23/12/10 The two Simon's.  Simon Lummis (right) was here on the 14th December all the way from Peterborough and then on the 16th it was my pleasure to welcome Simon Lloydbottom in from Birmingham.     Always a pleasure to welcome new visitors, 42 this year - Phew :o)

Now here's something for you, here's the latest product from Eren at Revolution Simproducts.

Latest thing to come out of Paris is this. Boeing Seat 
'J Rails'  Absolute 100% dimensional movement when compared to the original mechanism.  All steel construction and only 1" tall. Each J rail set is supplied with top platform and can support  upto 190kg which is more than enough for you and your Weber/Ipeco seat.         There's some video's on Youtube of it working here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu9GHNG3d5s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upAIX7PCI40
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQd_4otzVXk

All robust metal construction, easy installation, replica movement,  no  maintenance just SCREW AND PLAY:-)
 sales@revolution-simproducts.com 

14/12/10 Eren has just called me and he's got the 'Christmas Spirit'.    Some special deals for the holiday season on Rudders, TQ's & the New Yokes.    Also now available are the Airbus Rudders. Click on the image for prices or go visit their website at 
www.revolution-simproducts.com for more information.

13/12/10 I have 5 computers running on my system.  I've just gone thru a nightmare having problems with three of them.  It's taken me three weeks to get the system running back as it should.  If you've ever had to re-install a full system programming and then get it re-configured as it was you will know what a bast**d it can be. and I had to do that twice !!!!   So i now have two brand new units on board and a spare in case of a disaster.   But this week we cracked it all :o))      So, we have been holding off on visitors until last Saturday when it was a pleasure to meet up with 'The Shed Lads'.   Some of you may remember two guys in TELFORD building a 737 in a shed, Lee ELCOCK (right) & Ian HAYES (left).  Well they scrapped that idea because the shed was too small.  Now they're back at it and looking for a bigger shed :o))  :o))  :o))    Got three more visitors in this week and then that's it until after Christmas.

29/11/2010   G'Day mates....  Alan Watson's TQ sold he told me - thanks.

16/11/2010   Phew, what a week !   I f*****g hate computers :o))   Just had my Eicas machine die on me and had to replace it.       And then, my Main Cockpit computer started to play up.   So i've had it all out and gave it a good clean and rechecked all the board and memory connections.   Seems to be fine now, so here's hoping.   Just a mention for great service here.   I bought a couple of barebones and components to build a couple of new machines from NOVATECH.  Superb service and quality.  Check out their website HERE.

Next Up,  Dave Holt has been in touch and look what he's made.  It's a 737 Cockpit Frame.  True to scale and fits all the Commercially available Overhead and MIP panels into the bargain.   Simply all bolts together.    Dave can make these for you at about £450 unpainted, £550 painted in RAL7011 or £650 powder coated (same colour).  e-mail Dave HERE. 

31/10/2010   You may remember I built a TQ from kit form last month and video'd/photographed the build because Eren at Revolution Simproducts is going to start making them available as kits to reduce the cost.   Well i've assembled the 'rough drafts' because we need them in time for the Lelystad show.   Here they are.   First one is the Mechanical Build and the second one is Fitting the Covers.    When i have more time after the show, i'll polish them up a bit.   Beauty of the new design of course is that it's modular which means the Non-Motorised TQ can now be upgraded to motorised by fitting the motors and controls as a 'retro-fit' at a later date.

28/10/2010   Well enjoyed the holiday in Zakynthos and got back to find Aerosoft have added LTAI - Antalya (Turkey) to its product lineup.  So just had to buy it.  Typical Aerosoft Quality, nice rendition of the Airport.  Check it out at Aerosoft.
Also had Russ Cooksey here 26th October for a spin.  Russ is a PPL, so he made short work of the Alicante to Luton trip, arriving in some real crap weather with a 700' cloudbase :o))

14/10/2010   Another visitor 9th October.  PPL Nicholas Hermansky was here all the way from Shoreham for some circuits at Gatwick and then a run up to Edinburgh which he handled very well.
Gez at GLB Flight Products mailed me with a Pic of his latest product.  The 737NG Gear Lever Assembly.   Quite a package product this which includes the Frontplate, the Annunciators and even an Illuminated Knob.   He's aimed it very competitively at GB£140.
Right, that's me done for a week, i'm off on holiday in the morning, back Saturday 23rd....  Have fun.

