Interesting Kickstarter with WC possibilities

Jacob

Jacob

Rear Admiral
I found this on Boing Boing today - it's a Kickstarter for a cardboard fighter cockpit that you can have in your living room to play video games through. Now they're just calling it a "jet fighter" plan, but I'm sure that some clever Wing Commander fans could change this up. I'd definitely pick up a movie Rapier cockpit version.

Boing Boing article: http://boingboing.net/2014/08/29/kickstarting-a-life-sized-car.html

Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1117888467/jet-fighter-cockpit-in-your-living-room
 
Everybody has a screen though, right? If I'm reading it right, about $116 gets you the cardboard setup? That's not too bad. I've looked into a few of these over the years, and they can easily cost several hundred dollars for something more substantial. ~100 for one that folds up isn't too bad.

You could probably make this yourself, and I'd imagine many people interested in such a setup would probably want to make their own, but I could see it costing more than $100 worth of your time to create.

Also, only 24 backers? Yikes, doesn't look like he'll make it without some substantial publicity. He's obviously gotten some press already, but this only brought in L550 of 15,000. I put in a few dollars (but it doesn't look like they'll collect...).
 
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The idea is cool, but I just can't get excited about a cardboard setup. It's one of those things where I plan to play Star Citizen and such from my desk with a PlaySeat setup (and I have an oldschool rig at a table for the WC games)... I don't really have room for a full-on cockpit, and if I *did* go that route, I'd only be willing to dedicate the space if it were a serious quality cockpit (metal, actual switches and such, etc...which I'll probably never do because of cost and it doesn't add that much for me, even then).

I think space is probably the main issue. Yes, it's not particularly expensive for the item itself, but I seriously wonder if most people have the room for something like that, and even if they do, whether it's worth it to them to sacrifice the space for a cardboard cockpit. (And yes, you can tear it down, but who's seriously gonna tear it down and set it up everytime they wish to fly?) For me, it certainly wouldn't be worth it, and I can't say this would add that much immersion for me. You can only do so much with a picture of 2D switches, etc.

Just my two cents. I wish them the best, but I certainly can see why it's not for everyone.
 
You both do have valid comments, so here is my more detailed response.

Everybody has a screen, yes but the quality would vary, I don't see myself taking my mancave apart and setting this thing up in front of my TV in order to play a flightsim. And if you use a set of VR-goggles, then there is no need in the cockpit looking like anything?

As fort costs, I bought a secondhand barber-chair(Maletti) for €60,-, and found it to be highly customizable, I can put pedals in the footboard, take a wooden plank and rig up something to mount a joystick and throttle to the armrests... And making a cockpit yourself is also a lot of fun, in a dutch magazine ten years ago we had an article on it, but this guy spended over €1000, and it was not a "generic" cockpit, but he made a near-perfect F16-replica.

My main problem with cardboard is that it is not durable, and will not last if you change your joystick setup every so-often, spill your drink, your cat tries to eat it, etc.. I think fiberglass and sheet-metal would be a better option.
 
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I really like the idea, its up to him to prove the durability of the cardboard setup and he says he is working on that.
 
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