News of the project's demise are highly overrated...

Well, for those that even remembered this blog exists, I'll be updating a lot more frequently as the winter has set in. Real life intervened in good and bad ways, but I have been researching and designing more ways to spend money I don't have to build something I don't have space for...

After all, that's the whole point, right?

In the "I'm not reinventing the wheel" department, I managed to snag ANOTHER Teensy3, Arduino Micro, and enough LEDS, switches, and controls to pilot a REAL spacecraft. I started hoarding project boxes and old plastic containers with unusual shapes. 

My plans were laid.

And then, I was gifted with a "complete" aircraft control panel. Now, I don't know which particular aircraft, and it appears that it was a secondary panel, but the switches were intact, and I now have a working platform for the main control panel.

All those glorious old school aircraft switches are waiting in bags (after a few hours spent removing them and the wiring harness remains). I was hoping to use the wires already attached to them, but the insulation was cracked and I KNOW it will cause faults the minute I try to rely on them.

More design considerations, now that I have become a poseur fan and follower of Chris Robert's Star Citizen. Whatever my design philosophy, I need to be prepared first and foremost to integrate my design scheme with the potential that SC seems to be bringing to PC simulation. It's nearly impossible to design on speculation and rumor, so I am reinforcing the "modular" concepts in the hopes that I can swap modules in and out to take advantage of everything Star Citizen will have to offer. I'm saving my lunch money to pre-buy the Freelancer package, as that beautiful ship seems to be right in line with my original concepts. Glass cockpits be damned - I'm going to toggle switch that beast as much as I can.

Design concepts and build pics to follow, as this is just an update to let YOU, the EXTREMELY PATIENT follower of this blog, that there's a lot more information coming. I'll share what I have learned and keep you all in the loop as I begin the construction phase.

 It would be great if the 14" of snow (so far) would magically leave my deck so I can get on with it!