nobrot

Totally agree with Mike, it looks great and I bet its a lot of fun to fly!

Oh boy.. I cant wait for my simmeters to arrive.... great job!

Thanks for the reply Namco51, I actually have some LED dimmers (they have internal PWM circuits) that I could use, but I am swinging towards using EL wire for panel backlighting, or even EL sheet, so whatever system I end up going with, I expect I will simply manufacture a new top plate for the HOTAS throttles,

Looking good, thanks!

No shame dude... Simmeters were cool, they gave me a fat discount.. I have been saving for a long time so I could order it all at once..., plus they have a sale on.. I just hope they all make it to me in good shape!

Small update, no pics just yet... I have glued and screwed y2kiahs fuselage into the main components, and bolted it together. This gives me something to bolt all the cool stuff on and now with the absence of y2kiahs front panel, I can figure out how to plan and build the front panel and pedestal. Also, I have been shopping, I have a MyDIYCNC sprite kit on its way to me with a selection of acrylic stock, EL wire and router bits (I have a loose plan for prototyping panels), I have also ordered a full set of Simmeters... thats a big scarey spend, but I think physical instruments are worth it.. her indoors probably would not agree! I have also ordered a pair of lilliput 7" screens to sit behind the cougar MFD frames, Once I have that lot in hand I can work up the front panel design and get it cut. Workflow for panels will go something like this... Design/Block out in Autodesk Maya and render vector images, or perhaps use Visio and export to .dxf. Then vector into Vectric Cut2d , then out to CamBam for cutting/engraving. The panel design idea is to have a white acrylic translucent 1/16" top panel, spray painted matt black and then engraved and a 1/4" black (probably acrylic) back panel with pockets for EL wire to provide the backlighting, the back panel will also have the dzus grooves pocketed out, this means just two panels rather than the traditional top, light and back panels that some of the other builders are using.

Thanks for the feedback fellas, I will be spending this weekend getting my switch list and placing as many orders as I can... Ski, PM sent, DM.. great resource, thanks!! EDIT: I will be connecting the toggle switches using a GGG GPWiz40, so for switches like BATTERY PWR, AC GEN switches, is it best to use ON-OFF or ON-ON ? And same question for switches like the INVERTER STBY, ON-OFF-ON?? and would these choises be effected if using Gadrocks Helios rather than simply mapping the GGG inside the control options? Thanks guys..

I am after special shaped toggles like the ones for the GUN/PAC, APU Gen and CMSP switches, and a landing light switch would be good, along with the various odd shaped rotary knobs, if anyone can recommend a US based vendor I would appreciate it, and even better if you happen to have part numbers!

LOL talk about understating the end of a project... Frank... we demand more pics and video... its looks blody brilliant, a real inspiration.

Some good feedback, thanks guys; Its not just the dimming, its the colour of the panel as well, My panels are going to be off-white backlit, not green, so I want to match that, and also tie it in to the overall panel lighting, I am likely to have to manufacture replacement panels to get it right, but havent yed grown the goolies to attack my spanking new HOTAS with a screwdriver!

Yep, but I want to be able to dim them with my lighting panel :)

Understood DM... but I can scale vector drawings before converting to Gcode.. its the grind of converting to vector files I am hoping to avoid! Ordering my CNC machine this week.. so ramping up :)

I was wondering if anyone has any experience of reworking the Thrustmaster HOTAS throttle top panels and lighting. I am certain that those of you shooting for as much realism as possible will agree that the panel lighting on the HOTAS throttles is too green and too bright; I am thinking that the top panel and lighting needs to be replaced with the same format as the other panels that will be manufactured. So if anyone has committed the crime of destroying what is one of the more expensive parts of the sim in the name of realism... please share!

Just stumbled across this thread whilst searching for panel dimensions, tying to lay out the panel design/worflow from Autodesk Maya -> Vector Render -> CamBam -> Gcode, but if anyone has prepped vector files then that would save me a ton of time... Either way, invaluable source, many thanks and kudos to the OP!!

Thanks for the reply Peter, I did not realize that the Simmeters had integrated lighting, is it always on when plugged in, or can you control on/off intensity?, I am literally 24 hours away from ordering a full set! Dam the F16 pit looks fantastic! if that's an indicator of the work you turn out, then I cant wait to see your A10 completed. As an alternative to EL sheet, I am thinking of using some EL wire, the plan would be to build the top panel normally (spray black and engrave), and then using black acrylic as a single back-plate with pockets and grooves to feed the EL wire, I would think that this would provide good light distribution, and require a lot less soldering, and as long as you don't glue the top and bottom plates together, it would be easy to replace the EL wire if it degrades. As for the inverter, I will hard wire the on off switch to the A10's inverter switch.. the noise may add to the immersion :)

OK thanks, will look into it...

Anyone heard from y2kiah recently, still looking for the final cad files for pront panel and pedestal!

Peter, are you planning to light your Simmeters instruments?, I ask because I am working up some theoretical designs for cockpit lighting, I want to try using EL wire for back-lighting engraved panels (less soldering than LED and better light distribution), but the jury is still out to provide authentic lighting to the front panel.. ideally I would manufacture light posts (Grimes replicas) with LED's, but may be time consuming... or perhaps cnc instrument bezzels and feed some EL wire into the inside groove.. would look ok I think. Would be interested in your approach.

Yess.. anoth pit under construction..... good to see and great progress... would like to hear more about your planned visuals..

Yea i have been researchign them on ebay and feedback is nit very good, thanks for the heads up.

Ahh three weeks is encouraging, I will be ordering around then so it would be good to see it in action; fingers crossed the wrapper will work happily with Helios. I have been avoiging this .lua beastie, but I have a feeling I am not going to be able to ignore it much longer!

OK thanks, looking forward to it!

Good looking pit, I really like the painting/texture for that well used military look.

Thanks Peter, I will take a look at the displays, and did Simmeters give you any ETA on the wrapper for the RWR? Also, I am planning to use Helios and a GPWiz40 for switches; I wondered if you are using Helios, I just want to be sure that the Simmeters wrapper and Helios can work together on the same system, so if you are I would appreciate the feedback. Thanks,

Any updates Glider?