Best hardware for collective?

[Donny]

19 hours ago, MAXsenna said:

Love your cyclic! Is it the one I have planned to get from Ebay?
Cheers!

Sent from my MAR-LX1A using Tapatalk
 

It’s the Warthog with an extension from Rainman Simulations. You can find him on the Facebook. 

[sirrah]

3 hours ago, Hobel said:

Thanks for the insight, then the purchase is probably not quite so blind after all!

 

Virpil have announced another handle, but the keys are apparently still less than your option

 

In all honesty though;

Yes, I'm enthusiastic over Virpil's collective, but... I don't have reference.. I haven't tried the collective from @K-51, nor any of the wildly expensive alternatives out there.

 

I was on the edge of purchasing the K-51 collective, but eventually it was the possibility to easily exchange grips on the Virpil, that made me decide to go for that one. Also the fact that I let go my preference for a replica grip, lead me to choose the grip with the most buttons available.

 

I'm absolutely sure that the collective from K-51 is a great product and possibly the best bang for buck. But I expect that Virpil at some point will increase their product line with replica collective grips and I want to be able to interchange them.

[Bedouin]

5 hours ago, Hobel said:

Thanks for the insight, then the purchase is probably not quite so blind after all!

 

Virpil have announced another handle, but the keys are apparently still less than your option

Yeah it should be based of the Blackhawk, but since i now got the Collective, nice with different options of the grips, and the price is also acceptable.

[MAXsenna]

It’s the Warthog with an extension from Rainman Simulations. You can find him on the Facebook. 

Thank you!!!!! It's the same I found on Ebay, I just couldn't find the name of the vendor/who made it. Now I know!
Yeah, I saw your Warthog with it.
In in the process of mating to MS FFB2s with the resistor mod.
Hopefully it will work great!

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[markturner1960]

For those of us who dont do facebook, do you have a direct link or something for the rainman product? 

[HC_Official]

I have the Virpil plus collective , I would recommend against buying it and save $121 and just buy the standard Virpil collective instead

[MAXsenna]

For those of us who dont do facebook, do you have a direct link or something for the rainman product? 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/THRUSTMASTER-WARTHOG-ALUMINIUM-GOOSENECK-EXTENSIONS-FOR-HELI-FLIGHT-SIM-PILOTS-/293715742700?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l6249&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0


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I have the Virpil plus collective , I would recommend against buying it and save $121 and just buy the standard Virpil collective instead

Why?
I ask out of curiosity.

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[markturner1960]

And what is the consensus on this kit?  https://www.helicoptersonly.com/contents/en-us/p3191_Pro-Flight-Trainer-Puma-Helicopter-Flight-Simulator-Controls.html

[HC_Official]

because the twist throttle grip is simple not worth the $121, you only touch the throttle ONCE during helicopter engine start-up and never touch it again after that

The collective throttle part is modelled after the hueys throttle .... which doesnt work correctly in DCS anyway

[markturner1960]

I am thinking about the following set up: 

 

Virpil plus ( or standard) collective base with Alpha L grip

Rainman gooseneck cyclic stick with TM F-18 grip and warthog base 

MFG crosswind rudders

 

Would that be pretty good do you think? Or should I go Virpil stick base? Will my TM grip be compatible? 

Edited October 14, 2021 by markturner1960

[MAXsenna]

1 hour ago, markturner1960 said:

I am thinking about the following set up: 

 

Virpil plus ( or standard) collective base with Alpha L grip

Rainman gooseneck cyclic stick with TM F-18 grip and warthog base 

MFG crosswind rudders

 

Would that be pretty good do you think? Or should I go Virpil stick base? Will my TM grip be compatible? 

 

Do your self and get a non-centering base!

[sirrah]

1 hour ago, markturner1960 said:

I am thinking about the following set up: 

 

Virpil plus ( or standard) collective base with Alpha L grip

Rainman gooseneck cyclic stick with TM F-18 grip and warthog base 

MFG crosswind rudders

 

Would that be pretty good do you think? Or should I go Virpil stick base? Will my TM grip be compatible? 

 

(gave my insight on the Virpil collective before, so I'll not repeat myself )

 

But I just wanted to add that I agree with @HC_Official that the throttle axis is not worth the additional $. (I have the "plus" version, but looking back, I kinda regret spending so much extra money on an axis you only use so little)

[Raven (Elysian Angel)]

7 minutes ago, sirrah said:

I kinda regret spending so much extra money on an axis you only use so little)

I guess it depends on which level of immersion you want. I was always very happy with having a throttle axis on my Puma, and now that I'm building a more all-in-one solution that's primarily Virpil-based, I ordered the Plus-version.

