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WIP FA18/A10/VR FrankenPit PIC heavy


ward8124

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Hey all, I've been reticent posting pics of my pit on here due to the high calibre of workmanship I've witnessed from many of the members pits and didn’t want the purists/smiths to ridicule my handy work. However I've decided to do so just to give others inspiration to give it a go as I am far from a tradesman/wood/metal smith/Engineer what ever and I've done my first major pit.

 

I'll start from the beginning which was to get a bunch of "Must have" requirements and objectives for the pit.

 

These are/were:

 

 

  • Must be ergonomic for long stints and comfort
  • Must allow ease of access to get in/out and to the PC/Peripherals
  • Must be VR friendly
  • Must be loosely based on the FA18 cockpit as this is THE module I am most looking forward to (Among others)
  • Design must be modular and be able to be assembled/disassembled easily
  • Must be future proofed - i.e. front panel to be removable/changeable
  • Must be able to allow adjustment of HOTAS/Stick
  • Must allow for UFC and CDU panels for A10 and FA18

I've spend many hours looking at forum members' builds, designs as well as some of the 9th Shrek Squadrons pits and picked out pieces from them all and mashed them together in a design in my head.

 

 

 

So I started just before Christmas with some rough sketches and mucking about with some old cardboard to get a sense of size, fitting angles etc before I dived balls deep in to manufacture from MDF.

 

"Design" Front structure

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I spend ages upon ages looking at other designs in detail and looking to and from pictures on google images of the FA hornet pit. Somewhere along the way I kinda blurred all the different aspects of the images into a single design as I’m not aiming for 100% accurate 1:1 functionality but more towards getting a good look and feel as an FA18 hornet would give me but also to chose function over form i.e. the ergonomics of how it will feel for long missions and VR

 

I cut out cardboard templates to start with and sat in my existing chair to see what would feel right and eventually got some measurements to work with. I kinda skipped the refinement and planning stage and went straight to “FCUK it!” I’ll build it and figure the rest of the shizzle out as I go….this came back to haunt me on a few later points however…..

 

So I invested in a router and did a bunch of youtubing to see how the flipping thing works and what the tips are for getting templates all the same, decent finish and relatively symmetrical.

 

I did quite a few practice runs and screwed up a whole load of mdf to scrap but learnt the lessons and eventually started to get the knack for it. The problem wasn’t my execution of the router but making sure the measurements and things were square in the first place which I agonised, measured, remeasured and still managed to muck it up on a few occassions. Good job MDF is relatively cheap…...ish.

 

Templates - Front panel

 

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Panel support structure

 

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Base

 

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Front Structure Assembled

 

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Panel extension to ground to mount warthog stick plus center MFD mounted on hinge for adjustment later

 

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The next bit I manufactured was the trolley system for the front and rear fuselage to separate allowing me access to the seat nice and easy. I didn’t get a photo of this for some reason unless I’ve deleted so if I find it I’ll post it but it’s basically a piece of flat 18mm MDF with a slot cut out and 4 rubber 100mm castors attached. I then fitted guide rails for the castors to run along and maintain position.

 

My next problem was space as I now wanted to work on the surrounding structures and my garage being full with an R1, Vespa and assorted tools and benches did not allow me a lot of room to operate! So I dissabled the base, front panel and support structure and prepared the man cave in which it would live. So the first this I had to do was take down the old “pit” and re-use the wood from that for later on in the build

 

With that done, I spend a long time getting the seating position right and then figuring out how high I wanted the throttles and sides. Again, I used boxes/cardboard and wood to get to a position I felt comfortable with and then measured up. In hindsight I should have spent longer here as I’d miscalculated the angles I wanted as well the final height of where the panels will sit but the end result is not too bad and there is room for modification in the future so not the end of the world.

