PitBuilderMag.com not just the nuts and bolts

Vendor Profile: Sheldon Cannon from SCSimulations

PitBuilderMag.com is very glad to have to opportunity to speak with Sheldon Cannon from SC Simulations, LLC.  SC Simulations manufactures high quality home cockpit kits, currently in production with the F-16 and working on a number of other platforms.  Their motto is “Bringing Aviation Home”, and from the look of their high-quality cockpit kits, that’s something they seem to be achieving!

PBM: G’day Sheldon, and thanks for agreeing to speak with PitBuilderMag.  To start off with, could you introduce yourself and your background in flight simming?  I understand you’re a corporate jet pilot by day, and sim entrepreneur by night?

SC Simulations: Hello all! I'm Sheldon Cannon, Owner of SC Simulations, LLC out of Little Rock, Arkansas, up in the United States.  My passion for aviation shows in many ways. I fly a Cessna Citation Excel in the day and when off then I redirect my attention to pit building.  I have several thousand hours as Pilot-In-Command of airliners and corporate jets, but I love to build pits and fly online with friends. I'm very blessed to be in a position where my time allows me to start a business where I can help share my passion for aviation.

Sheldon and his company car. Jealous yet?

PBM: You just made every single one of our readers insanely jealous!  But let's talk about the cockpits before I start dribbling over the Citation.  The F-16 kit certainly looks very nicely done.  Did you have much of a background in cockpit building or manufacturing when you started SC Simulations?

SC Simulations: Well, I have been building pits since I was very young. I believe my first pit was a card board shoe box cut out and taped together, and "flown" around making airplane noises. Fast forward to now and I have built a several cockpits. Mainly, my interest remains in military simulation which triggered the design of the F-16 Kit.

PBM: It’s a big step up from a personal interest in cockpit building to starting a manufacturing operation.  How did you get the idea, and how did you get started?

Under construction - ACESII in the foreground

SC Simulations: Well you are right, it was a big step. First step was to get the wife on board (we could write a whole article on this topic! - Ed). I then purchased a professional computer controlled router (which cost several tens of thousands of dollars) as I realized that I just could not get the detail I desired by hand. I got the machinery and the workshop all set up, sat there, looked at it, and asked myself how I was going to pay this thing off (with a bit of trepidation, I will admit!). I sort of went "Holy crap!" and then my wife told me that I couldn't sell a car to pay it off. A couple people saw my plans for the ACES II kit, which really was the only kit planned in the beginning. People liked what they saw and asked for more. Things definitely took off from there.

PBM: How is the product range developing?

SC Simulations: The current product range is developing towards a total simulator concept to smoothly integrate every step of building the customer's simulator, from the structure, to the panels, to the switches and even the labels and external decals. There will be more, but we can't really talk about it yet.

PBM: I’m guessing that with the impending release of DCS:A10C, there will be a lot of interest in the A-10C soon.  How is development of the A-10C kit coming along, what can we expect from it, and when is it scheduled for availability?

F-16 side consoles

SC Simulations: Development is coming along great on our A-10C. You can expect something very much along the lines of our F-16 cockpit; something that can be shoved in a corner of the room, and make you believe that you are really flying the 'Hog. The A-10C pit structure has more right angles and fewer odd angles than the F-16 so development will be much easier and faster. As you know, we like to deploy well thought out and tested products, that are ready for an end user with a minimum of fuss. We will announce a release date once we have completed our thorough design and testing process.

PBM: "It'll be ready when it's ready" huh   Can't say I blame you, it's a sound approach to emphasise quality!  Can you describe your design and manufacturing process?  What sort of equipment do you use?

F-16 front panel, HUD and glareshield

SC Simulations: We begin with a concept. We develop what features we want, and what our customers want. We do the actual design drawings via CAD software, and begin the prototype/testing cycle. Once we complete this process we release the product for production. Our entire manufacturing process, from conceptualization, to design, to testing, to manufacturing and production are all entirely in-house. We are slowly adding equipment to the workshop as we can, to expand the number and types of products we offer.

PBM: You mention your customers' desires - how does the feedback loop work with current and prospective customers?  Is it centered on the SC Simulations forum?

SC Simulations: The current feedback loop is primarily focused on our forums, and market research on other gaming and simulations forums. We also receive many emails every day from customers and potential customers so our development does not end with the product launch. We are constantly tweaking and updating our designs to suit customer needs or desires. We realize that a CNC kit is not a finished kit, and so we provide the best feedback and support we can to ensure customer’s success in the construction of their ‘pit.

PBM: What other aircraft platforms do you have in mind for future development?  I see that the F/A-18, Ka-50 and F-15 are mentioned on your forum.  Are they officially slated for the pipeline?  What about a generic WWI pit for Rise of Flight?

This could be you!

SC Simulations: We are planning the F/A-18, Ka-50 and the A-10C at this point, but we are here for the flight sim community, and enjoy supporting the community, so if someone wants a specific pit, say a A/V-8B Harrier or a P-51 Mustang and get 15-20 people together who will commit to one, we will be more than happy to design it and deliver it to the community.