06/10/2010   Ok, I can let the cat out of the bag now.  I had been building a Non-Motorised TQ for Eren as an Experiment.  That was to see how easy it would be for 'the man in the street' to build.
The plan is that Revolution Simproducts will make the Non-Motorised TQ available as a kit for self assembly in an attempt to keep costs down and in an attempt to widen the market for Throttle Quadrants.
So, they asked me to video/photograph the build process so that a 'build video' could be made to help customers build their own Throttle Quadrant.   Part 2 is finished and i'm now working on Part 1.

The beauty of this TQ design is that the Non-Motorised TQ can now be upgraded to motorised at some time in the future by fitting the motorised kit as a retro fit.  Click on the image for a little teaser :o))

04/10/2010   Just 5 weeks to go then until the Lelystad Show.   Come and see me on the Revolution Simproducts stand, i've been 'press ganged' into helping out.    
And I've been working on my second Epic, but i'm waiting for the all clear to upload it.

Yesterday, it was my pleasure to welcome one of the great contributors to cockpit building here.   Gwyn Perrett (Mr. Westozy himself) and his lovely lady Leonie all the way from PERTH, Western Australia.  Gwyn is convinced i didn't build this cockpit, he thinks i cut it off the front of a real 737.  So, i guess it must look the part :o))

And finally, I built a non-motorised TQ for Eren at Revolution Simproducts as an Experiment.  There was no point in sending it back was there.  So, we sold it to Richard Hutchinson from Peterborough who came over Saturday 2nd Oct.  to collect it. Nice One.

24/09/2010   Just bought a FLIGHTDECK SOLUTIONS Checklist Holder and  got round to fitting it to the top of the glareshield. Peter Cos mailed me and said 'You sure you want to add an FDS part to your project? :)       You almost made it without us! '.   He is a boy isn't he :o))  But, in fairness it's real nice quality.

I was using 12v MES Bulbs for Backlighting originally, but recently i've been experimenting with LED Strips.  Initial results are very promising and I'll continue with this because I like the clean effect i'm getting. Haven't fitted a dimmer yet, but that's easy because they are all fed from the same supply.

21/09/2010   All work done and now started having visitors again. So this week we had two builders over from the Midlands, Ryan Ashmore (left) and Liam Webb were in.  Ryan said 'Thanks for a great day and we really enjoyed it.  It's far more than we expected'.

18/09/2010   No, I didn't die or runaway to sea :o))   Just had a couple of weeks in Zakynthos for some R n' R.    Right then, several things been happening which will include a surprise later in the week (yes it's another video, now i wonder what it can be :o))  ).   First we had Richard Avery & Alex Gralton over for a day for a bit of teamwork & CRM practise on the 15th.
Some new scenery files I bought this week and all are absolutely excellent. First up, EIRESIM's ALICANTE (LEAL).   I'm blown away with it.   Stunning.  Check it out at EIRESIM's Website.
Then as you would expect from Aerosoft, two great new scenery files.     GIBRALTAR for those of us who like a challenge because there's no sophisticated Navaids or ILS's here, just Mk1 eyeball and a lot of skill.  Not a big airport, but unique in it's own way.   But the next one i bought has got to be the best of the lot.    Again from Aerosoft a whole new working of BARCELONA.    Much better than the freeware version i was using.  Now includes the new terminal which was finished last year and lots of ground traffic and static aircraft.  Very high quality.   See these two excellent sceneries at www.aerosoft.com.

14/08/2010   Sneaked off yesterday, dropped the Overhead & fitted the Landing Light Switches - SWEET :o))

11/08/2010   Thanks again Captains, another successful 12 months.   Over 140,000 distinct visits here since end of August 2009.  Thanks for your interest chaps. 

Have a look at these then :o))   I saw these when I was in Paris at REVOLUTION and ordered a set which arrived yesterday.  Boeing 737NG Landing Light switches and caps.   Very nice quality, machined out of a solid aluminium block and fitted to a security switch so they don't rotate. Priced at 35 euro's per switch kit or if you have the security switches, you can buy just the caps themselves. Guess the job for the weekend is drop the overhead and fit them :o))

24/07/2010   When I was in Paris,  Eren asked me to make some video of how i built the rudders to help other customers who will buy the Rudder Pedals as a kit instead of the built model.  Here's the end result below.  Video comes in 3 parts.  Part 1 is Assembling Mechanics, Part 2 is Fitting Covers and for customers with 2 sets of rudders, a brief description of the interlink system.
And finally for those customers who have purchased the rudder pedals, there's a setup document.  More info HERE.

