As always very impressive Grizzly. And yeah what he said^!

ok guys...

although my pit is not a full fledge sim pit, i am putting some creativity into it...i dont have a whole room to dedicate a sim pit to, plus i need to configure something that can be put away into the closet/under the bed.
it was a challange to even make a long shaft cyclic, let alone foot pedals, based on almost nothing...just pictures...
before i started, i wish i have sat in a helicopter, or even try out the ch products pro pedals, just to even get a jist of what controllers feel like. i only had the ch products combatstick, and pro throttle at the time..which just collected dust...and quite frankly, i wasnt crazy about the pro throttle when it came to helicopters...

before:


after (WORK IN PROGRESS)


i hope to finish the heli-semi-sim pit base and go back to working on the collective now that my schedule 80 PVC pipes came in a couple weeks ago..

and yes...THAT IS the KAMOV LOGO. (KAMOV is the company that makes the KA-50 BLACK SHARK, and KA-52 Alligator)

Great job Hannibal!

g.

thanks gene...

hey, your pit is coming out nice too...
albiet it a little tight in the inside, but i guess your going for some type of authentic WWII aircraft...
i was impressed by the gimbal machanism...i wish my gimbal didnt have to stand 6 inches high, so i had, or im in the process of making a deck 5 inches high.

by the way...(anyone) has sugggestions for a friction system? im about to work on the collective, and i need a design that allows me to raise and lower the collective at any given height with out it having it flop down when i let go....plus i really do not want any stress on the pivot point of the collective, so ideally, the friction system will have to be pulled and pushed by the collective handle...but i am opened to any ideas....

Hannibal, the tightness is indeed on purpose. WWII era fighters were a lot smaller than many people realize. To give you a for instance, the Me-109E drawings I have show the canopy rails about 21" apart. My shoulders are wider than that.

The next one out of the gate will be sized along the lines of a modern jet fighter. It'll be just a little bit narrower than the F-15.

For friction control on the collective, you might try a pair of nylon washers on either side of the tube for the collective. Bolt it together using a stop nut (a fancy nut with a nylon ring inside) to tighten it down enough to solidly grip the collective, but not prevent it from moving. Now granted, that's at the pivot point, so you may want to improve the mechanism strength at that point.

I'm still kind of annoyed at how the stick gimbal came out and I may tear it apart and re-design it after I'm done with the rudder pedals & side throttle.

Keep up the good work!

g.

Having sat in the prototype Spitfire replica at Duxford a few years ago I can confirm this.
I'm 6'1" and sat in the cockpit there is only just enough room for your arms either side. Also at my height, with a parachute strapped on, I would have had difficulty getting the canopy closed. As it was, minus parachute, the top of my head was touching the top of the canopy. Because of this I think there were size restrictions in place when choosing fighter pilots back in WWII.

I'm not sure what type of design you were going for but here's what I did to mine....

First, I used an extension damper to give it some hydraulic resistence, as I raised it. (I originally thought that was going to be enough to hold it.......not!)
It held it somewhat but the handle was still a little too heavy and it would slowly start to fall. So, I added a couple of springs, on the tail end to hold it.
They're not strong enough to lift the arm but strong enough to supplement the damper's holding ability.

Here's an overview I put together awhile back. (Collective Overview)
There are some closeup pics in there that may give you some ideas?

Since that overview was made, I've reduced the length of the arm by 5 inches, created a zippered/velcroed leather boot to cover the guts, and wired it all up.
Also, since these pics were taken I changed the out the cheap red "Shack" pushbutton I had on the faceplate and re-mapped some of the buttons.
(You can see that better, on the pics I posted earlier of the MISC panel.)



Hope that helps!
And nice work BTW!!!

hey grizz...thats for the info...

i actually was going to use your idea before...i bought Guden Dampers, a compression and extension...but when i got them, they felt funny, out of the box, stock...like when you pull the rod (compression) or pull the rod (extension), it felt like it was pushing liquid...not a uniform feel like an office chair (maybe because me sitting on the office chair puts alot of resistance), so i didnt work with it.

then came my collective stick...after using black pipe, the collective stick and head assembly was getting to heavy.. about 3 pounds...so then i was looking for a counterweight to place on the opposite end, but then it was getting to be like 6 punds for the assembly, so i ditched it, and sought PVC schedule 80 pipe (not that weak crap schedule 40 that you get at home depot).
being that this was not found at local stores, i had to order online..so now it was going to be a while, so then i stopped working on the collective as a whole, and now im working with the base of my sim...(in the process of painting it with cool logos and bureau numbers)..

i was thinkin of VMA-223...or maybe MALS-14(i was attached to them when i was in the marines)..or something snazzy and official sounding, like NADEP JAX (Naval Avaiation Depot)...
or NAWC naval air warfare center VX-02 test and evaluation..but lets see, i can only fit so much.

well , i hope to conclude the platform base by close of the week, and start to go back to the collective, because with the PVC pipe, i was able to get the assembly down to 1.2 pounds.

See this "Helcat", and his slindig access door.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b235/wholehawg/tiles100.jpg

http://www.airgroup51.com/forums/viewthread.php?tid=2407&page=2

Sokol1

i know i been quiet with the post..still working on my compact pit...

added a boot to the cyclic, and painted the base before i start to work on the collectve...