Accessories

646: G Flight Yoke 180° Mod Completed

| Tom Tsui

Remember Alexey’s G Flight Yoke 180° modification and repair project in Post 586 ?  He just notified me that the project has completed.

The last step was to install the Leo Bodnar’s custom controller board instead of the broken Saitek’s board. As the result, the yoke kept 90% of its previous functionality except for the mode switch and the timer display. With the new board the yoke’s input became smoother, so the 180 degree rotation mod applied earlier now allows better control of the aircraft. The last mod will also help people whose yokes are broken to bring them back to life with the help of Leo Bodnar’s controller board, said Alexey.

Anyone interested in his project could see the videos showing the last modification and testing here: Continue reading →

636: My New Gear Finally Arrived

| Tom Tsui

After nearly three months, my long-waited new gear has finally arrived on the eve of Halloween.

This is my fifth of its kind and my first of its brand.  I am so excited of its coming at last.

Have a guess before you click here to find out what it is. Continue reading →

623: Finding Button #s of Your Gears

| Tom Tsui

Whether your flightsim gears are instantly recognized by MSFS or not, you’ll need to find out what the numbers of the buttons are when selecting them in MSFS Control.

Unless your gears already come with a button number map, you’ll have to find them out yourself.   It’s pretty easy. Continue reading →

622: MSFS Control Mappings

| Tom Tsui

At the moment, only a few accessories are instantly recognized by the new Microsoft Flight Simulator (MSFS).  The Honeycomb Alpha Yoke is one of them, which I used as a reference to set up my VRInsight Flight Master Yoke and other flightsim gears on my second computer.

It’s funny to look at the white buttons and the red buttons on the Yoke panel as they are wrongly placed carelessly.  The two red buttons for Batteries should be on the left and the two white buttons for Avionics should be on the right.   Wonder why no one from the Asobo team nor the Honeycomb team spotted the mistake and have it corrected in the last update.

Anyway, followings are the default button mappings on the Alpha Yoke: Continue reading →

609: My Cockpit Rev #22 – Flaps Lever

| Tom Tsui

I’ve been playing a lot with the newly bought 3D printer lately.   After many failures, I finally made a satisfied Flaps Lever to replace the little black round button coming with the Flaps Indicator by Desktop Aviator.

The 3D model of the Cessna flap lever I earlier sourced from the Internet wasn’t bad.  However, it is a bit small and the shaft hole doesn’t fit the metal shaft, which is flat, on the indicator.

Therefore, instead of modifying the file, Continue reading →

603: My Cockpit Rev #21 – Covering up FIP Up-Dn Buttons

| Tom Tsui

From time to time, I receive emails from non-SpadneXt users asking if it is possible to turn off the up/down LEDs on the FIPs.  Frankly speaking, I didn’t care much whether they were lit or not in the past.  So typically I would give them an answer NO.

Until recently I have my cockpit layout properly,  I then understand why they have the needs.  Even so, my answer was still a NO unfortunately.

But there was one time I was joking to a friend saying that “You could Continue reading →

601: My Cockpit Rev #20 – Ruddo Rudder Adjustment

| Tom Tsui

VirtualFly’s Ruddo (not the plus model) is one of the highly praised rudders on the market.  I got mine last year but only started using it until a few months ago (for some personal reasons).
The Ruddo is made of metal completely and therefore very heavy and sturdy.  And unlike other similar products, it comes with 8 springs to allow users to configure the best possible pressing force on the pedals of their choices for ideal maneuverings.

It is so far the best rudders I ever have.

However, there’s one thing I don’t like in particular — it is Continue reading →

594: My Cockpit Rev #19 – Mini Keyboard

| Tom Tsui

With my DIY cockpit gradually forming in shape, I found the using and fitting of the keyboard and mouse a bit clumsy.  The worse is they cannot be simply “trashed” as they are needed for many inputs and controls, such as airport switching.

In the end, I found a solution of replacing the normal keyboard and the mouse with a miniature keyboard that comes with an integrated touchpad.  The best part is the keyboard even has a backlit.

Actually it (D8) is not my first choice. Continue reading →

592: My Cockpit Rev #18 – Full Cockpit Trial

| Tom Tsui

I bought a full scale C172 glare-shield for my cockpit rebuilding back in 2017.  After setting up the FIPs and Avionics stacks two weeks ago, I found out they didn’t fit to each other.

Since the FIPs were leaned backward on their original plastic frames, which didn’t match with the vertical avionics stack at all, I then decided to replace them with a one-piece wooden frame just like the one I made for the avionics.  Moreover, as the avionics in one stack format would leave many empty spaces on the right, I decided to put them into a B58 style layout as well.

In addition, two 12-push button switch arrays from iflysims.com were added to the cockpit for general functions, such as open doors, etc.

Followings are the pictures during the makeover: Continue reading →