 

Once I’d got the heights I needed I then reverted to the trusty old cardboard and drew out the shape I’d need or want. Getting the right curve was a PITA but eventually I settled on one and then proceeded to make a template using a jigsaw and 12mm MDF. Once the template was done I ordered a shiz load of MDF precut to certain sizes and the use the Router to exccess til I’d got enough struts for both sides front and back. It was here that a few things kinda went wrong with initial design choices i.e. I wanted the PC at the front to connect to. Problem was that I’ve a mahoosive case (Betfenix colossus) which would not fit under the struts unless I carved a large portion out. So I did but this ended up being a PITA as I’d forgotten the need to run support wood through and now I didn’t have this. I ended up creating a new small internal structure for the front left surface to put the HOTAS throttle on. It worked but I was still a bit unhappy with it.

 

You can see it here just about in the corner where I’ve hacked away the templated strut

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This decision came back to haunt me as it set of a chain of events and bodges which I did to the left side of the pit which need not have happened had I thought it through better. The left hand side ended up a little wonky and needed supports to even it out as you'll see in the pics later.

 

So anyway things were coming together and it was starting to look more and more like a pit and I spent a lot of time gluing wood together and attempting to get things straight which was hard as the floor itself was at an angle which is far from ideal. I persevered non the less thinking I had options to adjust at the end.

32402117252_7d8108d719_c.jpg

 

The next phase I needed to do was fixing the rear structure to the trolly mechanism so that it would move with it to the rear. Again another thing that in hindsight demanded a bit more attention as I'd not manufactured enough support for the weight and as a consequence the sides were rubbing against the base and causing friction. I eventually overcame this by putting struts across the two rear sections so they remained rigid and kept the sides from rubbing.

 

Here's the pre-strut implementation

 

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The more observant amongst you will see that there are inaccuracies with the levels of the platforms and the angles are not as steep as they should be. This is down to uneven floors but some hasty workmanship in terms of measuring and design. I intend to modify these in future and get a much more accurate fitting but for now these will do as by now my wife is giving me an ear ache for the amount of time I've spent mulling over and banging away at this pit so far.

 

At this stage I'd completed the right handside of the fuselage and was much happier with the workmanship and simplicity than the left hand side. The PC position was still eating my insides and gnawing at my soul to the point where I lost my temper with it one day when trying to move it in and out between the struts. I was a no go and would not move unless deconstruction of the struts was done and looking in to the future, I could see me getting mightily peed off with this and so made the decision to move it.

 

Having looked at the rear of the pit I could see an obvious candidate in which to place it. However this also introduced some more challenges as it would make the rear heavy and so when the trolly passed a certain tipping point it would dig in to the carpet and go no further. The solution was cut out the unused base section and fit wheels under the trolley to stabilise it at full extension.

 

Another issue I now had to find a solution to was the fact that just about all my peripherals now needed to be connected somehow to the PC but the cables would not be long enough as they were. To get around this I used a long quality USB3 (5 meters) and a USB3 hub situated on the left side where all the cables can connect to as well as take advantage of the inbuild USB hub on the Acer Predator screen to increase the number of USB ports I needed. I also required to get a 5 meter displayport2 cable to run from the back to the front.

 

As the structure is moveable I didn't want cables getting trapped or damaged so came up with an idea to use an old metal table leg which is hollow and routed it through the ends of the fuselages so that the cables don't actually move and there is enough play from the excess cable to handle the extension.

 

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The last bit of this phase was just thinking about the cooling of the PC as it is snug to the sides. I cut out holes to the front and back to allow airflow. Later I'll be fitting fans for extraction and cool air flow and exhaust system.

 

Next up was the chair. The chair is car seat out of an Audi S4 S-line but I needed the joystick between my legs and as things were, the front of the seat would not allow this. I then took a hammer and a hacksaw and dissasembled the front, sides and bottom as there was an offset from center that needed to be dealt with. I then cut out the front knee support and glued/secured/bolted the knee/thigh supports back to the main seat chassis which did the trick just nicely. I think in future I'll build a seat from scratch using MDF but I'd just spent money on the chair and wanted to get some use out of it first not to mention that it's a damn comfy seat.

