Universal military aircraft homecockpit project

[No1sonuk]

On 5/21/2022 at 3:51 PM, No1sonuk said:

No significant impact I've seen, but I've not tried it on multiplayer yet.

I spoke too soon...
Just received a new tablet and tried it.  With the two A-10 MFD viewports I had literally MINUTES of lag.
I'll try again after a reboot later.

[Viper1970]

Take this little app called DCS UFC. It doesn't cost that much (arround 10$) and it works like a charme.

[Viper1970]

Just doing all the covers, screwings, holes and cable-ducts for my consoles and the jet-panel. A work I always really hate, cause this is much more work as doing the whole model first.

Meanwhile my yoke is still printing. The first very big part is already done. At the moment the second big is printing. Those two parts alone took 3 days to print if finished and I already raised the layer height for those two gigantic parts from 0.12mm to 0.16mm.

I hope the weather will stay fine while printing those parts, cause I really have no desire to start again cause of a power break down caused by thunderstorm. At the moment this is happening alot here in Germany.

Edited May 22, 2022 by Viper1970

[No1sonuk]

4 hours ago, Viper1970 said:

Take this little app called DCS UFC. It doesn't cost that much (arround 10$) and it works like a charme.

Thanks. That works well, and the CDU is the main reason I wanted a tablet option - the tablet and app cost less than it would cost me to build a physical CDU.

[Viper1970]

2 hours ago, No1sonuk said:

Thanks. That works well, and the CDU is the main reason I wanted a tablet option - the tablet and app cost less than it would cost me to build a physical CDU.

That was also the reason I decided to do it this way. It's simple and does not cost so much.

 

[Viper1970]

Just fiddeling arround with the layout of my helo-panel. I have to take care to get the two Pokeys cards inside of it and that nothing does protrude from the bottom of the panel, as well as all cabel can also somehow be routed to the cards. Its really not so easy sometimes, cause in the end the overall appearance should somehow fit and also be functional.

At the left, bottom side of the panel I have to leave it as flat as possible and also without inputs, cause the big Apache collective needs a lot of space in my little pit and is not so far away with it's top of upper grip to the surface of the front panel.

Edited May 24, 2022 by Viper1970

[Viper1970]

This is how the pit layout should be later. Nothing is fininshed and only put loose in place at the moment. The sidestick and the throttle are also not exacty at the place where they should be later. The throttle will be much more to the right and in line with the consoles inner sidewall, cause while flying a jet the collective grip is dismounted. Same goes for the sidestick, where the plate will be removed and the base mounted also in line with the inner sidewall. If done no more double controls will be in the pit, only the HOTAS layout for the type of aircraft you are flying at the moment.

There are two identical and mirrored trackballs (left and right hand versions) mounted on holders slightly in front and above the controls, to be able to have mouse controls at any time needed and also for both hands. Those mouse-holders will also get other printed plate better fitting in shape as the ones that are connected at the moment.

Edited May 24, 2022 by Viper1970

[Tehrawk]

Looking good. Things are finally starting to come together for you!

[Viper1970]

Yes, but the process goes really slow at the moment. I must admit that sometimes I really don't feel like it and need a break sometimes, because I've just done too much lately. And I'm also not as good and fast in things like soldering or doing fine work as I used to be in my earlier days.

But I can't afford a break now, not with the handle parts, which I really have to spray-paint this summer. Otherwise I will lose another year until I can do this work on the balcony again. I started with it and now I have to go through it somehow, at least until those parts are painted .

The rest will then certainly still need some more time. This will be done slowly step by step and in a way that at least one module is limited flyable meanwhile.

 

Edited May 24, 2022 by Viper1970

[Viper1970]

First parts of my C-130J style yoke. As always just out of the printer and only put loose together with a few screws.

The increased layer height to 0.16mm instead of the 0.12mm I used for all my other HOTAS parts can be seen clearly. I'm not so happy with the result, but otherwise it had taken 52 hours instead of 30 for the extra big parts. I will have to do a lot of rework and spray a few more layers of filler on it.

The "button boxes" on the top and the part of the emblem are still missing, as well as the entire rear part. This thing is really huge and massive and the weight is already enormous, although some parts are still missing. Doesn't feel like plastics typically feel.

I have still to print a few bigger parts and will show pictures of it again if all parts are done (with exception of the buttons, hats and switches, that will be done for all HOTAS after the paint job and printed with the use of my SLA printer).

I will also do a third instrument panel somewhere in future for those big aircraft, but not at the moment. I want to finish all the other parts first.

 

Edited May 24, 2022 by Viper1970

[Viper1970]

A little tip for all guys that print on a BuildTak like me. It's sometimes really hard to get big prints from the bed, even with the use of the magnetic BuildTak.

