Skid Marks

I started building the base for the AH-6.  I figure that the whole sim will probably be about 500 to 1000 lbs when it’s all said and done.  And if I’m gonna have 2 people in there, then the skids will have to be pretty beefy.  I checked on some 2 inch pipe and conduit.  The conduit looks pretty stout, but I still wonder how it will hold with all that weight.  The last thing I need is to have it buckle and loose the whole thing.  1/4 wall pipe is extremely expensive for what I am doing, but i think it’s essential.  So, at the reccomendation of a friend, I checked the local junk yard and found some for next to nothing.  $250.00 worth of pipe for $20.00. Sold!!!!!  Pipe looks good and much better than ebt conduit.  Now as I said in the past, this is not my recommendation,  advice or instruction on how to do this.  This is just for me and what I am doing.  If you attempt this, it would be at your own risk as I do not recommend anyone to do this project.  Video’s will start showing up soon!  I’ve already started working on them.  

I would like to apologize for the length of time in between posts as I have limited time to work on these projects.  Some parts will require many hours at a single time and it must be done in stages, but my family is always first, so I hope you understand.  Good things come to those who wait.  

.com?…..YES!!!

™

We have a new web address now! And a new logo!!!!

www.sonicboomsims.com

I guess it’s official.  Were moving up the food chain!!!  Tell all your friends!  Post it on your wall!  Make a mural!  It has arrived!

Arma 3 Helo Sim Update 5-9-16

Well some may think the site is dead.  Some may thing I’m doing nothing, but after some time away from my projects,  I am back in the saddle with a vengeance.  The AH-6 Little Bird simulator should be completed by the end of the month if all goes as planned.  I added a few things.  I’ve made it a 2 player version!  Yes that means 2 CPU’s, 4 monitors and I may add 2 more monitors.  Button’s, switches, pedals, my throttle I built in a previous post, it’s all going in.  The glass cockpit works great, but at limited capacity due to the fact I can’t find the developer, but I will keep trying!  We have a map system displayed at all times as well.  I am working on a radio stack with a LCD readout that runs through a audrino.  That may take a little while.  and the co pilot using FLIR, his view will be also viewable by the pilot as well.  I would like to thank the developers of the MELB mod (Diesel5187 & sykoCrazy), as alot of this was inspired by using their mod for Arma 3.   There will be a 3 DOF platform!!!!  But finances will determine when that comes about.  That being said, I will be offering t-shirts for sale soon and the donate tab will be functioning soon.  The video series is coming!  I know I’ve been saying that for a long time, but I put it on the back burner for a while; debating whether to do it or not, but It is a go as well.  Thanks for sticking with me.  The best is yet to come.

Worlds 1st (civilian) Arma 3 Helicopter SimPit-Update

Well I’m on my way to the first Arma 3 based simulator.  I wanted to use this platform because the military uses a program based on the software’s engine (virtural battlespace 3).  It is a very unique engine with still alot of untapped potentional.  So here it is.  XSHI guages working.  And I would like to reach out to the Arma community to ask if someone could update the @mfd mod for the guages.  I would like to get all the gauges from the cockpit working.  Work was suspended on this mod a year ago for unknown reasons and it is such a leap over all other “games” out there.  For me this is what seperates this from a game to a simulation.  So if you would like to help, contact me through the about page.

Here is a full map using the Athena mod.  The red blotches on the map are points that the server I was on highlighted for enemy activity or objectives.  The town names, other vehicles and infantry all imported from the server and updated my map!  Very cool.

Notice the blue line.  You can draw on the map, make a flight plan, there is an unlimited amout of things you can do with this

Some other highlights, since Arma uses only 1 processor, I have 5 others probably not being used very much.  I’m looking into hooking up 6 monitors to my CPU using this:

Supposedly you can use this to hook up a 16x pcie card to a 1x slot.  I’m sure it will probably work, but I have always used multiple CPU’s because of the software.  Since Arma uses resources differently this may work, but I’m not holding my breath or anything, because that is alot of resolution for 1 pc.  So we’ll see soon.  I’m also begining on a physical radio for the center console.  Stay tuned.

 

P. S.  I wanna thank the 75th RRC for their support and use of their server.  You should check them out.  They are a unique milsim group and have a nice server to play on.  They also are one of the only running the Mission Enhanced Little Bird mod (MELB) on their public server.  The same one I am using for this sim.  Here is there website:
75rrc.us

Software choices

The absolute first choice for making a flight simulator is what software platform to use.  To make this decision there are many factors you must consider.  What are the programs limitations?  What are my limitations?  What other software will I need? Is that software compatible with the platform I’m using?  The whole thing will be planned around what you choose.  There are free programs like Flightgear, which are open source and well into development.  There are combat sims like DCS.  Then there is the old standby Microsoft Flight Simulator.  What ever you choose, do your research.  This is one reason: to assign controls to a switch, you need a microcontroller.  These are expensive when you have to buy 10 or 20 of them.  So you want the most bang for your buck.  One program uses the same keyboard command to turn on and off a feature, while another uses 2 different key commands to do the same thing. So what’s the big deal? Well to have 2 separate commands routed to one switch, you take up 2 positions on the micro controller.  Let’s say there is only 20 slots on the controller, well each slot hold 1 key command so instead of having 20 switches you can only have 10.  Not to big a deal, until you build a simulator that needs 300 switches.  So its things like that you need to consider.
My personal choice is Falcon BMS. It has a steep learning curve, but if you get on YouTube or look up a gaming clan like the 20th VFW, I’m sure sure you can get the instruction you need. It features air to air refueling, multiplayer combat, coop combat, SAMs, and many other features. Check out the video for a better look at it. I love it. So of course I will recommend it, but DCS is a real contender now. They are doing all kinds of things to that program. Also, it has an expandable set of aircraft you can purchase online. I’ll leave you with this quote: “You must choose, but choose wisely.” (Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade). Good luck.

Good Vibrations

This video will explain the world of bass shakers. What is a bass shaker you ask? Well when you want to add a little more realism to your simulator, a bass shaker will reproduce vibrations from the low spectrum sound of the game your are playing. All planes have some vibrations to them weather it be from turbulence or high speed turns, or just the roar of a massive engine. The devil is in the details. Just another thing that most people don’t think about when building a simpit. You don’t have to have a simpit to use this though. Be creative and find a way to mount it to your computer chair. I would reccomend using a 8 inch woofer for the driver, less weight and also less power to run. As usual this is a intermediate project, but I think the video does a good job of explaining how to do it. Your gonna need some kind of amp to run the subwoofer. I would reccomend also, some kind of crossover so you can narrow the frequencies sent to the sub, but it is one of those things where you kind of play around with it to learn. Good luck!

If you have any questions click on the about page in the upper right corner and email me.