Hey fellas! So it looks like I am back to square one with my quest to building a huey simpit. The instrument panel I picked up last month turned out to be a bell 212 panel and not a huey I put the blame on myself as I didnt request any pictures due to how inexpensive it was and I didnt want to pass up on the deal. Anyways, I just started a thread on the DCS Forums and wanted to share it here since we are all Huey fans!

I have been looking for months on several simpit/home cockpit forums and I have yet to see anything related to building a Huey cockpit. Some basic measurements but nothing like the level of detail out there for the A10. There are dozens of free and paid plans, cad/cnc files available for the a10 but absolutely nothing for us rotor-heads. So here is what I would like to do and I am open to any suggestions as their is more than one way to skin this cat!

I live right down the street from an air museum with a huey so I have the ability and luxury to take pictures and measurements of just about anything inside the cockpit. I can create/trace the template onto a poster with all the measurement but I would need some assistance of someone tech savvy enough to help build this into a cad file or some type of cnc file that we can take to our local workshops to get one cut out of T6 .060 aluminum. So what do you guys think? Would anyone be interested in something like within 229th? Slapping a monitor or two behind the panel with helios should be pretty straight forward!

Hey Korn

Ive got some simple skills in CAD (2D & 3D) so might be able to help out a little (see http://damienstpierre.com/blog/?page_id=337). I would suggest that you start getting the measurements and by being proactive it will start to draw other people into the project.

I dont have too much free time at the moment but start posting some stuff (doesnt even need to be scale as long as it has measurements)

frenchy

Thanks for the feedback and assistance frenchy!  I just made a quick test panel today based of the the rough measurements I took last weekend.  The gauge diameters are pretty standard except for the attitude indicator....that thing is 5"!   I'll be going back to the museum in the next few days with my digital calipers to get some real accurate measurements to include all the panels and console/pedestal dimensions.   Someone reached out to me from the dcs forums and said he was willing to help create both cnc files and printable pdf files in 1:1 scale for us simpit builders for free.  He also plans to sell 3D printed Huey panels and instrument bezels in the near future.  In exchange for my measurements he'll be hooking me up with a free set!  Pretty good trade off IMO.  


This panel is still missing the radar altimeter, warning lamps and a few other details but I just wanted to get a rough general idea of how many monitors I am going to need to run both pilot and copilot gauges

Really wish I could hit up the Marietta Air Museum, their hours are pretty inconvenient for me. They have a UH-1B there that is in perfect condition almost, and Ive been wanting to get down there. Only open during my working hours....Ill have to volunteer some time to work on their pieces one of these days.

hey gents, just a quick update! spent about 2 hours today taking measurements and taking over 300 pictures of our local huey.   This little project is definitely going to be more challenging than I thought!  I'm going to be consolidating and organizing all of the measurements and prep them to be handed off to the folks over at Lynx to build these templates for us pit builders.  We will be are starting off with the main instrument panel first followed by the center pedestal and overhead console.  If you check out the download section at lync.dx you can see their A-10 plans to give you guys an idea of what we are doing for the huey.   I'll continue to keep you guys posted!

So I finally was able to track down a uh-1h instrument panel from a boneyard out in California.  We will be using this along with the Huey measurements build this template.  Things are progressing slowly but they are progressing nonetheless!  I found some bezels out of the blue at a flea market and decided to slap them on my current mdf test panel and man it looks sharp!  
I started reaching out to several local cnc workshops to get some quotes and after sending out rough dimensions and a picture of a blank instrument panel the average fee to get one cut out of aluminum is about $125 USD and that includes the aluminum.  I'm sure if I were to provide an actual sheet of aircraft instrument panel aluminum from airframe spruce it might be a bit cheaper.  I'll continue to keep you guys posted on a weekly basis until we meat our endstate!

Here she is Gents! Should be here in a couple weeks

Made these huey placards today for those planning on building a huey pit! My years using excel in the Army are finally paying off!  

Latest update: I mailed out the instrument panel template over to the folks at Lynx and the template Files for printing 1:1 scale and CNC should be available hopefully within the next couple of weeks!

