totm june 2019 Custom hardware / simpit repository. For people who take KSP a little too far.

[Apache600]

I'll be honest ... i'm a little skeptical about that Apollo 15 lander joystick. I WANT to believe that it's the real thing, that would be soooo cool. But wouldn't have that been left behind on the LEM? why would they detach that and bring it back with them?

[magnemoe]

I'll be honest ... i'm a little skeptical about that Apollo 15 lander joystick. I WANT to believe that it's the real thing, that would be soooo cool. But wouldn't have that been left behind on the LEM? why would they detach that and bring it back with them?

Only reason would be as an souvenir, also plausible, lander had two and they could be swapped for redundancy.

Yes it could be an spare one or one use for training but they have serial numbers.

[Osprey]

If I were the LEM pilot and had the chance to take a detachable joystick from the vehicle I just landed on the Moon before it's fired off into the lunar surface, to keep as a souvenir, I think I would. I doubt it was compatible with the CM, mainly because nearly nothing was compatible between the two (See Apollo 13 CO2 scrubbers as case in point).

[cm2227]

Actually this practice was started by Jim Lovell, who took the eyepiece of the OAT from Aquarius just before jettison. Fred Haise took some stowage netting, I think. Afterwards it became sort of a tradition of LM crews to take souvenirs from the LM to bring it home in the CM. I think they wanted to keep the memory up for their LM, which had carried them to the lunar surface and safely back to the CSM. It is hard to just throw away your spacecraft. I can't remember Al Worden giving details about which parts Dave Scott and Jim Irvin took from Falcon, but the story is totally credible in my eyes.

Now, who wants to buy it for my simulator?

[Mulbin]

Mulbin, what are you using to create your decal labels? I really like your attention to detail on the label and bracket of the SAS RCS R/W grouping. Looks very professional.

At the moment I'm printing water slide decals, but I'm not 100% happy with the results as they can start to peel after a while. I might look at other forms of transparent label.

@Mulbin: Please change the link for my project to this post: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/77921-Custom-Control-and-Display

Will do it now...

Like most of my threads this one may slow down a little as our new baby has arrived! Will now be drafting simulator layouts to include a baby seat...

[cm2227]

Like most of my threads this one may slow down a little as our new baby has arrived! Will now be drafting simulator layouts to include a baby seat...

Sorry for the lame pun, but what was wrong with the old one? Anyway, congratulations!

[Osprey]

I love how you decided to apologise BEFORE making the joke. Classy.

[magnemoe]

If I were the LEM pilot and had the chance to take a detachable joystick from the vehicle I just landed on the Moon before it's fired off into the lunar surface, to keep as a souvenir, I think I would. I doubt it was compatible with the CM, mainly because nearly nothing was compatible between the two (See Apollo 13 CO2 scrubbers as case in point).

Not compatible with CM, however the LEM had controls for two pilots and I guess they could swap things between the two.

[cm2227]

I love how you decided to apologise BEFORE making the joke. Classy.

So that's how Canadians feel. Excuse me, I'll have some rye whisky with maple syrup from the Stanley Cup now.

[Osprey]

At the moment I'm printing water slide decals, but I'm not 100% happy with the results as they can start to peel after a while. I might look at other forms of transparent label.

Presuming that you know somewhere to buy stuff to make model aircraft or toy soldiers or what have you, see if they have any matt clear varnish/paint for miniatures. This both takes the shine away from transfers, and helps to protect them from peeling. Simply paint over the transfer once dried, but make sure it's not a poor quality one that will stay shiny, and be sure to follow the instructions carefully so that it works most effectively.

[Red Iron Crown]

Presuming that you know somewhere to buy stuff to make model aircraft or toy soldiers or what have you, see if they have any matt clear varnish/paint for miniatures. This both takes the shine away from transfers, and helps to protect them from peeling. Simply paint over the transfer once dried, but make sure it's not a poor quality one that will stay shiny, and be sure to follow the instructions carefully so that it works most effectively.

That's good advice, I buy the clear finishes in spray can form in different finishes (gloss, semi-gloss, flat), use a gloss one before applying decals and whatever finish you want after. If you use SolvaSet instead of water for the decals they work a bit better.

<-- Scale modeller.

[Osprey]

I only avoid spray varnishes as they can be a bit temperamental. Might not be the case in North America where it's typically warmer and drier, but over here if it's a damp or humid day, they can go cloudy or even turn slightly tinted rather than appearing colourless. Hence my preference for brush-on varnishes.

A little off topic, but what do you make RIC? I'm a 28mm wargames person myself, though I used to love Airfix too when I was younger.

[Red Iron Crown]

I'm a bit all over the map, mostly 1:72 aircraft but an occasional warship or car, too. Though I must admit I've had less time for it in the past few years due to starting a family, small children cut deeply into hobby time.

[Mulbin]

small children cut deeply into hobby time.