 

Seat to the right with cut out section

31742936933_c10ef55c6c_c.jpg

 

I now needed to come with an adjustable height joystick mount so again, I reverted to using a metal table leg, cutting a 33mm hole in the centre mount and then securing it. Nice and simple tight and very little wobble. At this point I decided to paint the internal fuselage with "Battleship Grey" colour from VALSPAR as it was interior wood and finished in matte not to mention it doesn't need priming either. Looks quite nice IMHO.

 

31742944643_dfd98cf4dc_c.jpg

 

You'll see that I put a hardboard 5mm across the top of the panel to simulate the cowel/cover/sunshield from the FA18 and used applied force/tension to bend it to shape using some of my weights. Did the job nicely. Also made a start on covering the insides of the struts too.

 

The project at this point had been going for a couple of month as I'd had Xmas to deal with and had to take enforced breaks away from fettling with the pit courtesy of the wife and child. Patience was also running low as I was missing air time in the new releases of Spitfire, Elite Dangerous and so on and so I made the final push to get things working and useable. I connected up all peripherals and routed cables etc, got the screen a new mount to extend the height and the built a housing for the lillput touch screen to act as a UFC/Panel etc. Cracked all that out and painted but then it came to the skinning and this took me some time due to measuring/bending boards as well taking apart the whole pit again so I can move it away from the wall and put the right handside on.

 

I found out there we a lot of inconsistencies with measurements between the right and left bodywork which I needed to fix. Also, when the skins were put on (5mm hard faced fibreboard) painted and put back together; there were misalignments all over the place due to the floor changes and position of the pit. I had to level it first and this then made other things misaligned so again, I had to tinker and modify so that they look better but the end result wasn't perfect and something that will need looking into in future.

 

I'd painted the skins with VALSPAR "Wintered Cottage" Yeah I know hardly as manly named as battleship grey but this was what I thought was the closed grey they had to a typical FA18 camo colour which for love nor money could I actually find the UK code or a Pantone code for to take somewhere. Either way, I like the colour and it's more than good enough for my needs.

 

Last up were cable routing, LED lighting, positioning HOTAS, Rudder and strengthening with some minor touch ups and painting. This completes the first major phase of my PIT build but I've still a lot of finishing touches to make before I'm happy. I've got in mind to sort the seat out properly using extrusion panels and fixings so it's secure, level and refined.

 

The second phase will be getting the vast array of electronics including A10 CDU, leobodnar/tinsey/PI3 touch screen all integrated in the panels and also to fully configure HELIOS for my front Lilliput touchscreen (had a go, fk'd it up)

 

Watch this space there will be more coming soon....ish quickly followed by a divorce probably.

 

A big thanks goes out to the members of 9th Shrek Squadron for encouragement and many people on here who have shared their pits and ideas with us as with out them, inspiration and solutions would have been very difficult to implement. I've put some pics of the final result so far and hope you enjoy.

 

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attachment.php?attachmentid=156154&d=1485807897

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Edited by BIGNEWY
missing pics
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Oh and a very understanding wife.

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Night vis pics

 

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EVGA GTX1080TISC2 Black Hybrid Cooler, Asus Strix X399, Water cooled ThreadRipper 1920X, Dominator 32GB 3200Mhz,NVME Samsung 250/500GB SSDs, Corsair Air 740 case, Acer Predator 34' Gsync curved display + 3x Alienware 23inch 120hz monitors. TM HOTAS, RAZER - Tiamat,Blackwidow, Mamba, Tartarus and Oculus Rift CV1/DK2 + TrackIR5, MFG crosswinds

 

Oh and a very understanding wife.

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Cheers, for some reason I can't seem to post anymore pics.....must have hit my limit or something!

