talisman

looks good - keep the piccies coming :)

just did a quick count, the bare minumum you would need to make the game playable without a keyboard and missing some panels is around 100. Im using the following. 4 x BU0836 USB cards - each of the cards is fullly matrixed up with 32 inputs. 2 for right hand panel 64 inputs and 4 axis used. These are for eng management, flares, hardpoints etc. (4 axis are not used for BS and are trim in FS) 1 for collective and target control panel. 36 inputs used and 5 axis used. axis are - pitch, throttle, (twist throttle not used in BS), and sckval x and y axis. 1 for cyclic and overhead functions. 32 inputs used (some control sim functions like trackir reset etc) 5 axis (cyclic x and y) landing light x and y and rudder.

Just a quick update. added some labels and tidied up the panel a little. This is the new Thumbjoy for the Shkval Tidied up the cyclic a little looks a lot better. also changed the colour of everything and painted the center consol so it matches the rest of the pit. due to all sorts of problems with getting used to trimming i added a center return to my rudder, not all that real but will be better for the new A-10 if it comes around. Also added a triplehead2go - at last i feel like im really there. !!! more pics to follow.

Hello there, in your picture i have my layout as the following: Rotor brake (3) - toggle on/off engine cut offs (1 and 2) - two toggles (easy) engine throttle - i have both of these mapped to a single axis - in this configuaration you can change the power settings proportionally just like the real thing. as for the above - i decided that a slewable landing light wasnt high on my priority list and added a thumbjoy to my collective. The one i used has a switch activated by pressing down on the joy. therefor i have schval slew and target lock under my thumb on the collective. My collective in on the ikea pit thread somewhere. cheers

EDIT - DELETE THIS POST - i worked it out myself. anyone else with this problem - check the axis tune option on the controllers menu. DoH! Face - palm. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ok so i went the way of trigger and made all my own kit. Because of this i decided to build in a thumbjoy to control the axis of the schval camera. Now i have an issue the camera is so sensitive that it takes me the best part of a couple of minutes to aim and fire. Some times im running before i have even closed down the gate size. Is there any way to adjust the sensitivity of these axis, so that when i move the thumb joy a little the camera will move a little. Before anyone suggests it - i have no HAT on any of my controllers so its not an option. Thank you. Talisman.

As said above these are for your angle of attack. There are 2 sets of blades - horoz and vertical. the vertical blades show you if your are yawing or sideslipping (think bubble in a fixed wing aircraft) the horizontal blades will tell you if you are dropping in altitude or not or if you are in a nose down or nose up position. These come in useful on 2 distinct occasions. 1 when hovering. by watching the blades you can tell where the wind is and if you are likely to weathervane. (turn into the wind) It will also give you a good indication on the ground of the wind conditions before you start up. 2. when flight instraments are shot to hell. Same principle is applied to all of those robinson r22 pilots who tape a piece of wool to the windshield.

Something strange is happening in the simulator world. More people are getting into Flight Simming and as a direct result there are more and more people buying Hardware. Now instead of this reducing prices - they seem to be going up as more simmers dig deeper and deeper into their pockets. Look at the Humble TripleHead2Go. this is now a full £100 ($175) More than it was 2 years ago, and thats not just the digital version - the analogue is only £30 (£50) less. Wait untill saitek start making IO cards. :)

Apologies to the mods if this breaks any rules. Feel free to remove if you need to. I Built a couple of collectives based on the Ikea pit posted in the Home Cockpit section, i have one spare and have placed in on Ebay in the UK. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=250444931733 Have a looksie and spend some dosh. Thank you, Jamie.

those are the ones i used - very good they are too, but not really hat switches, those are thumbjoys. best bet for simple hat switches is by ripping up old throttles or joysticks. http://www.hvwtech.com/products_view.asp?ProductID=338 http://www.e-lab.de/diverse/components_en.html scroll down joystick-D and the componants that the above uses can be purchased by itself here : http://www.anglia.com/newsarchive/834.asp?article_id=1647 enjoy.

I bough t my G15 for my wife and then nagged fer for a year untill she gave it to me, best keyboard i ever had. Really love it. Mine isnt the 1st edition and is still going strong.

I figured that since i had the pics i might as well put them up. Here is my cyclic. Its not pretty - but it does the job. My cyclic is a modified top gun with its guts ripped out and replaced with USB and extended – built in fact to Triggerhappy69s specs using the same techniques. O didn’t bother with the triggers and the brake though. Respect for that goes to trigger. Although I found that using fibreglass was a nightmare and opted instead for cutting the toes out of a couple of pairs of black socks. Once the resin set – a perfect fit. The center toggle is a two function (on) off (on) switch. Again no HAT – this is another thumb joy and is used to slew the schvall (sp) I love that to everyone it looks like just an extended top gun joystick, but really it’s a USB legend. My home paid pedals also connect to the cyclic

That is the whole thinking behind the pit, i can do with it what i like and as long as i can close the lid it doesn't matter. Im not sure how to use all this CAD stuff. i learnt drafting at school and still deal in inches (for those in the US, europe is metric and so is the UK by default) Everything i draw is with a setsquare.

