Universal military aircraft homecockpit project

[Viper1970]

And a little further with the base and the nozzle lever. Still many things missing . In the end the wooden box will only be the place for the electronics and I still have to print a lot. But not all must be printed and the inside is still better reachable if you open up the lid with the added parts (I don't want to admit that the boxes maybe weren't the best idea) .

 

 

 

Edited September 29, 2021 by Viper1970

[Viper1970]

Did the last rework. The wooden box is now upside down. The lid will be screwed now, no more hinge here. I know that in the end the box wasn't a big idea, but it helps to stint some fillament and printing time .

 

Under the big black plate is enough room for placing some switches. I also reworked the nozzle lever a bit and added an idle detend on the throttle, which must be pulled to reach the idle state. It must also be pulled to get out of idle. It's just a simple cabinet door lock I used (same thing I also use for the fingerlifts of my F-15 and F/A-18 throttles), with an 3D printed handle, which will do it's work only with the help of gravity, stopping at a nose in the bottom plate. No springs used here.

 

I did this also in my old pit at those HOTAS and it really worked fine. The locks are out of metall and they will never break. Only thing to do before you can use them is to remove the spring plate, so that they can fall down without any friction. I like simple things if possible.

 

The holes for the STO stop lever are very close together, although I will only use a 2mm steel needle with a rounded hat in the lever mechanics. This is something I'm not very happy with, but I wanted to have 5° steps like in the real Harrier and also all steps from 35° up to 75°. Since there isn't enough space for long levers in such a desk-throttle (mine are 100mm from the bottom pivot point to the top of the scalar) the radius of the lever console is not as big as in the original.

 

I divided the distance the nozzle lever could be moved in equal sections from 0°-110° and then added the STO stop point from 35° to 75°. The hover stop will be adjustable from arround 80° to 87° with a srew in a slot that holds the stop in place. The piece with the STO stop holes is seperat to be able to renew it anytime it's worn out. The throttle lever will get some Nyogel 767A at all three rails to prevent the sticktion the original TWCS is also known for.

 

Now I have to split some parts to make them better printable, do all the screwings to connect the pieces together after printing and also the whole grip itself has to be done (making it hollow - integrating holes for POV's & buttons etc.)

 

 

 

 

Edited September 30, 2021 by Viper1970

[aelfewulf]

Hi Viper1970,

 

I’m very VERY  interested in your Cougar throttle  detent mod!

 

[Viper1970]

I will share most of my models with the community when I'm finished with all the parts. I want to do a final inspection of all of them before I start to print them. If the parts are succsesfully printed and really useable, I will share them.

 

If someone likes to have them as a template to built his own controls, just pm me. The only thing I don't want is that my work is being used for making money out of it. I was very low on money by myself most of the time I did this hobby, and I feel up to help anyone to come a little bit closer to his own dream.

 

The shortage on money was also my motivation to start building my own parts for my hobby years ago. As the 3D printers were more affordable, I decided to buy one and start to make the things I did before with a real big effort and rather more moderate success, like all the different HOTAS I ever wanted for my project, once again.

 

As I had no clue how to built things in CAD, I tried to find a simpler way for modeling things. So I came across TinkerCAD and searched for a way to built complex parts with it. The result was a combination of some simple 3D tools I use in conjunction to get my parts done. It's far from perfect and I also have not the intent to built exact copies of the original HOTAS, but it should be as close as possible with my restricted skills, easy to print, relatively simple in function and as cheap as possible.

Edited October 1, 2021 by Viper1970

[Viper1970]

 Just ordered 10Kg PLA and 4L waterwashable resin to be prepaired for all the parts . The AV-8B throttle is near finish now. Will show some pics when done. The last two parts will be the Osprey throttle and the manual wing sweep for the F-14 throttle.

 

There will still be some smaller, less complex things to do, like some button caps, rotary caps or even some panel parts, but nothing what takes this much time to model it.

 

Can't believe it, but I really was able to model all the HOTAS I wanted to have. At the beginning I was very, very skeptical about it.

