Crazy idea, sidewinder cockpit.

Sanderson

Sanderson
I'm looking to get a new flightsim chair/hotas setup (another thread) and have a crazy idea of creating a replica of a sidewinder cockpit (maybe another ship), in full scale to go with my DK2.

I have limited skills and even less talent and it would be made of wood (probably plywood) but, the idea is to let the wood represent the physical aspects while the rift fills in the details. If that makes sense.

If I could reach out while wearing the rift (i know we can't see our hands in a rift, yet) and really feel the canopy (plexiglass) and other major interior components I think that would be incredible.

Question: do you think the devs might help with some full scale dimensions (roughly) of the basic cockpit structure to aid in accuracy? I'd hate to guess as it could throw off the entire experience.

Ya it's a crazy idea I know and would look horrible to anyone not "in" the rift but, I can't help but let my inner child run free with ED. That and I've been up since yesterday after 4 hours sleep! Damn you Elite, I need to sleep sometime!
 

Paden

Paden
Sounds like a lot of fun.

What happens when you upgrade to a bigger ship? Might start to get trickier when you get an Anaconda or Panther Clipper. But I suppose the upstairs / downstairs cockpit of the Lakon could be an interesting addition to the house? :D

Good luck!
 

Praevarus

P
Could just build a cockpit that looks like the escape pod if you're not afraid of jinxing yourself. Maybe those won't all look the same either, though.
 

Sanderson

Sanderson
Paden said:
Sounds like a lot of fun.

What happens when you upgrade to a bigger ship? Might start to get trickier when you get an Anaconda or Panther Clipper. But I suppose the upstairs / downstairs cockpit of the Lakon could be an interesting addition to the house? :D

Good luck!
Click to expand...

lol I thought of that and while I'd love to live in an Anaconda, it's a bit out of my budget :D

The idea is to get my friends and family into the experience while fulfilling a childhood fantasy. I'd have to settle for one ship and I'd be ok with that. For the others I'd have to continue fantasizing, which is also ok, I do that now :D

It works out fine so fa,r until my kids and wife breach the imaginary hull. :p
 

Sanderson

Sanderson
Praevarus said:
Could just build a cockpit that looks like the escape pod if you're not afraid of jinxing yourself. Maybe those won't all look the same either, though.
Click to expand...

Got one of those already, didn't work to well. The wife banged on the trashbin I was in saying Dr. Youranut wanted to speak with me as soon as I docked :D
 

Cosmo Bozo

Cosmo Bozo
Hope you have plenty of room. Even the sidewinder is big. There is a screenshot in the peek of the week thread that shows the pilot sat in it.
I can't post a link easily as i'm on my phone, hopefully someone will put it up if you cant access the thread yourself
 

MonochromeChaos

M
On Gwen's 'scale model cobra' thread one of the devs posted some 'schematic' drawings of the cobra.

You could take a basic size from them, and scale it as you feel would be appropriate for the sidewinder.

Alternatively - build it to fit into whatever space you've got!

Second alternative: Get down to your local supermarket, and pick up a truckload of cardboard boxes, plus a craft knife and some duct tape. Use that as quick/cheap/easy materials to hack together a rough mock-up of what you think you are going to want to build. It won't 'look' much like what you'll be aiming to build, but it will allow you to sit in the space and think...would it be this big/small? Would I be able to reach that panel if it's way over there? Should it be closer? Should the canopy be here, there, or all the way over there....

Putting it all together in a simple building material will also give you a ton of information about how you might put it together in the 'final' materials. And how long it'll take, and how much space it'll take up in your house, and whether it'll cause divorce :D

-edit- http://forums.frontier.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=223&d=1395080375 CM111 is 130m wide, according to a very quick google search. Transfer that measurement onto a printout of those schematics and you can get all the dimensions from the drawings. Then scale the cockpit from a CM111 to a Sidey - I'd say pretty much half the width (as it's a single seater, not dual seat) but the same height.

-another edit- google 'Elite sidewinder' and check 'images' some good source material there: http://savepic.org/2892593.png
 
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Sanderson

Sanderson
Cosmo Bozo said:
Hope you have plenty of room. Even the sidewinder is big. There is a screenshot in the peek of the week thread that shows the pilot sat in it.
I can't post a link easily as i'm on my phone, hopefully someone will put it up if you cant access the thread yourself
Click to expand...

Yup. have a 12'x12' man-cave and a 30'x26' garage. Who needs to park a car in the garage anyway?

Seriously though, I wouldn't be trying to re-create the entire interior of a ship just the parts one could reach out and touch, if it was real. That's why I'd choose a small ship.

i know it's nuts but, that never stopped me before and you only live once and all that. I mean if I'm not embarrassed to be seen in an Oculus Rift, I have no problem sitting in a simulated cockpit made of wood :D
 

Sanderson

Sanderson
MonochromeChaos said:
On Gwen's 'scale model cobra' thread one of the devs posted some 'schematic' drawings of the cobra.

You could take a basic size from them, and scale it as you feel would be appropriate for the sidewinder.

Alternatively - build it to fit into whatever space you've got!

