The Yoke is done. Not smoothed yet, but the rest is finished. Now the last two bigger parts have to be finished, the Harrier and the Osprey throttle. After this the Cougar handles AB/idle detend has to be finished, the Nozzle lever for the AV-8B and the wing sweep for the F-14 throttle have to be done and then I really finished all I ever want. Slowly the end comes closer 🙂.

I wanted to have all the 3D parts done first, cause who knows how long things work like they do at the moment. It's always only a matter of time until programs you have to use online did not work anymore as they did before or even will be shut down by the company. Sadly there is no real offline-alternative for TinkerCAD and learning anything else to be able to do such things I've done so far, would take much longer as it took to make all my HOTAS. That's the reason I construct them non-stop at the moment.

All other less complex parts for the pit can be done with any other 3D software at pinch or even the traditional way using handcraft tools, but making those grips another way would take ages if I would be able to do them at all.

F-16C throttle (Cougar AB/Idle detend) finished 🙂.

So the last parts are going to be started. The AV-8B+ linear throttle with nozzle lever and the MV-22A/B TCL linear throttle. I use two TWCS throttles for the electronics and the mechanics to make them.

After a while of brainstorming, I decided to make a complete new base for the AV-8B+ linear throttle and I also will do this for the following MV-22A/B linear throttle. The base of the TWCS has not much space to place electronics inside and the original grip pcb's do not fit inside the AV-8B+ grip. Also the TWCS base is a real ugly box and I wanted to have all my throttles looking the same way (the bases should all be simple square boxes), so I decided to buy some small wooden boxes.

I already used some similar boxes for my consoles in the pit where I can put the electronics inside and the switches, buttons and knobs on top with a printed faceplate. The one for the consoles have 18.5x18.5x5.5cm and there are more of them arranged in row. If you want to reach the electronics inside of them, you simply open up the lid. Now I ordered two 22.0x13.5x6.0cm boxes to be able to get the TWCS linear throttle mechanics inside those wodden boxes. Originally the "pit boxes" are designed as napkin boxes and the new ones are originally knitting needle boxes 😅.

It's really easy to drill holes in them or to do some cutouts with my model-jigsaw. You can place a printed face plate on them an paint the boxes themselves with gray paint. With that printed faceplate they are really very stable and you have not to print a big case on your own, using a lot of fillament and time to print for it.

P.S:

To get the right weight for the throttle-bases, I will use adhesive weights for aluminium rims from a car components shop. You can glue them inside (I use hot glue here), wherever enough space is left.

The intial stage, so far 😄: (Added a third rail with brass friction bearings, I had lying arround from an old printer. The two rails at the bottom and the sliding bed are the original parts of the TWCS. The mounting is a new construction - not finished yet)

Edit:

I'm just trying to get the switches and buttons which are originaly directly integrated in the throttle parts of the panels of the F-16C and the AV-8B also integrated in my bases. The problem is to get all the functions working with the limited number of available button-functions the TWCS offers. For the F-16C with the GE F110 engine it's possible, cause the max power switch is not functional with this engine.

For the AV-8B throttle it's a lot more tricky. I have also to rework the design a bit again, to have the switches placed a little bit more like they are placed originaly. I will also integrate an idle detend here, you have to pull. I hope I can find a good solution with the limited number of inputs, but I want to avoid to use some additional electronics here. Those bases should only be one single device, the same way like the ones which are based on the Warthog bases (F-14, F-15, F/A-18) are. In this case it is a lot easier for sure, cause the Warthog throttles offer a lot of panel switches, but the F-16 and also the AV-8B on the other side, do not have so much switches placed directly arround there throttles.

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) 😗😅.

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), 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.)

Hi Viper1970,

Awesome stuff!

Wished I had 1/100 of your 3D modelling skills Do you have plans to also model AH-64D CPG TEDAC handgrips in the future?

Hi KeyCat,

it's really not that complex to built those things, as it seems. I'm also no 3D modeler, I have learned this with the trial and error method and I use simple to learn programs like TinkerCAD and Meshmixer.

My parts are also no exact replicas. Mostly I only use photos of them to rebuilt them. For a few of them I had the dimensions but not for all. In this case I used dimensions from grips which are very similar in shape. Maybe the original will deviate in many details, but I'm ok with this as long as the result will be useable at the end.

I thought about making a TEDAC for the Apache and also some WSO/RIO controls for the F-14B/D or the F-15E, but at the moment I only want to finish the pilot controls. After this I will work on the pit itself again to finish it. If most of it is ready and running, maybe I will start to built some gunner or WSO controls. But at the moment there are still so many things to do, so this could really take a while

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)

I've dabbed around in TinkerCAD but only done some very simple stuff, will check out Meshmixer. Guess I need to find some tutorials on YT and gain some skill.



I'm not to concerned about 100% exat replicas either. Functionality and simplicity comes way befor that.



Fully understand your position and will follow your projects with great interest!

/KC

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 😀.

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.

Hi KeyCat,

I read your post in the other forum also about the MMJoy2. I would still prefer the Pokeys57U for a TEDAC unit. It's a lot easier to do (ok you also have to use a matrix for so many functions like the TEDAC has, but this isn't so complex) and the Pokeys cards aren't so expensive. There are two versions, one with terminals and one without. I always use the one without, cause they are cheaper and I like to have things soldered .

You have much more flexibility and even much more functions with this card. Don't get me wrong, I like the MMJoy2 project very much, but for such a complex thing like the TEDAC, I'm personally would go with a Pokeys or an Arcaze module. You can use DX functions or keyboard macros here (Pokeys - can't speak exactly about the Arcaze cause I do not own one), or even mixed if you like. Press and release functions are also possible and many, many more options.

And although I know that keyboard macros are out of fashion those days, they give you much, much more flexibility as simple DX functions do. Never understood why people hate it now. I hate it to be dependent of the simulators config menu, to configure my HOTAS the way I would like to use it. Sometimes this is the only way to get things working relatively realistic.

And using programs like joystick gremlin or something else, to program simple DX-devices with macros, you always have to use a filter driver to get rid of the disturbing DX functions which will stay in parallel.

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.

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? 😂

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.

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.

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.


Edit:

Created some more 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...

Edit 2:

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.

The original controls can be seen here:

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

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.

The MV-22B stick is near finish. I will post pics if it's ready.

The throttle will take a little longer, cause I have to integrate a similar pot-mechanics I also did for my Hornet throttle, which is springloaded and self returning to center. This is for the Ospreys nacelle control.

At the moment TinkerCAD runs really bad for me and all the modeling needs much longer as before. I hope this will change soon. Never had so much trouble with it before.

I also started with the handles for the Apaches TEDAC. I will do them in parallel to the rest of my parts. Some other guys have also started to work at the TEDAC and have made a fantastic work. I hope we can get this "beast" done in teamwork

Hi Viper,

Looking good buddy. That is a load of work there.

Quick question for you.

Quite often i get models in stl format that i'd like to alter to better suit what i want to do with them. but when I import them in to Ansys Spaceclaim they are made up of lots of triangles and are not solids. I haven't found a way to convert them in to solids that work. There are online converters that change them from STL to OBJ files but they are still all triangles.

Have you come across anything that does it ?

Cheers,

Andy