 

 

The additional parts I use for this project:

 

- A TM TPR rudder system for all aircraft and helos

- 4 Warthog throttle systems (one remains original for the A-10, one converted to F/A-18, one converted to F-15, one converted to F-14)

- 3 TWCS throttles (one for the Cougar F-16 standalone mod, one for the AV-8B throttle and one for the Osprey TCL)

- 1 HOTAS Cougar (throttle will be moded with TWCS, the electronics of the stick and the throttle will be reused for all the collective electronics, the stick base housing will be moded and used as gimbal system for the center stick including Warthog pcb and sensors)

- 2 Warthog stick bases (one for the sidestick base and one for the electronics of the Cougar mod center base)

- 4 Viper grips (one will remain original, but the paddle switch will be removed, for the A-10 / one will be pimped to match more the F-16C grip, two will spent their electronics for the external grip electronic-box and their POV's and buttons for other grips)

- 2 Hornet grips (one will be converted to an AV-8B grip, changing the trim and the castle hats, one will remain original for the F/A-18 / both will be canabilzed of their electronics)

- One Virpil VFX grip (also canabalized and the paddle switch removed / the bottom part of the grips shell will be modified and complemented with printed parts to remove the mounting shape of the paddle-switch)

- 3 TM XFighter grips (one remains mostly original as standard B8 grip, one will be slightly modified to match the F-5E grip, one will be modified to match the UH-1N Twin Huey cyclic)

- One Suncom Talon grip for the F-15 (with Viper grip POV mechanics & buttons)

- 4 Cougar MFD's (three or the fighter panel, one remains for further projects / 2 old modified Quickshot Masterpilot MFD's for the helo panel cause the MP have 24 buttons arround the display)

- A Fanatec handbrake for the collective lever

- one modified TM TCA sidestick as a side stick for Airbus based aircraft

- 13 Pokeys 57U boards for all the cockpit and panel electronics

- 2 Arduino Pro Micro with MMJoy2 for the 4-engine-quadrant for the big birds (the only control which will not be TM TARGET compatible)

 

And for all the guys who ask themselves how much this did cost in the end, it wasn't very cheap of course. But it's far away from what it would cost to buy all of those HOTAS, especially the helo controls.

 

But on the other side it will be also not that perfect in finish like parts you can buy, however all my HOTAS will be fully programmable with TARGET if needed and even the pit itself is fully programmable. Of course I can also only use simple DXbuttons if there is no need to do more complex programming.

 

But the possibility to be able to really configure also complex POV/button behavior was one of the important things for me. Another thing was to be able to add further controls in future without the dependence of additional electronics once the pit is done. That's the reason I also decided to put the grips/collective electronics themselves outside to a central place for every bases station.

 

The only thing I'm not so happy with, is the need of four Warthog throttles I had to buy. At the beginning I also wanted to make a changeable system for all the throttle grips, but this was much to complex to do, cause there isn't enough space for a LIYY cable from the grips to the base and still be able to move it without bending it too much. The TWCS were very cheap, cause I bought all I was able to get used. Sadly there weren't much used Warthog parts to get at the moment and even if, they should cost extraordinary prices. So I bought all my new parts at one vendor and was able to get a good cut in price.

Edited October 4, 2021 by Viper1970

[aelfewulf]

If u can take a pic of your entire hotas collection, that would be a sight to behold 

[Viper1970]

Ok, here is the truth. And thats only a part of all my HOTAS parts. There are many old used sticks or parts of them too, I collected over the years.

 

 

 

Edited October 5, 2021 by Viper1970

[Viper1970]

And the electronics and more old stuff.

 

Most of the old stuff is canabilized and was converted to USB for my old pit. Some of the parts weren't already in good condition as I bought them. But I only wanted to have the grip shells those day back, cause I had no 3D printer.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 5, 2021 by Viper1970

[Viper1970]

And there is much more also. I collected nearly every simulation since the late 80s. There are some DJ-cases full of slim line CD/DVD boxes with all the retro stuff.

 

In the cabinet in my sim-room are about 50 old motherboards and the same number of graphic-cards for retro machines and also arround 50 processors from Intel 386 up to the Phemom series and much more old ram. I also bought all this stuff used or defective and repaired it. Mostly some capacitators on the mainboards were broken or I had to reflow the grapics-chip on the graphic-cards.

 

I'm a simulation junkie since I bought my first computer back in the 80's. That's the truth I was infected with that virus arround 1988 with Microprose's F-19 Stealth Fighter and I never was able to get healed of it .

Edited October 5, 2021 by Viper1970

[sirrah]

1 hour ago, Viper1970 said:

Ok, here is the truth. And thats only a part of all my HOTAS parts. There are many old used sticks or parts of them too, I collected over the years.