20/07/2010   Lot going on this week.....phew !   July 17th, we were delighted to fly with our First Lady Pilot, Ms. Jean HANDLEY.  Flew us out of and back into Manchester onto 23R (ooow look, there's the Pub :o))  ).  Pleasure to have a bit of glamour aboard.   Then my colleague David BULLOCK sent me his 'next installment', how he built and backlit his overhead project.   I have never seen someone who has such attention to detail and i'm insanely jealous whenever i see his endeavours.   Click the image on the right to read what David has written or visit his area on my site HERE.
Just been reading up on deals being done at  the Farnborough Air Show.....    Did you know, a new 737-800 now costs $76 million, f**k me that's big bucks :o))

16/07/2010  I was over in Paris yesterday fetching my second Rudder Pedal Kit from Eren.  The last time i was there, I saw the first prototype Auto Yoke which they had built as a 'proof of concept'.    Well development has progressed to a point where it is fully operational in both pitch and roll.   And he's even got the 'Stick Shaker' working into the bargain.   Click the image on the right to stream a short demo video and here's some shots of the first production prototype.    As well as the Auto Yoke, Eren is also going to produce a basic model.
These are going to be on show in Lelystad, so go check them out November 6th & 7th.      Operation is exactly the same as the real thing using Gears and Shafts. Real sweet well thought out

04/07/2010  Well, very pleased to play host to another celebrity last Saturday :o))
PCPILOT journalist JOE LAVERY travelled up from Cardiff to 'have a bash' at the sim.  Left Cardiff for Edinburgh with an approach & TOGA to 23R at Manchester thrown into the bargain.  Joe was all over the new TQ and you never know we just might get a mention in the Magazine next month.
Ok, I know, very quiet on the 'Project' front.   Well I've had the system working since early part of the year, but documenting it all has really taken a lot of time.  All the 'decision making' is being done by PICAXE PIC's. In the above image, the one on the right is handling all the input/outputs and the one on the left is for expansion.  Expect the new electrical page when i have had the time (and enthusiasm) to finish up the .pdf's.  I've done 4 of the 5 and started to build the page. Watch this space.

01/07/2010  Another visitor yesterday, Gerard Rothwell came over from Porthcawl for a blast in the pit. " I really enjoyed it and learnt so much. I think it's brilliant that you share everything with flightsim community"...Well i'm just a nice guy.
Right, made the decision, booked the Hotel, off to Lelystad Nov.6th & 7th for the FSWEEKEND. So, look forward to seeing you all there again this year chaps.
Last snippet for today, Eren sent me a message telling me that the new LANDING LIGHT SWITCHES are finished, in stock and ready to ship.   Fully machined from aluminium and fitted to a security switch, so the TEE Caps cannot rotate on the switch toggle.  Check them out HERE

24/06/2010  All the rudder pedals sold thanks chaps (even got to sell my spare pair as well).  So i went ahead and fitted the new Rudders from Eren.  Very pleased with the operation and end result.  

Simple 'Plug & Play' install with controls being routed via a 'Bodnar Card' that makes assignment and calibration a breeze in FSUIPC.   Have a look for yourself.  And Eren tells me he has some 'SPECIAL OFFERS' for the FSWEEKEND 6/7th November. Click the image on the left to see his offers for yourself.

18/06/2010  And my pleasure 16th June to welcome another Father and Son Team, Rob & Alan HOWE all the way from Cumbria.  Very tricky approach to Nice Cote d'Azur 04R.

16/06/2010  Well the Rudders arrived from Eren at Revolution Simproducts (I ought to have shares in that company :o))  ).         Totally 'blown away' with them.  Very solid construction that includes a lot of aluminium and a very clever mechanism.        Simple USB 'Plug & Play' Connection via one of Leo Bodnar's cards which i'm going to assign and configure using FSUIPC.   The thing I like as well is that the footrests are seperate units, which means they are going to fit nicely with my yoke.   Hope to get them fitted at the weekend and will post more photo's and comments then.

11/06/2010  News this week is that my Revolution Simproducts Rudder Pedals will be here on Monday :o))  More info and Pics when i get them.   Also two great chaps in on Tuesday. Andrew & John Clissett flew Manchester to Palma flawlessly. John said 'Thanks very much today we were very very impressed!  What you have done is a very realistic Flight Sim and we enjoyed every part of it'
Makes you feel all warm inside when somebody compliments you like that :o))

07/06/2010  Been working on the Auto TQ manual for Eren at Revolution Simproducts and had some things to take care of as well, so time has not been on my side last couple of weeks.   Pleasure to welcome our first Egyptian visitors Ali & Andy AMER who were here June 3rd all the way from CAIRO.  Flew Cairo to Sharm.   By the way, the SDG Scenery for Sharm (HESH) is worth a look. It's cheap as chips (about 5 Euro's from SimMarket).