If the printed part is very large, there is no chance to remove the whole BuildTak with the print. It vouches on the magnetic plate like it was glued together and trying to remove it with force often results in damaging the BuildTak, cause the edges of the print cut into it, if you try to lift the BuiltTak.

What I do after each print, is to spray some WD40 to a kitchen roll paper and rub the BuiltTak with it. This way the surface stays flexible and does not become brittle so quickly. Cause of the WD40 oil film it's also much easier to remove those big parts after the print. Just use the spatula and carefully and detache the corners of the print a bit. After this it's always easy to remove the rest of the print together with the BuiltTak.

I know that many guys have problems with the first layer and putting WD40 on the bed doesn't help much here , but if you correctly adjusted the printer it doesnt make a difference in the adhesion on the print bed. I always print the first layer with 0.28mm layer-height, which helps to equalize small irregularities of the bed (I still prever a manual leveling of my bed over a ABL-sensor) and a higher nozzle and bed temp (in my case now between 235° and 240° nozzle temp and 70-75° bed temp - print temp is now 220-225° nozzle and 60° bed temp with the new PLA). I also use a very, very low speed for the first layer (only arround 10-15mm/s).

If the first layer is done you can really speed up the print drastically. I print with arround 60-75mm/s depending on how big the surface of the part is and how many details it has. I also do always make the last fine adjustments of the bed leveling with a bunch of printed square lines going from the outer range to the inner part of the bed and adjust the last bits while printing those square lines. Once the bed is leveld exactly and the adhesion is good, I do not have to level it again the next few weeks.

I have also tried all kind of print-bed pads, from FR4 and glas over an aluminium-bed to spring steel and other miracle surfaces, but I really still prever the BuiltTak. It's in my opinion the best print-bed surface and not so expensive if you buy it at ebay or Amazon. If you take care of it a bit, you can use it arround a half year or even much longer (depends on how much you print). If it is really worn out, but has no cuts,  I always use a 100-120er sanding paper and do a slighty and carefully grind to make the surface adhere again. After this I do the WD40 trick and this thing looks like new again for the next few weeks or even maybe some months. If the first cuts appear, the magnetic BuiltTak is easy to replace with a new one. I always have one as spare.

P.S: I also have a glas bed on my printbed, but only to have a good plain surface. The magnetic plate for the BuildTak is glued to glas bed. The Ender 3 does not have a very precise printbed. To remove the rest of the "salad bowl" effect (which makes the central part of the bed deeper as the rest) at the print bed from which many Ender 3 suffer from, I have attached four strong springs between the heat-bed and the beds frame exactly fixed over the four nuts of the guide wheels of the printbed. To prevent the springs from damaging the heating coil, I put a small tape between. The bed is now really plain, so no need for an ABL to compansate an uneven bed.

Edited May 25, 2022 by Viper1970

[Viper1970]

Last smaller parts of the yoke just printing and a handle for the F-16 A/B idle detend has also to be printed. After this I'm ready to do all the spray painting.

Meanwhile I do the last 3D constructions for the Pit. The jet panel is completely ready for print with all the wire ducts and the screw-holes. At the helo-panel only the screw-holes are still missing, wire ducts are already done.

The last 3D part for now is the overhead panel with the overhead throttle for the helos that have it. The throttle part it self is also done (I also use two Saitek/Logitech trottle quadrants here) but there are still missing the switches and buttons on this part and the whole overhead, respectively the two button boxes have still to be made.

[Viper1970]

The overhead panel with the overhead helicopter throttle section, for that types of helos which use this kind of layout.

Maybe I will add some additional boxes in future, cause there is still place in the overhead-frame, but for moment it's enough.

The helo throttle will use my two Saitek/Logitech throttle quadrants mirrored placed in row. The outboard levers and their boxes and also the middle section between the quadrants will be printed. Same goes for the throttle handles.

I used three levers, cause I want to be able to use it with the CH-53E also, which is my favorite big helo .

 

 

Edited May 27, 2022 by Viper1970

[Viper1970]

Still missing parts at the yoke cause I ran out of filament. Now the last two parts are printing. This thing is really huge and weights already 885g without the POV/Button-boxes at the top. I think with those parts added and the buttons and switches in and filler plus paint, it will be arround 1Kg ore even more.

This makes the haptics absolutely fantastic, I love it!

 

Edited May 27, 2022 by Viper1970

[Viper1970]

Disassembled the whole thing again and did the raw sanding to get the surfaces, which fit together a bit more plain. I also dremeled out the cable ducts a bit more and removed the last remaining support structures.

The whole inside of the big yoke parts, at the main area where the emblem is also mounted, is hollow and opened to the counterpart. This was a bit hard to remove, but now its done.

Now I will do a finer sanding at the corners and at the flat areas where the steps of the layers are clearly visible. After this I use a Dremel with a wire brush attachment to raw "polish" all things again before doing the spray filler work.

