Hi Guys

Thought I would start a thread to show the progress of the Apache Flight Controls I have started. The overall plan is to have the Cyclic and Collective available to buy! Enjoy!


Stage 1
Initial Prototyping of the Cyclic.



Cheers

Rich

www.komodosimulations.co.uk

Very nice, Rich, Longbow Time!

Rich

Nice project

And I know it is very early days yet and also my next question is a bit of a case of "how long is a piece of string", however I am going to ask anyway lol!

Do you have a price range in mind yet please?

Cheers

LOL I was waiting for that question to come up!

So, going to do that annoying thing of answering a question with a question!!

What would people be happy paying?

I have got a rough idea of production costs, but haven't actually bought all items required so that might change. I am hoping to have the first Cyclic finished in around a month or so for testing. I will have a better idea then!

Cheers

Rich

Mmmm difficult one that - obviously it will be more than a mass produced joystick, possibly anything under the £180-200 mark would be acceptable to the WGPAF (Wife/Girlfriend/Partner Approval Factor)

Just a suggestion if I may, you might be better off doing the collective first as there is not a reasonably priced version available at the moment, whereas with the cyclic many people may be happy using their joystick of choice...

Cheers

That much! hhhmmmm!! LOL

For that amount I take it you would expect a complete Plug and PLay Joystick rather than just a grip?!?

Going for the Cyclic first as its so much easier than the collective, as that has loads of stuff on it. This is a feasability test aswell at the moment to see if I can actually make it! But see your point tho! If the cyclic is successful the collective wont be far behind!

BR

Rich

Rich

Yes at that price point, I would be expecting a plug and play solution. If a grip was available to integrate with a custom built flight stick then that would be a good option as well. Not so sure on a good price point for that...

Horses for courses - some people like to custom build and would prefer just a grip and then others would prefer the whole thing in a nice and easy user friendly package.

Up to you chap but I would say go ahead and do the grip first, followed by a collective - just my two pence worth though

Cheers

In the world of high end HOCAS (non existent) I would start you're pricing in the area of the upcoming A10 HOTAS from Thrustmaster. Expecting a quality A/C specific controller for under $300-400USD is just non sense. If it was a generic Collective/Stick that's one thing but this is all subjective to the final product. Look forward to watching the progress, I'd spend the money I mentioned (just have to save up for it lol).

This is great info guys thanks.

Will try and create it as best I can and the more feedback/ideas people can put out there the better.

If it were a full joystick rather than just a grip, would people prefer a desk height/mounted one or a floor standing version with the correct approx shaft length? Mind you if it works well, the possibility exists to create both a grip and a full stick as well as a desk and floor mounted version.

But getting a little ahead of myself here! LOL

A floor standing version with the long shaft would be the most popular, there really isn't an affordable off-the-shelf cyclic out there. Most people that want a cyclic have to modify their flight stick and that's usually a hit-or-miss affair and only for the technically minded. The shaft wouldn't even need to be an accurate length, just the length that works best for flight simulators.

Looking forward to this and good luck!

Cheers