31743067473_21c9891038_z.jpg.43ac0b64c3bb365ab197ef81185c08f2.jpg

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Edited by ward8124

EVGA GTX1080TISC2 Black Hybrid Cooler, Asus Strix X399, Water cooled ThreadRipper 1920X, Dominator 32GB 3200Mhz,NVME Samsung 250/500GB SSDs, Corsair Air 740 case, Acer Predator 34' Gsync curved display + 3x Alienware 23inch 120hz monitors. TM HOTAS, RAZER - Tiamat,Blackwidow, Mamba, Tartarus and Oculus Rift CV1/DK2 + TrackIR5, MFG crosswinds

 

Oh and a very understanding wife.

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  • ED Team

Thanks for sharing wardie, it has been nice seeing it come together on the shrek squadron channels, it puts my pit to shame :)

 

Like I have said before once you start you never really stop tweaking and changing stuff enjoy it while you can or for as long as the wife lets you!

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No problems Newy, true indeed that this is an ongoing evolution so looking forward to getting all the gadgets working!

EVGA GTX1080TISC2 Black Hybrid Cooler, Asus Strix X399, Water cooled ThreadRipper 1920X, Dominator 32GB 3200Mhz,NVME Samsung 250/500GB SSDs, Corsair Air 740 case, Acer Predator 34' Gsync curved display + 3x Alienware 23inch 120hz monitors. TM HOTAS, RAZER - Tiamat,Blackwidow, Mamba, Tartarus and Oculus Rift CV1/DK2 + TrackIR5, MFG crosswinds

 

Oh and a very understanding wife.

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Thanks Mr Burns! I'm no carpenter that's for sure but the thing that helped me the most was the Router, YouTube and a shiz load of Gorilla wood glue! Trust me, if I can do it then so can you!

EVGA GTX1080TISC2 Black Hybrid Cooler, Asus Strix X399, Water cooled ThreadRipper 1920X, Dominator 32GB 3200Mhz,NVME Samsung 250/500GB SSDs, Corsair Air 740 case, Acer Predator 34' Gsync curved display + 3x Alienware 23inch 120hz monitors. TM HOTAS, RAZER - Tiamat,Blackwidow, Mamba, Tartarus and Oculus Rift CV1/DK2 + TrackIR5, MFG crosswinds

 

Oh and a very understanding wife.

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Thanks Mr Burns! I'm no carpenter that's for sure but the thing that helped me the most was the Router, YouTube and a shiz load of Gorilla wood glue! Trust me, if I can do it then so can you!

 

Well it looks great! Do you have a jig saw too? Is the router better than that for what we are trying to acheive?

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Basically I used a cheap nasty McCallister 200W table saw for cutting panels to length/width rather than a jigsaw as I was utterly inaccurate with it for parallel lines etc. I then used the following tools for other tasks as per below:

 

Erbaur Router - all templates and panels

Ryobi corded multitool - cutouts/holes/sanding

Black and Decker drills heavy duty for circular cutouts/general drilling

Bosch mouse sander - obvious..

Back and Decker belt sander -great bit of kit for sanding and removing protruding screws

Black n Decker Jigsaw for template curves and general cutouts

An old crappy mitre saw for cutting various 4x2/wood struts to length

 

And of course the usual impact drivers and a hacksaw (mutilating the chair)

 

Tis about it and was the main bulk of expense for this project TBF. Considering getting a CNC 3040 router off Ebay so monitoring what others are doing here (including yourself) first before I do!

EVGA GTX1080TISC2 Black Hybrid Cooler, Asus Strix X399, Water cooled ThreadRipper 1920X, Dominator 32GB 3200Mhz,NVME Samsung 250/500GB SSDs, Corsair Air 740 case, Acer Predator 34' Gsync curved display + 3x Alienware 23inch 120hz monitors. TM HOTAS, RAZER - Tiamat,Blackwidow, Mamba, Tartarus and Oculus Rift CV1/DK2 + TrackIR5, MFG crosswinds

 

Oh and a very understanding wife.

