Unpacking the Warthog

The Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog arrived today.

The package as received

Outer wrapping paper removed. 

The 'core' is packed very nicely in 'big bubble' bubble packing paper

Bubble wrapping paper removed.

Outer box of the Warthog. 

The box is labeled for delivery in India, of a product manufactured in China, sold to me by a US company. 

The 'Inner Box'

I'm already excited.

Two inner boxes containing the throttle and stick

Inner cartons unpacked

Unpacking the 'Stick' carton

Opening the 'Throttle Carton'

Oouch! 

The throttle thermocole-foam packing is damaged 

(I repaired the damage with transparent scotch tape before repacking the throttle)

Throttle unpacked and unwrapped.

The build quality is stupendous. Feel of buttons is just 'awesome'.

Driving the Hornet on boat is going to be fun. I know that already.

Hotas Warthog

The 'Stick' unpacked but not unwrapped. 

I am going to leave unwrapping to when I install the stick in my pit. 

For the time being, my Saitek X-52 Pro will stay on duty.

More images, just so that I remember to repack the stick when I will have to move house, which I inevitably will have to. Soon.

Measuring dimensions for cutouts in the pit panels.

New Stick

This was something, that had been in my "thoughts" for a long long time.

I have had a 'Saitek X-52 Pro' flight control system with Saitek Pro Rudder Pedals. Been using the X-52 for more than four years now and the rudder pedals for a little over an year. 

Though, I'm more than happy with the existing stick, but it is beginning to show age. I have to be careful with the connectors (the weakest link of X52). The stick has two 'detents' (idle and afterburner). Due to prolonged use and fair wear and tear, the afterburner detent has now withered away.

I had been considering a new stick for my pit for quite some time. Most pit builders have used Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog for their builds. 

The stick was released commercially sometime in 2010 and had been a 'must have' item on my list since then. I didn't consider this earlier, since it wasn't readily available in India. 

Found an Indian website today, that had this stick in stock. It was almost an 'impulse' decision, and I decided to buy it. 

"Warthog" is the best commercially available flight control system as on date. It's officially licensed by USAF. The immersion this stick provides can't get any better. 

Collecting items

Placed orders for following items.

I understand that items have been shipped and should reach in a week's time.

Arduino Leonardo with Headers

Arduino Stackable Header Kit

ProtoScrewShield

Rotary Encoder 20PPR with Switch

Breadboard Mini Self-Adhesive (White)

5-way Tactile Switch

Missile Switch Cover

Mini Push Button Switch - 5mm Shaft (10 Nos)

USB Cable A to B

LED Tactile Button - Green

12MM x 12MM Tactile switch -5mm shaft (10 Nos)

LED 3MM Green (50 Nos. Pack)

LED 3MM Yellow (50 Nos. Pack)

LED 3MM Red (50 Nos. Pack)

Touch Panels still "touchy"

Had a little time on my hand today, so tested out both my touch panels today. 

A detailed discussion on various causes of the malfunction is under progress on VRS forums. 

I thank Glenn "Tripod" for all the help, support and guidance. 

I also thank Al 'Otto' Rosenberg for his unsolicited offer of assistance. That was a very nice gesture from my FSX 'Guru'.

For the sake of brevity, I will cut the long story short.

Tripod was convinced that the problem on my 'test rig' is related to USB bus being underpowered. I tended to agree with him and have therefore already ordered a 'Belkin 7 port powered USB hub'.

Since, the powered USB hub will take a week to arrive, I decided to test out BOTH the touch panels simultaneously.

Connected my 21" monitor to the 3 X 23" monitor test rig, setup both the touch panels (one by one individually).
Windows detected both the panels, the controlling software also installed without any hitch.

Ran some tests on both the panels, including calibrating the panels (4 point calibration and 26 point linear calibration). All tests worked nicely. 

To rule out 'USB power issues', I ran the panels while connected to the USB port in front of the computer, then in the rear of computer and then also through a unpowered USB hub. They work quite fine when connected to any USB port.

For the sake of test, I then removed the extra 21" monitor. And as expected, the driver failed to initialize.

"Touched Panel"

Fixed the touch panel.

Tripod (from VRS Forums) provided me with extensive checklist to systematically debug this issue.

I chose the easiest and most likely problem resolution, and installed the 10.1" touch panel on my 15.1" monitor laptop (Dell XPS M1530).

The panel worked like a charm. I was able to calibrate the panel (4 point calibration and 25 point linear calibration) and it did everything that was advertised. The sensitivity of the panel is still a bit buggy, but that is something I will be able to tweak, as I dig deeper. 

Like I had originally suspected, the problem is most likely due to 'Virtual Display Adaptor' installed by Triple Head 2 Go for my 3 screen test setup. The virtual display adaptor combines the individual resolutions of all of my three monitors to provide one single monitor of 3 x 1920 x 1080 = 5670 x 1080 resolution. Most likely the driver for touch controller is not able to 'handle' such a large resolution and quits on me.

When I connect the other single monitors to my test setup, I am now confident that my touch panel should work. 

Thank you Tripod, for the leads you provided.

I'm happy that the panel now works.

On a secondary note, the vendor from whom I had purchased my multi-monitor stand, has fabricated a set of extension plates. Received those extension plates today. Will assemble the stand later in the day and test.

Adaptor for multi-monitor stand - for me to be able to accommodate 3 x 23" screens on the stand

"Touchy Panel"

8.1" Touch Panel (along with touch controller, extender patch cord and USB extender cord

Both my touch panels arrived a couple of days back. 

Luckily, both of them arrived in good shape this time (no chips, nicks, cracks or broken connectors this time). The package contained the driver CD also. 

