231: AffinityMask for P3D V2

January 16, 2014January 16, 2017 | Tom Tsui

Although I said that FSX is still my preferred simulator platform, it doesn’t mean that I am totally giving up on P3D V2. The two main issues that stop me from swtiching to this highly expected simulator are third-party addon compatibility and lagging FIP gauges.

For the first one, I couldn’t do anything but to wait for updates and fixes from either Lockheed Martin or related developers or we users ourselves. For the second, after weeks of on-and-off trials and errors, I am glad to say that the lagging issue my FIPs encountered has been generally reduced to a minimum level that is now fully playable under P3D environment.

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230: C172M Cockpit Measurements

January 9, 2014March 22, 2018 | Tom Tsui

Brian McMullan who lives in Louisville, USA earlier sent me his measurements of a real C172M cockpit, from which he replicates his virtual one at home.

The sketch on the left below is the measurements (in centimeter; no distance of pedals from front to back) that he climbed in and measured it out from a real C172M that he usually flies. The one on the right is how he put the Saitek parts on the table top of his virtual cockpit. Even though no FIPs, Brian says that they should fit between instrument LCD and Saitek radio panel, if installed.

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Cockpit: Brian McMullan (KLOU, USA)

January 4, 2014May 24, 2020 | Tom Tsui

Here’s the beta cockpit from Brian McMullan, who uses the middle seats out of his wife’s Honda Odyssey van that he thinks it’s a much nicer seat than what’s in the C172M he actually flies in.

Builder: Brian McMullan
Location: Louisville, USA
ICAO: KLOU, Bowman Field Airport

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229: Piper PA28 Instrument Panel

January 4, 2014March 22, 2018 | Tom Tsui

Van Vangyver, a member of the “Swedish Home Cockpit Builders” group, recently sent me some CAD files that he drew for the “Piper PA28 181 Archer II Simulator Project” run by Esko Haanpää on facebook.
PA28-Panel Dimensions of the drawings are based on a real Cherokee PA28-140 and Esko’s project requirements. The files, in .dwg, .dxf and .pdf format, can be printed on 25 standard sheets of paper with cut marks so that they could taped together for a full-scale template.