31/05/2010  Just had a couple of weeks holiday, hence my absence. But after coming back i've been flying the sim quite a lot (well that's what it's there for).   Pat on the back here for Gary Summons at UK2000 Scenery for his Manchester Xtreme.   Absolutely superb in detail and very accurate in it's presentation.Lots of updates and runway numbering now changed....check this one out.

22/04/2010  Well finally got the new TQ Page Finished. Click on the Image to see it.   Took me quite some time because i was too busy playing with the TQ.   There's also some video's of it in action.
Also been busy with other things, but that's for later :o))   Ash Cloud, what ash Cloud?   Did i miss something ?

11/04/2010  Well finally got the Revolution Simproducts Throttle Quadrant built in and working. Absolutely delighted with it.   I've just got one thing to sort out, a minor conflict with the CPFlight MIP Board on the Spoiler Armed Annunciator, but no big deal.   Here's some photo's and there's more on the NEW TQ Page which i'm just working on, so bear with me :o))

I've had to do some major refitting to get this TQ in the right place, so I intend to test it all out over the next few days and while i'm doing that, i'll make some demo video's of the functions for uploading.  But for those of you who missed it, here's a link to the original testing on the prototype unit i had for testing.   Prototype Test Video.

09/04/2010  Busy, Busy, Busy over the last two weeks.  Had three visitors in left to right  Ben DALE (Sweden), Ian POUTNEY (Boston), and Andrew LOHMAN from Llandudno over to beat the crap out of the sim.
Then 7th April, i've ripped out the sim for some maintenance and to fit the REVOLUTION SIMPRODUCTS Throttle Quad.  Pics later OMG ! :o))
THERE IS DEFINATELY GOING TO BE AN SDK for the PMDG 737NGX.    To quote Robert RANDAZZO of PMDG
"We are currently working to provide a simple, no-cost interface for many hardware suppliers so that they may connect their devices to future products, such as our upcoming 737NG2.0.  Development of said interfaces will of course be left to the individual hardware developers, but the SDK that we provide them will be plenty sufficient to accomplish the task and we will require that they provide the drivers at no cost to end users."

25/03/2010  I've been talking to Gert at FLYWARE and he's just been showing me the new screenshots of the FSXpand CDU in action.   He's building and displaying routes based on the Navigraph AIRAC data inside the FSXpand CDU which is due for release later this year.   I'm also happy to confirm that Gert will also be introducing CPFlight MCP compatibilty into FSXpand, probably in the next major release.

24/03/2010  Look what I've just seen in my e-mail from Eren at Revolution Sim-Products

   I was in Paris in January and I saw the prototype of these when I was there.  Eren just sent me an e-mail telling me that the production is now ready.  They look real nice 
Eren wrote: 'Here are the specification:
We have respected the appearance and size of the 737 rudder pedals.     Our unit is USB 'plug and play' just assign the three axes as right & left brake and rudder in FSUIPC or FS that's all in 5 minutes, you are up and running.           Measurements are from ground to top of pedal 36 cm,
Depth:48cm,  Length: adjustable between 430 and 550 cm to allow users of  the ACE yoke with base no problem because the footrests are the 3mm thick aliminium and are adjustable or removable.
Its solid base elements are manufactured in aluminium. Pedals are a Delrine 'one block' piece and painted with a hard coat epoxy paint.
Also on top as a option we can put dummy adjust handle etc.   Weight:15 kg    Available for order now direct.
First delivery date in the second week of April.  Price: for pre order 900 euros plus VAT and shipment (Normal price will be 1300 euro's), but for existing TQ owners, we will offer a special 100 euro discount.  Contact us HERE for more information'.

Finally, I have it on good authority that Gert at Flyware is talking to Paolo at CPFlight about compatibility with the CPFlight MCP.   With the Sim Avionics price having rocketted, it's a great opportunity for Gert to fill the gap if he can get hardware MCP and CDU compatibility built in.    Again i am reliably informed that the FSXpand CDU is due for release this year.

22/03/2010  Oops, been absent for far too long. Good excuse, very busy.  The 3rd podcast has been done for MyCockpit.org with Vybhav.  You need the .pdf file that accompanies it because there's some examples in it.
Just click on the image on the right to download it or click on the left link to stream the discussion.
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Then I've had a stream of visitors over to play.  Roger Harris was here and two 'Real World Pilots' in Rob Cassidy (Thomson) and Grant Doyle (Ryanair).   Great day with them and learned soooo much.

