Stowable Home Cockpit

Cockpit Mode. Preflight complete, ready to fly!

Furniture mode. I'm not going to lie.. while my wife wanted something that can stow away and look presentable, it is rarely ever in this state. Too much flying to do!

Before you see the rest, you need to see how it all began 4 years ago.

Version 1
A large and heavy three monitor setup. While it was great at the time, it nearly took up a whole bedroom and was more of a permanent fixture. I planned on creating a large F-18 cockpit at the time but since I was in the military, it didn't make sense to do so as I would eventually be moving.

Version 2
Literally built into the lower half of a closet! Kept the front panel from V1 and reduced it to 1 monitor. I liked this one due to the fact that I could close the closet doors and fully immerse myself in what felt like a cockpit type of environment.

Regrettably, I didn't take very many pictures of the building process. Once I knew what my plan of action was I just went for it. Learning along the way.

Early Interior painting

Seat progress

I was actually surprised how perfectly everything stowed away. I don't know how I pulled of the engineering behind that but hey, it works!

Stowed view

Opening the lid. Note the joystick catching the monitor. Not a huge issue since it simply slides right by but fixed later with an adjustable joystick base.

Preflight

Full 2D cockpit setup. I have a TrackIR that magnetically mounts to the top monitor. I still regularly use the cockpit monitor as a copy of my primary monitor so I can briefly look through my Oculus nose gap to see important information in background apps.

I painstakingly made custom, editable Adobe Acrobat files for each aircraft/spacecraft to line up within the MFD screens. Unfortunately, since I mainly fly in VR now, I rarely use this anymore. The monitor cost $10 at Goodwill. I added a simple wooden frame to help fill out the front panel of the cockpit to make it feel more like a front panel.

I crafted my own 7" extension using some PVC, some gorilla glue, and the Gardena Medal Hose Connector found here. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002VED3KW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Eventually I would like to purchase a solid metal extension, but this one is very sturdy and only costs about $20.

The seat padding is custom made with memory foam and a wooden backing covered in black canvas cloth. The seat cushion simply sets in place while the two back support pads are attached with velcro. They are holding up just fine for now but in the near future, I plan on getting custom seat cushions made.

Since I share this experience with as many friends as possible, I had to add in some common safety features. For my peace of mind.

Yellow markings = Don't grab it!
-Seat back
-Throttle panel

Grey = reinforced support
-Right side of cockpit
-Left side of seat

My battle grounds / VR room. VR play space is roughly 9x9. In cockpit mode, I simply turn the Oculus sensors mounted in the corners of the room to face the cockpit. Easy transition.

The ONLY proper attire to wear for the experience. Custom name patch as well. Usually only worn for the long sorties and cold Seattle nights.