 

 

 

 

 

58 minutes ago, Viper1970 said:

And the electronics and more old stuff.

 

Most of the old stuff is canabilized and was converted to USB for my old pit. Some of the parts weren't already in good condition as I bought them. But I only wanted to have the grip shells those day back, cause I had no 3D printer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

That, sir, is:

 

[Viper1970]

Back to the AV-8B .

 

Still a lot missing at the grip itself and I also have to spilt the shell of the grip. The colors aren't the ones used at the printed and finished  HOTAS, like with all my 3D models. They are only for a better overview of the layout. It's the second complex thing I made so far, after the AH-64D collective.

 

Most of the work are the whole screwings at the end of the modeling. It looks like not much happened, but that's really the hardest work. I hate it . Maybe I will post an exploded view when I'm finished.

 

Not the nicest one, but if all things will work like the way I've planed it, I'm happy with it .

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 5, 2021 by Viper1970

[Viper1970]

Just fiddling around with the COMM knobs and the speed brake . The antenna elevation is a simple thumbstick-mechanic but only one axis is used. The second will not be connected and is also mechanically blocked. The transducer on top is also a thumbstick.

 

The hole beside the thumbstick is for a 4way POV. The rest are simple small and medium buttons. One of the medium buttons has a hemisphere on top with a small gap to fit the knobs button. I will simply glue it on top.

 

The small buttons have a hemisphere-frame arround them. I also use this at the Kiowa cyclic and anywhere else, where such kind of buttons are used. Not perfect, but those buttons are easy to get in every electronic shop.

 

The frame for the speed brake is also still missing here. I had to model a new switch here, cause it has an oval shape and there isn't an already done hat available anywhere. It should use the same mechanics as the Cougar uses for it's speed brake, with a switch inside which is momentary at one side.

 

For the COMM functions I also have to make switches and maybe a frame or some gaps in the handle itself. At the moment I'm only testing the space I have to get all under the hood.

 

 

Edited October 6, 2021 by Viper1970

[Viper1970]

So, one step further. Tomorrow I will model the cap for the transducer and the POV beside it. After that the grip has to be splittet into halfs and the whole screwings must be done. It is already hollow.

 

 

[Viper1970]

Actually the throttle of the MV-22B should be the last HOTAS part for now (I wanted to use it with any of the other sticks), but I just found some more detailed photos of the flightstick and a small datasheet of both, the stick and the throttle. So I will do the stick also now, to complete the MV-22B HOTAS .

 

This is really the last control I will do before the rest of the pit is finished. As I have now more detailed photos of the Osprey controls, how could I leave it incomplete?

[Viper1970]

This is the rest of the parts I made. Haven't posted pictures yet.

 

Those are the grips for the Warthog convertion to F/A-18C and F-14D (I made a D-Version throttle). The last is the "convertion kit" to make one Warhog to a F-15 throttle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 7, 2021 by Viper1970

[Viper1970]

The pit itself will be more rudimentary, so it won't be near a "replica" of any aircraft. I will try to model some "universal" useable inputs here. All the special functions should be done in VR, or if VR is not possible in a simulation I use, I can also use my Track IR with the trible view. There are also two identical trackballs in the pit mounted beyond the throttle and the sidestick, one left- and one righthanded, to be able to control the systems in the virtual pit.

 

The trible view is a set of old TFT's I was able to get for low. They are running only at 1280x1024 each and the panel TFT is capable of a 1680x1050 resolution. This gives me a total of only 3072x1024 with the trible view, but I'm ok with this. Maybe later I will add some better newer TFT's, but for now it has to stay the way it is.

 

I wanted to have the possibility to fly in both worlds, VR and pancake. Don't know how long and good I can get by with VR. I'm not the youngest guy anymore . And I also use some older simulations too, which aren't VR compatible. I will try to get them running with VorpX, but I don't know if it will work.

 

For other simulations like tank or naval simulations I made the "command-unit" beside my pit. This will also be the place I will run all my old retro sims at and also my workstation then. It has also a trible view with old 1280x1024 TFT's. For retro I will only use the center TFT. Maybe there is a way to run some of the more modern retro games with the triple view, cause I use a Matrox TripleHead2Go in the unit and also in the pit.