Sanding, filing and also polishing with a wire brush really works good at those HOTAS parts, cause of the big wall thinkness and the dense infill I used. You have still to be careful to not reach the melting point of the PLA, but its a whole lot better as with not so massive printed parts.

And you can use this melting also for cutting support parts out which sometimes are much easier to remove this way or doing extra holes if you missed something , but at this case you must really be very carefully.

 

Edited May 28, 2022 by Viper1970

[Viper1970]

Does anyone use HIDmacros here and has tried it with Windows 11? I used it with my overheadpanel in my old pit, where I mounted some simple numpads and a Steelseries Fang gaming keyboard to have some easy to add additional buttons in the panel. It worked like a charme, cause you could program each keyboard or numpad individual as a seperate device with seperate programmed keyboard emulations at every key. Even macros were possible.

But I don't know if this still works with Windows 11 and I have no W11 installed anywhere at the moment, cause I don't like it very much. But in the future it will be necessary to run DCS or any other sim, the same way W10 is now neccesary since version 2.7.

I want to add some extra buttons the simple way to the overhead, I did it back those days with my old pit, if possible. You just have to print I nice "Aircraft" looking frame for a cheap numpad, spray paint the whole thing satin black and put some labels on it.

This was what I did back those days. Even the buttons arround the right consoles big radio panel (for use with FSX in big aircraft) were done with the use of HIDmacros and a simple standard keyboard with Apple style keys, at which I removed the needless keys and added some encoders to it and made a special cover for it. The encoders were connected to a Pokeys .

 

Edited May 28, 2022 by Viper1970

[Viper1970]

Top boxes added. Still a lot to sand (mainly did the raw transitions from one part to another yet) and also polish after that.

 

[Viper1970]

First part fillered. I put all loose together, leaving a small gap between the parts, where possible and sprayed the filler on. I painted the parts together, cause I wanted to avoid filler on the surfaces that are connected to each other. This mostly results in flaking the filler away, while srewing the parts together.

This is already the second pass. After the first pass I did some sanding again. Tomorrow the ground coat will be attached and finaly the satin black. Not all is perfect, but this is also mostly the case in the cockpits after some years of use .

[Viper1970]

Just ordered a set of bodyshakers for my seat. I will add it to the 5.1 surround system, which already has four extra 150W subwoofers connected at two additional extra amps in the base plate. Now those bodyshakers will be connected to my third amp.

I think this should be enough now, to have a realistic acoustical and vibrational feedback.   I'm no fan of headphones.

How do we say here in Germany? "That must press in the face"

Edited June 1, 2022 by Viper1970

[Viper1970]

"I see a grey yoke and I want it painted black. No colors anymore, I want them to turn black"

The yoke is now ready for the switches, buttons and POV's. It still has to fully cure arround 24 to 48 hours before anything further could be done. 

Not all is perfect and I'm not so satified with the overall quality of the surfaces, but I learned that I have to be a bit less perfectionistic. And if you look inside of the real aircrafts, things don't look like they are still out of the factory, most of the time. So you can see it as a kind of patina, but sometimes I just have a hard time with that. I must learn it or my pit will never get finished.

The lettering at all my HOTAS will be done with the use of white decal inkjet paper, at which the frame arround the letters will be black printed. This decals will be attached to the surface and after all buttons, switches and povs are also painted, all will be coated with satin clear paint to prevent it from rubbing off.

P.S: I started with painting with the yoke, cause it is the hardest part to do and so I can gain experience in what works and what doesn't. Cause of it's heigher layer-height (0.16mm isntead of 0.12mm I used for all the other parts) it's much more difficult to get smooth surfaces with the rework.

Edited June 1, 2022 by Viper1970

[Viper1970]

Here it is! The whole printed HOTAS collection (and some (un)modified originals). All only put loose together with very few screws, for preparing it for the paint job.

There are still more parts I will use for the project, like 4 Warthog throttles (3 will be converted to F-14, F/A-18 and F-15 throttles, one stays A-10), 3 TWCS throttles (one for the Cougar F-16 throttle standalone AB/Idle mechanics mod, one for the Osprey throttle, one for the Harrier throttle) and a complete new 4 engine quadrant based on the mechanics of two old Suncom SFS bases.

Two TM Hornet grips will also be modded, one stays F/A-18 and at one the castle and the trim hat will be changed for the Harrier. One TM Viper grip will be converted to F-16 with the right lettering and one will be converted to A-10 removing the paddle switch. The F-14 has two different stick layouts, one for the A/B models and one for the D version.

The Suncom Talon stick will also be reworked and used for the Strike Eagle together with a already mentioned modified Warthog throttle, which has another switch plate mounted and the antenna wheel added.

