#SPACESHIP CONTROL PANEL HOW TO#

So, you have some idea of what you want as your end product. Word of warning: git is not the most intuitive tool to learn. It can be as simple as a folder on your computer or as complex as a collaborative, version-controlled, cloud-hosted repository. This seems really trivial, but spend a bit of time thinking how you want to track your documents for your panel.

Don't give up, get creative! I renovated my laundry 'closet' to have a little space for projects: Look for one with a continuity test feature (beeps on closed circuit).Ī lot of us don't have the luxury of space. As with anything though, if you look for fancy stuff, you can spend an arm and a leg. A soldering iron is a stick that gets hot to melt solder. You can get a basic one for $30 from a hardware store. You don't have to break the bank here if you do not often find yourself hunched over electronics. For the guts of your build, here's what you'll need: Keep it in mind.ĭepending how you build your casing, the tools will vary. Your time is precious and finite, just like your money. Something often overlooked when thinking about budgets is time. Buttons, Switches, and Joysticks are simple and affordable components.

Things not included: tools, workspace, casing.įor this pricetag, you should be able to add some nifty components to take your game to the next level. These numbers include only the materials involved. Here are some ballpark numbers based on my experience. Flying high above Kerbin with daydreams of how cool that panel will be - a giant button to help blast off to other worlds lights and sounds blaring in alarm at a steep re-entry trajectory a joystick to masterfully complete that orbital rendezvous - we face our first obstacle - can you afford this? How much are you willing to spend? Your budget will strongly influence your design. Real spacecraft and airplane cockpit designsįiction: Books, Movies, Shows, Anime, you name it!Īh, yes.

Mulbin's Custom Hardware / Simpit Repository.

But in this case, if someone did something you really like, include it in your work! Just be courteous and give credit where credit is due. In our day-to-day lives, copying other people's ideas is looked down upon. Here are some sketches from my second panel design: What do you want to build? Make a list of things that would be cool features you want your panel to have. If you go into your build with that mindset, you can turn unexpected turns into happy accidents. You often learn things you didn't know along the way. I'll take you through the general flow, but something worth mentioning is that design is not linear - many things influence one-another.

#SPACESHIP CONTROL PANEL HOW TO#

Then I glued one side of the foam board to the cardboard box and I inserted the keyboard, lights, and switches.There's been some interest about a guide for how to build a custom Kerbal Control Panel, so here is a high-level guide to the steps involved. I had a large, thin cardboard box that I was going to use for the base and backboard to the poster board.Īfter tracing the objects I wanted to place inside the control board, I used a razor blade to carefully cut them out.īecause the white foam stood out so much against the black, I decided to use a black sharpie to color in the white foam so it looked better. I wanted the keyboard, switches, and lights to be in-laid like a true control board, but that’s not necessary at all. Keyboard, light switches, CDs, applesauce caps, color changing lights, a play-doh tool, and a NASA sticker I scored back in grad school. Once home, I laid out all of my materials where I wanted them on the foam board and traced them in place. It doesn’t have to be expensive, mine only cost me $2! If you don’t have most of the materials laying around already, a thrift store keyboard and some applesauce caps would work great! It’s such a fun way for your kids to use their imagination.įirst step, I purchased one black foam board and two black poster boards, totaling $2 at the dollar store. If you are planning a unit on space, creating a mission control board is super simple.

Spaceship control panel