 

I nearly worked one year only to get all the old stuff perfectly running on my retro machines with resolutions that weren't possible back those days. I use nGlide here if possible, but running it on Windows 98/Me (yes it runs perfectly there) or Windows XP. I still love those old titles (even the original Flanker 2.5 and LockOn) and wasn't able to do much simming back those days, cause of my work. So I will make it up now. It's more a sentimental thing, cause it really does not make much sense still playing those old titles if you have something like DCS .

 

The pit itself can also be converted to a racing pit if needed. It really was a lot of planning and measuring to get all this under one hood. But since I have no more full size pit, like my old project was, I wanted to be able to do some racing in the pit, too.

 

The main thing for me was to have the aircraft you are flying at the moment right in the hands as real as possible (with a limited budget). That's the most important thing to me. I'm much more on flight behavior and feeling, than on all the system stuff. I also like it to have all of the systems very well modeled, but the flightmodel and the feeling of having the right controls in your hands, is what I like the most. I'm more the dogfight guy as the BVR or AG guy .

 

Edited October 7, 2021 by Viper1970

[KeyCat]

On 9/15/2021 at 4:37 PM, Viper1970 said:

The place where all this HOTAS should work somewhere in future .

 

The desk in the foreground is my "command unit" where I will play tank/naval/infantry and tactical simulations or even my still beloved old retro sims like the Jane's series etc.

 

It has four different PC systems with different OS, which all can be switched between the inputs, the sound system and the monitors. The retro rigs are one AMD K6 400 with a Geforce 256 DDR and a Voodoo I. The second retro machine is a Dual Core AMD Athlon 3Ghz with a Geforce 5950 Ultra and two Voodoo II in SLI, which can run Windows ME or Windows XP in dual boot.

 

The third machine is a Phenom II X6 with a Geforce 1650 (W7) and the last is a Ryzen 7 2700X with a Geforce RTX 2060 (W7/W10 Dual Boot). The Panel can be folded down and pushed beyond the desk. For flying retro sims I have modded a Hori HOTAS (cause I wanted to have something neutral looking at the command unit) which now uses Pokeys cards as electronics and also attached TM TFRP rudders. The Pokeys cards are fully programable and also useable with W98/XP/W7/W10. The panel of the command unit also gets some small consoles and a "universal" UFC (already printed).

 

The pit will get all kind of interchangeable HOTAS systems and also some functional consoles and an overhead panel. The main panels will also be interchangeable and placed in front of the old TFT (which will display MFD's and instruments) on top of my center console, where the modified Cougar base will be placed. They are still in early production . At the moment three versions are planned. One for helos, one for fighters and one for the big birds.

 

No doubled controls will remain in the pit while flying, only the bases will stay in place. It should always be the right control layout for the kind of aircraft you just flying. There is also an option to remove the panel-TFT, which then can be placed at the wall with a wall mount and the mount for the FFB-wheel can be folded out and up after removing the center console, to place the wheel on top of it. The TPR rudders will then be changed against racing pedals.

 

The little wood boxes will be my console boxes. They fit perfectly, have enough room to place switches, dials etc. on top of them and you can put the Pokeys boards inside of them. So you always can reach all the electronics very easily.

 

The pit has one W10 machine with an Ryzen 9 3900XT and a RTX 3090 and the second W7 system for older sims like Strike Fighters 2 or anything else like this is a Phenom II X6 with two Geforce GTX 660 in SLI.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Awesome! This is what I call a man cave :)

 

Due to my current living situation my space is very limited in the apartment and have to be removable when I'm not flying. Maybe someday I will inherent a castle, who knows? :)

 

Keep it up!
 

 

 

[Viper1970]

As I lived with my son in my very small flat three years ago, I made the living room my hangar. The whole room had the subject aviation. I was happy with it, my son too and there was no wife bleating . She had her own flat. Now things have changed, but she's really very, very tolerant with my hobby .

[Viper1970]

AV-8B mostly done . I will add the switches in the base at a later time, when I'm really knowing what I would like to have there and what I'm integrating in my side consoles.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 8, 2021 by Viper1970

[Viper1970]

And starting with the Osprey controls. I already made the shape for the throttle a while ago, but maybe I have to adjust some things, as I have some better photos now. The stick (cyclic) must be done from scratch.

 

 

 

 

And the beginning of the stick. I took my Viper (AH-1Z) cyclic as a start. Looks really at the moment (but that's mostly the fact if I'm starting something new ). Meshmixer will do a lot of voodoo magic here . I hope I can come relatively close to the shape, but it won't be perfect in any way. I also have not all views from all sides.

