LynxDK

Thank you. When you say ideas for the Hornet, do you then mean Entire Cockpit Panels, or simply CUB Panels that have Hornet engravings? If someone where to design Hornet Panels for the CUB, they would be most welcome :) The DIY CUB is still in the works, we had to change some stuff, and also make a good Manual for the assembly. The problem is time :) I also still have your Radio CUB on the Drawing board, that one is one of the more complicated, but we are making progress there too :) I also know that many people are waiting for the Dimmer Module and some of the other stuff for the CUB, and we are working as fast as we can :)

Very Very Nice Matbog, Im happy to see that 3D printing is being used more and more for building pits, there are allmost no limit for what you can build, if you get the right ideas :) Looking forward to see the result of this :)

The VGA connectors is just our choise of Connection between the Panels and the Control box. The Control Box will be available when we have all the panels ready, we would like to release if sooner, but we simply cant because we have to make sure everything works out. There will be a Control Box for the right Console, a console box for the Left Console, a Control Box for the MIP and a Control box for the ACESII. But Basically you would hook things up like this, lets Take the Right Console as an Example. From computer to the Right Console Control Box, you hook it up with a USB Cable. The control box will have arduinos in it, Running DCS BIOS, and on the top of that box you have VGA Connectors that fits to every panel situated in the right Console. So from the control Box to each panel you connect a VGA Cable, and some Boxes needs more than one. However, there will be more Info And Pictures when i get the Update ready :) The Power Supply are also not the first thing to get Released, since we have to make sure we have all the right Outputs before selling it. But until then, you can use Any 12VDC power supply to get the Backlight going, For example a standart Computer PSU. The Power supply we will offer, will be build into a VS1500 Replica Unit situated in the last inner row of the right Console, so it will be a Panel of its own. Hope i explained it well enough, if not i can post some fast Graphic pics of the controller box, however, more will come at the Update :)

Thank you Hans :) You are right that the Real Panels are not Using 12V, we chose to use 12V because the Backlight on our Panels are made with 12V LED Strips. That means that everyone can make it very easy, and they dont nessesarily have to buy it from us. The 10A in Total for the consoles, gives you 5A to each side, and if you count all the LED strips, which are installed in Every Panel like they are in our CUB's, then it adds up pretty fast. We have written the 10A MAX as this is the maximum the Lighting Panel can Support. But this means of Course that this is not for Real Panels backlight, its only for our Panels, or if people want to make their own by using LED Strips. Hope this helped abit :)

This is for the Backlight Control Only. Price and more info will follow in the Update :)

I thought i wanted to show you a picture, as a little "teaser" before the Upcomming Update. The picture is showing the bottom of the Casing to the Lighting Panel, where you can connect all the panels and instruments in the cockpit. From there you will be able to dimmer it all, both in the Sim Cockpit and in DCS simultaneously. Its housing 6 Dimmer Modules, and a small fan is mounted to insure its not getting too hot. The Output to the Computer is a VGA Connector, so we intend to Wire it all via VGA Cables. A control Unit which this can be Wired to will be available at a later state. But we will of course release a documentation which tell which pin is connected to what. This is one of the panels which will be announced ready for sale in the Update. Thats it for now, the rest will come soon.

And a couple of pictures from another perspective:

Now that the new Panel type have been sorted, its time to show you guys some pictures, and tell you a little about the improvements we have made to the CUB1. Due to the new way we are making panels, we have also changed the Backplate on the unit to a clear acrylic piece, instead of the old Opaque backplate. That is mainly because we wanted to let more light through so we where sure that we could lit up the edges without any problems. However, it turned out that the difference is allmost not noticeable, so those who have bought the CUB with the old Opaque Backplate dont have to worry, the new panels will be lit up just fine :) Here you see a picture of the CUB as it looks like now. Now i will show the some of the Panels that have been improved, including a English Version of the MIG Panel, the Finished Looks of the Huey Panels, and a new Ka50 Panel set. Also further down i will post a couple of Custom Panels that have been ordered. A-10C Startup Panel: MIG English version: And with the Gray Overlay: Huey: KA50: And Of Course i can make a Gray overlay for the KA50 if someone wishes :) Here under we have a couple of Custom panels: A-10C Custom: And a set of General Flight Panels: That was it for now, the new panels will soon be added to the store.

