talisman

ahhhh i second that dan, i really do!

Ok, there is always one little git that says "brilliant - but could you do this?" Im sorry but that person is me today. This program is a gift from above and will save a fortune in cockpit hardware. BUT, would it be possable to include the annunciator panel on the screen (or have an option for it) as well. This would mean that i wouldnt have to spend £60 on an IO card and LED's. and i could finally alt-F1 that cockpit display. I think this would also be very usefull to other people like myself. Before i go, i again just want to say that this is am amazing program and we are all very lucky to have the developers in this forum. cheers guys.

But where i ask you is the fun in that? I dont want a CNC, i like making stuff by hand, i like the idea that everything i have made i have done it myself. My biggest objective is not to be able to say "look i have a full size replica of a KA-50 arent i lucky. My objective is to be able to take my pit to displays and say "look, its just as functional as that £5000 sim over there but mine cost £500."

I so know the feeling - a re-design is in the works already.

Pnemonic - you are first in line to have my children! Thank you.

for those in the UK - http://www.cockpitsonic.co.uk also carry the same parts as the US version above.

I have almost had this experience - i connected and old potentiometer backwards. I couldnt believe how hot it got. It took weeks for the smell of scorched wood to go away.

well, i just had a good nose through your pictures and i am very impressed. Im starting to feel the need to rip mine apart and redo the lot. now all i need is some wire switches bulbs wood perspex paint solder interface electronics .......dammit! This will never end.

These at present are only available for Microsoft and X-plane systems. The SDK has been released but i doubt many will be inspired to write anything for it. The graphics are not up to much, they tend to lag and (im my oppinion) they dont look very good as a cockpit addon. I wouldnt hold my breath for anything for a while - or at least until the A-10 is released and the plankers and jet jockeys come over to DCS.

I think Kamran might be drinking too much green tea :P I have mounted my cyclic to a wooden plynth, onto which i have added the dampers using wire and jubilee clips. I have one for the x axis and one for y axis. Make sure they are firmly attached or they tend to wander of their own accord. The damping force also feels more like a real aircraft where there is always a little resistance due to the hydraulic systems.

Nice work looks really good. I must say im very impressed. Looks like you may have some ideas that are similar to some of mine, Have a look at my Pit thread, It might help with some of the little problems. ****edit**** Just spotted the post in my section already about my ideas :S Oops.

This is something i have done and it makes flying a lot easier - Used dampers from motorbike shop. The ones they use for damping road vibration on handlebars are ideal.

Blackshark is still a ground attack sim. The KA-50 and the A-10 testify to that. When (or indeed if) a fast jet like the F16 comes out then the whole idea and ideology of the game will need to change. However - As a black shark rotorhead myself i cant wait for the migration of the LO community. The game play will change - missions and 3rd party addons will be widespread and the game will evolve into what i imagine LO is now like. This happens with other games - a new version comes out - everyone recoiles in horror and 2 years later everyone is still working together on the servers.

just to reiterate - this rawks - still watching and still interested.!!!

sounds like a butt kicker would be the best solution.

remember mine is really over engineered, you could do exactly the same thing with wood, and it would probably be more effective. Just an idea.

Continued in second post. The main collective box. The main collective box is made from (of all things) plastic guttering. Its heated slowly for 20 mins over a warm flame, then bent and formed over a jig to the exact dimensions of the 206 collective box. A backing piece is added and then slotted over the collective tube. The top and bottom of the box is made from 3mm plexy glass which is sanded to the exact shape and then fixed with 501 putty. The whole thing is them painted black. This box is slightly different to mine, I replaced the centre push button with an analogue thumb joy for targeting. Under the cover shows how the twist throttle is connected. The wiring for the switches and the pots is run down the inside of the collective tube. This shows a little clearer how the pot is connected. The collar is butted up at the other end of the throttle section to a retaining ring, this stops it from all slipping backwards. This shows the kind of pots used in the throttle. The long stem passes through the tube and into the shaft of the collective. The black screw shown under the shaft below is screwed into the shaft of the pot. Thus, when the collar of the throttle is rotated the pot underneath is turned. This shows it a little better. As you can see, there is a groove cut into the collective shaft (silver) the collar slides over the shaft until the hole for the screw lines up. (blue) The Pot shaft sits in the exact center of both the collar and the shaft and a screw is threaded into it. This shows the example collective – and the actual material I use for the main collective. Panels The panels are made from MDF (8mm) but to make them a little more pleasing to look at and easier to make precise cuts with – I used plexy glass. The MDF has larger holes cut and the plexy has more precise cuts. The whole thing is then painted black. The same thing from below. Below shows the (quick) wiring if the bu0836 board of Leo’s. This is mine – as you can see the only difference is the project box which is connected to the collective by a piece of sheet steel. The extra buttons are connected to the BU0836 board by using a matrix to extend its capabilities. I hope this is a little more informative for everyone and helps, mu fingers hurt now. Byee for now. Jamie

