Ken Q
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Posts posted by Ken Q
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4 hours ago, Dean Salman said:
I am staying with P3D 5.4 even though I have MSFS on a slower SSD drive. I have
all the True Earth and would love to see more states added. It is amazing photo scenery out there. If that cannot happen then seeing more regions like central USA and north and south eastern USA. Land classes are ok but there is a lot more in the regions. There are still a ton of users out there on P3D and I am getting nee and updated scenery addons from others even the as of yesterday.
Granted, P3D, all versions combined, came in third in the Navigraph survey. But it was a pretty close third, and that still represents a large number of users. I fear part of the problem is that it was broken down by version, and that makes the bar graph look pretty pathetic if one looks at the versions separately. I find this very disappointing.
My greatest disappointment, though, has to do with PilotEdge. One of my favorite events is "SimVenture" a simulation event copying the Fisk Arrival into Oshkosh for AirVenture. This year the initial announcement included P3D, along with X-Plane and MSFS. But last week P3D was deleted. This is a great event, and I had been planning on taking a couple of vacation days to participate. I guess I'm saving my vacation this year.
I looked at both MSFS and X-Plane, and good as they might be they don't suit me. Also I have spent a lot of money on building my SIM, and just too much would have to be replaced, if I can get a replacement at all.
Ken
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4 hours ago, Ken Q said:
This is great, Aussie! Very much along the lines of what I have as my goal, but larger since you have the B738 and I the little Mooney M20M. P3D's "view groups" is new to me. I'd like to know more about your setup, as it represents my next step.
Ken
I just found the video that John Dow did of a flight in your sim. Most impressive, and very inspirational. I looked up "view groups." Mystifying, but also useful. Thanks for the clue. Now I have to figure out how to apply it.
Ken
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This is great, Aussie! Very much along the lines of what I have as my goal, but larger since you have the B738 and I the little Mooney M20M. P3D's "view groups" is new to me. I'd like to know more about your setup, as it represents my next step.
Ken
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Continuity. I started building an immersive cockpit in April, 2018 for FSX. I've since upgraded to P3D v5, and just completed my fourth iteration of my cockpit (pictures here in Tuesday's post "Promised Pictures"). The fact that, as W2DR remarks, that "everything works" is essential to such a project. Assigning functions to dozens of controls, gauges and switches is straight forward, albeit tedious. FSUIPC, SPADnext and the native P3D control assignments work very much the same way in P3D as in FSX.
That said, I also love what Orbx and a couple of other developers have done for both of these sims.
True Earth is wonderful! Wish they would do more of these regions for P3D.
(For some pics of my earlier attempts, see Tom Tsui's website: FSXTimes.wordpress.com/DIY Cockpits. Scroll down for "Ken (KFRG, USA))." There should be three posts. These are of the first two. There are pictures of the third, and now the new one on this forum, Tuesday and the April 28 TWMT.
Ken
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9 minutes ago, Rodger Pettichord said:
Ken, I don't know which I envy more, the cockpit itself or your skill in building it. Congratulations on a real work of technical art!
Thanks Rodge,
I took a different approach this time, and used Masonite rather than plywood. A bit easier to work, and a much better finish. I bought a new circular saw, 4", rather than using a jig saw and a 7" circular saw. Much better precision cuts. But I have to do this all in the garage. Thus, weather defeats me; my knees won't stand a chill. So there were many days I couldn't work, or could only work for a short time on this project during the spring. Wife got rather impatient because the car was out in the driveway ( I know, we're weird, we actually keep our cars in the garage!). Then, after flying the Comanche which is equipped with the GNS 430, I decided I wanted one, and while building the new panel was the time to get it. But it was out of stock at RealSimGear. Ended up getting it from Ebay. But finally got it all together, and it all works well together, so I'm very happy.
Note to all who might like to transition to a more realistic and immersive Flight Sim, I have a lot of Saitek gear that is serviceable. I'll be happy to send it to (US) simmers free, for the cost of shipping. PM me.
Ken
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My apologies, I got the date of the original post wrong. It was April 28. Sorry.
Ken.
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On 4/28/2023 at 7:25 AM, Ken Q said:
Photos will come soon, I promise. There are a couple of photos of my current, soon to be replaced set up in a couple of posts in this forum, but o don't recall just where.
Hi All,
The promised photos are posted in this Forum under the title "Promised Pictures.". Posted June 13.
Ken
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Not all pictures would fit. Here are three more
uld fit. I'll ty adding a couple more.
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Well, it's finally finished. I installed my new cockpit panel last week, and have been spending a week testing and trouble shooting. Yesterday and today did the first two flights: KPSP-KWJF, then KWJF-KBFL. everything is working beautifully, thought I am still learning how to best intergrate the new Garmin GNS 430. So here are some pictures as promised.
Since, after trying several other aircraft, I keep coming back to the Mooney M20M (Bravo), I decided to build this panel to copy as close as possible this particular plane. But since this A/C is over 30 years old, almost all have been modified and updated, and none are exactly alike. For a pic of the plane I based my panel on, go back to the May 3 TWMT.