I've been talking a lot lately with Leo Bodnar.  Leo has now agreed a license with Peter Dowson for use of the FSUIPC data exchange processes.   Expect great things and upgrades to what the BU0836 family of cards can do.   In our exchanges, we discussed a new application which just might be of interest to somebody.   Years ago Mark Deponeo taught me to 'ladder resistors'.   Well in a project for a friend, i had a requirement for 4 position flaps lever. No worries.   Rotary switch with laddered resistors replaced a pot and in the axis assignment page, set on the right hand side what you want to happen when the 'pot' enters that range.    Leo is now producing these switches on a PCB.
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Part of the reason I have not been about is that I have been flying the sim.  No point in having something like this if you don't use it :o))    Three new sceneries  added to the destination index. Just bought the Aerosoft Amsterdam, Menorca and Innsbruck Sceneries.  It never ceases to amaze me the level of quality of the Aerosoft scenery.   All these three scenery files are HIGHLY recommended.  Check them out by clicking on the pics.
GLB Flight Products have been in touch to tell me about the new Switch Toggle Caps they have.   Could be a real budget alternative for a lot of people.  Not sure if they fit standard or long toggle switches because the page doesn't say, so just send Gez a mail and i'm sure he'll put you right. 
---------------------------------------------

19/02/2010  Couple of things happened over the last week or so.  Vybhav talked me into another MyCockpit.org Podcast, this time about inputs.   These are designed to get you started in communicating successfully with your sim.
Click on the image to stream it (in MP3) or right click HERE and 'save target as' to download it to your computer.   Plans are well under way for the third podcast about simple electronic circuits.
Then Feb 19th, Steve Everson was here.  Two years since Steve was here, cant believe it.   We had a great discussion about what we perceive as the future and i showed him a few things that i'm upto.   i think he went away enthused and with some ideas for his own cockpit development.   And he flew Madrid to Palma in the bargain :o))
First Scenery purchase of the tear. Alan Watson was raving about this, so i bought the IBIZA X package.  Was he right or what.  Not the biggest airport in the Med, but the attention to detail is quite amazing.  Go to the Aerosoft website and have a look for your self.   And the thing I like about Aerosoft is if you buy the FS2004 version, you also get a link to the FSX verion for when (or if) you decide to change platform.

05/02/2010  Some of you may remember the Rotary Switch to Encoder Idea from last year.  Well i have a project on the go which needed something similar.  But, i only needed to control a 3 position switch.  That is one which has a + & - mode of increase and decrease.  But of course the direction of switching had to be synchronised with the software switch.  Here's the deal.

Dave Holt has managed to work out how to drive the Cabin Alt Differential Gauge Using Phidgets.  This looks interesting.  
Click on the image on the right to see the test video on YouTube.                

Thanks to everybody who got in touch re: the Podcast.  Plans are well under way for the next one about INPUTS.

27/01/2010  So I got myself interviewed by Vybhav from MyCockpits about Cockpit Building.  This is the first in a series that we will do.    This Podcast is a General Discussion about what new builders (and some seasoned veterens) have to think about to move ahead with their projects.   Hope you enjoy it.   Just click on the image to stream it     Or you can download it HERE (Right Click-Save As)

23/01/2010  I was in Paris Thursday at Revolution Simproducts for a couple of reasons. First they will exchange my TQ for the New Updated Version (I had the prototype to work with).  Then I was looking at some new products 'in the pipeline'.  Can't say too much because these are still in development at the moment :o))
First Off, they are looking at several products.  I've seen the drawings of the IPECO Pilots Seat which EREN tells me will be available in Grey Leather and with a Sheepskin Finish.
Then this idea 'Blew Me Away'...... they are working on an Auto Yoke system.  I was sat in Paris watching Oral (who was in Istanbul) writing the programming and testing the motion of the Yoke based in data he was collecting from inside FS.    This is breaking news, more when i have it.

Then I saw all the new developments on the TQ.  This is the new lever drive mechanism.  All Aluminium and as smooth as silk.  Lovely 'feel' to it.  The thing I liked was they are now building them modular.  The new handles are exceptional.   Now I can't wait to get my real TQ here.    I didn't say anything about the Rudder Pedals did I, because nobody is supposed to know  :o))

07/01/2010  The UK is absolutely 'Snowed In'.   The weather here has been the coldest winter for 30 years.   So, as it's just too cold to get out to the workshop, it's given me the opportunity to polish up some new ideas.     Been working on the 'Remote Control' idea for the sim using Peter Dowson's Virtual Buttons in WideFS/Wideclient to great effect.   Now able to totally control the sim from outside from start up to shutdown.  More later.
Now who says the Big Boys don't take notice !   I had a letter from BOEING thanking me for my interest in the 737NG.    Fame at last !