 

 

 

And now after some first rough meshmixing voodoo

 

 

Did some more sculpting and transform, after this a reimport to TC again and now making some more adjusts to the shape with the use of this program once more. It's always a seesaw between those two programs and can take a lot of adjustments until I'm satisfied with the result.

 

Edited October 8, 2021 by Viper1970

[Viper1970]

Slowly... but I'm missing some views from the back Only can suppose here.

 

 

 

Created some details at the head and placed POV's and buttons. I will add two additional buttons to the stick the original hasn't, at the empty space in the head top left and the unused button at the back.

 

I also will add a thumb-POV at the throttle, I've only seen on the bugeye tech replica until now. All other throttles have left this clean or only have a button at this place.

 

There are still many things missing like the trigger, POV caps do not match the original and so on...

 

 

Edited October 9, 2021 by Viper1970

[agrasyuk]

On 8/26/2021 at 8:10 AM, Viper1970 said:

The new whole sets of the Kiowa and the Apache. In TinkerCAD they aren't really great looking and these are also only the "work-sets". If things are completely ready I always rework them with Meshmixer to make all the faces of the parts smoother and cleaner (TC is very poly limited) before printing them (like the ones shown before). There are also a lot of switches and hats missing. The ones shown here are only prototypes used for adusting the holes etc.

 

 

 

 

Hi Viper,
So with yesterdays announcement in mind, In what state is your work on the AH-64 collective handle ? looks like it's already hollowed and split.
Is this something I can order from you printed (post processing I will take on myself) at this point? I don't think I need all the detail parts or the base, just the handle, I think I can accomplish the rest.

Thanks!

 

Edited October 9, 2021 by agrasyuk

[Viper1970]

@ agrasyuk PM sent

 

The Osprey HOTAS will be more "Franken"-controls but I'm ok with it. I have to make a lot of assumptions here cause I have no pictures eg. of the back of the stick. I will model it a bit like my Apache cyclic here.

 

I started to think about the construction of the manual wing sweep for the F-14 throttle also. At first I wanted to use the friction lever of the Warthog as base for the wing sweep, but I don't know if it's possible. Maybe I will model something additional, replacing the friction lever with a linear poti. Also not very realistic but easier to do as a convertion of the friction lever.

 

P.S:

 

I do not sell my models! If someone is interested, just sent me a PM. I'm alright with sharing my work, but I don't want to see it for sale anywhere. The models are far from being perfect at all, I made them only for my personal project. So keep in mind you have to change a lot to fit it for your own needs. Maybe I will do a new set of HOTAS somewhere in future, which are more suitable for all simmers, but for now I only want to finish my own dream .

 

Edited October 10, 2021 by Viper1970

[Viper1970]

My Osprey stick

 

 

 

 

and the throttle:

 

 

and the original

 

https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/382438

Edited October 10, 2021 by Viper1970

[Viper1970]

Just seen that I totally forgot to model the Apache's rpm-throttle. I had plans to make it out of an old Suncom SFS Throttle with own 3d modeled grips and also connetable to my collective electronics, but have missed to make it until now. This has also to be done. So after the Osprey the F-14 wing sweep and the Apache throttle are the last HOTAS parts that have to be finished.

 

The last step will be to smooth out all the controls I haven't smoothed yet (eg. the Blackhawk collective and of course the parts I'm building right now). If this all is done I will connect my pit and my command unit to my network and do some electrical stuff here also. At first my command unit will be completely finished. There is still a lot to do. The retro pc's are running, but the two other computers have to be set up again from scratch, one with Windows 7 and one with Windows 10. There is a lot to fiddle around with, cause I use a steelseries merc keyboard here, an old MS strategic commander and a saitek GM2 action pad (standalone and modified) I still love and would like to have them running at all costs.

 

No problem in Windows 7 to get those old beloved devices running, but for 10 there are no drivers that run without a mess. Thank's to it's "security"-components it's a pitty to run devices with unsignatured mod-drivers. Only one of the reasons I don't like it and have avoided it like plaque (and there is even Win 11 now comming - another more resticted OS that brings nothing really new which couldn't be implemented to Windows 7 or even Vista cause it's nearly the same under the hood, besides more restrictions, sorry "security-upgrades" and the whole smartphone app crap).

Edited October 11, 2021 by Viper1970