JCook

Building the panels I'm looking for some additional information on panel building. I recently purchased some very nice panels from y2kiah and am going to try to build additional panels myself. What is recommended for cutting the acryllic sheets into panel shapes. Can these be cut into shape with the CNC laser or is this done with a table saw, router and drill press? What type of glue is recommended to cement the pieces of acryllic together? Glossy or Matte finish black paint? Any recommended internet suppliers for the acryllic sheets? I've looked at several and need to find a supplier that has 1/16" white sheets. Thanks

Thanks - I've made the changes you suggested. The Hog definitely feels different now and I can even take my hand off the stick for a few seconds when I'm trailing the tanker. Stability seems fine while a couble hundred feet behind the tanker - I can hang there without much trouble - getting up close to the probe I start to porpoise like crazy. Do you have the definitions for saturation and curve - I think I know what deadzone is. Thanks.

Starting to work on refueling skills. I seem to be swaying left and right quite a bit when I get close to the tanker. I know this is largely a personal preference but what settings for the TM WartHog HOTAS would you guys recommend for Pitch, Roll and Yaw for the best performance when refuelling? Currently I have: Pitch / Roll Yaw Deadzone = 10 10 Saturation = 50 60 Y Curve = 50 60 X Curve = 50 60 Any changes to make for throttle sensitivity? Any Trim changes? Thanks

Panel Lettering What is the best font to use when lettering the A10 panels?

Thanks guys for the info - now I can continue my mission building.

1) How can I add a smoke signal to identify a target - similar to what was done in the training missions? 2) Where do I set time of day? All the missions I build seem to start at 1200 - I'm setting the time from the 'player' aircraft and all other objects seem to key off of that. I've tried changing that to 1700 for a late afternoon flight - it seems to stay at 1200. Thanks

When shutting down Windows the green lights on my TM WH HOTAS remain on. I have them plugged into a powered USB hub and am having to disconnect the USB cable to power down the throttle quadrant. Is there a setting to turn off the lights when the pc is shutting down or when exiting the A10 sim?

Hobix You might find Mike's books helpful when creating a cockpit and custom analog gauges. http://www.mikesflightdeck.com/ John

What about a small rotary switch that could mount on the gauge's bezel? Something small enough that the gauge's knob itself could cover the switch; then instead of the linkage and gearing for the knob you'd just have wires to route past the LCD to the magic circuitry. The rotary switch would need to turn 360 degrees of course. Just a thought - I'm just starting out with electronics so maybe someone more familiar with electronics can validate or invalidate this idea.

I've got the Saitek Combat pedals and can't seem to brake at all. As far as I can tell the left and right brakes are assigned properly in the Axis controls. I don't recall running any Saitek config software for the pedals other than the drivers installing. Maybe I need to edit the brake axis settings for deadzone, X saturation, Y saturation and curvature? Can anyone who is sucessfully braking with these pedals offer some help? Thanks

Any Info on these smaller panels? Deadman Do you have any information on the dimensions of the Air Refuel Status Lights and the Angle of Attack Indexer? In the DCS A10 manual they appear to be about the same size. I'm looking for their enclosure or "hood" dimensions and the size of the status lights (ie. "Ready", "Latched", Disconnect"). I figure these are fairly small panels and may be a good place to start when learning to build panels and wire them. Thanks

Do you have any CAD drawings with the ACES seat and joystick for your pit? I'd like to get an accurate height from the top of the stick to the cockpit floor.

Budget set. Already started buying stuff. Still not sure how I'm going to run several monitors from one PC. But I'll keep searching the forums.:book:

Thanks man :thumbup:

I haven't seen any information on how the video signal is being split to all the different monitors. I've read a bit about how it is done in the software but how is it being done in the hardware? Multiple Graphics cards? Some type of video splitter? USB ports?

y2kiah - I was wondering about TrackIR and how that would be implemented in a full sized sim pit like yours. A full panel and side consoles reduces (or removes) the need for looking inside the cockpit but the Tracking ability would still be useful for looking outside the aircraft. Where would the best place be to mount the TrackIR sensor?

