Step by step to the finished cockpit

After flying in an FFS, the dream of having a cockpit of my own was there. The home cockpit project began in February 2016 with an initial email to Christian. It quickly became clear that VIER IM POTT was exactly the right partner for such a project. Now, 8 years later, the building phase is complete. 

Although a project like this will probably never be finished. 😊 

The planning process wasn't easy because, like many others, we also had to deal with a space problem. Furthermore, the available ceiling height of approx. 212cm is very low for a cockpit and a 200-degree projection. Therefore, a special solution had to be found without losing important elements of a cockpit. The Shell Frame (Size M) was born. 

When planning the layout, the walls of the simulator room, projection screen, cockpit, projectors and electrics were considered right from the start.

Impressions of the assembly  

Thanks to the first-class quality and detailed assembly instructions and drawings, the cockpit is very easy to assemble and can easily be done by two people. Until the final position was identified, the individual assemblies were mounted on panels so that they could be easily moved during assembly.

The Visual System

The visual was first planned using planning software from Fly Elise-ng (Immersive Designer Pro) to avoid any unpleasant surprises later on during installation.

Aluminium profiles were custom-made for the screen according to drawings. The projection surface consists of 5mm PVC rigid foam panels, which were then painted with a screen paint to optimise the contrast. The screen has a diameter of 370cm and an image height of 160cm.

After a few years we upgraded our setup to 4K-Projectors and MSFS 2020 in the year 2023.

To avoid unwanted light reflections from the projection, the room was painted black.

Due to the difficult space conditions in the projector area, there is a risk of a thermal problem. This can affect both the image quality and the service life of the projectors.

As the projectors are positioned very close to each other, they suck in the hot exhaust air from the other projectors.

To mitigate the risk of overheating and thus increase the lifetime of the projectors, additional fans were installed to evacuate the hot exhaust air out of the critical area as quickly as possible. 

To this day, we are impressed by the level of realism of the cockpit and are very satisfied.We would like to say a big thank you to Christian and the whole team from Dresden for a great product and excellent support over the entire time.