Here are a few pictures of my current build:  nothing has been mounted yet but I was able to get some indicator labels printed to match the DCS Huey.  Still trying to figure out how to attach the bezels as I can't have anything protrude behind the panel so it doesn't interfere with my monitors.  I might end up gluing them in place and grinding down the screws but we'll see if I can come up with a better option.   I will also spray paint the chrome screws to keep the military subdued look.

Looks great. Looking forward to seeing how it all turns out. Thanks.

KoRn... wow, what a project! You are either certifiable or you should change your name to... 'NoFear'
Good luck anyhow... if I was local to you I would love to get involved; being the ever optimistic bicycle repair man that I am. I will watch with enviable interest.

looks awesome korn

That's a hell of a template Korn...maybe when you complete it and figure out how to market it...I see dollar signs...lol

Lol..that would be nice but i couldnt. My whole goal is to make it free for the sim community. There just isnt enough home cockpit stuff for us heli guys. I made a deal with lynx that I would provide him measurements and a traced outline of my instrument panel if he would make the digital files for the sim community for free. I personally want to see more helicopter simpits in our community. Tbh im tired of seeing a10 pits in the ed forums lol.
As of now, I am still waiting for lynx to publish the plans. If I dont see any progress within the next week, im gonna reach out to an engineer buddy of mine that will do it for a case of beer. Then we can just publish the plans in the 229th library

Very nice...I respect your decisions...as a hard core (old school) military helicopter pilot, I would support your decision to release this as a community effort...thank you for your efforts...

IM kinda interested in how you mount it to your obutto...

I'll take some pictures later with the panel lifted off to show you. But it was pretty straight forward. I mounted two monitors side by side onto a 3/4" piece of wood....and then mounted that piece of wood to the center mount. The center mount is extremely robust and took the weight of the entire panel and monitors pretty well. My only issue is that my joystick is lined up with the slip ball indicator when is should be lined up with the clock indicator. Not sure if anyone noticed that. But the entire panel should be shifted more to the left.

...oh I forgot to add that the instrument panel and glareshield Literally drops in and hangs ontop of the monitors. Which means I can lift the panel off and swap out Panels depending on what aircraft I want to fly. I plan on making a chinook and Blackhawk panel for fsx/Xplane. Unfortunately I don't think we'll be seeing a dcs version anytime soon

Couple pics....first shows how I mounted the monitors to the obutto. The picture is upside down..no idea why it uploaded that way :/  Second is a quick update.. today I added the fire detector test push switch.  I have another one for the fuel test but i'm gonna have to grind it down and attach it to the panel as it will just be there for cosmetic purposes.

A thing of beauty mate

Its very good mate, love your work !

Thanks fellas. I finally got a hold of lynx and he's 50% done with the digital files. He plans to make two different files for the Main Instrument panel: The first one will be for those who plan to use computer monitors to display gauges and the other will be for folks you want to use actual gauges. I'll continue to keep you all posted

Also, I recall seeing a picture in the forums of someone with a huey seat made from Flins plans. Does anyone know who much he was charging? I've tried reaching out to him via his email, website and ED account and I havent been able to get a hold of him.

You Americans are so lucky to have all those aircraft boneyards being spreaded around your country. Pedals, cyclics, collectives.... the options are numerous. Put some hall sensors on to it and you can have yourself a fine set of controls either. The only Huey available in the Netherlands is sitting in a museum and I bet they won't let me unbolt stuff off of it.

Good luck with your project, KoRn. By the looks of it, it is starting to become a real feast for the eyes.

Hey Korn, it's your lucky day, I have one of films first Heuy seat that I don't use anymore and I'm only about a 1.5 hours from you. I took it apart last year so it should still be ok, I even have the cushions that films wife made. So if you want it you can have it you just need to come and pick it up and while your here you can check out my Oculus if you haven't tried one yet.

We can work out the details on PM.

Thanks for the kind words Razor. I must admit we are pretty lucky here. Northwest Helicopters is right down the road from me and all they do is refurbish Hueys. Had the chance to swing bye a few months back when I was looking for a panel. Man it was like being like a kid in a candy store.

Show, that would be awesome brother! I'll shoot you a PM this weekend.