All collectives will be mounted on a modified Fanatec handbrake lever and are interchangeable. There will be one dual twist throttle (only some parts printed at the moment - not on the picture) which uses the three different heads of the Kiowa, the UH-1N and the AH-1Z/UH-1Y. The Blackhawk and the Apache collective will also be mounted to the Fanatec base, but without the changeable twist throttle. For the apache a seperate two lever throttle, based on another Suncom SFS base mechanics with 3D printed handles will be used. The Blackhawk and all helos of a similar type will use the overhead throttle.

The rest of how things should work is already mentioned in my thread. The whole thing is a long term project and only the painting and finishing of the whole grip shells is the thing that should be done this year, if possible. This way I can simply grab a finished shell and start the next project at any time and of course also during bad weather or winter times, where no spray painting could be done.

 

 

 

Edited June 2, 2022 by Viper1970

[Viper1970]

Blackhawk collective black painting is done.

As said before, not all is perfect, but who cares. And there is also a lot missing like the lettering, the switches and the satin clear coat, which hopefully distracts from the not so great surface finish if done.

Apache controls are still in the making.

 

 

[Viper1970]

Ok, I found now the best and quickest way to rework the surfaces of the HOTAS parts, in my opinion.

As I worked a lot at old or costume cars in my early days, I have a bit of experience in doing paint works and fillering. But this does not help so much with those parts at the moment, cause I can't use a good spray gun at the balcony and also no professional paint or filler. All I have are simple car-paint spray cans. I use them instead of a model-airbrush with model colors, cause the surfaces of the grips had to be relatively scratch and abrasion resistant.

Model colors are not the right material here and spraying car color with a model airbrush is also not the fastest way to get it done. You have to clean the gun after each spray, during the dry phases, to avoid sticking. That's why I use spray cans here. The smaller parts like the buttons and POV's will be painted with a brush and model-colors, but coated with satin clear car-coat at the end.

What I do now is I use a relatively coarse metal file and remove the roughest imperfections, as well as deburr the edges on the printed surface of the model. Then I screw the whole part together with a few screws, but try to leave a gap between the parts if possible. The reason for this is that I don't want to have any filler or paint on the connecting surfaces, which would then thicken these areas and make it difficult to join the parts together cleanly.

During the application of the filler and primer, it is not so bad if the primer/filler runs or noses appear, because you can easily remove them with a file when the primer/filler is properly cured. Of course, you have to work carefully here. It works in principle like a paint plane. When filling, it is mainly important to fill the "stairs" of the layer stages to some extent.

After I have removed the coarse paint runs and other defects of the primer with the file, I disassemble the model again, deburr the edges again and do some sanding where it is necessary. If parts should stick together with paint at the joint, a careful separation with the cutter knife helps.

After that, the model is loosely screwed together again and a final thin coat of primer is applied, this time without leaving any noses or other flaws.

After the primer has dried, I spray on the satin black paint directly without prior sanding. Again, in several thin passes, always with a short drying process between. I apply at least 5 to 6 layers, usually even more.

Then everything is disassembled again and the edges are deburred again very, very carefully with a sandblade file (fingernail file). If I get through to the primer on the edges, I simply mark the areas with a black permanent marker. After the final sealing with the silk matt clear varnish at the end, these small repaired areas are practically no longer visible

This all sounds very complicated, but it actually goes quite quickly once a kind of routine has been established.

Edited June 4, 2022 by Viper1970

[Viper1970]

The weather was very good today, so I used the time to fill and prime as many parts as possible. Now all parts have to be filed, sanded and deburred again, before I can do the last pass with primer and after that the black painting. The F-14 throttle, the F/A-18 throttle, the B8 variants and the F-15 handle are still missing.

The B8 grips and the F-15 grip still need some changes, because they are old Thrustmaster sticks and a Suncom stick respectively.

I will only use the grips shells here and adapt them, so that the POV mechanics of the unused remaining 2 Warthog Sticks and the Cougar Stick can be installed.

The F-15 grip gets, just like the original TM Hornet grip, two 5way POV's, one at the Castle-Hat and one at the Thumb-Hat.

 

 

[Viper1970]

While these parts are hardening now, I started working on the F-15C/E stick.

There is a lot to change here and a Warthog stick will be cannibalized to implement the trim switch, some of the buttons and also the castle switch. For the castle-hat I use the CMS-switch mechanics of the Viper grip, which gets the cap of the castle-switch of the Suncom Talon, that looks like the original F-15 castle-switch (identical to that of the Hornet handle).

I already made a 5way mechanic for the thumb-switch on the Talon back those days, which really feels nice. So I will leave it instead of cannibalizing another mechanic from my second spare Viper grip and use also the original Talon's thumb-stick cap.

 

Edited June 5, 2022 by Viper1970