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I can't see the Mini-HUD (Rctrl-Enter) in VR. Is this a known issue or am I doing something wrong? Thanks

Thanks Hans. @trip Hi Trip, I have been looking at your motion sim and thinking it would be fun to build one. Two questions to start: How do you export the XYZ data from DCS? (export.lua?) How do you transform the XYZ data into positional data for the platform? I can't find any motion platform group on the DCS forum - is there one elsewhere? Cheers Matt

First try-out of the rudder pedals. I'm fairly pleased with how they have gone together. Much better than the Saitek Pros I was using before. It's so much easier flying now the controls are not springing back to the centre position. The rudder is geared to the (180 degree) sensor at 3:1. There are rotary dampers on each pedal. I miscalculated how strong and heavy legs are compared to arms so construction in parts is a little lightweight and the pedals are a bit springy. I will double the thickness of the pedal arm if its a problem. Interesting how I use the rudder now, both feet up on the pedals, controlling with the balls of the feet when manoeuvring and heels on the floor plate controlling with the toes in level flight. Next step; Thrustmaster HOTAS to weapons control.

@ Sokol1_br Thanks. I didn't know reduced angle sensors existed. I just checked the Farnell website and found they do at least six variants. No problem, I had the gears and it makes a good way of isolating the sensor from mechanical strain. I have just finished the rudder pedals. I put 3:1 gearing on them. Pictures soon. for reference see Farnell link http://uk.farnell.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?catalogId=15001&langId=44&storeId=10151&categoryName=All&selectedCategoryId=&gs=true&st=6127V1A

@trip I'm using AL1218-12 Oil Filled Bronze Flanged Bush 12x18x12mm http://simplybearings.co.uk/shop/p120736/AL1218-12-Oil-Filled-Bronze-Flanged-Bush-12x18x12mm/product_info.html as the bearings on each side - mostly because they are easy to work with. These are fixed into 3mm ally sheet for the two quadrant sides using Loctite 603 12mm ground steel rod is used for the rotating shaft which is locked to the collective lever with a grub screw. I have 2:1 gearing on the end of the shaft to the Hall effect sensor to get maximum resolution. The full travel of the collective gives me nearly min-max rotation on the sensor. The fluid dampers are fitted to the shaft with 8mm square section steel rod which is turned to round at the end so it can be fitted into a drilled hole in the end of the 12mm rod with Loctite. I have removed the backlash in the dampers with 0.2mm steel shim pushed into the gap. When everything is finished, I'll Loctite these into place. If it turns out that the collective returns to minimum when you let go (at the moment it stays put) I'll put a return spring on it. The rotating part is a machined steel block which is threaded M8 to take the collective handle. This has 12mm shim washers against the bearings for a good fit. The handgrip is a piece of 50mm brass tube. The switches will be fitted into a small component case which is fitted to the end of the collective lever. Matt

@trip If I get a ride, I'll definitely be trying to record every aspect, x,y,z acceleration too! @fragbum The collective is scratch built as is everything else. I use 30mm Bosch Rexroth for the frame http://www.aluminium-profile.co.uk/acatalog/Aluminium_Profile.html its infinitely adjustable so I can get everything in the right position. With the VR I want to be able to reach down and have a real object exactly where the VR says it should be. The sensors are TT ELECTRONICS 6127V1A180L.5 Hall Effect Sensor, Position, 180° from Farnell which interfaces perfectly with the Bodnar BU0836X 12-Bit Joystick Board. Damping of the controls is essential, so I'm using the ACE FDT47 rotary damper http://www.acecontrols.co.uk/uk/products/motion-control/rotary-dampers/fdt/fdt/fdt-47.html These are much easier to implement than strut dampers because I don't have to worry about the action length and the effect of distance from the axis. If I want more torque, I just stack them on the shaft. The collective feels like lifting about 2kg.(very difficult to describe torque reaction in words). The cyclic has one damper for each axis. For the rudder I'll use two. The dampers are about £20 each.

