Flightsimulator

Flight Simulator Boeing 737NG

2. Gen. Simulator Project start: 2009 Last update: January 2025

My Single seat 737NG simulator at January 2025 News

I finally got some much stronger springs installed in the elevator controls under the cockpit floor.
Now I am no longer in doubt about when to trim the elevator

Thermal printer in place in pedestal bay

New vol. buttons on all my Audio Panels. One of the panels the button light are working.

With Navigraph Charts and SimBrief, flight planning and navigation has reached a new level.

With Navigraph charts+ Simlink you can see your position and it makes it incredibly easier to find your way around a large airport.

Stages of development

2010: MCP- and EFIS panel from Opencockpits are installed and both are working well with PMDG Boeing 737NG after update to 800/900 model.
In the winter I also have build left side cockpit wall with window and steering wheel etc. Windshield and glare wings are also finished. A Whisky Compass is mounted but it is not working yet.

2011: In this winter I have build Eyebrow Windows, Cockpit Lamps, FWD Overhead panel with instruments, Engine Fire Panel and pedestal for the Electronic Bay. Electric connection and programming of the OH- and Fire panel is remaining.
Nose wheel steering is working. It is now possible to handle the plane on ground at low speed (below 45 knots IAS) by the tiller in left side. Above 45 knots only the pedals is working.
Last but not least I have got a projector for the cockpit view.

2012: Finally! Main Instrument Panel (MIP) is finished and mounted in the cockpit. Next step will be to get the OH - panel alive, and the EICAS and standby instruments on the second monitor. I think I will use the Prosim 737 Suite software for this.
Seat rebuilt to NG-style with headrest and the back rest has become adjustable.

2013: Pedestal Bay equip with VHF 1, NAV 1, ADF 1 and ATC-modules from Opencockpits. Number 2 radios (dummy) and the other panels are also from OC.
My plan was to change over to Prosim in 2013 but suddenly the price was doubling to 600€. Although I had prepared my OH panel for Prosim software I decided to look for other software solutions.
It was also the year I started flying online (VATSIM). Very exiting to press the microphone button and speak to a real controler for first time.

2014: Despite the high price I bought the Prosim 737 Suite software Jan. 2014. My OH-panel and SIOC scripts were ready so after few days with configuration of all switches indicators gauges etc. in Prosim I thought the simulator was up running again. But no. The OH-interface card (USB expansion card from OC) gave troubles. SIOC could not detect the card without dis- and reconnect the USB cable one or more times. SIOC also somtime stopped running after short time. OC support told me that it could be bad power feeding of my Master cards. For two month I struggled with different power supplies and capacitors but without great progress. At last I bought a new expansion card (ver.3) and it has now worked for over a month without any problems.
My EFIS and MCP ver.2 from OC work very fine with Prosim and SIOC sript. Now the trim wheels also are working when flying with autopilot engaged. Therefore I have replaced my old noisy trim motor (BOSCH accu drill machine) by a little silent 12V gearbox motor. On the same time the speed brake auto deploy is motorized and motors for the auto throttle function are prepared. Engine Fire Panel and Cargo Fire Panel are both working well with Prosim and also most of the MIP and Throttle logic are now converted to Prosim.
I have also build a tray for my iPAD. I use iPAD as Electronic Flight Bag, Instructor Station for Prosim, weather information and as FMC/CDU as long I don´t have the hardware.
I am still using FS9 and my god old PMDG 737NG as flight model. A VDI-HDMI cable to the projector have improved the outside view a lot.

2015:
PC and software:
My old sim-computer broke down 2014 and I had to purchase a new one. The new PC (i7-4GHz/250GB SSD) is much more power full so now it was time to take the step from FS9 to FSX. I have also purchased a new weather add-on (Active Sky Next) and new flight model (Jetstream 737-800). I was not happy with the Jetstream in the start but after adjusting high of horizon and trying various eye point settings it was again possible for me to make a fairly good landing. Today after many hours of practice I am happy with the updates.
Electronic Bay:
To perform Auto-landing my NAV 2 dummy has been replaced by a working second NAV radio from Opencockpits. OC radios have now new more realistic knobs rounded edges and a nice warm white background light.
New Gear handle:
I have made a new handle with electromagnetic lock and working lock override trigger.
OH-Panel:
Engine Start Switches are modified. Now you need to push the knob before it can be turned. Just like the real one.
New Yaw damper and Wing Anti Ice switches with electromagnetic hold.
CDU-Bay:
The CDU has been my Christmas wish for many years. Now I have purchased one from Opencockpits. It could not fit my CDU-bay so it was necessary to make some modifications on the CDU and the bay. Frame for lower DU is ready

