1:1 Millennium Falcon Cockpit Replica - Group Build

Re: 1:1 Millennium Falcon Console Replica

ABSOLUTELY! The more the merrier! I was very surprised at how narrow the entire console actually is. Naturally I had to sit at the console... But it does explain the tight shots when fiming.

Hey SofaKing,
I just came across this tonight and am blown away, really amazing.

I reside in Tennessee and was curious if you ever display this, would love to see in person. Anyway, keep up the good work.

Jim
 
What about a system that emulates a spacecraft's control process vice an aircraft's? Ever see the controls they used to land on the moon? ;^P
Spacecraft must inherently be a different can of worms, since attitude is much less a critical that velocity vectors. In short, operation of a trans-atmospheric craft requires two basic operating modes: one where 'up' is defaulted (negative) to the planetary gravity vector, and the other where up is defaulted to the ship's internal reference system. In space, up & down don't really count for much since there is no absolute & pitch is really just an aspect of the primary thrust vector...

Spacecraft don't "fly" so much as accelerate... also, a Star Wars craft has control force vectors that are disconnected from conventional aircraft moments. Not to mention the implied tech to control momentum effects (the ones that would squish the occupants, for example!) Sure there is a primary 'point' vector from the aft engines, but the Mill Falcon is also supposedly able to apply direct force vectors perpendicular (and otherwise) to the primary motion vector. If they had depicted some of that in the movie, THAT would have been a great "ride". (Think the AV-8 Harrier...)

Granted, very complex movement capability is assumed, especially given the "repulsor" technology implied. Nonsense of course, but fun to mull about!

R/ Robert
 
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Hi Gang,

Long time no post... My apologies for the long delay. I've been playing catch up on a few things and slowly getting life back to normal. Let's cut the chit chat and get to it! :)

As many of you know OperaScot came to visit from Seattle. He was finally able to get out from behind the mouse and put some real time into the build! Removing material from the nav chair platforms
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We then marked out and created 2 new vertical supports for the main body panels - this will keep the panels from bowing and flexing
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Exterior / skin side cut
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We then decided to cut the shelves in half
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The outside edge of the vertical support matches the back wall edge
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We then marked the inside edges
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End of Day 1
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There was a LOT of measuring between the build and the 3D models... while Scot tackled that I worked on some greeblies
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This back wall PC fan will be functional! Top fans will remove hot air from top and the bottom fans will draw in cold air
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Will have to drill out a hole in the panel greeblie and the back wall panel
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This is one of those "I can barely see it" greeblies... not sure I like how it turned out
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Primer - the silver boxes I created were actually black
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More primer / sanding
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Got this guy finally painted up
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This greeblie has a LOT of hoses going through and connected to it - stand by for this guy!
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Filler
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Just need to add some weathering - I LOVE IT!
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Adding some color
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More primer
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HMMMMM... I dont know about this guy
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I got a little more work done on the center console - added the rockers
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For those who love wiring... ;)
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This is under the console!
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Now back to the vertical supports!
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These will really help prevent anymore further flex!
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EWE... sand those edges!
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This wasn't easy! We had to match the measurement of the main cockpit back wall edges to ensure a correct fit
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The Huntsville and Nashville crew got together on Saturday to meet up with Scot, say hello, put some panels together and geek out! Also, a fan of the build named Jason made a 4 hour trek to visit and geek out with us as well! I hope Jason had a great time. It was fun to meet and greet with him as well. A huge thanks to Daniel, Pam, Jessie, Jake, CJ, Philip, Chris, Jason, John and the rest of you crazy lunatics! :)

Scot got his hands dirty with the CNC as we cut several new window pieces to include these lower tie-ins for the boat frame (nose). Hi Daniel!
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We also cut new upper tie-in pieces - the originals had cracked because of the weak plywood
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The shelves were then put in place and awaiting measurements
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We then notched the shelf for a better and correct fit
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Beautiful!
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Onward with the new Volvo Panels! I hate these things... and Scot began to realize what a beast she actually was!
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That's it for now... works continues as always. It's a HUGE giant puzzle at this point. It's very confusing... at best. But we'll get there! :)

Thanks again to entire crew for making Scot's visit a blast! We had a great time... now get back to work!

More to Follow!
 
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Thank you Sofa, I feel so much better now! :D

Boy have you guys (and Gals) been busy.