@Trip Great Spot! Its less than two hours away. I have purchased my ticket. Thanks. PS I really do look like that:( @kobac I want to avoid going down the full cockpit thing again (I did it with an A-10C cockpit) - no need with a VR headset, BUT - I think the flight controls must be where the VR says they are and they must feel right. I will feed back any info I get from the fly-in.

@Trip, I'v had no luck getting a flight in a Gazelle or even a look at one or talk to a pilot. I spoke to MW Helicopters at Stapleford and they didn't know of anyone with an Air Operators Certificate for a Gazelle - necessary to take (paying) passenger. I subsequently learned that the CAA have withdrawn permit to fly with fare paying passengers on ex-military aircraft , so I need to find someone who will let me fly as a 'navigator' or 'ground handler'. Anyhow, I have continued work on the pit. I'm using ACE Fabreeka rotary dampers on all of the axes and these provide some good back pressure without loss of sensitivity. I can fly with my hand resting on my leg and very small movements. Much better than the HOTAS stick I was using before. I'm using a Bodnar controller and hall effect sensors and they are very accurate. I finished the collective yesterday and it works very well. I have now started on the rudder pedals. I'll post pictures when I'm ready to install.

Repairing incorrectly configured kneeboard How do I clear out all of the kneeboard configs and start again? I'm trying to get kneeboard builder to run with the Viggen. Due to general incompetence and not RTFM properly etc. I have built a custom kneeboard which has the standard Viggen stuff and then 41 blank pages (just the grey swedish paper texture) - which correspond to the 41 pages of the flight manual. I cant get rid of them. I have deleted the Saved Games folders(both DCS and DCS.openbeta) and repaired DCS.openbeta, but I cant restore the kneeboard to standard. The blank pages remain. I'm having particular problems with the Viggen. The kneeboard builder works perfectly in A-10C. Thanks

How does all of this relate to creating an accurate simulation of the controls? Is it necessary to have FFB to simulate the magnetic brake? Does the magnetic brake hold the cyclic in position in RL? I'm trying to scratch build accurate controls for this simulation. If I build some sort of magnetic lock on the roll and pitch axes (by solenoid?) will that give an accurate approximation to RL?

Deleted. This is covered in "About the TRIM (from devs)"

OK that's very helpful, thanks. I'm going to put adjustable dampers (motorcycle steering dampers?) on all of the axes to get the feel right.

OK Thanks, So collective is servo assisted. How much force is required to move it with the servo on (easy with one finger?) I guess it stays put when you let go?

I'm starting on a new project. I have just sold my A-10 pit and I'm starting on a Gazelle, this time using an Oculus Rift. I'm going to build the controls from scratch and I want them to correspond to the virtual model. I need some information please on the feel of helo controls in general and the Gazelle in particular. Does the cyclic have a centre position (like a fixed wing joystick or does it flop to one side as you let it go? Is there any force feedback from the rotors? Does it change with the pitch? More questions to come I'm sure. Thanks Matt

I'm putting my pit up for sale. See the EBay listing here This pit has been a labour of love over the last five years, but now it's finished I want to start another one. Cheers Matt

Would you like to fly the most advanced A-10C cockpit simulator outside of the military? For a very limited time and for very limited numbers I'm offering flights in the simulator, which is located in South East London, absolutely free. Why am I doing this? I'm working on a plan to commercialise the cockpit to get money to fund future developments (4K projectors, motion platform, F/A-18 sim). I'm offering test flights to the DCS community to gauge interest and to gain feedback. Interested? Please send me a PM and tell me who you are and why you want to fly the sim. If your application is successful, I'll get back to you with more details. Please post general questions to this thread. Disclaimer. This limited offer is for the purposes of Alpha testing 'The Warthog Experience' I will, circumstances permitting, honour any bookings made. However I reserve the right to terminate this offer at any time. I will post notice of termination on this thread. The pit has come on quite a way since I posted this video (below) over a year ago. The MFDs and RWR are now working and the AOA and AAR indicators are installed and working on the canopy rail.