collective Hello there, after a few requests here is a little write up about my collective and panel. I have dyslexia so please accept any spelling mistakes as I cant see them to correct them. Below is how the collective looks in the cold light of day. I decided to take it into the workshop and take it apart for you good people to see. Now bear in mind this is not the same as mine – I have added to mine a lot, but this is the basic collective I started with. First things first is cracking open the shell. As you can see in the photo above there is not a lot of room inside the box, everything has its place. Starting from the back. The rear hinge. I wanted the whole thing to be a robust as possible – these had to be sold and last for years – it seems now that 2 years later I have probably over engineered them slightly :D The collective is a hollow chrome tube approx 36” long. It is held in place by a hinge plate made from 2mm steel. A 6mm bolt with a square head is used to hold the whole thing together. Below shows the plastic tubing section which is flattened out on both sides to provide a friction surface. As the friction knob on the side of the hinge is tightened, both sides of the hinge clamp together to hold the collective in place. Below shows how the bolt is connected. The bolt is threaded through the tube and the hinge. On the top of the bolt is a square section which slots into a similar square hole on the side of the hinge, this prevents the head of the bolt turning as you tighten the friction knob. Collective slide pots. The collective is connected to a slide pot which detects the up and down movement of the collective. The slide pot close up. Note the solder – this stops the splines on the pot from opening. The wire connection from the collective tube. This method works very well, its strong enough to move freely without deflecting the wire, but soft enough to handle quick movements without over stressing the potentiometer.

Hello there peter, yes the event will be going on next year - the site is http://www.fscweston.co.uk (admins feel free to remove this link if its against rules) And i will have my KA-50 there this year. I do remember you peter and we had quite a long (but rushed) chat and for that im sorry. The software i used was svmapper. Please feel free to PM me if you need help with anything. Ill have a look at your cyclic as well.

Of course i will. As this is the third time ive been asked about my collective ill do a full write up and post it here tomorrow. I have a couple of collectives lying around in various states of construction so ill tear them up and take piccies. Anything i can do to help fellow simmers.

This looks really brilliant - Always do the electronics as you go - its far less daunting then - seriously.

Thank you guys for the encouragement. I was just looking back at the piccies in the thread and they look bloody awful, never take pictures on a mobile phone! you wont be proud. The pit is teally picking up pace now - i have new monitors so now have 5 feet of visuals :D Also added a new chair and a couple of new functions to the panels. Next is the PVI- 800 and some of the overhead functions which ill be using another of Leos boards for - that will make 5 of them :S Also decided to add 2 buttons whcih dont feature in the real cockpit - auto start and auto shutdown - sometime i really cant be assed. PS - if like me your using leos boards - resetting toggles so they match the sim can be a pain - pause/break is your friend. Auto start - pause - reset switches - unpause done.

I dont know how much feedback you have had - but i am very interested in this. Getting working gauges has been on my mind for a while now. Watching with lots and lots of interest. PS looks great so far. Keep us updated :)

Thats not entirly accurate. if you have a switch with a cover you would expect to use LALT G to operate the switch, but this is not always the case. I find that using svmapper to operate switches i have to use the switch press twice. first LALT G opens the cover - second LALT G operates the switch. After that the switch operates and the cover will not ever change from open. I havent experemented yet with useing two commands for the switch cover state. (ill give it a try tomorrow and report back perhaps) I am currently running 3 of leos boards with latched toggles and normal push buttons. Because of the above limitations - i only use latched toggles with switches that dont have covers in the sim.

All of the cards have different names which makes it much easier. The answer though is that i dont use the options screen in DCS for anything other than the axis and the collective. Everything else uses SVmapper to send key strokes. It takes an age to install and configure but it works just fine now. DCS Max also opens that file for me.