R-Pod MkII Driving Simulator

[ericleroi]

Impressive!

Thank you!

So I spent a little time figuring out how I wanted the foot rest to look. It needs to blend in with the rest of the build, be functional and not look like an afterthought. I coated the whole thing in car body filler and sanded it back to harden it and get rid of the grain. This will be painted black. Small strips of rounded rubber have been cut and will be glued to the front face:

I chose to have 3 sections for a bit of variety.

[ericleroi]

Probably the last thing I do this weekend (except perhaps start paining the foot rest). I've cut the carpet for the base:

Just testing out the LEDs. I may fit some of these under the pedal base as well to shine light into the cockpit:

The light shows up the dust nicely on a laminate floor.

[ericleroi]

Weekdays are great for those little pieces that still require a bit of time, smaller pieces of wood, painting/varnishing, polishing and suchlike.

Completed the retaining piece for the footrest, finished filling and sanding and then applied a coat of flat black so it's ready for some polyurethane varnish tomorrow:

[ericleroi]

Been eyeing up one of these for the front of the pod. Couldn't resist any longer. Buy it now. Click.

[zomboided]

Really like, and great build thread. I might have to build a pedal adjuster...where you get the mechanism?

[ericleroi]

Thanks mattedsmith. I sourced the seat slider from eBay. I went for one which has the adjustment only on one side as it interferes less with the inside of the cab:

[majorspawn]

@ericleroi go blackboard vinyl!! hehe you know what I mean mate...

[ericleroi]

Sure do majorspawn. Fantastic time saving stuff it is

[ericleroi]

Tow hook arrived. I've created a tow graphic to go with it (will likely print out on vinyl):

[ericleroi]

The foot rest pieces are now complete with the rubber cut. I will need to tidy the base up a little to ensure that no bare MDF shows through the matting (i.e. paint it black).

The bolt at the back really stabilises the whole construction and presents a solid structure. No flexing even with a hefty whack with my foot.

[ericleroi]

With the cabling bought, the shifter pod complete, the seat fitted and the pedal assembly done, my attention will be on the nose/front section next. I'm particularly conscious of any flex in the steering wheel area which will protrude from the nose section so i have bought some shelf supports. I will attach the wheel to a piece of 18mm MDF as wide as the CSW and bolt and screw 2 of these underneath it to prevent any flex:

This will have the added advantage of making the wheel shelf fairly thin to allow for more leg / knee room.

The remaining 2 supports will be placed at right angles to these in the nose section to brace the wheel shelf further.

[ericleroi]

The next 3 weekends should see the rig being made operational although by no means complete. I will now need to remove the wheel from my current rig to get the fitting correct - a real shame as I have been enjoying Assetto Corsa, iRacing and Game Stock Car Extreme immensely. I will have to do without being able to kick back and settle down for a bit of simming for a while. A little frustrating really. Never mind, it will hopefully push me into focusing on getting this done.

18mm MDF has been cut into the basic panels I need to start shaping the nose section:

[ericleroi]

This is the most important part of the build so I've spent some time checking and re-checking the measurements - there's always something to overlook but hopefully I've taken everything into account. MDF will be applied to the outside face of the sloping angle and front nose piece so it will be a little fatter than the profile shown. This is to allow me glue / screw everything in solidly and then apply blackboard vinyl over the top in one continuous piece. I will again be making side panels for this with cutouts and inlays - a lot of work but I'm please with how the shifter pod turned out so it should be worth it.

Rough cut profile:

[ericleroi]

The fist side panel has been flush trimmed and the second completed also:

That was surprisingly quick, for me.

[ericleroi]

Just hauled everything into the hallway for a test fit. There's still some work to do on the base (trim the part that's jutting out at the bottom) and also the top part of the nose side pieces (these will need to be angled to align with the wheel, once that's in place).

It's starting to look like a rig now and not just a random assembly of parts.

[rfancella]

Very, very cool. I have been watching this thread from the start!

It's like we are there with you building it!

Thanks for the updates!

Thanks,

Ron

[ericleroi]

Thanks Ron, I tend post lots of pictures in my build threads - helps to keep me going if I'm feeling lethargic!

Made some more progress with the wheel shelf - this will extend from the main nose section to allow clearance for the cooling vents on the wheel. It needs to be rigid so have used some shelving brackets as mentioned in a previous post:

[HazzardActual]

Im really enjoying seeing this thing put together. Could we maybe get a few shots of your workshop too?

[ericleroi]

Thanks HazzardActual. The 'workshop' is literally a small Black and Decker workbench (and I mean small!)

It's time to mount the wheel. There's a bit of adjustment to do, I need to lower it a little and set it at more of an angle. As the seat moves forwards and I can raise the height and also mode the pedals back and forth, the wheel will be fixed.

[ericleroi]

Progress so far today:

Frame: trim front pieces - DONE

Base: Cut slots for furring strips - DONE

Carpet: re-cut - current piece too small - include holes for seat runner raisers - TO DO

Front sides: angle top sections for dashboard integration - DONE

Top shelf - cut back and use excess to stabilise base further. DONE Add shelf supports to remove vertical play - TO DO

Steering column - cut retaining pieces to remove any lateral play - TO DO

Side pod - secure bolts - TO DO

Bolt pedals to floor base - TO DO

Looking at the cabling at the moment (Power will be kept separate from everything else):

Velcro used to keep things tidy:

[ericleroi]

Cables, cables, cables. I need to be absolutely sure I've fitted everything in:

DVI - check

Displayport - check

Speaker cable - check

Speaker cable spare - check

USB - check

USB extension cable/spare - check

Shifter cable - check

Rear Buttkicker cable - check

Power cable - check

I hope that's everything ...

[Pro_Pop]

Fantastic job man:top:. How much money you spent on it? I live in Poland and I wanted to build something like this, so That the steering wheel or the Logitech Thrustmaster T500RS, depending on how much cash I have. Would build only the cockpit. I'm sorry I use a translator.

[ericleroi]

Thanks Pro_Pop I've deliberately not been keeping track of the cost as I knew this wasn't going to be cheap. I would estimate it will have cost around £400 to build once complete.

[Pro_Pop]

Can you send a photo from the side? I want to see the distance between the seat and steering wheel height.

[ericleroi]

It's disassembled at the moment but I took this earlier if it's of any use (I may have posted this previously ....). The bucket seat is quite deep so the wheel is actually a little high (a couple of cms):

Garden duties have been completed so it's back to work on the rig.

Carpet has been re-cut with holes for the risers so the base board should now be covered from sight:

Bracing applied to the top panel where the wheel stem attaches to:

Slots cut on the side pieces - T-Molding will be applied for a better finish. Ive painted it as well to avoid the potential to see any wood poking through - Ive had to offset the slot slightly to ensure that the T-Molding doesn't interfere with the shaped side panels when I make those:

I've also beveled the bottom edge of the side pieces to align with the rest of the base. Next will be to cover the inside of the side pieces with blackboard vinyl.