Panels In Progress

It's hard to believe, but I'm actually making progress of sorts. Here's a few shots of the prototype center console. 

Honestly, all I did was find a conveniently sized panel and cut slots for the switches to clear the back. Notice the two stick setup - with the X45 out of commission, I'm working on two sticks until I can rebuild the throttle to work independently. I'll put connectors on all the wires from the handle out and plug them into one of the controller boards. Here's the current state of affairs:

Despite the spaghetti look from this pic, the harnesses are fairly neat and tidy. I'll be adding shelves to the finished panel design to support the electronics. I expect to do a lot of swapping as I figure out what is going where...

The prototype center console layout. Using HIDMacros, I can reprogram individual keypads and USB keyboards to any functions I wish. It allows profiles to be saved and automatically loaded when the device is plugged in. I've not had a problem with the number of USB keyboards/keypads yet. This keeps the number of joystick controllers and buttons to a manageable level for most games. 

The idea behind the Gen 1 Engine Control panel. There should be enough switches and buttons available for most games. These are the roughest and most basic layouts - I mainly wanted to know how many and what type of buttons worked well. The "looks" come later, as I can work on one panel at a time and upgrade the board in stages. 

HUD and Interface Navigation controls. Note the multicolor goodness of the VTC tile left over from the coffee shop that I'm using as a cheap backing material. Easy to cut, drill, and cost me nothing. 

 More functions mapped out. I'm pretty sure it's for comms and targeting control, but at this point I think I just wanted more control options than just switches.

Weapons Controls.

Rocker switches to select hardpoints, small pushbuttons and heavier "Launch" switches. 

Here's the lighting and landing gear panel. The top switch is a locking toggle scavenged from aircraft panel. It's double terminal to run the landing gear indicator light. the second switch is 3 position for  activating external lights. 

Next post, I'll be documenting the process I'm using to build the panels themselves!