VKB 20cm curved extension with standard office desk chair

[Customizer171]

5 hours ago, 1Sascha said:

Mine's been twisted too since I went central mount. Can't twist the Gladiator's grip against the base, but the VKB mount allows to rotate the whole stick by maybe 5° to either side. One of the reasons why I wanted the VKB mount, since I wasn't sure it'd be possible to do this with Monstertechs. It feels so much more comfortable like this. In fact, when I use the stick untwisted as a central-mount, just holding the grip feels downright uncomfortable after a few minutes.

 

S.

When its not possible to twist the grip on the base I understand why people mount the base at an angle. But to me, I think it would be difficult to get used to the diagonal movement that BladeMeister using.

But we all need to find what works best for ourselves, that is the only thing that matters.

3 hours ago, Drano said:

I have my extension mounted straight on to the base and my grip canted a few degrees to the left. It's just an ergonomics thing. More confotable holding onto the grip if it's facing towards your hand than if it's straight. You get used to controlling the plane after a while when it's set that way.

That is the way I do it also.

However, we do move the stick straight forward when we dive and straight back when climbing, it's only our hand that is in a better ergonomic position.

Looking at BladeMeisters picture you can see, when he wants to dive, he moves the stick forward and about 30 degree to the left, the opposite if he wants to climb.

It's always nice to see how other people get things done, it opens our eyes for alternative solutions ?

[BladeMeister]

Different strokes for different folks. I mounted my GFIII like this when I originally set it up. Honestly it was a little awkward at first but now I never think twice about it or catch myself moving the stick the wrong way. Of course I also mounted my T16000m in the same manner for many years, but it was not a center mount postion. That fits very well for keeping my wrist in it natural resting position and moving the stick is much more natural in the canted position IMHO. It probably would have worked well in a real Warbird and I would be surprised if it wasn't ever tried in real life. I have tried all sorts of different stick and throttle setups in the past and finally I am very satisfied with my current mounts.

 

S!Blade<><

Edit: I dug this up from my previous setup. The Saitek stick was just there to supply extra buttons. This board sat across the arms of the same chair in my previous pictures right in front of me. Every time I got ready to fly for literally 6 years, I C-clamped the board to one of the arms to hold it from moving. Said C clamp is in the picture. Note it is red for quick identification during emergency bailouts.

Edited August 30, 2022 by BladeMeister

[Picchio]

On 8/20/2022 at 1:24 PM, Gordon200 said:

Here are a couple photos of my set up.

 

 

Is that a Monstertech or a DIY rig? 

[-332FG-Gordon200]

14 minutes ago, Picchio said:

 

Is that a Monstertech or a DIY rig? 

Monstertech.   https://www.monstertechusa.com/product/mts-fighter/

Their assembly instructions give complete dimensions if you want to make your own.

[Picchio]

17 minutes ago, Gordon200 said:

Monstertech.   https://www.monstertechusa.com/product/mts-fighter/

Their assembly instructions give complete dimensions if you want to make your own.

 

Thanks!

And how does it feel for you, in regards to stability, comfort and adjustability?

Worth the price?

 

Edited August 30, 2022 by Picchio

[-332FG-Gordon200]

2 hours ago, Picchio said:

And how does it feel for you, in regards to stability, comfort and adjustability?

It is rock solid and endlessly adjustable. Glad I ordered it regardless of the cost. I tried building similar with lumber but couldn't match the quality of Monstertech design.

I've had this for two years and feel like I've gotten my money's worth. No regrets.

[LukeFF]

5 hours ago, Gordon200 said:

It is rock solid and endlessly adjustable. Glad I ordered it regardless of the cost. I tried building similar with lumber but couldn't match the quality of Monstertech design.

I've had this for two years and feel like I've gotten my money's worth. No regrets.

 

Same here. I have a Monstertech setup and really like every bit of it.