Wish I lived in the States, I'd come to your area on Summer vacation and get stuck in with helping the Pit Squad in the blink of an eye .

Roughneckone :cool
 
Ok Sofa, here is the basic rundown of what you need to convert your cockpit into an actual flyable simulator. And sorry for the week of delay, I've been really busy with my own cockpit building efforts.

First, take a look at Lockheed Martin's Prepar3D Simulator. I will link everything at the bottom. P3D is the next evolution of Microsoft Flight Simulator X, but is rather MS-ESP where they have redeveloped all the code for modern CPU/GPU hardware. It is not publicly advertised but is publicly available for sale. You'll want the $60 educational license since you are not building any sort of FAA cert trainers like I do. Next, you would need a controls assignment and calibration utility (CACU as I call it) like FSUIPC. I have a free guide on my Hangar Talk page which tells you how to use it. This program allows you to assign physical controls to interface with the simulator. Some are also using LUA these days but it's a little more complicated than you'd need to get going and to have a very realistic experience.

Next, you would need a USB control board (or two) which can interface with various control types, meaning spring return push buttons (momentary type), or spring rocker type of momentarys, or pulse type inputs for locking non-spring return on/off type, etc. You would also need a control board for potentiometers for X-Y axes for pitch and roll, dynamic braking, rudder yaw, etc. You could build self made joysticks, or yokes, etc as well self made rudders, throttles, etc.. but you'd probably want to get cheap used stuff first just to figure it all out, then self-build things as needed to complete a more sci-fi look. Ultimately you would want to mechanically link the yokes and rudder pedals.

Now, on to the panel. Because you are emulating the real "sci fi" panel you need to figure out how to use what you have but assign real world functions to the switches via the CACU. If for example you have a button that does nothing, or is a static piece of plastic, it would need to be replaced with a real button that can be soldered to inputs on the USB board. Secondly, consider the fact that aircraft commonly receive avionics updates as time and technology evolves so either consider various panel upgrades or just option to build a whole new "auxiliary" main panel specifically made for interfacing into a flight / space simulator. What I mainly mean by this is you will obviously need some sort of visual displays to show the core flight instrumentation and or will need to use some hardware based analog gauges for what are commonly called the "sacred six" or "six-pack" gauges which are: attitude indicator, heading indicator, altimeter, airspeed indicator, vertical speed indicator, and turn coordinator. Other gauges would be Vor 1, Vor 2, but all of this is all rolled into one with any modern "glass cockpit" in any jet. Buying all theses gauges as actual hardware items can be very cost prohibitive as each one will cost up to $300 or more and must each be wired up, configured, calibrated, etc. All of that takes time, patience, and a good amount of pre-knowledge of what needs to be done, and how to do it. Therefore I would primarily suggest looking at various virtual options such as using virtual 2D panel sets and virtual gauges via an iPad or small LCD screens up to 20" maximum for your specific application. I think 17" would probably be ideal for you.

For example; I like to use two 24" touchscreens in a general aviation twin engine simulator as this allows for a completely virtual panel that can represent many different aircraft and is done so in true 1:1 scale with the real world counterparts. In my case the entire panel is virtual with some tactile switches on the sub panel under the control yokes. Regardless of the screen size, if going this route I could help directly as files can be emailed back and forth, artwork created, etc. I am currently working on a StarTrek shuttle project where all virtual gauges will look very "trek" but will all have real world functionality. I also want to do this for a TRON panel set as well. So, the same thing can be done for any Star Wars craft and could be a relatively easy switch out if you are essentially embedding different artwork into the same XML or C++ gauges. What I would envision for the Falcon would be a modified panel with two small screens that perhaps pop straight up vertically out of the existing panel via some small servos which push up the screens with a rack and pinion gear. The left (pilot side) screen would display the main EADI / EHSI and the right (copilot) side would display engine EICAS data and maybe a traffic radar. These could even be small 17" widescreens or maybe even as small as 15" if desired. I think anything over 19" would probably be too large. The two displays would therefore provide all the key flight data and should not look foreign to the overall look of the existing panel, but could rather be as if the Falcon got an avionics upgrade package like many aircraft do. I think having them pop up out of the panel at say a 10-15 degree angle could be really cool too. The remaining switches required for a realistic flight would be those that are hardwired to the USB interface controller board mentioned earlier. Things like lights, pitot heat, anti-ice, batteries, generators, fuel pumps, hydraulics, etc. You'd really only need 20 or so physically wired switches at most which is rather easy to do. FSUIPC actually has over 3,000 offsets so it can cover any aircraft ever made.