Assembled them immediately and connected them to my test rig. For some reason, my Windows 7 (64 Bit) is not able to recognize the touch panel controller device. 

After extensive googling around for last two days, and not making any further headway, I have now requested folks at VRS forums for assistance. 

The panels came with drivers from EGalax (5000 series). These are the most popular generic touch panel drivers. Also tested them with newer Touch Kit drivers. But, the operating system still doesn't recognize my USB device.

My test rig is presently setup with 3 x 23" monitors (other monitors are removed for the time being). All three monitors are fed off a Triple Head 2 Go through DVI input/output. With each monitor setup at 1920 x 1080 resolution, I am setup for a total desktop area of 5760 x 1080 (on a single virtual display adaptor). 

I'm thinking, this extended display resolution is probably conflicting with the touch controller driver. 

Over the coming weeks, time is at a bit of premium. 

Need to find a way to get my panels to work!

Cockpit Templates

Took a lot of work to get the 'to scale' cockpit layouts printed out. 

The cockpit layout is available in the applicable extract of NATOPs manual for the Super Bug. If these drawings are blown up by 415%, one gets a scaled drawing of the cockpit layout. 

Thank you Mark 'Wood' Stinson for sharing the drawings.

The Console Panels

The Main Instrument Panels

(I have printed out two sets of each drawing. Just in case, one of them gets blown off)

Left & Right Coaming Panels

All of Them Together

Yay!

That is nice progress for today. I'm happy with the work. 

It wasn't easy getting a lab to be able to print out such large drawings, especially at where I'm staying right now.

Overview of the Plan

While, I take notes only today. But, these are issues I have been thinking about for many months now. 

As time passes, many things could change. But, these are the initial 'decisions' I have made.

Of the many hobby pit builders, I have chosen Mark 'Wood' Stinson's as the primary guide. Wood is very accomplished with wood work (hence his call sign) and is a passionate aviator (both in real world and virtual). 

1. I am going to take this project slow and not rush into taking hasty decisions or building it. 
2. I anticipate, at my own pace, I should be able to complete the build in about an years time.
3. The pit is going to be based on a Boeing F/A-18E (Super Bug), because this is the airplane I like to fly most and more than half of my 'virtual flying experience' is on this bird.
4. Primary flight simulation software that I plan to use is Microsoft Flight Simulator X (FSX) with Acceleration. Microsoft no longer support FSX (for many years now). The platform of the future is Lockheed Martin (LM) Prepar3D/ESP. For some reason, LM are not retailing P3D for hobby market right now. The only version available is for commercial use. If this changes in  future, I will shift over to P3D.
5. The airplane I will use to model the pit is Vertical Reality Simulations (VRS) F/A-18E. Folks at VRS are the specialists on the Super Bug and have made the best fidelity airplane for FSX.
6. The pit build will be a mix of wood & sheet metal construction.
7. The pit will be modular in construction, so that, I can easily take it apart to carry it with me. This requirement is necessitated due to uncomfortably frequent changes in residence due to my present work profile.

It's planned to include the following in my pit:-

• Support for upto three monitors for scenery display.
• Support for one additional monitor for other miscellaneous displays (Plan G, TeamSpeak3 etc).
• Touch screen UFCP.
• Left DDI and Right DDI. I'm not planning for the MPCD right now. Maybe, will include it later.
• Use my existing Saitek X52 Pro control stick with throttle along with Saitek Pro Rudder Pedals as primary controls. At a later stage consider adding support for dual throttles or replace the primary control system with Logitech G940 or Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog.
• Use MFD Cougar pack or consider building the same using tactile buttons and a suitable interface.
• Fabricate levers for Gear, Hook and Flaps. These are not readily available in India and will be difficult to source from elsewhere. I plan to build them with sheet metal work. Let's see how it goes.
• In first stage, attach functioning switches for operation of hook, gear, flaps, battery, APU start, engine selector switches, both engine generator switches, anti skid switch, launch bar switch, nose wheel steering selector switch and FCS cool switch.
• In second stage, progressively add support for all the remaining cockpit switches including rotary knobs.
• In first stage get the cockpit ready for 'day VFR'.
• In second stage modify all panels with night light (back lit illuminated panels).
• In last stage add support for all advisory, caution lights including simulating the fire indication and suppression system.
• As of this moment, I plan to use Leo Bodnar's BU0836X Universal Joystick Controller Board (three of them) to drive various cockpit controls. Might consider using Two BBI-32 Button Box Interface and one BU0836X also. Will take a call on it before ordering these. Mark has built his pit around X-keys matrix boards. These are significantly cheaper compared to the stuff Leo makes, but I might find it easier (and cheaper) to get hardware from UK than US. Will deliberate!

A Beginning

As I write this blog, I have completed a little over 24 years since I was first introduced to PC based Flight Simulators. I thank my (then) college mate, Gurmeet Singh Menor, for introducing me to this wonderful hobby.

In the ensuing two decades I have had the good fortune to experiment with many flavors of Flight Simulators, but the one that I enjoyed most for longest was the Microsoft Flight Simulator series.

In my attempt to further my hobby a little further and take it to the next level, I have been considering building a home cockpit for myself for quite a while now. 

This an other pages that follow, will document a part of this process. 

There were many reasons I decided to start this blog. 

Firstly, this blog helps me to document the whole process. 

Secondly, having spent such a long time with the world wide flight simulator community, I have made many many friends, philosophers and guides. Many of these folks will be as happy as I when they read this chronicle. 

Thirdly, in my country, aviation is a niche commodity. Virtual aviation is practically non-existent. Doing what I'm attempting to do. Well, I know of only two more people who undertook something like this. I do hope the research, tips and tricks I eventually document here, could provide a ready made guide for other hobbyists to use.

Happy landings.