[HC_Official]

57 minutes ago, sirrah said:

(gave my insight on the Virpil collective before, so I'll not repeat myself )

 

But I just wanted to add that I agree with @HC_Official that the throttle axis is not worth the additional $. (I have the "plus" version, but looking back, I kinda regret spending so much extra money on an axis you only use so little)

Do you fly the huey much at all ?

[markturner1960]

OK, so the standard base collective seems good - what about my choice of grips ? ( alpha L for the collective and TM F-18 for cyclic) looking at Wags HOTAS thread, it seems I should be covered pretty well for mapping all the functions in a fairly realistic fashion? 

Do you think the virpil base for the cyclic  is better than the warthog ? Or is VKB better? 

[sirrah]

1 minute ago, HC_Official said:

Do you fly the huey much at all ?

I fly all choppers (mostly the Hind now), haven't touched fixed wing since Hind release. But I must admit, lately I usually skip the startup procedure due to lack of time.

Still, after a few times immersing myself entirely (from startup till shut down), on those occasions I wouldn't have bothered using Pointctrl to rotate the throttle grip.

Anyways, I guess it's all very personal. It's not that I don't like (or don't use) the throttle grip, it's just that looking back on it, I don't think it's worth the ±$100, like you said. 

[HC_Official]

2 minutes ago, sirrah said:

I fly all choppers (mostly the Hind now), haven't touched fixed wing since Hind release. But I must admit, lately I usually skip the startup procedure due to lack of time.

Still, after a few times immersing myself entirely (from startup till shut down), on those occasions I wouldn't have bothered using Pointctrl to rotate the throttle grip.

Anyways, I guess it's all very personal. It's not that I don't like (or don't use) the throttle grip, it's just that looking back on it, I don't think it's worth the ±$100, like you said. 

reason I was asking about the huey is that the way the throttle works on vpc collective is modelled on the huey ......... but how ths operates is not modelled correctly by DCS eg having to use page up key to move it out of idle

[PlainSight]

My personal suggestion would be Virpil, combo of Constellation Alpha L and collective base without twist grip. Three hats, a slew mini-stick and a few other buttons is just what you need.

I'm still using T-50 throttle and Mongoos CM2 stick in an F-16 layout, that's what will have to do for the Apache.

Edited October 14, 2021 by PlainSight

[fargo007]

On 10/14/2021 at 10:06 AM, PlainSight said:

My personal suggestion would be Virpil, combo of Constellation Alpha L and collective base without twist grip. Three hats, a slew mini-stick and a few other buttons is just what you need.

 

 

 

I just ordered this exact arrangement having seen it endorsed here, and also by a squaddie.  Added the chair/collective mount too.  Super excited.

 

I've been using a warthog throttle, and I use the ever lovin' sh1t out of all the buttons and hats on the grip itself. the Alpha-L seems to have even more, and I get an extra modifier to work with as well with the second pinky lever.  

[Pikas62]

I ordered the Alpha-L grip for my Virpil collective base also .

[jabbabzh]

Still think alpha grip + collectiv is best way for apache module? I mean more function than hawk 60 grip ?

[fargo007]

Been flying with this a while now. I can recommend the alpha-L on the virpil collective without reservation. Really works great. 

 

IMHO there are totally enough controls there between that and the cyclic (with at least two easy modifiers) to do everything that needs doing.

 

I may add a modification of a hydraulic buffer on the collective so I can loosen up the friction. 

 

[Mike_Romeo]

On 10/9/2021 at 11:19 PM, moggel said:

I’ve pre-ordered the Apache and am looking forward to get into helicopters later this year but I’d love to enhance the experience with a good collective hardware. Can anyone make any recommendations?
 

Winwing’s collective seems great but I try avoid buying products from authoritarian dictatorships so I’d love to hear if there are some good alternatives?

If you want something authentic, then nothing will beat this: https://www.bugeyetech.com/ah-64

[Remco]

1 hour ago, Mike_Romeo said:

If you want something authentic, then nothing will beat this: https://www.bugeyetech.com/ah-64

Hope you're ready to take out that 2nd mortgage...
If you can convince Bugeye to sell to you in the first place.

Komodo is making replica Apache controls if you really want authenticity for a reasonable price (reasonable as in affordable to a simpit builder, and compared to bugeye, before someone jumps up at me and says how expensive Komodo is).

That said I've personally gone with the Vipril collective base with Constellation Alpha-L grip because its the only option out there right now that gets you a joystick on your collective grip (for cursor controller) and I have to say it feels great, probably the best solution to get as close to an apache as possible right now without getting an actual apache replica stick or making one yourself.

[Hobel]

https://komodosimulations.co.uk/collections/collective/products/ah-64d-apache-collective