As for the craft model, flight dynamics and characteristics, you can use any existing flight model which can also be tweaked and fine tuned over time. This is something I've done with a lot of flight simulator aircraft since FS2002. You could actually use anything you want be it a fighter jet or the space shuttle but would of course want to start with something that would give a very similar feel to how you might expect the Falcon to perform.

Luckily there is currently a Millennium Falcon for FSX and while I've yet to install it, it should port fine into Prepar3D.

Other things that you would want to add down the road are navigational aids such as a GPS or FMS / CDU system so that you could program a flight, for example from New York to Tokyo, get airborne, turn on the MCP (autopilot) cruise the Falcon up to the edge of space and land within an hour or two. You can buy a virtual FMS that can be displayed on an iPad too and it will talk with the PC / P3D. There is also other EFB software available for iPad for showing charts, airport diagrams, approach plates, etc... all the things we had to do with paper five years ago.

As for the aspect of space or orbiting, traveling "afar", while you are not going to actually be able to go light speed or to Mars much less Jakku, you would at least get a great feeling of extreme ground speeds, likely over 5,000 MPH and will be able to navigate the entire globe within a very short amount of time. You could also look into interfacing with Orbiter space simulator and perform similar things but because it's open source I can't make claims as to how far you could take it, land on say Saturn for example, interface real gauges, or XML / C+ virtual gauges, etc. I'm sure you can, just that I don't know too much about it and it may or may not prove difficult. Ultimately I want to look into it myself but because I'm a pilot I'm very flight simulator based and P3D is very flexible on all aspects of the design / control interface end.

Anyway, all of this is exactly what I'm currently working on with my Trek Shuttle project, but I just don''t have a blog set up for it yet. Once I get closer I'll post in various forums. I'm just too busy to do all that right now with my regular sim biz and flight schedule.

Lastly, costs. Since you have already built the cockpit you could actually do most everything just as I've laid out for less than $500 but depending on how far down the rabbit hole you wish to go with external visuals you could spend up to $5,000. The added costs will be if you want to have large LCD screens for visuals which should be a minimum of three 50" UHD displays or use one, two or three short throw native HD (1920 x 1080) projectors. Projection ultimately looks the best and is most immersive. UHD would really be the best in both cases but I'm not sure if anyone has made a UHD short throw projector yet that isn't still cost prohibitive (meaning less than $1,500 per projector)

Oh, ...and I also forgot that within the entire process you're probably going to need to learn how to fly. Ok..WILL NEED to learn how to fly. ;)

These links are the basics to get you started.

http://www.prepar3d.com/
http://www.schiratti.com/dowson.html
http://www.leobodnar.com/shop/
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/virtual-cdu/id634731446?mt=8
http://www.rikoooo.com/en/downloads/viewdownload/8/160
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7e0z1znH49Q

WOW! Thanks for the INFO! That's a lot to absorb! This is a DEF path forward. I'm going to get with the team to discuss. Maybe we can bring you on a senior consultant! ;)

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SofaKing01,

Did some designs this weekend for the Grip handles on the Canopy.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1686/24589295170_5086d754c8_z.jpgIMG_20160207_200213 by Izzy Mel, on Flickr

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1524/24257965073_b002abfe2c_z.jpgIMG_20160207_200436 by Izzy Mel, on Flickr

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1508/24258125883_9bfc90b9ef_z.jpgIMG_20160207_201843 by Izzy Mel, on Flickr

I used Fragmen Kawałek Marcin model as a reference material (measurements and pics) to make this handle in Solid Works. His files are over at

https://grabcad.com/library/spade-grip-spitfire-mk-ix-1 He has the entire Yoke assembly. It's pretty cool.


Izzy

Hey Iz,

Those are beautiful! A HUGE THANKS to Marcin for making those readily available! We'll chat offline to discuss how to mount to the existing dowel - dont print them yet!!!! ;)

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I wanted to add that a lot of things can be bought surplus too on eBay. Here's an example of two cheap Cessna yokes for just $100 which can easily be modded, add on epoxy, other forms onto the core metal frame, etc. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pair-of-Alu...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

I hope everything I had said earlier will help you to review the reality of how easy the Falcon cockpit could be made to "fly". With the core software, a control board, a few switches, two monitors, and some fight controls you could easily have the Falcon cruising in low orbit at Mach 6. I know I'd love to see it and if taking this around to various fancons I think people would really get a kick out of the added interaction. And if in your garage or living room you could always enjoy it on a daily basis too. When set up on a large 1:1 scale like this the immersion factor and sense of realism is quite amazing. Even without motion you really feel turns and will truly sense the skids come off the ground. It's incredibly different from small scale desktop simulation with a single monitor.