Good Design mladen That looks pretty close to what I want to do, but I will probably have the extension mount to the floor instead of the chair. The thickness of your circular base looks thicker than the original square base - but it should work with the right length screws. Can you send any drawings or diagrams on the circular base and what size / length screws you used for attaching to the stick? Thanks

Thanks for the info guys. It doesn't sound like your solutions are the route I am planning on. I am only interested in replacing the square base with a circular bottom plate to cover up the exposed circuit borard - thats it.

The squar-ish base that the Warthog Joystick is attached to works great for a desktop but isn't very useful when trying to have the stick center mounted in a simulator pit. Remove the four screws at the bottom and you've got a round base and some exposed circuitry - it’s too bad Thrustmaster didn't protect that area better since they made it so easy to remove from the square plate (they surely knew we'd be doing that). Anyway - I'd like to build a rigid center stick extension and bolt it to the floor of the pit. At the top will be a circular platform for the joystick to screw into (basically replacing the square base). The stick extension won't be moving only the joystick itself will move. Observed Dimensions: 110mm Warthog circular base (outer diameter) 85mm screw pattern diameter (4 screws on bottom of plate) 4mm screws with 6-7 threads on the screw and a screw length of 7.97mm (including the head) - I think that is a metric #4 screw. ~9mm diameter of countersunk holes in the square base .132" is the thickness of the Warthog square desktop base. I believe that is 10 gauge sheet metal (note this measurement is in inches) Has anyone else done this type of thing that could share their measurements, diagrams or how they implemented this type of design?

The round joystick base comes attached to the flat square plate with 4 countersunk screws. I'm going to fabricate a round piece of the same diameter out of 10 gauge steel which I believe is the gauge of the square plate. Then countersink the four screw holes into the new plate and weld an extension stick to the bottom. The extension plate will then be welded to a floor plate which will bolt into the bottom of my pit. The Joystick will screw into the new plate, the stick extension itself is not going to move - it will remain rigid. The length of the extension I'm planning is 13" - since it will be a low seat. Does anyone have the diameter of the Warthog Joystick's circular base? Yes I know - I could simply remove the flat square plate which I'll have to do eventually, but I though I ask first.

I've flown FS9 and FSX for years. I wouldn't bother with the default MS aircraft - there are some very nice third party add-ons for aircraft and scenery. Some third party aircraft do a pretty good job emulating real world flight characteristics but you can only go so far within the Microsoft sims. I don't find FS9/FSX very good for practicing manuevers or pattern work - however they can be useful for radio navigation and Instrument procedure practice.

Thats right. I didn't mention the small edit in the lua file. Was assuming you'd read the link I attached.

Deadman How many more orders do you need to make the A10 knobs? How many knobs are included and whats the cost per set? Possibly I could order a second set if it gets us closer and I can afford it.

I've reprogrammed all my snapviews based on what others have mentioned in the forums. From IVANWFR's post here: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=69395&highlight=snap+views You can redefine all of KP0-KP9 snap views this way: Adjust some Cockpit FOV Hit LWIN KP# snap view numpad key Hit RALT KP0 to redefine this snap view ...done I've used this simple technique and it works nicely. Use your trackIR or keyboard to get the view you want Press both the Left-Win key and the Keypad # you want to assign the view to. Then press Right-Alt key to save that snap view. Then to get into snap views Right-Ctrl and keypad 0 and then the keypad # for then snap view you want. I've assigned my snap views as follows: Left console kp1: Radios kp4: basically center of left console and its panels kp7: Left MFCD and AHCP Right console kp 3: rear panels of right console kp 6: Power panel and CDU kp 9: Right MFCD and Engine gauges Center kp 5: UFC and HUD close up kp 8: Close up of HUD (almost full screen)

Awesome Wow this pit is going to be awesome. I can go with all birch construction - no problem. Whatever final drawings you come up with as long as I understand the cutting / materials details should be fine. Are you using dzus rails or fabricating your own rail system?