Looking for details on A-10C Stick and Rudders

Hi,

I'm looking to build an A-10C Flight Stick and Rudder Pedals and I was wondering if anyone has any detailed photos, drawings or info on them.

What I am looking for is stuff like how far the stick moves on the x and y axis?

How many degrees do the rudder pedals rotate?

Any dimensioning or size info on either.

Toe Brake details

I know how the rudder pedal linkage system works from the A-10A manual but there is no visual reference to the toe brake setup.

Cheers,

Pogo

Flight stick is same as in F-16C, check pics of Cougar stick!

Up to you but heres a good link if you want something realistic.

http://www.dhs-electronic.de/index2.php?id=200&lng=en

They are F-16 rudders but should be plenty scale for A-10. Stick is same as F-16. Throttle is pretty much the same as the F-15 setup. Cant tell you x,y distances but its not FCCS so I cant imagine the Thrustmaster Cougar being too far off as far as throws. If your building a stick that goes down to the floor like I plan too, Im just going to gut the cougar and use its parts.

Up to you but heres a good link if you want something realistic.

http://www.dhs-electronic.de/index2.php?id=200&lng=en

 

They are F-16 rudders but should be plenty scale for A-10. Stick is same as F-16. Throttle is pretty much the same as the F-15 setup. Cant tell you x,y distances but its not FCCS so I cant imagine the Thrustmaster Cougar being too far off as far as throws. If your building a stick that goes down to the floor like I plan too, Im just going to gut the cougar and use its parts.

I'll be building both the rudder pedals and stick from scratch.

The reason I was asking for the throw distance of the stick is that I am a bit worried that once you extend the rotation in degrees from center to gimbal lock the 20 or so inches from a floor mounted gimbal, it will be a bit far to reach. If this is the case then we'll have to use either gears or a belt and pulley system to reduce it.

Cheers,

Pogo

I'll be building both the rudder pedals and stick from scratch.

 

The reason I was asking for the throw distance of the stick is that I am a bit worried that once you extend the rotation in degrees from center to gimbal lock the 20 or so inches from a floor mounted gimbal, it will be a bit far to reach. If this is the case then we'll have to use either gears or a belt and pulley system to reduce it.

 

Cheers,

Pogo

Brave man! Building anything from scratch is a real mission, and sometimes worthy of your time, hopefully you won't go bald from all the development cycles in building this stuff from scratch! :joystick:

easiest way is to get this A-10C setup is:

STICK: thrustmaster cougar or CH products fighterstick

Throttle: Suncom SFS throttle and mod it with USB board

Pedals: SIMPED

building from scratch is a real headache. might no be worth the effort... start with one controller, you will see..

Brave man! Building anything from scratch is a real mission, and sometimes worthy of your time, hopefully you won't go bald from all the development cycles in building this stuff from scratch! :joystick:

Well, The reason that pit building fascinates me is that it combines so may of my past hobbies and interests, and I am old enough to have had quite a few.:smilewink:

Building a stick is fairly straightforward I think. Adding force feedback to it is a whole other story. But for now I don't even know if FF will be supported in the DCS A-10 so I'm not worrying about it. The BS only supports FF for trimming purposes and doesn't use it for anything else, so my assumption, until I know different, is that there won't be any FF in the A-10.

Also, since the stick is floor mounted underneath a cowling, I don't have to worry about building the smallest gimbal assembly possible. And finally, from what I've read, I have some time before the A-10 module is released.

Cheers,

Pogo

Judging from the picture I don't think it has more that maybe 10-15 degrees deflection?

Old A-10

New A-10

But I would go for a Hall Effect Sensor that rotates in a magnetic field like this:

This will give you a super precise input (hall effect sensors are really precise), and a full curve with only +- 15 degrees deflection on the stick!

I don't think the pedals are the same as the F-16 though? This is just guessing on my behalf, but an A-10 pilot probably use the pedals more than an F-16 pilot does when attacking targets. And with the pilot on he's/her's back inside the cockpit, your range with your feet are limited compared to the more upright position of an A-10 pilot..

the F-16 Rudder pedals don't have a whole lot of place to move arround in either..

As far as the A-10 goes the pedals look like they are suspended from arm that pivot around a pivot point that is higher than the pedals.. At least that is what is drawn in the A-10 manual..

I don't think the pedals are the same as the F-16 though? This is just guessing on my behalf, but an A-10 pilot probably use the pedals more than an F-16 pilot does when attacking targets. And with the pilot on he's/her's back inside the cockpit, your range with your feet are limited compared to the more upright position of an A-10 pilot..

the F-16 Rudder pedals don't have a whole lot of place to move arround in either..

 

As far as the A-10 goes the pedals look like they are suspended from arm that pivot around a pivot point that is higher than the pedals.. At least that is what is drawn in the A-10 manual..

Hey Triggerhappy69,

Thanks for the input man. Your build thread is a big part of what has inspired me to try this. What you've accomplished is amazing!

I do indeed plan to go with Hall sensors for the stick. I'll take your advice that they are sensitive enough to make do with around 15 degrees of rotation. If that doesn't work out I can always put a ratio on it to increase the rotation at the sensor.

As for the pedals, I believe you are right again, at least based on this excerpt from the A-10A Manual. It would make sense that they are mounted through the center console as opposed to from the sides of the cockpit.

As near as I can tell you would push the pedal in and out for rudder, and then I am guessing that you rotate the actual footrest of the pedal around it's axis for the brakes. My family ran a hobby shop for 30 years and I practically grew up there so a few pushrods and bellcranks don't worry me too much ;)

Thanks again for the photos and references, they help alot.

Cheers,

Pogo

how is your project progress??

any new input for us?

Pogo I have a lead on real a stick from an A-10A model pm me if your interested.