Hey Sim,

My original yoke idea was two mod'd versions of Piper Yokes. We abandoned that idea in favor of 3D modeling / printing screen accurate versions. OperaScot and I were chatting and if we ever get to the point of having an actual screen with flight sim we could use a simple XBox controller to start then work our way up to the flight yokes. ;)

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Hey SofaKing,
I just came across this tonight and am blown away, really amazing.

I reside in Tennessee and was curious if you ever display this, would love to see in person. Anyway, keep up the good work.

Jim

Hi Jim,

Thanks so much and welcome to the CHAOS! The cockpit is always on display in my garage. Shoot me a PM and maybe we can work out a visit and you can get your hands dirty with the build! :)

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Great to see some progress pics. Awesome update SofaKing01.

Thank you my friend! Those canopy box handles are going to be an AWESOME addition! :)
 
Thank you Sofa, I feel so much better now! :D

Boy have you guys (and Gals) been busy.

Wish I lived in the States, I'd come to your area on Summer vacation and get stuck in with helping the Pit Squad in the blink of an eye .

Roughneckone :cool

Hey R,

Again, I apologize for the long delay. Bad me! With all the helping hands... we didn't get as far as we would have liked. There was a LOT of brain storming and "what if" and "what about this" bouncing around between us. But we all got to geek out and that's the main thing.

You are certainly welcome anytime, my friend! We'll def put you to work! :)

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Ahhhhh, SK update relief. Nerves calming, anger subsiding.... ;)

LOL! Dont make SB angry... We wont like SB when he's angry! ;)
 
Na just wanted show how close you guys nailed it! I hope to make it down there by the end of the year if everything is still kosher. That last pic on the bottom right is another from either ESB or ROTJ, Not the best quality pic, but I used it because no one was sitting in it.
 
Na just wanted show how close you guys nailed it! I hope to make it down there by the end of the year if everything is still kosher. That last pic on the bottom right is another from either ESB or ROTJ, Not the best quality pic, but I used it because no one was sitting in it.

The lower right is pre-production ESB - from what we know. We still have a long way to go to be compared to the pros! :)

You are welcome anytime! : )
 
Did they not use the same cockpit as ESB also for ROTJ? You'd think they would have kept it knowing they were going do another SW so they wouldn't have to rebuild it again. I probably need to re-read this entire thread. You have two versions? One is at that museum where the near completed cockpit is and one at home? I'm confused.
 
Did they not use the same cockpit as ESB also for ROTJ? You'd think they would have kept it knowing they were going do another SW so they wouldn't have to rebuild it again. I probably need to re-read this entire thread. You have two versions? One is at that museum where the near completed cockpit is and one at home? I'm confused.

Hey D,

The ESB and ROTJ version of the cockpit are in fact the same. The original designers changed the original ANH version after the success of the movie and because of the amount of filming done in the cockpit during ESB.

We actually only have 1 cockpit. I originally started with the ANH version based on Starkillers original 3D models. We then decided to add the ESB 15" extension panels to the original ANH version - this addition added 15" of depth to the cockpit. Not wanting to completely redesign every panel, we created a sort of hybrid between ANH and ESB. None of us were happy with the hybrid version AT ALL so we jumped in and are now attempting a screen accurate ESB version.

We do however have 2 center consoles. This might be where the confusion is coming from? Hope this helps. :)
 
So that's your cockpit of the photo I used? It was at some convention center museum and you moved it back home?

Hey D,

The upper right corner is our cockpit. :)

We were on display at the Huntsville Space and Rocket Center for a little over a month during the premiere and showing of EPVII - it was amazing! The guests and followers of the build were AWESOME! We're back at the house now. It is nice to have her back home but we do miss all the room and talking to all the guests.
 
Subscribed, however late to this !

Never too late! Welcome. :)

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If brilliant, stunning and gorgeous could be combined into one word...Brinneous! With a slight dash of awesome ;)

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And still no Holiday Special? ;)
 

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