Finally, a flight test video of all the latest stuff together =) Check it out, guys!
Strengthened gimbal first flight impressions
I have finally managed to build the gimbal, and even tried flying with it on Aerobatics Online Caucasus sever in DCS =)
I can say it’s great! For now, I’ve used rubber bands for stick centering, and they work pretty well. I noticed that I haven’t been using the software force trim function much during this flight. A lot of heli pilots were online, so I’ve had a great opportunity to put both the gimbal and pneumatic mod for the collective to a good test 😀
I am waiting for 50mm MAL16-50 pneumatic cylinders to arrive, hopefully with them installed the stick will feel perfect. The collective pneumatic mod still holds together, I am beginning to think it’s really safe to use. A couple more weeks will show if I am wrong =) The new gimbal will be released tomorrow, if time permits, I will also be making a couple of videos about the new stuff soon.
Stay tuned!
Past-idle stop detent mark operation improvement for collective levers
I’ve made a few adjustments to collective levers building process recently, and after some testing, I think they are good enough to be used =)
When you attach throttle grips, turn resistors fully to the left and then just a bit to the right to avoid its physical deadzones (before it was “fully to the right”, so not much of an axis was left for past idle stop detent movement). In theory, this will allow for more precise throttle movements below idle-stop detent in DCS. In practice, it’s not that important right now, but may be useful for future updates.
I have adjusted master controller firmware for a larger axis range and added a new parameter to make it configurable:
#define COLL_HEAD_DCS_HUEY_COMPAT_MODE_BUTTON_HOLD 50 // how long to hold throttle up/down buttons, adjusted depending on idle stop axis range (smaller range- bigger hold time and vice versa)
I’ve also changed the default Huey head switch modes configuration so you will be able to assign DCS Huey switches in a scale way without reconfiguring them.