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Basically I used a cheap nasty McCallister 200W table saw for cutting panels to length/width rather than a jigsaw as I was utterly inaccurate with it for parallel lines etc. I then used the following tools for other tasks as per below:

 

Erbaur Router - all templates and panels

Ryobi corded multitool - cutouts/holes/sanding

Black and Decker drills heavy duty for circular cutouts/general drilling

Bosch mouse sander - obvious..

Back and Decker belt sander -great bit of kit for sanding and removing protruding screws

Black n Decker Jigsaw for template curves and general cutouts

An old crappy mitre saw for cutting various 4x2/wood struts to length

 

And of course the usual impact drivers and a hacksaw (mutilating the chair)

 

Tis about it and was the main bulk of expense for this project TBF. Considering getting a CNC 3040 router off Ebay so monitoring what others are doing here (including yourself) first before I do!

 

Mate if you have the cash I personally wouldn't go DIY CNC, the brief euphoria of writing your name is gone with what I am finding to be tolerance issues and repeatability.

 

Metal n wood made a very accurate DIY CNC but I am not as talented as him, a millimetre here and there cannot be hidden by glue, paint and filler and I can't measure cut and drill to a mili meter! I will continue to try though as I just cannot justify a CNC to the boss!

 

If I bit the bullet a year ago, I would be on my second pit!

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Soooo I kinda went a little nuts before Xmas and bought a shed load of bits and electronics with the intention to upgrade the pit in phase 2 to allow for more functionality and buttons to press in VR. I'm undecided what to attack first, COMMs, Generic VR buttons, or the A10 CDU (minus the display for now)

 

attachment.php?attachmentid=156297&stc=1&d=1485964376

32526363181_745eb8868f_z.jpg.cf8fc6c3e4d6d5cbcab5ec65c99d71ca.jpg

  • Like 1

EVGA GTX1080TISC2 Black Hybrid Cooler, Asus Strix X399, Water cooled ThreadRipper 1920X, Dominator 32GB 3200Mhz,NVME Samsung 250/500GB SSDs, Corsair Air 740 case, Acer Predator 34' Gsync curved display + 3x Alienware 23inch 120hz monitors. TM HOTAS, RAZER - Tiamat,Blackwidow, Mamba, Tartarus and Oculus Rift CV1/DK2 + TrackIR5, MFG crosswinds

 

Oh and a very understanding wife.

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Nice work. The essential tool that you did not list, though they appear in your pics, clamps, lots of clamps. I must have about 30 clamps of various types. You can never have too many. :D

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Nice work. The essential tool that you did not list, though they appear in your pics, clamps, lots of clamps. I must have about 30 clamps of various types. You can never have too many. :D

 

What sort of clamps bud as I hadn't even thought of this or what for exactly?

 

Edit ignore me! I get what you mean! Yes clamps are a MUST! I wished I'd bought more TBH

EVGA GTX1080TISC2 Black Hybrid Cooler, Asus Strix X399, Water cooled ThreadRipper 1920X, Dominator 32GB 3200Mhz,NVME Samsung 250/500GB SSDs, Corsair Air 740 case, Acer Predator 34' Gsync curved display + 3x Alienware 23inch 120hz monitors. TM HOTAS, RAZER - Tiamat,Blackwidow, Mamba, Tartarus and Oculus Rift CV1/DK2 + TrackIR5, MFG crosswinds

 

Oh and a very understanding wife.

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Very impressive! Seems you have a better imagination than me, if I had to build something without drawing every detail in advance I'd be lost

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Waiting to build a F/A-18C home-pit...

ex - Swiss Air Force Pilatus PC-21 Ground Crew

SFM? AFM? EFM?? What's this?