Second alternative: Get down to your local supermarket, and pick up a truckload of cardboard boxes, plus a craft knife and some duct tape. Use that as quick/cheap/easy materials to hack together a rough mock-up of what you think you are going to want to build. It won't 'look' much like what you'll be aiming to build, but it will allow you to sit in the space and think...would it be this big/small? Would I be able to reach that panel if it's way over there? Should it be closer? Should the canopy be here, there, or all the way over there....

Putting it all together in a simple building material will also give you a ton of information about how you might put it together in the 'final' materials. And how long it'll take, and how much space it'll take up in your house, and whether it'll cause divorce :D

-edit- http://forums.frontier.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=223&d=1395080375 CM111 is 130m wide, according to a very quick google search. Transfer that measurement onto a printout of those schematics and you can get all the dimensions from the drawings. Then scale the cockpit from a CM111 to a Sidey - I'd say pretty much half the width (as it's a single seater, not dual seat) but the same height.
Click to expand...

A mockup is a great idea and thanks for the info! I'm not looking to make it look like the real thing, or any kind of show piece, just a rough physical representation of what I'm seeing in the Oculus. I haven't the skills or talent for that.
 

cassius

cassius
If its a crazy idea, then you and I sir are both due a stay at the 'Shady Acres Rest Home For The Terminally Addicted To Elite' :p

Its been my dream too ever since i saw a few Mechwarrior Online simpits. I've linked them in another post but i can add them real quick here too and maybe they'll give you some ideas :) ...

cassius said:
This one, and this one, and i like this one the best!
Click to expand...

I'm about to move house pretty soon so i've already put in the formal request, filled out in triplicate, with the girlfriend that i can have one of the spare rooms/garage for my stuff! For the time being i've been playing with the electronics side of things and i posted this over in the Fan Creations thread a few days ago:

http://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=20707

This is v1 at best, but the buttons etc are now on order for v2. At the moment it'll look something like this with the intention of converting to a replica cockpit when i've got the build space :D :

layout_v2+%2528with+buttons%2529.jpg

A mock-up in cardboard is definately the way to go. Its cheap and very easy to work with, and will let you tweak any changes in positioning that you may need to do before commiting to more robust material like wood and plexiglass. Also, it might be worth looking into sheet acrylic rather than plexiglass. Its a bit cheaper and will do exactly the same thing for your purposes.
 

Sanderson

Sanderson
cassius said:
If its a crazy idea, then you and I sir are both due a stay at the 'Shady Acres Rest Home For The Terminally Addicted To Elite' :p

Its been my dream too ever since i saw a few Mechwarrior Online simpits. I've linked them in another post but i can add them real quick here too and maybe they'll give you some ideas :) ...



I'm about to move house pretty soon so i've already put in the formal request, filled out in triplicate, with the girlfriend that i can have one of the spare rooms/garage for my stuff! For the time being i've been playing with the electronics side of things and i posted this over in the Fan Creations thread a few days ago:

http://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=20707

This is v1 at best, but the buttons etc are now on order for v2. At the moment it'll look something like this with the intention of converting to a replica cockpit when i've got the build space :D :

layout_v2+%2528with+buttons%2529.jpg

A mock-up in cardboard is definately the way to go. Its cheap and very easy to work with, and will let you tweak any changes in positioning that you may need to do before commiting to more robust material like wood and plexiglass. Also, it might be worth looking into sheet acrylic rather than plexiglass. Its a bit cheaper and will do exactly the same thing for your purposes.
Click to expand...

Nice!
 

Crudzilla

Crudzilla
I think you probably are bonkers... but I wanna see it when it's done for sure!

For me this wouldn't be a project for rift though. It makes very little sense in that respect. When you are reaching out to touch your plexiglass windows you will not see your hand doing that in the rift... Would completely shatter the illusion imo.

This kind of project is best suited to the big ass projectors projecting on the windows method. No rift, just reality.

I am in line for a DK2 too. But I think rift + hotas and a comfy chair is all we'll require for amazing immersion.
 

Dirtmuncher

D
I would make it so that the chair back is slightly tilted back. That way you have the best view out of the windows with the rift without having to crane your neck back all the time.
 

HoshiQaVam

H
The cockpits change with each ship, but the pilot seat remains very similar, and that surely is the bulk of the things you'd be "touching" while wearing the OR.

peek_of_the_week_18.jpg


In the above picture, we're basically talking about the bits just above the pilot's knees and beside the throttle and sticks.

Although in that pick the screen above the knees looks similar to modern fighters, of the 5 ships we can currently fly that seems more commonly to be what looks like a 10" tablet.

The odd looking pad thing to the right of the throttle you could replace with this:

razer-nostromo-gallery-1.png


And then the buttons to the left of the flight stick could just be a numpad or a custom built panel or something.

Get those right, and the rest of the cockpit is a little irrelevant.
 

Sanderson

Sanderson
I'm a very lucky man indeed! My better half is a remarkable woman and I love her all the more for not only being supportive of my "hobby" she also is actively looking for ways and things to add to its enjoyment.

She's just the best!

Lot's of good ideas and comments thanks for the input.
 
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