Some notes:
On the left I made a new light switch panel. First try didn't work, bought new switches and this one works beautifully.
Six pack and engine gauges are Saitek (now Logitech FIPs. The gauge software is by Tom Tsui, FSX Times.com Unfortunately Tom is no longer doing FIPs for P3D. These gauges are recessed into the panel to be almost flust. Below the six pack is the Saitek BIP. I wish someone would make an annunciator panel for the Mooney. Below the Engine Gauges is an FIP displaying the G5. Since in real aircraft this is an add-on, it is surface mounted. At the bottom left is the Desktop Aviator Cessna Switch Panel. This is labeled for Alternator, Battery Fuel pump, various lights, Pitot Heat and Avionics. I moved the lights to their own panel and programed these for Fuel Pump, Pitot Heat, De-Ice, Standby Vac, and Alt Air.
Right Panel picture picks up at the centerline. High on the centerline is the Landing Gear Lever, in the correct but odd Mooney position. Next to that, from the top:
Go Flight Warning Panel, Javiator Audio Panel, Diagma Garmin GNS 530, Real Sim Gear GNS 430, Propwsh Autopilot, Desktop Aviator Flaps, TPM unit, and below that FSX Dual Unit (for two aviation heasdsets). At the bottom is a Desktop Aviator fuel selector. Right panel hs two prowash units, -Radio/Nav (COM 2/Nav 2. Com 1/nav 1 handled by GNS units). and the Transponder.
The Fuse Panel adds visual authenticity, but also conceals a compartment with the USB Hubs (two computers) and the USB I/O interfaces. The light panel and landing gear are connected to the sim here.
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4 hours ago, Rodger Pettichord said:
And then Lockheed Martin comes along with a new P3D that blows Microsoft out of the water. BWAHAAHAAHAA.🙃
I sure hope so!!!
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P W radials.
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On 6/5/2023 at 5:08 PM, caleb1 said:
Wow, I've never seen so many positive comments about P3D in one place. I didn't think anybody liked P3D anymore. 😆
(I for one still use it because I don't want to relearn a new platform.)
Glad to see it's still liked since MSFS came out.
I have never been tempted by MSFS, because, quite simply, it would be incredibly difficult for me to make it compatible with my cockpit. I have other reasons as well. So when I updated from FSX going on to P3D 5v3 was a no-brainer. I am extremely happy with the choice. I bought a new Jet line computer, so I have plenty of capability for Orbx and a few other sceneries. I have all the Orbx that has been released that I can use including Regions and True Earth. But I have been very, very frustrated by the attention that MSFS has been getting at the expense of P3D and other sims. So I have not bought anything in over a year. I have a wallet full of money to spend on Orbx if only they will be kind enough to offer something I can buy. If some updates are coming, that is good sign.
I have not upgraded to version 4 yet, I'm waiting a week or two to see how the community reacts.
Ken
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1. Not sure, no opinion now.
2. Lockheed Constellation/Super Constellation. Though the DC 7 is strong competition.
3. Maybe the B727. Seeing them soar overhead taking off from KJFK they looked like ships bound for the moon. Straight out of Buck Rogers.
4. Even with its weird backwards tail, the Mooney M20 series.
5. No strong opinion, but I'll go for the Cessna 310
6. Real strong opinion on this one: Boeing 314 "Clipper." A flying ocean liner.
7. Not sure, here. I like Gumby's suggestion.
Ken
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About 14 years ago we got our new kitten Chessie. Chessie is an indoor cat, except he is allowed out in our very large (18 x 30 foot) screen porch. But since our previous cat, Shannon, had once busted through the screen and had gotten out, I determined to reinforce the lower screens with some heavy duty plastic netting. An older lady saw me carrying A large roll of this stuff to the checkout, and, curiosity getting the better of her, asked me what it was for. I told her about my new kitten, and how I wanted to reinforce the porch screens to keep the kitty from getting out. At this point she announced, in a loud voice, to all in the store, that I "WAS BUILDING A TIGER ENCLOSURE."
Ken
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Tough question. I'm an old stick in the mud, enjoying the connections to my past, and preserving them. (Now) antique furniture, tableware and silverware that I grew up with living with my grandparents, which I inherited. After Grandma died, my mom and uncle wanted to sell her silver, but I asked them to keep it and give it to me when I married. They agreed, and wife enjoy it greatly to this day. Also grandma's china. Also have some of her crystal, but it's now too fragile to actually use, so it is proudly displayed. Her prized Regency style sofa from 1938 or so, and the Georgian secretary are focal points in our home. Links to the past. Incidentally, we're celebrating our 45th anniversary next week.
On the other hand, I greatly appreciate modern wonders! As I noted in earlier threads and posts, as a young kid I improvised "flight simulators" consisting on cardboard boxes, electric motors, and a lot of imagination. Today that has morphed into a really realistic sim using two powerful computers, and lots of realistic hardware. So much has changed in this area, and it's wonderful. ( I'm just now finishing my new cockpit, pictures to follow soon).
This from an old hatter, working in a 210 year old hat shop in a living history museum.
