But then,  wholly ’split’  the two dimensions, ahhhhhh! In the above described case and using the fresnel lens—[really just a monitor magnifier but with the added attraction of de facto increasing depth to the human eye due to both magnification and inherent lens affect/effect and causing the stuff to be somewhat modified, in a sense, to look less, well, 'flat' and less polygon-ish so to speak. Jim-bo sits in his pilot's seat and looks to the top cut-out to see where he is going [as the mirror reflects same] and then he looks to the lower cut-out [and that mirror reflection] for all his instruments with everything, of course, being reflected by the double sided middle area mirror but such a split dramatically altering depth perception and eye/brain ‘interpretive’ view. It’s actually hard to describe the effect but I’ll try and get some pics of the thing. Now, in the light of day it ‘does’ look a bit contraption-like [I personally use three red 25 watt 'party-lights' through-out the sim room and this gives the sim room a subdued look and of course mimics the cockpit atmosphere...when I'm not using a monitor hood...but that's another story] BUT, continuing,  when the lights are turned off, the affect is rather dramatic in the fresnel plus mirror set-up …both on the eyes and on the brain! Just another way of continuing with sim experience tinkerings where flight sim enthusiasts change the status-quo and make the experience, well, different…I mean in the absence of 12 mil’  and change for a garage or big basement 6 axis full motion sim or the actual cockpit nose section of some real-thing wreck bought for salvage but where the cockpit area was undamaged and the thing now serves as a stationary sim with speakers for the ‘engine’ or engines plural, wings not needed [in the sim room?] of course nor anything [unless one desires same and has the room] behind the pilot’s seat—basically the monitor for the nose view and the dash instruments [or perhaps a big electric fan blade sans the grille for a prop if that's your thing] and with the only difference being a computer with a specially rigged up home brew electrical box feeding in the appropriate juice and input to the ‘real’ gauges to have it correspond to the sim. It’s been done! But Jim-bo got his sim ’special effects’ , so he says, for less then $150 ! —fresnel lens, used, 3 mirrors as described and a cardboard cut-out which was cut to his height and sim chair position! Again, he got the idea from Bob MacKay and his 5 part  MW series on home brew cockpits and its many…many…variations when it came to visuals. Multiple monitors notwithstanding. More to follow! Doc Tony BTW—another amigo’s KB up Vermont way [beautiful state, Vermont!] ..this time a BIG one….is secured ABOVE his monitor with two 4 1/2  watt night light bulbs providing KB illumination and recessed to boot and he refers to same as simply an ‘overhead panel’ where he has certain keys color coded and proceeds from there on an a press-to-activate-as- needed basis! In effect, a dedicated KB so when he is not using the sim…zip…zip…unplug the sim KB and plug in the normal KB. KB’s today, brand new, can be had for less then $10!  Hey, it’s really WHATEVER works for the sim enthusiast and I’ve found, by and large, that most of these set-ups of ‘whatever’  nature [multiple monitors, fresnel enhancements, enclosures from cardboard to elaborate plastics or even metal, whatever] serve a purpose for THAT sim enthusiast vs some non simmer taking one look sans the lighting etc. ambiance and declaring what they see to be  ’rather outlandish!’ But what do they know?  

Response:

OK—so you tried a friend’s USB yoke and really couldn’t tell any ‘great’ difference other then visually and those extra 2 levers [prop and mixture] in the USB CH ‘update’. But in handling characteristics between that USB yoke on your ‘old’ CH Virtual Pilot Pro gameport PC yoke, ‘ehhhh. But then, you liked the ‘look’  of the new USB yoke yet $120.00 isn’t exactly floating around in your pin money stash. So too, you don’t like the idea of being forced to get USB pedals for any USB yoke when you already have a working CH  PC set that plugs right into the CH yoke and does the job…not to mention a combined sum of over $225 for toe-brakes on the USB stuff…hey…you can wait, right? So what to do!?  Well, perhaps a few things…. First, you may wish to give the thing a different ‘look’—no biggie—grab a can of fast drying spray paint…cover as appropriate especially the slider area…and do like the song says. What’s that? OK…Dah dah dah dahhhh dah dah…ah the hell with that…the song words ‘paint it black!’.  It works because I did it just for a change! Step two was to substitute a longer throttle control [ohhh yes---with the 'T' ball---I mean if  Trev Morson can do it on the real thing and then apply same to his home SIM , hey, then I can do a variation on the CH yoke!] for that dinky lever CH provides. No biggie there either. Then, ahhhh, a rather different look but hey, to each his/her own….get a ruler…that’s right,  a ruler….measure the distance between the throttle lever slit opening and the end of the yoke [moving left of course] and you’ll see…or should see…a distance of  exactly 10". So? So this…get an inexpensive small footprint keyboard and velcro the thing on that space so that you eliminate the old keyboard reach-over when it’s time for…..Bizzzzzzzzzzzz!….quiz time!….time for  Shift / ….right!…arming of the spoiler! And then…..here’s a toughy….’G'…..I’ll assume you savvy that one forthwith….and then there is  F6….quick!…F6…really, full or incremental flap? Good! And then F7 for extended flaps. And so forth for umpteen key commands or hot key stuff  which may not be programmed into the yoke buttons and which ARE differently pre-programmed in FS98 vs FS2K save for the extreme left button [brake] which always seems to remain a brake…anyway, the small footprint keyboard right on top of the yoke puts everything where you need or require it. Also saves on spilled sodas, java, whatever….reaching for the big KB! HEY…you in Jersey City, what’s with the shaking of the head? What, are you honestly going to tell me that when you made the grand PIC decision to do a go-around and duly remembered to add-power, retract flaps –and– the wheels of course…you went for that second shoot and …and….let’s do a quick recall while you’re still grinning …..’Approaching minimums….minimums….200 above ….100….50…40…..30…20…10…RETA….[*sudden LOUD  noise heard] …KA-BOOM..!  So much for the ‘chirp’ sound(s)  and enter the KA-BOOM thing and the dreaded MS  "RED MESSAGE" on YOUR screen,  to wit,  ’Next time, extend your landing gear!’  Ohhhhhh! Yeah! You forgot that one, didn’t you?! Still grinning at my yoke thing?  ;-) Doc Tony Doc’s Tip:  On those yoke sliders…of whatever variety….LIGHT WD-40 works well. AVOID gooey stuff which tends to make the slider area, believe it or not,  ’stick’ and the gunk gets into the box! Light WD40 on the slider area, and don’t forget the back of the yoke slider either,  works well!

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