That gotta be one of the smartest things i have ever seen, i love that it really looks like an old chest... just beautiful :) Im pretty sure that this like mentioned before me, will allow more people to have a Cockpit Setup for their Wifes :)

Thank you, its All fixed :) There will soon be another Update, and im going to announce the first couple of panels ready for sale. Also i will be telling abit about how we plan to Wire all of the panels to the Computer, via 3 Control Boxes, MIP, Left Console and Right Console. Until that, i, going to finish the back casings of the panels that will be ready for purchase.

Your right :) I prefer the Normal tactile's without light, and then place LED's behind or right next to them. Ive had a bunch of illuminated switches, and they didnt emit the same color as the rest of the panels, that annoyed me too much :P

The way im doing them for now, is to cut them with my CNC Router, making a 1mm Wider piece at the bottom, which when placed in the panel from behind, it cant fall out. I use Acrylic, and i cut quite a few of them at a time, then i paint them all at once, before they are seperated, and then when they are dry and engraved, i again use the CNC to Seperate them. The making of them are abit more time consuming than making a simple panel light plate, and the painting of the buttons are also abit more complex, but when its done they look really nice. You can see the result on my Prototype UFC here: https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=2411448&postcount=81 Dont mind the "4" button, that one didnt turn out so nice. And also the engravings where a little too deep, and look Grayish due to the Opaque Acrylic i used. I then place a pretty normal Tactile switch right underneath, and if one would want, you could place a spring between the Button and the tabtile switch, so that it have a little "travel" before it clicks. I have also been playing abit with foam and rubber between them, so give them the soft feel before the tactile is activated. My technique are not perfected yet, but there is allways room for improvement, right :)

Thank you :), They sure are. you find them in my webshop: http://lynx.dk/product-category/products/button-boxes/

Hey Hollywood, im sorry i havent answered you before, but i have been extremely busy. Thank you for the nice words, i try to make things the best way possible :) The first panels i made where made from Opaque Acrylic, and that gives the engraving the greysh look when you looking at them, ans since they are translucent, they let enough light through , that when backlight is on, they look really great. The way i make my panels now, with the white Engravings are another technique that im not too happy to just reveal, and that is simply because i have used alot of acrylic and money, and time to find a solution, that would fit my needs. But you can make the white engravings by using a Clear 6mm Acrylic sheet, and then paint it white, and then black ontop. Then you need a really good laser engraver, to only burn away the black painted layer and down to the white paint, to get the nice white engravings, of course if you have a good CNC that can do that too :) However i am not using that method, im constructing my own sheet material that suit my needs for all my panels, but they are also painted white and black, and then im using CNC to engrave, simply because i find the letters more crisp looking when the paint are cut, instead of burned... its like the edge are more clean. Of course thats only my opinion :) Another cheaper way to obtain the white lettering, is by using 5mm White Acrylic sheets. Alot of the panels that you can buy especially for the Boeing are made using this technique. But first of all they are only 5mm, where the original panels are 6mm, second.. the white acrylic are not letting much light through, which means the need ALOT of LED's to get good looking backlight, its not impossible tho, i have seen it done, but it requires that the LED strips are plastered together underneath, or it simply dosnt get enough light through. Then there are the layers way of doing things, where people stack multiple layers of acrylic to get the height. The good thing about this method is that you can accualy make some good looking panels, however, the painted edges will with time look worn and then backlight will shine through. The best way of doing this in my opinion, to get the best result, and keep the 6mm thickness, is by using 2 layers, 1x 3mm clear acrylic, and 1x 3mm white acrylic. Then you can cut them and stack them, and leave out the paint for the bottom, so the light can shine through. The good thing about this is that you can cut them with a cheap laser, and the make room for the Switch nut in the lower 3mm and then only having the switch stick up in the top 3mm. And then you can engrave the top throught the black paint and get nice white engraving because the top layers is solid white color. It will still take a few more LED to backlit this, but it wont be as bad as for the 5mm. Hope this helped a little, if you have any other, or more questions.... dont hold back :)

Well i am going to offer 3D printed Replicas that can be glued on top of a normal Switch at some point. However i cant promis when, since im pretty hooked up at it is right now.. But im starting to look at the Huey Panels, so when i get to the related panels, the Switch tops will follow :)

I will release the dimensions for that panel soon, both here and on the web. http://lynx.dk/downloads/a-10c-plans-blueprints/

Hey. These are not 100% Precise, but very close to the original. Still working on the details. https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=3085919&postcount=324 https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=3130274&postcount=327 More dimensions and info will follow when they are done.

