Hi,
I am a leader at an RAF Recognised (#13) Air Scout group.
I am currently drafting a grant application for some IT kit for my group. I would like to get a ‘decent’ (cue laughs here) Flight Simulator. I am aiming at £2,000/£2,500 grant to get 2 laptops (1 could be admin level spec), projector and flight controls. I have been overwhelmed by the amount of kit out there.
So my question, if you had £2/£2.5K, what would you buy?
Many thanks in advance
I wouldn’t buy a laptop - If you want it to be decent you need it to be a tower PC, a laptop won’t have the ability to run it I don’t think.
There’s a fair bit of information on here and in the archive about it, and a few users have one. I’ll let them give you more techincal help!
I think you need to start by defining what you would consider to be “decent”: How many displays? In what layout? What sort of controls? on-screen or separate instruments?
well - easy answer - no clue!!! I thought I might be able to get some suggestion against a money value.
I did forget to mention that this will be used with an age range that is usually younger than your normal - 8 (Cubs) - 14 (Scouts).
I was thinking of a high spec laptop as I will need to use it for other things ;-( can’t be dedicated to just this.
if i had £2.5k to spend i would have a dedicated system rather than a shared PC…laptop, tower or otherwise!
DOH!!! Apologies, hate it when people do this – let me give you the rest of the requirements.
We operate from a church hall so need something that can be brought out, put away and stored easily. The budget is cover 2 laptop provision, a projector which I thought would’ve approx 1.2k but then added the extra for Flight Sim stuff - uprated laptop, controls and software.
We have a smallroom which we could darken where this could be setup on a table and project on the wall.
Sorry for not giving a full picture.
Jonathan
sounds like you are looking for a yoke&throttle with pedals set up?
something that will bolt/screw/secure on to a table.
we have a similar set up but is little point advising you on it as i believe it was donated kit and at the time many years old.
for £2k you will have plenty of choices, maybe someone else with more knowledge in the area can advise?
Yes, that sounds like the right sort of set-up.
There is a whole host of kit out there - wow! Usb controlled panels for cabin lights!!! Someone has way too much time and money on their hands.
Our current setup is a small wheeled desk/trolley with a tower PC on the bottom and the monitor and projector on the top.
The monitor displays the instruments, and the projector throws the outside onto the wall. We’re looking to get a yoke, throttles and some pedals to attach to the trolley too (they’re clamp type - so easily adjusted or removed.)
As you’ll be looking to use this for other applications (presentations, training, entertainment etc) then a laptop sounds great - but don’t expect it to look particularly good - you’ll have to trade graphics for performance. FSX + Xplane are both very resource (CPU + GPU) hungry and FSX was coded before multicore CPUs were available to the average consumer, and Xplane - although arguably the better flight physics simulator its not the most user friendly.
You’re looking for about 3.0GHz or better CPU (recommended to have a QuadCore Intel Processor - ideally i7 3.5GHz
Look for at least 1GB of Graphics (GPU) (ideally 2GB)
RAM = >4GB
OS = Windows 7 64bit
The rest is not important.
Monitor - go for a 24" at least if you’re looking to run off a single monitor.
If you go for the dual monitor/projector method - go for a 19" widescreen for the instruments - and the projector on the wall for the outside view.
Good Luck and let us know how it goes.
Was looking through my latest edition of PC Pilot, I myself am a flight simmer and have been building mine up over the years. I got this in the emails through BADER…
Code 1 : ATC25
This will give you 25% off all the Cessna range :-
Cessna Yoke http://www.saitek.com/uk/prod/cessnayoke.html
Cessna rudder pedals http://www.saitek.com/uk/prod/cessnapedals.html
Cessna Trim Wheel http://www.saitek.com/uk/prod/trimwheel.html
It will also give you 25% off the X-52 and X-52 Pro
X-52 http://www.saitek.com/uk/prod/x52.html
X-52 Pro http://www.saitek.com/uk/prod/x52pro.html
Code 2 : ATC30
This will make the Pacific AV8R sticks come out at £30
PC Version http://store.gameshark.net/Mad_Catz_Pacific_AV8R_FlightStick_for_PC/5335/173
Computashack info@computashack.com
Promo code is ATC1184
As mentioned I came across a few places that offer PC’s specifically built for Flight simmers…see below
http://www.wired2fire.co.uk/ccc.php?systype=14
Hope you find that useful…
I haven’t tested those codes, but let everyone know if they still work.
Regards
How does this spec look?
◦Processor: Intel Core i7-4700HQ Quad Core (2.8GHz, Intel Turbo Boost up to 3.4GHz)
◦Screen: 17.3" (MSI, 1920x1080 FULL HD Resolution, Anti-Glare, LED Backlit)
◦Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-bit
◦RAM:8GB (DDR3 1600MHZ)
◦Hard Drive: 750GB +128GB SSD
◦Optical Drive: DVD Rewriter (Records DVDs 8x & CDs 24x & Dual Layer Super Multi)
◦Graphics: Dedicated (NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 840M with 2GB GDDR3 Dedicated Memory)
Good enough for flight sim 
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
if your just running flight sim on this, then you could save the £30 - 40 and not have the HDD, run it all on the SSD.
Not sure what FSX and Xplane are like with Win 8.1.
Sim I built
http://www.2158atc.co.uk/index.php?id=252
[quote=“mprentice1” post=20292]
Sim I built
http://www.2158atc.co.uk/index.php?id=252[/quote]
Looks great.Wish I had the space for a permanent setup like yours.
the great thing is it isn’t permanent.
Yeah its bulky but the wooden frame just slots together in a flat-pack design so we can take it out on recruitment events.
LOL - I bet it is popular
At the initial research stage - looking to obtain a 3 - 4 “unit” flight sim set-up for our sqn. Aiming to buy new if possible, & to have the option to link the different units together for cadets to practice formation flying, or in sequence in the circuit, etc. Any suggestions welcome, either here or via PM.
I tried the previous links for the Saitek products, but the discount code doesn’t work - any clues please?
I’ve been looking at setting up similar at another sqn. I’ve been looking at desktops like this (http://bit.ly/18mlQ9q) and then adding a graphics card, with the addition of the joystick and rudder pedals it’ll make a fairly compact set-up. as for the sim software I am thinking of going with XPlane or Prepar3D, both have multi-player built in, but I’d make sure all the desktops were ethernet rather than wifi.
As for the discount codes, I can only assume they were time sensitive, you could try contacting saitek and try and get a discount/donation?
Thanks, been in touch with the company mentioned, they asked if 128gb SSD is going to be big enough & if any background discs would be needed? Ethernet connection is fitted on that model.
So, for a basic “learning” flight sim, would there really be any need for background discs?
Software - FSX or XPlane? There seems to be subtle difference is how each type performs & how fast the CPU should be, & how each format handles add-ons. However, for our “base-level” version, I doubt if we will need top-end performance. Prices seem to be similar - is it “one install” per DVD, or multi-install? I would guess the first option! 
OS - Win7 seems to be acceptable?
This was a quote from one forum:
[quote]In short, FSX + numerous add-ons will certainly give you a very pleasant flight simming experience, but built on old and waning foundations.
XP10 + add-ons will also give you a very pleasant flight simming experience. The big difference is, with X-Plane you know that not only the add-ons will keep evolving, but also the actual flight sim (engine) itself.[/quote]
Decisions, decisions.