Hobby Thread - June 27, 2026 [TRex]

Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and sit a spell with the Horde in this little corner of the interweb. This is the mighty, mighty officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread. For this week, the Wheel of Hobbies (TM) is taking flight. It spun and spun and landed on a flight simulator theme for this Hobby Thread.

[Photo credit: National Air and Space Museum Dulles annex at the Udvar-Hazy Center]

Flight simulators are not just for those that are into gaming. Many have tinkered with basic flight simulators on a home computer. Many have crashed in the virtual world, but others have gotten the flying bug and built foundations that took them into the real life skies. "I believe I can fly..."

Technology has advanced. Flight simulators have become more sophisticated and capable with graphics sharp enough to rival the real world.

As with anything else, flight simulators can be basic or complicated. A basic home computer can get you flying but you can spent a lot of money on a rig. If you get really fancy, you get into the world where the seat or floor moves along with the movement of the aircraft. Auto racing simulators are no different.

While flight simulators can be entertaining, they also have become training grounds for pilots. Better to learn in a simulator than encounter problems for the first time in the real world. The correlation between the simulated and real worlds have become closer and closer.

Are you wise in the ways of flight simulators? How did you get started? Do you have a fancy home rig? Have you flown in a larger commercial training simulator? Do you have a favorite simulated flight over a landmark or landing at an airport? Did flying on a computer spark a journey to flying in real life? If you fly as a hobby or profession, how big of a role did simulators play in your life? For the gamers of the bunch, have you gotten into dogfighting games or other flying games?

Large dinosaurs are not known for flight. A small brain and short arms means that TRex will need help in the gray boxes for this one.

What are you hobbying?

The thread is not limited to to the theme. Anything (legal) you are hobbying is welcome. Even if the theme does not speak to you, you might learn something. If not, find something else or offer something else relating to hobbying. If all of that fails, just check in and say hello.

As per usual Hobby Thread etiquette, keep this thread limited to hobbying. Leave politics and religion to threads elsewhere (unless your hobby is building or restoring churches). Pants are optional. As always, puns are welcome and encouraged.

Play nice and do not be rude. Do not be a troll and do not feed the trolls.

Pretty amazing:

This is the most realistic LAX landing simulator video I could find:

Simulating specific real-life routes and aircraft:

Learn from Lufthansa - an inside look at Lufthansa's Frankfurt training facility:

As with anything, better equipment alone won't make you a better sim pilot, but this seemed like a methodical overview for people looking to get a little deeper into the hobby:

This guy is way, way down the home flight simulator rabbit hole:

Why let the fixed wing gang have all the fun? Try helicopters (aka beating the air into submission). Besides the simulator aspect, this is a good tutorial on helicopters in general.

Never realized that there were air traffic control simulator games, but here we are. Playing a game where you are ATC at Chicago O'Hare seems a bit mad.

I like projects that take the worst materials and turn them into something good. This video should appeal to both the woodworkers and the drummers of the group.

More an old school craftsmanship theme than a hobby theme, but thought this group would appreciate:

"Got any hobbies?"

Did you miss the Hobby Thread last week? We did an candle theme. The comments may be closed, but you can re-live the content.

Notable comments from last week:

Bonus notable comment from the Thursday night ONT with space knowledge:

Words of wisdom:

"Because despite all our troubles, when things are grim out in that wide round world of ours, that's when it's really important to have a good hobby." Posted by: tankascribe at June 22, 2024 07:41 PM (HWxAD).

Send thoughts, suggestions and photos of your hobbying to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Do mighty things.

posted by Open Blogger at 05:30 PM

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