THRUSTMASTER WARTHOG

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The Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog was the hardware that started this whole project. It's a commercially available A-10C Replica Throttle and Stick. If you are making an A-10 Cockpit, i dont know why you would choose anything else. It is not without its flaws- the slew sensor on the throttle sucks and you will should definatley upgrade it, and the stick gimbal is made of plastic.

Here is a view of the Slew sensor that comes on the original Thrustmaster Warthog Throttle. Its a small trackball style know in the centre of a plastic housing. I is not accurate and it feels terrible.

Here is the standard slew sensor (left), next to an upgrade module made by Delta Sim Electronics. Its a plug and play swap, with no cutting or modifications required to your expensive throttle. There are also cheaper replacements available on Aliexpress or eBay.

Here is an awesome photo of a Thrustmaster Warthog Throttle next to a real A-10 throttle. You can see the difference in the height over the levers. I decided to modify mine to be taller.

Here is a set of 3D printed extensions i made so the levers would be higher. No cutting, drilling or modifications required.

Here is the modified throttle in the foireground, compared to a standard throttle in the background. Painted grey, new faceplates, locking toggles switches and a magnetic EAC switch.

I also added some realistic rubbers to stop dust, and resin 3D printed switch guards on the EAC and Feul Flow switches. 

Standard VS my modified Thrustmaster Warthog Throttle.

I later replaced the Thrustmaster gimbal for a VIRPIL Mongoose T-50 CM2. I only replaced it as the Thrustmaster springs would not be strong enough to handle a 40cm extension, as i wanted the gimbal floor mounted. It works with the thrustmaster grip.

Here is the Gimbal Floor mounted. One 20cm curved, and two 10cm straight VIRPIL extensions stacked up.

The Rudder pedals I bought many moons ago were 'Simped' F-16's. Unfortuanly this company doesnt exist anymore. Back in the day these were hardcore flight sim pedals, but by todays standards they are sub par. They are built well and are very tough, however the aging electronics let them down. I bought them second hand on eBay for around $200 AUD in 2008.

Here they are opened up. Weighted on the inside with plaster! I removed all the factory elecronics, mounted a new hall sensor and they are now run on the Analog Axis from a Leo Bodnar BU0836X.

I mounted them to the pit by drilling some holes in the plastic casing, bolting it to a draw system with some drawer sliders. This means they are adjustable. They lock inplace with a bolt that just drops in place, however i have fount that they are stiff enough to stay in place anyway. Here they are in the fully forward position, for a short pilot.

And here they are fully extended for a taller pilot.

They also came from the factory with toe brakes based on a pressure sensor. I found this basically unusable, as they required almost full weight on the pedals to even get a little braking. I replaced them with simple micro switches on each pedal. this is temporary- I will eventually install potentiometers so the brakes are on an analog axis.