 

 

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minor update, I tried and failed to do a fit for purpose jettison stores button for the left side of the panel but I just could not get it right to my liking. I had a mooch around on line to locate one and the only one I can find was on Ebay for quite a pretty penny. Problem was the tight fisted bugger would do me a deal on it so I didn't get much off the price but hopefully it will be a good piece of kit to function.

 

s-l500.jpg

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/222253969783?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

EVGA GTX1080TISC2 Black Hybrid Cooler, Asus Strix X399, Water cooled ThreadRipper 1920X, Dominator 32GB 3200Mhz,NVME Samsung 250/500GB SSDs, Corsair Air 740 case, Acer Predator 34' Gsync curved display + 3x Alienware 23inch 120hz monitors. TM HOTAS, RAZER - Tiamat,Blackwidow, Mamba, Tartarus and Oculus Rift CV1/DK2 + TrackIR5, MFG crosswinds

 

Oh and a very understanding wife.

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Ok I've kind of got a "problem" now and need to pull back on spending! I've just bought this for the pit with intentions to plug in to a leobodnar....

 

s-l500.jpg

EVGA GTX1080TISC2 Black Hybrid Cooler, Asus Strix X399, Water cooled ThreadRipper 1920X, Dominator 32GB 3200Mhz,NVME Samsung 250/500GB SSDs, Corsair Air 740 case, Acer Predator 34' Gsync curved display + 3x Alienware 23inch 120hz monitors. TM HOTAS, RAZER - Tiamat,Blackwidow, Mamba, Tartarus and Oculus Rift CV1/DK2 + TrackIR5, MFG crosswinds

 

Oh and a very understanding wife.

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Ok I've kind of got a "problem" now and need to pull back on spending!

 

Hah I've tried that for years but haven't succeeded yet. Looks like a very nice pit you have there. That a Tornado gear lever right? Looking forward to seeing that in action in your pit Sir.

 

Cheers

Hans

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Hah I've tried that for years but haven't succeeded yet. Looks like a very nice pit you have there. That a Tornado gear lever right? Looking forward to seeing that in action in your pit Sir.

 

Cheers

Hans

 

Yes mate it is from a Tornado! Got a really nice solid action!

 

So I've removed the mag lock so I can operate the lever. I've also disassembled the level itself as I believe the LEDs are 28V fed and so I can't or know how replicate the voltage easily. I decided to remove the LEDs and will get some red LEDs and replace them. I will then wire these to the plug and then to a leobodnar or something along these lines to power them when the contacts are closed. Need a bit more thought but I'm pretty sure it's doable.

 

32804805995_df3160377b_m.jpg32424408660_df5b92df4b_m.jpg32424413360_b525bdf523_m.jpg32651654682_8a5f66fcdb_m.jpg32764151206_94ea3ff81e_m.jpg

EVGA GTX1080TISC2 Black Hybrid Cooler, Asus Strix X399, Water cooled ThreadRipper 1920X, Dominator 32GB 3200Mhz,NVME Samsung 250/500GB SSDs, Corsair Air 740 case, Acer Predator 34' Gsync curved display + 3x Alienware 23inch 120hz monitors. TM HOTAS, RAZER - Tiamat,Blackwidow, Mamba, Tartarus and Oculus Rift CV1/DK2 + TrackIR5, MFG crosswinds

 

Oh and a very understanding wife.

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  • 6 months later...

Pit - Update

 

Been a while but I've been enjoying the pit and slowly adding to it. Since the last post I've added the following features:

 

LeoBodnar boards x2

Retractable Mouse platform (right knee)

Keyboard mount

Viggen Data Panel (bottom right of front panel)

Master Arm/Spin Recovery switch (next to the roght MFD)

Rotary encoder above master Arm for manual QFE settings

2xRotaries and two switches (on off on) below center lilliput screen for Viggen QFEs/HUDs/various bindings on different aircraft

Mater Arm/Jettison Stores switch (Left of LEFT MFD)

Raspberry PI+touch screen

Tornado undercarriage switch (left knee)

Viggen thrust reverser pull switch

Prototype Jetseat from Andre

Configured Helios for Viggen screen bindings

 

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attachment.php?attachmentid=168243&stc=1&d=1503951477

 

attachment.php?attachmentid=168244&d=1503951437

 

To do:

 

Create a proper seat mount which is adjustable or build a new seat from scratch and ditch the Audi seat.