PBM: What about other sim genres?  I can see there might be some interest in a Formula 1 or Battlemech cockpit, especially with some recent and upcoming sim releases in those genres.

SC Simulations: We have some Battlemech and generic pits in the conceptual phase. These may or may not turn into products. We haven't decided on whether to push forward with them yet or not. If the demand is there from the community, we WILL deliver.

PBM: Great news.  Onto your other main product: The F-16 HUD.  It looks amazing.  Do you plan to further branch out into panels or other components that the average pitbuilder isn’t equipped to build themselves?

SC Simulations: Thank you. We consider the HUD the “holy grail” of home simulator building. It is an item that everyone has wanted but could never bring to fruition without a real HUD unit and spending thousands upon thousands of dollars on a real HUD. This is a minor compromise, but the pictures we have shown and the product speak for themselves.  It’s the most simple and most affordable way to have a functional HUD in a home simulator. And it’s cheaper than you might expect.

Like we said before, we want to aid the builder in everything from start to "finish" (as every pit builder will tell you, the simulator is never "finished").  We will begin producing panels very soon at the absolutely highest quality and most competitive price on the market. Period.

PBM: Ooh, panels.  Those can certainly be frustrating to build without a CNC, as I can attest!

Onto the nuts and bolts of purchasing one of your kits.  What sort of price can folks expect, and do you deliver all over the planet? What can we expect to pay for shipping?

SC Simulations: The basic F-16 Cockpit kit is $650 USD without an ACES II seat. With a seat kit it is $899 USD. We deliver to anybody, anywhere in the world. Of course, with the exception of those countries banned by US Trade and Customs Laws. Shipping varies greatly by country, from $150 USD up.

PBM: What will people see when they open the box?  Can you describe the construction process, and the tools required?

SC Simulations: When you open the box, you will see a box full of MDF and ABS parts that are wrapped and shipped like a tank. We have found that some countries’ carriers tend to be rougher on boxes than others. Each of our kits has assembly instructions for it, which are simple to understand and illustrated to help make it extremely easy to build. These can be found on our website (http://www.scsimulations.com) under the Support section on the main navigation bar. We tested the illustrations by having several people who had not built one of our kits, and they successfully constructed the kits based just on the pictures. The basics of the construction process are to line the parts up, pre-drill them, countersink the holes, screw or bolt them together, sand them down, and paint them. It’s simple really.

All the kits can be constructed with simple hand tools such as a power drill/screwdriver, various drill bits and driver bits, clamps, various off the shelf glues, sand paper, and paint.

PBM: I can imagine people will be a little nervous about taking a drill to their brand new kit.  Have you considered CNC pre-drilling the parts to eliminate a potential source of heartbreak?

SC Simulations: We pre-drill all significant drill points with a 1/8” drill bit during the manufacturing, however to pre-drill all holes with the proper sizes, it adds over six hours to the machine time. This creates a significant bottleneck in the production process. As of yet, we have not had a single problem from customers damaging a kit. Just have to take your time, and be careful.

PBM: Oh great, having pilot holes for the significant drill points is 90% of the battle.  What sort of support is offered, and what is the returns policy?

SC Simulations: Support is offered primarily by email, but if we are near the computer, we are more than willing to chat on MSN Messenger or on the telephone.  We don’t maintain any set hours, but we have developed a reputation for quick responses to emails and answering questions quickly. The return policy is clearly spelled out on our website, but if you have any issues send us an email and we will work towards a resolution, even if you are not sure whether we cover it.

PBM: Fair enough.  Finally Sheldon, what are your plans for SC Simulations?  Can your customers be confident that you’ll be around for years to come?

The completed kit

SC Simulations: SC Simulations primary goal is to bring our products to a more casual gamer environment. We want our products to reach the level of ease of use where a potential customer thinks of our cockpit setup as the next logical step past their Thrustmaster Cougar HOTAS setup.

We have invested tens of thousands of dollars in starting this company. This business started from a hobby where we saw how hard it was for newcomers to get into the hobby. We want to make this easy. We have reset the bar much higher for pitbuilding with our high quality, ease of use and assembly, and lowest cost in the market.

PBM: That’s great information, thanks Sheldon.  Anything else you’d like to say to the readers before we wrap up?

SC Simulations: I just want to thank our customers for being the source of inspiration and always pushing us to take that next step. We plan to continue to market the simplest and most affordable solution for realistic military home aviation simulations. Our goal is to be the most complete "one stop shop" for military aviation simulations, and are always looking for the next innovation - the simplest way for the customer to make their dream of flying in the skies and locking up and engaging bandits just that much closer. SC Simulations, LLC. "Bringing Aviation Home."

PBM: Thanks again Sheldon, and we at PitBuilderMag wish you all the best with SC Simulations.

Check out the SC Simulations product range and forum.

About Ed

Dad to two tremendous kids, cockpit builder, amateur electronics hobbyist, moviemaker and pilot. Founder and editor of pitbuildermag.com.