Ken
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Just look at those props! True artistry, like a sculpture.
Ken
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1. Little grey kitten, Smokey. I was four when she came home with us riding in my red cowboy hat. I was about 26 when she died.
2. Typical bike with training wheels. When the trainers came off I rode it everywhere. Put many hundreds of miles on it until it was replaced by a full sized Schwinn when I was ten.
3. Probably would have to say Marion. We were 13, she, an orphan was staying with her older sister who was a neighbor. First girl to kiss me (she took the lead).
4. Building "simulators", airplanes or submarines, or boats out of Wall board and cardboard boxes.
5. Probably Sir Winston Churchill.
6. Would have to be Three Musketeers. But I was never a great candy bar fan. Loved NECCO wafers, red hots, and especially licorice (I always got the black jelly beans at Halloween. Still love them, just had a few this evening).
7. Artie and Larry G., early, Bobby, Larry Q., later. Larry Q passed away years ago, but I'm still in sporadic contact with his widow. No contact with the others for decades.
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All too real!
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4 hours ago, Doc_Z said:
All except #1. Not an American product?
Black Jack Chewing Gum was invented in 1884 by chicle pioneer, Adams, and was the first flavored chewing gum. There's an interesting Wikipedia article on it. And yes, it's an American product and yes, though not as popular as in times past, it's still available.
Though I'm not a great chewing gum fan, I am very fond of licorice, and thus it something of a favorite.
Ken
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35 minutes ago, Rob Abernathy said:
Two legged running water.....lol....nice one Ken!
I remember all but Packards and the party line telephone. Good times growing up in the 50's and 60's, a different world without internet, social media. We had to actually go outside and play after school. 🙂
The adults love it! My shop, or my wife's kitchen, both circa 1830. We'll ask "where's the running water? Do you see a sink with running water?" Quizzical looks. Shaking heads. "Uhh, no!?" "Well I do. My running water-you (finger pointing to the nearest child) are the running water. You run and get the water..." My wife, in comparing an 1830 kitchen to a current one, will ask the same about "dishwashers." By the way, one thing we old couts didn't have to deal with was "autocorrect." That "one-click washing machine" should be a "one child-powered washing machine.". At $13.50 the most expensive item " for sale" in our 1865 General Store.
As I mentioned, the telephone was off limits to kids. No play dates. We wanted to play with a friend, we went to the back door of his house, knocked, and asked "can Larry come out to play?" We went all over the place. No-one ever thought that a child had to be closely supervised.
This "old timer" also astonishes kids and adults by pointing out that his Grandpa (A Silversmith) didn't think twice about sending a ten year old to walk several city blocks in downtown Brooklyn with two shopping bags full of Sterling Silver to take it to the engraver for custom engraving.
Born of another Time!!
Ken
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Almost all of them. I don't remember #7 but I do remember when we got a dial telephone. Maybe we had a party line, as a kid I'd never know. Children were never allowed to touch the phone. My wife, thought two years younger, remembers her grandma talking on the party line in rural Illinois. Leave 9, 10 & 20 out. Never knew the Packard automobile but I briefly served on a US Navy Minesweeper that had Packard engines (USS Adroit, MSO 509). #25, not necessarily wash tubs, but my aunt had a washing machine with a wringer (no spin cycle). I remember the rest of them.
A number of these can still be found if you look in the right places.
So I guess I'm older than dirt. But since I work in a Living History museum, I "remember" A lot of even earlier things, like one-click washing machines, cooking on a hearth, two legged running water (the kid runs and gets the water!)
Ken
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Here are a couple of pictures of the new instrument panel under construction, as well as a picture of the real world Mooney Bravo panel the I am using as a guide. Note the somewhat unusual location of the landing gear lever, high up in the center of the panel. Flaps control is under the mixture control. In my new setup Gear is in the right place, but flaps will be next to the TPM rather than below it. Of course I am using the Saitek FIPs for gauges, with (mostly) Tom Tsui's gread gauges for the Mooney Bravo. In the last set of pictures you might notice I have modeled the fuse panel on the right. In the new panel the fuse panel will cover the USB Hubs and USB interfaces, (last picture) conveniently concealed but readily accessible by removing a couple of screws.
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10 hours ago, Ken Q said:Photos will come soon, I promise. There are a couple of photos of my current, soon to be replaced set up in a couple of posts in this forum, but o don't recall just where.
Here are some. First, my current setup:
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5 hours ago, Stillwater said:
That sounds like fantastic equipment Ken. You may need to add a photo here...
Same for me here, currently. We´ll see if there is some interesting stuff made by them for MSFS.
Photos will come soon, I promise. There are a couple of photos of my current, soon to be replaced set up in a couple of posts in this forum, but o don't recall just where.
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This Week's Meaningless Topic (#146)(June 23)
in The Neil Hill Memorial Lounge
Posted · Edited by Ken Q
I basically agree. But although I am working my way through the PilotEdge "I Ratings," I prefer VFR conditions. I like to enjoy the Orbx scenery. I do fly IFR on occasion, but often I just wait it out.
Ken