Section 1: Introduction
I’m excited to reveal what our team and I have been devoting countless hours to over the past few months. We are still in very early development, and could not have done this without RandomTroubledMind’s amazing reference model.
License:
CreativeCommons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
Core Development Team:
RandomTroubledMind: Founder, Mechanical and Systems Design
JRSteensen: Mechanical, Electrical and Systems Design
Amanuense: Electrical and Software Design
Minimum Tooling Required/Assumed:
Hobby 3D printer (Prusa i3 MK3 or equivalent.)
Hobby CNC Router (XCarve 1000x1000 or equivalent.)
Common hand/power tools (Drill, screwdrivers, sanders, wrenches, ratchets and sockets, calipers, tape measure, ruler, square, marking devices, files, etc.)
Basic electronics assembly equipment (multimeter, soldering station, magnifier (optional), desolder vacuum, desolder braid, solder, flux.)
Goals/Requirements (Subject to Change):
Scalable – Upper MIP may be used in a desk mounted configuration for those without the space for a full pit. Builders may omit consoles, aux consoles, etc as required for their purposes.
Transportable - All major subcomponents shall be able to be assembled and disassembled from each other with minimal hand tools for transit purposes. All major subcomponents (Main Instrument Panel (MIP), Left Console, Right Console, etc.) shall be capable of movement through a standard 30-inch-wide interior residential door.
Footprint - System will be designed to occupy a minimal overall footprint, with the exception of major accessories, including, but not limited to, PC or LCD/TFT/TV/projector visual outputs.
Maintenance - All components shall be designed with a major consideration for ease of future maintenance.
Human Factors - Any component designed to bear the weight of a human shall be able support a 250 lb static load.
Expected Deliverables: (All currently WIP)
Reference Model: A 1:1 detailed replica model for you to base your own pit design off of.
Mechanical CAD (MCAD) Model: A full mechanical model of the pit, in both SW native formats, and STEP/Parasolid intermediary formats.
Electrical CAD (ECAD) Files: All custom PCBs and Interconnect schematics.
Drawing/Manufacture Package (PDF/DXF): Fabrication and Assembly drawings of required components. Also, will contain DXFs of nested components for optimized cutting of relevant components.
CAD Tools Used:
Fusion360: Reference Model
SolidWorks: Pit Mechanical Model
KiCAD: Electrical CAD
Software Stack:
DCS: F/A-18C
DCS-BIOS
Component Level Software
What This is Not:
While we strive for complete accuracy where possible, due to the manufacturing methods available to the average pitbuilder, and at a cost/benefit comparison, this will NOT be a 100% accurate representation of the F/A-18C. We expect to capture 98% of the functionality of the real bird, and very, very similar visuals, but do not expect real components to mount into this pit. You can build a 100% accurate pit for tens of thousands of dollars…but this method is far more pragmatic with the ultimate goal of being able to simply fly.