May i ask for what software you are using for the Laser now? We are using AutoLaser for our Laser, i dont know if yours can use the same. What exactly is wrong with the software? is it the positioning you dont like or?

It all really takes a long time to get right, and i dont want to release products that arent fully tested :) when you say the switches should be covered more? im guessing you mean that the backlight shouldnt bleed into the hole of the switch. Your right, if i remember correctly KLaFaille posted pictures of a real ELC Panel with the backlight, and there the backlight didnt bleed... Thats easily fixed when im painting the panels... so i can cover that up. However im not sure if all panels are like that, because in a F-16 Fx. Allmost every panel have light bleeding into the switch holes.... also the CMSP Panel. But if someone knows which panels does that, im very interested in knowing, so we can get that little detail right too :) The ACESII, i am able to measure the F-16 seat, Which i then modify with the right angles etc. so hang on... its the time that is my biggest enemy these days :)

Hey guys. Its been a long time since last Update, and i am really sorry about that, but i have really alot going on here, and that takes away some of the time that i would like to use on this project :) But here is a small Update. Panels: My first idea of the panels was to offer 2 types. 1 for use with LED strips for backlight, and another to be used with PCB with soldered LED's on it. I have used quite alot of time, and materials to find out the best way to make these panels, and also the most effective. And i have now found out how to make high quality panels. And the backlight is looking really good, accually so good that it gave me the idea, that instead of making 2 different types of panels, it should be possible to make a single type that would work with both backlight Methods. Dont hang me up on this guys, because its still in the testing fase, but if this works out, you can buy a panel from me and use LED strips for backlight.. and if you later on decides that you would rather have the PCB Version, you simply make your own PCB for the panel, or you buy it from me... and you dont need another panel. However this is not guaranteed that it will work, but im still testing and ill keep you updated when i get more results :) And just for the record, the Panel with the back casing, and the LED strips Solution, Looks incredible good, and its much much cheaper than the PCB solution too, but thats just me and my opinion. :) But of course i want to show you guys some pictures of this. Here is the panel as it is in "daylight" without the Backlight turned on. And here the backlight is turned on: Here you can see how well the panel are backlit, the light source is a single LED strip, with 6 LED's placed in the middle of the panel. Of course there are no switches mounted, and when those are mounted, they will block much of the light, and therefore 3 LED strips are needed. So here you can see the panel with the switches mounted, and its now backlit with 3x LED strips with 6 LED's in each. I will make back casing to all my panels, to backlight from LED strips wont bleed, which of course if optional for the buyer, but here you see the panel with the casing, you can see the LED's through it, but it wont bleed into the entire console. Since we are talking about the Console. I have people testing the Right Console Prototype that i showed pictures of some time ago. If you forgot, here it is again. The drawings for this will still be free :) we are trying to finish all the rails, and the drawings so they are easy to work with. And also trying to spot if there are something that should be added or changed. And along with this process we came around the Corner Panels, that i also showed you guys pictures of some time ago, and these are nearly done. And they will be available with the Switch Mechanism for the Canopy Jettison handle, and in the left side, the Emergency Brake. Here is a couple of pictures, they are still not entirely done, but its pretty close. Its made ready for installing a switch for the Ladder if one would want, but its Optional. The flip Lid Switch Guard are like the rest of the panel 3D printed, and works. The panels will be sold like this, non painted, simply because its too much work to paint, sand and paint numerous times to get the right result, which will add to the price that noone will pay for. So, its up to the buyer to paint the unit if they want. A Guide on how to do so will be made, there are some different ways to make these look good. Thats all for now guys... if i forgot something, ill post again later, and as allways, if you have questions, Fire Away.

No problem. I see tho i forgot the lenght of the sides... ill put them on the picture soon... sry i forgot.

So Sorry for the delay, Here you go everyone.

Hey, yea thats one of the most annoying Panels to do. I made this without the ladder for now, it will be there in the final version :) I will share the angles when i get home :)

Prototype of the shape of the Canopy Jettison Panel. Its not finished, but heres some pictures.

Hey guys. Its been some time since the last post, but things are very busy here, and more will come soon. For those who are interested, there is a guide on how to program the unit here: http://lynx.dk/cub-1-programming-guide/ And as a little Update, you will soon see a new generation Panels from me, where the Engravings are White, and not the grayish look they have now... The difference can be seen here, the new type to the left: