The shell is designed to support the placement of the important interior parts, and that’s all I cared about since I wouldn’t be flying the sim from the outside. While it doesn’t look exactly like a 737 nose section that is not the point. It consists of around 50 angular shaped flat pieces of aluminum that bolt together to form a “Darth Vader” looking shell. I purchased the cockpit shell from FlightDeck Solutions (FDS) in Canada. Cockpit Shell EnclosureĬompletely Assembled FlightDeck Solutions Cockpit Shell I am planning to build a new one-piece base designed to accommodate an under-floor yoke mechanism with control loading for force feedback. I’d also put larger castor wheels to make it easier to roll around, even though it’s honestly not that bad now. If I were to re-do the base in wood, I’d just build it as one piece versus four sections and I’d ensure I had a good place for under-floor yokes at a later point. Along the sides, I screwed in “skirt” pieces of thin plywood to make the sides look cleaner and more finished. That plate will be under the pedestal so not visible. I joined the four main sections with screw plates, one at each halfway point along the sides, and one in the floor center to keep all the pieces together. The final cockpit base mounted on wheels with side skirts to make it look prettyĮach wheel can hold up to 300 pounds so 2700 pounds of weight total. This created 9 wheels…one on each corner, one at the halfway point along each side, and one in the center. Thus, two sections had wheels all around, and the other two had wheels only on one side. In some areas I extended the blocks out past the edges to create a lip for the other sections to rest on. To create mounting points for the wheels, I put blocks at the bottom corners of each section to support the 3-inch locking castor wheels. Don’t lock yourself into one position on the floor if you can avoid it. I’d recommend putting locking castor wheels underneath your base so you can easily roll the entire cockpit base and shell around, which I often have to do for maintenance and cleaning. The fourth, well, I can live with the minor variances. So 3 of the 4 sections lined up almost perfectly. Once I built the first section, I was able to learn from my mistakes and make the remaining sections were much better. Use lots of clamps to keep things accurate when you join your pieces. Unfortunately, even the best pieces may warp with humidity and temperature so be prepared. I was careful to select the best wood I could find at Home Depot. One thing VERY important is finding straight wood otherwise you’ll have alignment problems when it all comes together. It’s more expensive, but trust me, it’s worth it! I used a Kregg pocket jig which makes creating right angle wood joints easy and solid with no glue needed. I made each section using 2″ x 6″ wood sides topped with a 1/2 ” pre-sanded plywood floor. One of the 4-foot by 4-foot base sections to support the cockpit shell
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