Cockpit flood lighting

Folding wings handle

Radio Rotaries

Tail hook lever

A10 CDU

Aircon - yes air con or fans - will get some louvres for the two holes currently covered by panels at the top of the front console and feed some pipes/fans and ducting then map to switches in the pit.

 

Currently working on making a Harrier Nozzle lever so working MDTDarkEagle aka Tin Tin from 9th Shrek Squadron.

 

Need to re do the upper side panels and paint as a few hacks at some other ideas didn't go as planned.

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EVGA GTX1080TISC2 Black Hybrid Cooler, Asus Strix X399, Water cooled ThreadRipper 1920X, Dominator 32GB 3200Mhz,NVME Samsung 250/500GB SSDs, Corsair Air 740 case, Acer Predator 34' Gsync curved display + 3x Alienware 23inch 120hz monitors. TM HOTAS, RAZER - Tiamat,Blackwidow, Mamba, Tartarus and Oculus Rift CV1/DK2 + TrackIR5, MFG crosswinds

 

Oh and a very understanding wife.

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Looking great.

 

Be interested in your folding wings, is it a pull and twist switch like the parking brake, I have no idea if you can buy pull and twist type switches.

 

I just made a jettison button for my F/A-18 pit which is a rotary with a tactile switch. Only problem was the positions of the rotary dont line up with the panel!

 

I wouldnt ditch the Audi seat, car seats are designed to have your arse in them for hours, I look at those ACES2 with the thin cushions and wonder how long you would last. That said however, I have never heard anyone complain about them.

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Not sure to be honest mate, my good friend and shrek squadron member BigNewy has implemented a spring loaded lever to simulate the folding wings but not necessarily for the FA18 in mind but it does work. I've asked him to post a link of it working here so you can take a look. If the tail hook/wing fold in the FA18 is twist and pull that will add some complexity but I'm sure I can do something ghetto for it!


Edited by ward8124

EVGA GTX1080TISC2 Black Hybrid Cooler, Asus Strix X399, Water cooled ThreadRipper 1920X, Dominator 32GB 3200Mhz,NVME Samsung 250/500GB SSDs, Corsair Air 740 case, Acer Predator 34' Gsync curved display + 3x Alienware 23inch 120hz monitors. TM HOTAS, RAZER - Tiamat,Blackwidow, Mamba, Tartarus and Oculus Rift CV1/DK2 + TrackIR5, MFG crosswinds

 

Oh and a very understanding wife.

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  • ED Team
Not sure to be honest mate, my good friend and shrek squadron member BigNewy has implemented a spring loaded lever to simulate the folding wings but not necessarily for the FA18 in mind but it does work. I've asked him to post a link of it working here so you can take a look. If the tail hook/wing fold in the FA18 is twist and pull that will add some complexity but I'm sure I can do something ghetto for it!

 

As requested :)

 

I am using the lever for two things, canopy eject / canopy open/close by using a modifier in game

 

I have created a little hook which isn't in this video that I use to lock it down.

 

My pit isn't up to the standards of you guys but it serves me well :)

 


Edited by BIGNEWY

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Forum rules - DCS Crashing? Try this first - Cleanup and Repair - Discord BIGNEWY#8703 - Youtube - Patch Status

Windows 11, NVIDIA MSI RTX 3090, Intel® i9-10900K 3.70GHz, 5.30GHz Turbo, Corsair Hydro Series H150i Pro, 64GB DDR @3200, ASUS ROG Strix Z490-F Gaming, HP Reverb G2

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