MiGMan’s MiGPit

AboutIn early 2021, when I was developing the MiGMan’s World Tour series the MB-339 was my trusty steed. Reliable and stable in flight, and with good visibility, it helped me created hundreds of videos and take tens of thousands of photographs.In these images I used OBS to overlay my physical cockpit over the sim view. All the displays were constructed with the fantastic and user-friendly Sim Dashboard software, which I still use in late 2023 to display 5 pages of custom readouts.

AboutOne year on and a look at the MiGPit Mk.VII, happily esconced in a TrakRacer TR160 chassis and re-engined with a HP OMEN 45L beast driving the sim.

AboutThese subpages are constantly evolving, but after 4 years of tweaking I am really happy with their current state.

AboutLate 2024 saw the launch of MSFS 2024, making it an apt time to re-engine the MiGPit. With over 5,000 hours of reliable flight time from my HP OMEN 25L it was a no-brainer to stick with the HP moniker.

AboutAfter 4 1/2 years running 24 hrs, 7 days per week and powering over 5,000 hours of flight time in MSFS 2000, the OMEN proved to be the most reliable PC I have ever used, with not one BSOD.

AboutThe audio components are located on the rear left console and the centre piece is this Gemini MM1 mixer.

AboutThe audio routing is still not where I want it to be, but it works for now and gives me bass and volume control as well as a push-button solution to changing from speakers to earphones.

AboutVideos showing the workings of the MiGPit Mk.VII

AboutVideos of the pit from 2020 onwards.

AboutMy first impression of the TR160. Still at the unpacking and inspection phase.

AboutThis setup has served as an Avionics Prototype Platform (APP) for 3 years. Air Manager and Sim Dashboard displays on Android tablets, WINWING Orion HOTAS, WINWING Takeoff and Combat panels, Elgaro Stream Decks, Track IR 3

AboutThis setup has served as an Avionics Prototype Platform (APP) for 3 years. Air Manager and Sim Dashboard displays on Android tablets, WINWING Orion HOTAS, WINWING Takeoff and Combat panels, Elgaro Stream Decks, Track IR 3

AboutThis setup has served as an Avionics Prototype Platform (APP) for 3 years. Air Manager and Sim Dashboard displays on Android tablets, WINWING Orion HOTAS, WINWING Takeoff and Combat panels, Elgaro Stream Decks, Track IR 3

AboutThis setup has served as an Avionics Prototype Platform (APP) for 3 years. Air Manager and Sim Dashboard displays on Android tablets, WINWING Orion HOTAS, WINWING Takeoff and Combat panels, Elgaro Stream Decks, Track IR 3

AboutThis setup has served as an Avionics Prototype Platform (APP) for 3 years. Air Manager and Sim Dashboard displays on Android tablets, WINWING Orion HOTAS, WINWING Takeoff and Combat panels, Elgaro Stream Decks, Track IR 3

AboutThis setup has served as an Avionics Prototype Platform (APP) for 3 years. Air Manager and Sim Dashboard displays on Android tablets, WINWING Orion HOTAS, WINWING Takeoff and Combat panels, Elgaro Stream Decks, Track IR 3

AboutThis setup has served as an Avionics Prototype Platform (APP) for 3 years. Air Manager and Sim Dashboard displays on Android tablets, WINWING Orion HOTAS, WINWING Takeoff and Combat panels, Elgaro Stream Decks, Track IR 3

AboutThis device solved the headache of updating firmware with my USB flight sim controllers. The headache being that when updating firmware it’s recommended to have only one controller plugged in to the PC. and I have seven. This meant moving my simpit and then clambering behind the PC, which in practice meant I never updated the firmware! Now I have all my USB sim controllers plugged into the Wenter, which sits on the easily maintenance accessible tray on my TrackRacer TR160, and I can disable all the unwanted controllers with a few button presses, update the firmware and then re-activate. The entire process of turning the USB devices on and off takes place in less time than I can type this sentence. In summary, a game changing device for power USB users.

AboutIntial photographs of the magnificent WINWING Orion HOTAS, which has been the best HOTAS I have ever laid my hands on.

AboutMy reviews of flight sim goodies.

AboutView from the driver's seat in my F-14B cockpit. NOTE: The sound is not too good as my mobile phone was overwhelmed by the sound level. Apologies for that!

AboutMy view as I fly my MiGPit / F-14B variant over Muscat, capital of Oman.

AboutView from the ejection seat inside my F-117 cockpit on the ramp at Sarajevo.

About"Flight simulation fanatics should bookmark this site now"
... said Kevin Cheung in the Sydney Morning Herald.

AboutThese videos shows excerpts from the mission "Kosovo Border Patrol" which is part of 'Europe 3'.

AboutFlying the Deimos MiG-29 on the Kosovo Border Patrol mission.

AboutOverview of my 5 MFDs. This may be useful to someone thinking of going this route with MSFS.

AboutJoin MiGMan in the cockpit for a chat about flight sims and related stuff!

AboutSpecs for the sixth version of the MiGPit. a project that has been running since 1992.

AboutSpecs for the sixth version of the MiGPit. a project that has been running since 1992.

AboutI have used 5 of these as MFDs in the MiGPit since 2021.

AboutDate: Sunday September 27th, 2020
Locn: MiGBase (Australia's Area 51)
Aircraft: MiGPit experimental
Pilot: P.C.
Added a second MFD and sent P.C. on a test flight.

Abouti7 and large screens

About2006 Pentium rigged for silent running.

About2004 Pentium 4 for Microsoft Flight Sim 2004.

AboutAdded to the MiGPit in 2020. By late 2023 the Warthog stick developed a loose wire / contact somewhere in the stick, resulting in random control inputs and view changes. A little bit annoying, especially on finals. I repurposed the Warthog throttle as a lighting (and other) control panel on the right side of my 'pit, so it lives on for a few years more.

AboutWhich.. I found rather confusing, so I made my own.

About"I composed this fanfare in 2006 to promote a proposed Television series. "MiGMan Fanfare" (c) 2006 Peter Inglis. All rights reserved."

AboutPeter "MiGMan" Inglis gave a Flight Sim Masterclass on the November 14th 2006 episode of ABC TV's 'Good Game'.

AboutSome people have talked about the 1mm play in the joystick centre position as being a flaw. To my style of flying it's a bonus feature!

AboutIn late 2001 I breathed new life into the Celeron-466 with extra RAM and a new video card, new monitor and a CD R/W. | Celeron, not Cylon.

AboutI used to fly in my own home-built own cockpit, which shared scale with an F-16 if not much else! It was programmable if you had a day or so to spare!

About8Mb RAM and a 15" CRT monitor. This was as good as it could get!

AboutRe-reading the specs reminded me that the 1040 was ahead of the pack for a little while with it's 4096 colours and built in midi sound.

AboutIn 1982 the Apple II represented a huge leap forward in personal computing power.