Really Great Work RK! I don't want to rain on your parade in the slightest and hope you will appreciate this rarely seen detail. The interior of the instrument frame is grey, not green. See attached. Cheers Matt

I took a slightly different approach when building my pit, but the aim and end result is much the same. I prioritized the switches according to the experience of flying the sim without recourse to the clickable cockpit and I can now fly and fight, but still have to resort to the clickable cockpit for some functions. Here's my list. Essentials (Level 1) All HOTAS and stick functions - must be to Thrustmaster Warthog standard MFDs Armament Control Panel (Baro Sce not implemented) Electrical control panel Canopy control Fuel Control (fill disable, RCVR light Sig Ampl - to level 3) SAS & TO TRIM (Yaw trim to level 3 ) Monitor not implemented NMSP (Homing not implemented) UFC - Note that the UFC and MFD will reproduce all of the CDU functions, so the difficult to implement CDU is not necessary. The page select (1/2 2/2) requires a <Function> <+/- select> to make it work - took a while to find this.. Fuel display select Lamp test Fire detect HSI Heading/course Altimeter pressure Undercarriage Level 2 Tacan ILS Radio Modes (frequency select to Level 3) Pitot Heat Oxy Test Lighting control CMSC CMSP ADI setting Fire Pull Handles Stores Jettison AOA indexer AAR Status Level 3 Radio Frequency Audio control/volume Ground safety override AAR Status Level 4 Not really necessary HARS control IFFCC TISL Circuit breakers Manual Control Reversion Oxygen control Environment I've probably missed a few, but I hope this helps Matt

AAR frequency not available? Am I missing something? The AAR frequency in mission 3 is listed as 160MHz AM. I cant find any way of tuning the VHF radios to 160MHz. The upper limit seems to be 159MHz. Apologies if this is a dumb question - I have been using easy comms up to now. Thanks Matt

Got it. Thanks.

A-10C: 16-2 Red Flag Campaign Documentation Has the documentation for A-10C: 16-2 Red Flag Campaign been released yet? I can see the F-15 docs on the download page but not the A-10.

Cockpit MkIII Hi All, I thought I'd post a few photos of the pit now I have the MFCD screens and the DCS-BIOS driven LEDs working. I built a canopy rail to hang the AOA and AAR lights from and also to provide some reference points when refuelling. It adds significantly to the sense of movement outside. Cheers Matt

What to do when you run out of output pins? My first (simple) implementation of DCS-BIOS and Arduino has been a great success. Thanks. I have got 10 LEDs working and I want to connect some more (another 10 will be enough). What's the simplest/most cost effective way to do it? Get another Arduino and run it from another COM port? Or am I missing something obvious? I know I can run many LEDs on a matrix but I'm not sure I'm ready for a big jump in complexity. Cheers Matt PS. Is there any way to connect up the wingtip red/green lights to LEDs? The cockpit is complete enough to run in ALT-F1 mode all the time now and it would be good to be able to look over my shoulder to see what the strobes are doing (speed-brakes too - but I suspect that's another issue entirely).

Thanks Eddie, Its obvious once you have done it:cry:

Mission Steerpoints in Alphabetical Order The steerpoints in this template are more or less random and with nearly 500 in the list it is no longer possible to cycle through them with the steerpoint +/- switch. As far as I know there is no way to find a steerpoint by entering the name into the CDU. I have created an alphabetical list of the steerpoints for this mission template. Each of the steerpoints and target ID's is listed against the steerpoint number in the A-10C CDU. With this table it is easy to create routings or flight plans by entering the steerpoint number in the CDU. Please PM me if you want the original Excel file. Cheers Matt 476th NTTR template Reporting Points .pdf