My collective is based on the bell 206 and is build to exact scale. - but since black shark it has undergone a few changes. It has three built in panels, one long panel with a second throttle on the right hand side, a second 4 way panel with 2 momentary switches and a third larger addon panel which is still under construction and will be my targeting and control panel within blackshark. The grime under the collective box is glue from the original starter, lights and gov labels. The rear section – the white label is a schematic for the KA-50 the silver knob is the friction control for the collective. A better view of the collective showing the lighting. The collective box. The POV HAT is in fact a thumb joy – I used the same materials as Triggerhappy69 for mine but the top of the thumb is in fact the trim button from a real westland cyclic. The throttle control on the cyclic works as well rotating anti clockwise through 60 degrees from full throttle to shut off. Underneath is the idle shutoff as it is on the bell long ranger. This was designed for the DoDoSim jet ranger to simulate hot starts. A close up of the hinge inside the collective. The friction lock assembly. I am a great fan of the KISS principle – so the collective up-down is as simple as possible just a slide pot and a wire rod. I have made these commercially in the past and not one has failed so far in 2 years. Also here is a close up of the rail system I made using drawer runners and steel box tubing. The rats nest as I call it – this one is simple – you should see the other side, Leo’s board sits happily within the miles of wire. The unit stowed on its rails. All of the switches on the panel are momentary (on) – off – (on) switches or push to make switches. The unit was designed to have just 12 inputs but that number has grown to over 24 and I plan to add to it further. There are 6 functions on the collective head plus the thumb joy. The main front panel has 12 inputs plus a lighting switch and the other panels have 8 inputs. My right panel has 36 inputs and will be doubled up very soon.

Of course I can - pics to follow. I might do that - but by the time it hits the shelves it will be baby blue with built in lava-lamps and an electric tin opener.

Sorry - had to contiinue in a new post. The right hand section pained black. And the left. View from the front The monitor shelf from the front all painted. Says it all really. The finished article, looks like a desk, wife likes it, looks normalish. But then this happens!!! The top of the desk folds in half and is fixed to the wall on the right by a hook, the right hand side of the desk top is attached to the right side section with 2 heavy hinges, this allows the whole thing to lift up and out of the way easily. My collective is on rails and extends passed the desk to the perfect position by my left hand. The panel on the right is now complicated enough to allow me to fly DCS Blackshark without a keyboard. But as the keyboard looks so bloody pretty , it gets mounted on the monitor shelf. My right hand panel, monitor is my GPS in flight sim and will hopefully by my schvall (sp) in DCS. Lit up at night. There we have it, everyone is happy, I get a cockpit – she gets a neat lounge. Thank you for reading my huge write up. Talisman

New pit/desk build After several years of fruitless flying at my desk I decided to take the plunge. I have always been one to make my own kit, I trawl forum after forum soaking up knowledge and until now I have never had anywhere to put the stuff that I make, but that was about to change. FSC2009 was a flight simulator event held in Weston super mare and I am fortunate enough to be one of the event organisers, but in order to really help I hade to make a setup for my flight sim so it could be set up and flown by the public. Not having a desk this proved a little difficult. But after knocking up some boxes I managed to achieve this: All setup at the helicopter museum. Looking odd but worked a treat with my own panels. I nagged and nagged the other half and joking she said I could build a pit as long as it looked like a desk. This got me thinking – 1 trip to BandQ later I started work. This is the area I have to work with. I need to make the most of it. The desk is designed with 5 sections. 2 of them form side walls, another is a monitor shelf and centre console, a central “between the knees” section and a fold away top that becomes a wall to shield me from the outside world. Work begins. This will be the top. It needs to be cut in 3 different directions, its too bug for the band saw so I become VERY good at jig sawing in neat lines. TIP – Laser guided jigsaws LIE. This is the hinged section folded flat, looks nice and neat. When cutting large pieces of wood that are the same size on all sides – run some lines across them before you cut, it really helps keep it all making sense. The finished hinged section. The idea is that when folded flat, this will bear my weight, so it needs to be strong . Test fitting the sides and monitor shelf. This is a quick fast forward to the sides being test fitted after fixing them with shelf’s. The holes in the sides are to allow wiring to pass from one side of the desk/pit to the other without training everywhere. The will pass through the monitor shelf section. Notice how one of the sides is cut down, the cut away has been kept and will be put back into place but hinged so it can drop away to the side when I want to fly and stay up to help support the top section. The side sections need doors – here they are. This is the monitor shelf (its resting against a wall) The holes in the side match the ones in the side sections and the front is hinged to allow for access. This shows the internal construction a little better and the hinged front. Painting begins, she chose the colour. (part of our bargain) The bit ill be interested in is on the inside of these sections. The side flaps are held up with little brass slide bolts. This shows the drop down section a little better. The slide bolt on the left section.

Cat - i was watching your Youtube video today and i noticed that during startup - your game adds a number of steps by itself during the procedure. How did you achieve this? Some kind of macro? Is it a function of the game i havent seen yet? I would love to know as that would meke things for me a lot simpler. Thank you.

This will be one of my first posts on this forum but i need to let you know something. I am also in the building process and like you i am also using Leos boards. You are using 32 combinations of buttons - but did you know that you can also use the HAT functions in the game as well? I have been able to do this very well. If you use the games own configuration screen, it will allow you to set functions using all of the HAT directions as if they where just more switches. POV_HAT_LE becomes a functionable switch. :D Try it. Suddenly you will have 36 instead of 32. :) I know how important those last 4 switches are.

You yank on the hand brake at 50 on the freeway and plough into a semi because you thought you could go "up and over". (im in the uk - the e-brake is by my left side.)