Extension 20cm or 10cm?

[Youtch]

I have vkb gunfighter base + ultimate grip, and it is a fantastic set and the best purchase i made for flight equipment.

 

Now that i am flying exclusively in VR, I am considering to move the joystick from my desk where it is too high to between my legs, by buying an extension.

 

VKB is proposing both 10cm and 20cm extension. The 10cm one is straight, the 20cm is curved, i don t know which one to pick. 20cm looks sexy and tempting but I am having 2nd thoughts.

 

I read that some people consider 20cm too much, and prefer 10cm extension. I fly almost exlusively IL2, i wonder that is the community experience with IL2 and flystick extension.

 

Beyond the flying experience, I am also inquiring about stability and comfort with the 20cm extension, wondering if it always make you feel something goes in the way if it is too long, touching your legs and chair each time you roll and pitch to the maximum. I don t have a dedicated sim chair just normal desk chair.

 

Thank you very much in advance for sharing your experience.

[ciderworm]

I started with a Warthog base + 10cm extension. Various upgrades & I'm now using VKB Gunfighter + Ultimate + 20cm extension. All have been centre mounted.

 

20cm with the strongest springs (50's), doubled up on each axis the stick is fairly light to move. This is great for me but others may prefer heavier feel.

 

You will have to think carefully about clearance with your seat. Although the gooseneck on the 20cm allows extra clearance & the 10cm has less throw, both may still give some clearance issues. My set ups have all had some padding removed from the seat. Also you need to allow some space for your knees to move sideways.

 

It's a personal thing but I much prefer the 20cm arrgt for comfort and control and don't regret the huge amount of work to convert my set up from 10 to 20cm.

 

Hope this helps.

[dburne]

I use 20cm with my Gunfighter Mk III and Ultimate Grip.

Love it, no issues on my end with my gaming chair. ( no real difference in shape to a normal desk chair).

 

You will need a mount, I personally use Monster Tech extended mount and love it also. VKB offers mounts also.

 

[shirazjohn]

I decided to make my own seat based the Playseat using a 20mm extension on my warthog which I'm really happy with the only problem i have is now i added the simshaker jetseat the stick does just touch the inside of my legs now so i need to move the stick up slightly now.

[Youtch]

First of all, thank you very much for all your answers. Much appreciated.

 

You are convincing me to go full on for the 20cm.

 

I was thinking to fix it on a column standing from the ground instead of using a chair or desk mount. I haven t seen a lot of people doing it. Are there any drawbacks of having the base standing on a column laying on the floor with a flat base for stability?

 

I guess the biggest difficulty will be to figure the sweet spot in terms of height compared to the chair.

 

Thank you again.

[shirazjohn]

An advantage of mounting to your chair is if you have or are going buy Simshaker Jetpad or similar you feel the vibrations through the stick/throttle for a bit of added immersion. 

[Yogiflight]

10 hours ago, Youtch said:

I was thinking to fix it on a column standing from the ground instead of using a chair or desk mount. I haven t seen a lot of people doing it. Are there any drawbacks of having the base standing on a column laying on the floor with a flat base for stability?

I have my 20cm extended gunfighter on a self made 32cm high column standing, which is fixed to the ground plate on which the rudder pedals are fixed, too. Absolutely no issues with stability. Additionally I fixed the blackbox with four screws on a small pedestal between the column standing and the rudder pedals.

[Youtch]

I guess what does matter is the relative height compared to the height of your seat, correct?

 

With 20cm extension and flystick between your legs, are your arms supposed to be resting somehow in your legs, or your hands are much higher?

 

I am quite decided for 20cm and self built wood mount, I just wonder how big of a basis I will have to make for good stability, if I do not link it with any other elements and pedals.

 

Thank you very much again

[Yogiflight]

1 hour ago, Youtch said:

I guess what does matter is the relative height compared to the height of your seat, correct?

Absolutely. I made my seat high enough, so I can use the rudder pedals comfortably. Now I chose the height of the column standing so I can use the stick comfortably, too. The lower end of my KG 12 grip is at the height of my knees. My arm is about 2cm above the leg.

 

1 hour ago, Youtch said:

I just wonder how big of a basis I will have to make for good stability, if I do not link it with any other elements and pedals.

I don't know if this will work with a wood mount, as it will not be heavy enough to give enough stability.

[ciderworm]

As a starting point I got the tape measure out in my car.

This gave me the distance from pedals to seat & a relative height. What seemed to be clear was that the pedals need to be raised off the floor (in my case by about 150mm), so more Fw190 than Spitfire.

This gave a position / height of my knees with my feet on the pedals. I wanted my forearm to rest on my thigh so this gave me a height for the grip. I'm not sure but photos of WW2 cockpits seem to show they had the grip a bit higher than this.

As an aside the gear stick gave a rough position for the HOTAS throttle.

If you search "cockpit ergonomics" there's quite a bit of info out there.

I've built a plywood base which connects all the bits but I suspect just the joystick alone would not be stable enough.

[Yogiflight]

54 minutes ago, ciderworm said:

This gave me the distance from pedals to seat & a relative height. What seemed to be clear was that the pedals need to be raised off the floor (in my case by about 150mm), so more Fw190 than Spitfire.

This gave a position / height of my knees with my feet on the pedals.

Interesting. As stated above, I have my rudder pedals on the ground plate and then raised my seat ( a racing simulator seat) 20cm to have a more comfortable sitting position.

Is your position ok for longer missions?

On a sidenote, when I am thinking of Formula 1 drivers, how they are lying in their cars, my back starts hurting from thinking of it.

[ciderworm]

Yes it is comfortable. My seat (playseat Airforce) is high to begin with, comparable with a standard office chair, so your's may be lower to begin with. The crosswinds pedals are angled to about 45deg.

[Youtch]

I have vkb rudder pedals, this model:

https://images.app.goo.gl/crDcGLrpbvFexPkG9

 

And i think those are more comfortable to use and maybe do not require being seated so high compared to traditionnal design of pedals. But i will have to check different positions and how i feel after 1 hour or so.

 

Actually my plan was to lower my chair to minimum to be able to keep all the equipments under the desk when I play and for storage (I have a high desk).

 

I need to read more about ergonomic to establish the perfect height of joystick compared to my body.

 

One doubt i had: When you violently roll to maximum one side and then the other, you never bump the stick against your legs? Or you need to keep a stance with legs quite open when flying with 200mm extension?

 

Thank you again.

[ciderworm]

Photo showing my set up. You do need to have some clearance to allow your knees to move sideways, about 5cm in my case.

[Youtch]

Thanks for sharing.

 

All this seems quite high? Is it because your chair is higher than normal?