jocko417

By the way, here’s a pic of the business end. Pretty cool!

I acquired an ex-RCAF Sabre throttle quadrant a while back, about 90% complete. Have been working on getting it set up to work with DCS, and it’s now less than 90% complete - :) - wanted to use original wiring harnesses, cannon plug, etc., but became easier just to replace old wiring with new. Throttle grip can be twisted about it’s vertical axis for manual ranging, although the ancient pots appeared in Windows for calibration they only registered max and min values with nothing in between, so they got ripped out too. The microswitch that switches between auto and manual ranging works. So the only things left to do are build a frame for the quadrant that I can bolt onto my Obutto cockpit, and decide how to get the throttle axis itself working in the game. The throttle uses a pulley and cable system attached to the fuel control unit behind the cockpit. I removed the cable so I can use the pulley to run the pot for the thrust axis in game. I have two choices, use a servo arm and a push rod to move a linear pot (slider), or using K’nex toy gears I’ve come up with another solution using a portion of a large gear which I will epoxy into the pulley groove, which will run a smaller gear which will be attached to the shaft of a rotary pot. The nice thing is the pot shaft is the same size as the center hole in the gear (6mm or 1/4 inch). Something like this (haven’t glued the larger gear arc in yet): The portion of the larger gear will cover the slightly less than 90 degrees of throttle arc from full thrust back to cut-off, the smaller gear will rotate about 220 degrees, easily within the 270 degrees of pot rotation available. So what do you guys think? A push rod and slider combination may not give a true linear response due to the push rod end travelling in an arc, so right now I’m leaning towards the geared solution, but I’d like some expert opinions because this is my first attempt at doing something like this. BTW, all the switches (speed brakes, mic, cage, flaps up/down and cut-off) work well. Using a Leo Bodnar joystick board with RS Mapper and DCS button mapping where required.

Axis mapping? Hi Avantar, Thanks again for all your time and effort. I’m currently using RS Mapper to run all the switches on my home F-86 cockpit project. I’m now working on getting an actual F-86 throttle quadrant set up to work with the game as well. Have wired all the switches in the grip head, the flaps lever, and the cutoff switch that gets activated when you pull the throttle back past the idle stop. Everything works great with RS Mapper and now I have to concentrate on getting the actual throttle axis itself set up to work in game. So when you say Axis Mapping is in the works, I’m hoping you mean being able to map only a certain range of physical axis travel as the full range of in-game axis travel? I’d like to be able to have the game ignore the aft portion of throttle travel from the idle stop rearward to the cutoff position, so there is no chance of the thrust axis recalibrating/expanding every time I move the lever rear of idle.

Skin is not finished yet, still working on templates. You can download the model here. https://filehorst.de/download_mobile.php?file=cticyGBm

Excellent!!! :)

Great news, thanks very much SZ!

Thanks mate :). Just a little tweak here and there. Once I can get a few days off strung together I’ll be playing catch-up with getting my F-86 skins up to date and hopefully also finish off the AI Starfighter template I’ve been working on. :joystick:

Generic Late War 2TAF skin By request, a generic late war 2TAF paint scheme for mission builders. Codes and serials can be assigned. Type III nationality markings in all six positions, as seen after January, 1945. For use with the clipped wing model, and done up to look like a late Mk.IXe or Mk.XVIe. Should be available soon.

Nice work!

Latest update for DCS World introduced different files for how the model works with the lighting engine. Older skins will have to be updated to the new standard by the artists in order to look correct. If older skins have not been updated then the game will use the file from the default paint scheme, which is what you are seeing.

Hahaha awesome!

Will finally be able to make paint look realistic, from glossy to matte finishes. :D Now, I am making my own roughmet files anyway, but is anyone else having issues opening the default roughmets? Closest I get is a plain black file, in Photoshop CS, any other program I try gets an error when trying to open the files (Gimp, DXTBmp).

The "default" Canadian livery uses assignable BORT numbers so you can have different codes for different aircraft, generated in-game. Unfortunately, the positions of the BORT numbers are hard coded in the game and only represent how USAF and Japanese Sabres displayed those markings. A compromise had to be made since the numbers can't be placed in the location the RCAF used, so the marking strings aren't accurate.

Very nice!

Stencils are typed by me, using same font as I used for my F-86 stencils, almost 100% accurate to period style. Look for a font called PHANTOM STENCIL. Two priceless websites are here: http://www.sbap.be/aircraft/f104g/f104g.htm And here: https://historicalfighters.com/f-104g-access-provisions/ Based on my photo references, early CF-104s in aluminum finish were smothered in stencils, in later years they may or may not have been repainted if worn off, maybe by that time the mechanics knew where everything was so who needs stencils? :) When the CAF switched from nuke to conventional weapons delivery the aircraft were repainted in OD Green and later in grey/green camo, stencils are a lot harder to see in those pics.

Thanks! A lot of work, but hopefully all worth it. We can only wish/hope. I too would LOVE to see a flyable F-104 in DCS. The least I can do in the mean time is pay tribute by skinning the AI version :)

Very, very nice!

Thanks so much!

Flattery will get you everywhere ;) New ventilation louvers on underside, details added to spent casings compartment doors, etc. More to come.

Seeing as I've got a couple of weeks off (STAYcation), for once I actually DO have the time, although I'll admit I've bitten off quite a lot to chew :D It's time consuming but also fun, and sometimes irritating - when you are working on one thing which causes you to notice an error in another thing you thought you'd finished accurately :wallbash: I haven't done a template this detailed in a long time, but I have a soft spot in my heart for the Zipper and it's history with the RCAF/CAF.

Working on the mid fuselage section now, the 104 had a LOT of screws mixed in with the flush rivets. Rivets to follow. Switched to working on stencils to give my brain a break from fasteners. The Zipper was a veritable magnum opus of maintenance and servicing instructions. W.I.P....

And yes, it's possible to get a perfect looking candy stripe spiral on the pitot tube. The style varied over the years, the early metal finish birds had double the spirals, the average in later years was a "five-striper". :D

It looks like the BORT number syntax may have been updated, the description file in the skin folder needs to be changed to match the new BORT syntax. There are various posts concerning this type of thing on the forums.

Detail level one can expect with 4096 resolution... Started working on a 4K template, progress should be leaps and bounds as of next week, got a stretch of days off coming. :)

Thanks for your continued work on this, Avantar, it’s truly a great piece of software.