[Picchio]

I too have a couple of desk mounts but after I moved my instruments to a DIY rig I've been dreaming of the Monstertech "cockpit" as the definitive solution. Hmm...

[1Sascha]

Well, I guess the only way to know for sure if an extension will work for me is to get a stick I can extend.

 

 

Just ordered the last MCG Gunfighter in stock from VKB's EU-store (only RUS labels available, but who cares?) plus another UCM-S mount. My existing one is for the Gladiator and wouldn't work - the EU store doesn't offer the adapter plates as stand-alone products and despite PMing the VKB EU guy about it, I haven't heard back from them in a week, so what the hell...? Short extension was out of stock or I would've ordered that one as well, but I suppose I'll try it without an extension first. Shipping costs for EU customers aren't as insane as in the US-store, so I can always order that thing later if I decide I need it.

 

I was looking *hard* at Virpil too, but in the end, financial considerations made it tough to not go with VKB. I absolutely wanted dampened axes and while Virpil just brought out a new base with that feature, that thing with a comparable grip and a mount would've been around €700 - while I "only" paid around 500 for the GF MCG and an UCM-S mount.

 

At the very least, things will improve for my family jewels during gaming sessions, since the GF's base is a lot less wide than the Gladiator's and I can mount it underneath the UCM's baseplate. Using the Gladiator on a central mount is a bit tight...errr... down there. ?

 

Now all I need to decide is whether or not I'll keep the Gladiator. It's a great stick and I might still have use for it, but I'd like to offset the cost of the new stick a bit. Won't be selling until I actually receive the Gunfighter, but if anyone from the EU is interested in a KG-12 Evo, please PM me.

 

S.

Edited August 31, 2022 by 1Sascha

[Barn-Owl]

This is the Open Wheeler setup that I have.  I absolutely love it!

[BladeMeister]

WHERE IS THE CUPHOLDER? Common Man! You have to have a cupholder!!!

Nice setup.

S!Blade<><

[Barn-Owl]

it's just under the keyboard, heheh ?.  I did not show the minibar and fridge near by, thought that was over the top, lol....

[BladeMeister]

Your modesty becomes you Sir. Touché! 

 

S!Blade<><

[Barn-Owl]

Heheh, <salute>, Blade!?

[1Sascha]

I guess these pics sum up my last few days since stick delivery quite nicely....

 

 

 

Underestimated just how much I'd gotten used to the Gladiator Evo (and just how good of a stick it is) and just how flexible the GF is with all the possible combinations of springs and cams.

Didn't really like the pre-installed Avia cams, since they have a very pronounced progressive feel towards the end of travel. Swapped them for Space Hard first, but I didn't like the center detent on those, so I went with Space Soft, which feel rather similar to the Gladiator traveling through its range of motion. I've settled on 1x20 + 1x10 springs on X and 1x20 + 1x30 on Y for the time being, but that might change again soon.

 

Plus I had to clean up the clutches which seem to have been gunked up a bit with old grease (any sort of clutch engagement would make the axes sticky on small corrections out of the box). Disassembled the gimbal and cleaned that off which made the clutches actually useable, but still not quite perfect IMO. Can't go as high on the dampening with my choice of springs as I would like. So I bit the bullet and ordered a tube of Nyogel 767 to make them behave as they should. Still waiting on that stuff (or even on shipping confirmation, grrr!), but even cleaned off and totally dry, they are already much nicer feeling than with the old grease on there.

 

The grip is great and does what I expected it to do. I still love the KG-12 for its ergos and simplicity (and I might still order the GF version of it), but I can't deny that the MCG offers so much more in terms of buttons and thus convenience.

 

Of course: Now I feel like a bumbling noob again since the GF feels quite different in operation than the Evo KG-12, even though I've used both on the same central mount and nothing else in my setup has changed. But I can't deny that as great as the Gladiator is (and it is friggin great) that the GF feels a class or two better than the Evo.

 

S.

 

Edited September 7, 2022 by 1Sascha