Don't they just! Although I've found that with my 18 day old daughter in a sling I can just about play ksp while her mother sleeps

[cm2227]

Daughter in a sling sounds like buddy ejection seats. I don't dare to think about permanent decals and labels yet. I changed my plans too often to think I can finalize anything at this point.

[razark]

18 day old daughter... I can just about play ksp

How the hell do you stay awake enough to play KSP?!?

[NecroBones]

How the hell do you stay awake enough to play KSP?!?

Isn't that what chloroform was invented for? I mean, not to stay awake of course...

[Caelib]

Challenge: somebody make a 1:1 Mercury capsule with functioning buttons just for playing KSP ... when you're done, please send me a PM so I can give you my address for shipping

[NecroBones]

Challenge: somebody make a 1:1 Mercury capsule with functioning buttons just for playing KSP ... when you're done, please send me a PM so I can give you my address for shipping

What's frightening is that this idea has already occurred to me (minus the shipping part)...

I think my wife would kill me if I tried anything like that.

[Mulbin]

Challenge: somebody make a 1:1 Mercury capsule with functioning buttons just for playing KSP ... when you're done, please send me a PM so I can give you my address for shipping

That's sort of my plan, to build one panel at a time and mount them into an enclosed pit based loosely on Mercury / gemini.

[MrOnak]

@Mulbin: Somewhere in the thread you mentioned using water slide decals for your ...well... decals. Are those the empty sheets for use with an inkjet printer or something different?

I'm asking since I have a bit of trouble finding something affordable that works with a laser printer and I really need some decals for my DSKY setup that's coming up.

Thanks a lot

Edited October 16, 2014 by MrOnak

[ArsenioDev]

I've got a panel in progress, found a cool encoder that supports many different HID classes (ps3, x360, keyboard, joysticks, MAME) and its under $30!

[hakan]

I've got a panel in progress, found a cool encoder that supports many different HID classes (ps3, x360, keyboard, joysticks, MAME) and its under $30!

Don't torture us, give us its preeciouuuuuus name

Actually, I was thinking of using one I-PAC mame encoders, but I already need my Arduino for all the little LEDs on the panel...

[MrOnak]

Don't torture us, give us its preeciouuuuuus name

Actually, I was thinking of using one I-PAC mame encoders, but I already need my Arduino for all the little LEDs on the panel...

If you don't mind a fair bit of soldering I might have just the thing for you:

https://github.com/MrOnak/avr_usbhid_gamepanel

It turns an ATMega328p chip (the one on an Arduino) into a device that is recognized as USB Keyboard/Joystick combination. Note that it has nothing to do with the Arduino Plugin that Zitronen wrote for KSP. It's a standalone USB Human Interface Device put onto a microcontroller.

I'm mostly done with turning that into a device that has 32 keyboard keys (freely bindable to any alphanumeric keys from your existing keyboard) and a joystick with six analogue axis plus another four joystick buttons. If you check the github site there's a picture of the circuitry I came up with but the hardware implementation outside the ATMega chip is pretty flexible actually.

I might be able to finish the project and put an enclosure around it before the year is over but I'm still waiting for a few components to reach me. I'll post here if I'm done. My final setup will be the joystick/keyboard device described just now one one USB cable and a second circuitry with Zitronen's KSP plugin (well, my AVR port for it) on it to display numbers, loosely based on the NASA Apollo DSKY.

edit to add Note that the code for the DSKY thing is on my github as well but it is totally not working at the moment, don't bother with that. The gamepanel described above however does work

Edited October 20, 2014 by MrOnak

[hakan]

If you don't mind a fair bit of soldering I might have just the thing for you:

https://github.com/MrOnak/avr_usbhid_gamepanel

It turns an ATMega328p chip (the one on an Arduino) into a device that is recognized as USB Keyboard/Joystick combination. Note that it has nothing to do with the Arduino Plugin that Zitronen wrote for KSP. It's a standalone USB Human Interface Device put onto a microcontroller.

Wow, I have to print that schematic out on a huge-sized paper sheet and study it closely

Two days ago, I ordered a cheap USB keyboard and an Arduino MEGA 2560. The MEGA is meant to drive lots of LEDs and maybe a few switches for toggles like "Light", "SAS", "RCS" and so on. And the keyboard was meant to be sacrificied to the greater glory of Kerbalhood by having its controller ripped out and pushbottons soldered to it instead of the "normal" keys.

I might be able to finish the project and put an enclosure around it before the year is over but I'm still waiting for a few components to reach me. I'll post here if I'm done. My final setup will be the joystick/keyboard device described just now one one USB cable and a second circuitry with Zitronen's KSP plugin (well, my AVR port for it) on it to display numbers, loosely based on the NASA Apollo DSKY.

Cool, I was thinking as well that my project would take me well into the beginning of next year... As soon as I have something hello-world-worthy, I will start up my own thread so we can steal.... ah, *adapt* ... ideas from each other.