2016: CDU-Bay finished with a dummy CDU from Opencockpits and a monitor for the lower DU.
LCD Controller Board DIY Kit from AliExpress (US $ 28 incl. shipping costs Hong Kong-Denmark by air mail) does it possible to reuse the LCD screen from my old Notebook PC .
The kit fit the LCD connectors perfect and after connecting 12V DC and VGA cable it was running.
MAP-CHART light panel rebuild wit new panel from Opencockpits

2017: Three Year ago I purchased one DC Motor Plus Card from Opencockpits. It was my plan to use it for motorize my old Throttle unit but first now after some small tests of the card I got courage enough to start the project at January this year.
It has been 3 month with a lot of work and many troubles and without any flight hours in my logbook.
The manual to the card is good but it tells not every thing and for long time I had great problems with USB disconnection. OC support told me to connect pin 1 and 2 on unused analog inputs and to remove the noise damping capacitors between motor connector and motor housing. This solved many of the disconnect problems but still with 4 motors connected it was not fully stable.
The card is only rated for 2A and it is for the total numbers of motors so maybe my motors are to powerful. With 2 motors it works fine and my Trim- and Spoiler Motor are instead of controlled by relays as before.
All the Throttle potentiometers are configured and calibrated in Prosim Levers config. You need also a little SIOC script with only 3 inputs from Prosim ( AT power ON gate - Lever 1 and 2 servo output numerical ). Remember the SIOC subroutine for reading the servo output more times/ sec. otherwise the levers don´t move.
Until now I have only few flights with the updated Throttle but it seems to work well. I hope one day to upload a little video showing how nice and steady the levers are moving.

2018: This winter I have extended my cockpit with AFT Side Wall and window so now there is room for my coming AFT OH-Panel. At the same time I have rebuild many other cockpit elements to come closer the real B 737 cockpit.

    - FWD Side Wall and Window rebuild. (see Side Wall)
    - Windshield made a little lower and raised to fit the new side window. It is also moved about
      6 cm. ahead.
    - FWD cockpit section moved about 3 cm. closer to OH-Panel.
    - Glare Shield and Glare Wing rebuild to fit the new position of the Windshield.
    - Eye-Brows rebuild and ceiling and FWD Drip tray new build (see Eye-Brows)

My pilot seat is now provide with J-rails from Simujabs and four home made bogies. It is now possible to enter the seat with the electronic pedestal bay in centre position. (see Seat)

2019:This year 2019 I can celebrate 10 years jubilee as cockpit builder. It has been a very exciting and challenging period for me and also very interesting to follow the developing rapidly on the SIM market.

I have now finished my After OH-Panel with plug and play LE Devices - IRS Panel from Opencockpits. I have still an issue with the IRS display and a very slowly working support from OC. Now the reason is found. Text on to sockets on the After OH Card from OC was interchanged and the cable must therefore also be interchanged. I do not know why OC not inform about this failure.

On the AFT OH-Panel there are two Stall Warning Test bottoms. May be you can find a sound file to simulate the shaker, but I decided to design and build a real Stick shaker. When you press test bottom the shaker start after some seconds and run for a short time. In flight it depend on Aircraft configuration weight etc. when the Stick shaker start up but you can hear it loud and clear and feel the vibration in the Yoke too.

My single seat cockpit is now nearly finished but of course you always can find something to improve and some missing items.

2020: For a long period I have wished my pilot seat adjustable in high and back rest angle. I have all ready made some drawings of the rebuild but realised it will be a difficult and time consuming job. Instead I began to look for a used IPECO seat on the Web.
I found one at swiss-sim in Arizona. The seat is a 29 year old IPECO pilot seat removed from a Boeing 737-400. Two weeks later I could pick it up at Billund Airport.
Sheep skin on the back rest was missing so I have ordered new sheep skin covers for backrest and seat. Mechanical I have only repaired a broken spring and made some missing nylon bushings. Otherwise all functions was working well and luckily the seat fits my J-rails from Simujabs perfect. There was no Head Rest with the seat and the Head Rest from my old seat did not fit so I have made a new one.

My old home build pilot seat is now for sale.

In this year I have also extended my cockpit floor for better room to the "jump seat" .
An old loud speaker has been mounted in the ceiling over the pilot seat. Now it is possible to get ATC sound in headset and/ or speaker.

2021: My cockpit is almost finished now so this year only few new items but many flights in my logbook

A Gang Bar to switch on all four landing lights simultaneously has been finished

Some of the switches in my OH-panel are replaced by new inexpensive lock toggle switches
My old toggle switches are now for sale.

An old problem with FSX suddenly shifting from forward view to left view has been solved. Since I turned Num Lock off on the keyboard the issue has not occurred.

Bellow you can follow the development of my Flight Simulator

My "Open Cockpit" from the start in 2009. Glare shield EFIS and MCP are only dummy