hey there, new poster, but long time lurker here, i've been building a simpit and i've finally started to give up looking for authentic looking dials and knobs to adorn my ahem "master piece". i have been looking for weeks for anything remotely similar to what most of you guys place in your F16/A10 pits. can anybody give me an idea where to get some??

Buying surplus A/C panels through Ebay is one source. Another is the sometimes opportunity of buying replica knobs cast from molds made from surplus knobs by fellow simpit enthusiasts. There are rare posts here, on the DCS home cockpit threads and on viperpits about such replicas.

It's generally not feasible to buy from the manufacturers due to cost and minimum order requirements, but you might find enough dimensional information in their catalogs to make the knobs yourself if you're handy enough. http://www.ehcknobs.com/index.php?id=MI and http://www.esterline.com/controlsystems/Korry/CockpitControls/Knobs.aspx are two of the major suppliers of military and commercial aviation knobs.

Thanks for the links, hopefully this will take me 1 step further in my project

Mike would be the one to know, if anyone would. If it may help, I had saved the links to these two sites when I was making a boombox out of some bits and parts I had laying around. I had thoughts of using the old chicken-head knobs for volume. Maybe they have something similar to a military grade knob, or at least look similar:
Surplus Sales

Electronics Surplus

Good luck,
Derek

I modelled mine in 3D CAD and had them 3D printed(F18E) - worked great and a fraction of the cost of buying the actual knobs. I did the white and black lines on printable white decal sheets, carefully cut them out and stuck them on like an airfix model, then varnished them - they look fine. This is the rendered 3D model. It was modelled with a sprue so that it was able to be printed as one piece. PM me if you want the autocad file for these. Don't know how the exact knob set varies from the F16, but it might be a start!

Hi,

simparts.de also offers service to replicate any knob in 3D or ABS with brass inserts and screws. I ordered some backlit.

regs

Pics.

We need moar pics.

NOW!