BK-117 Actuator Panel

As one component of a much larger job, we recently designed the 
panel shown below for a local company's BK-117 simulator. 

[This is an image of the original panel which we were asked to replicate.]

It was designed as a complete unit that could be neatly fitted into 

place once the appropriate wires had been fitted. Each button 

has been fitted with two 3mm LEDs and a switch, which will eventually 

be wired up and interfaced via one of our PCBs and FSUIPC.

The LED recesses behind each buttonhead can be clearly seen in this 

earlier prototype, of which several were made before we had a workable 

solution that accounted for all of the various depths involved regarding 

switches, guards, buttonheads, clearances etc ... !

RAI Intercoms

As a result of some recent inquiries we've written up some new details regarding the capabilities of our flight simulation intercom units, including a couple of new diagrams that might be of some use also.

Our intercoms are not normally supplied with microphone and headphone sockets, but we are able to supply aviation microphone sockets, and stereo headphone sockets, and indeed we have recently supplied some special Helicopter Headset sockets because they have the mic and phones on the same plug.

Heli Sockets

All connections to our intercom boards is via screw terminals.

The microphone input circuitry is suitable for most microphones, and can even be readily configured for very low impedance microphones as used in some military and vintage headsets. (or Oxygen masks)

There are on-board adjustments for the gain of the microphone, and the level of the "side-tone" (so you can hear your own voice).  There are also volume adjustments for the audio signals coming from the PC, and because we can drive stereo headphones, you can hear cockpit / engine sounds coming from the correct location.  There is a master volume control fitted on a short cable to enable you to fit it into your panel as required.

There are several modes of operation for the intercoms, with two pairs of terminals which control the outgoing audio. These are logic levels only, so you can fit remote buttons and switches, because there is no audio signals on these wires.

1. One allows you to connect a 'Push to Talk' button so that the other pilot can hear you only while you hold the button down, or you can just put a small wire link between the two terminals and you can be heard all the time. (Open Microphone) 

2. The other pair of terminals allows you to connect an 'Enable' switch to enable or disable the audio going to the Flight Simulator PC. If you want audio to go the Flight Simulator PC all the time, just put a small wire link between the two terminals.

3. Another option is to connect the system so that you have an Open Microphone (as in 1 above) and then use a ‘Push to Talk’ button on the Enable terminals. The means that the pilots can hear each other all the time, but the push to talk button controls what goes out to the Flight Simulator PC. (e.g.  as a radio call etc.)

4. If you use a double pole push-button  (one pole connected to the ‘Push to Talk’ terminals, and the other pole connected to the ‘Enable’ terminals) you can effectively have a push to talk button so that the other pilot can only hear you whilst the button is depressed, and also your voice only goes out to the Flight Simulator PC while the button is held down.

Conditional 64 Outputs Board

Over the past few weeks we've made some fairly significant changes to our 64 Outputs Board software which greatly improve its versatility. Below is a basic overview of what these alterations are, although more detailed posts regarding some of the aspects detailed here will likely follow in the next few weeks.

Also, the details on our website haven't been able to keep up with us, and these will be updated in the coming days. The PCBs themselves are the same (as indeed will be the price!), but the programming of the processor chips and the software interface behind them have been altered.

Anyway, on to the improvements ... 

Upgrade 1: Configurable Warning System now available

We have now added a Warning function to four outputs on our 64 Outputs Board. This allows users the ability to add a large number of conditions that can be used to trigger various warning lights. (Master Warning, Master Caution etc.)

We have allowed these special Warning outputs to use outputs 7 and 8 on banks 7 and 8.

The system works by having up to two specific conditions that must be true (ie. Battery Master, and Avionics Master etc.) (or they can be left blank) followed by any one of up to another 25 conditions being true.

One (or any) of these four warnings can also have a physical switch connected to the Ruscool 64 Outputs Board, which will act as a Reset button for the particular Warning light when it is activated. This means that if the Warning light is triggered, it can be turned off (reset) by pressing the button, and the Warning light will turn on again if another condition re-triggers the warning. If the warning condition resets itself, or an action by the pilot corrects the fault, the warning lamp will go out without the need to press the reset button.

The example below will light the Warning output if the Battery Switch and Avionics Switch are 'On' and any of the other conditions are true.

Upgrade 2: Configurable Switches added

Another new feature is that users now have the ability to connect to three inputs for use as custom switches or pushbuttons as well.

As shown in the example below, the first switch is set as 'momentary', which means that it will operate as a pushbutton toggle action.  

You can use these switches to control any FSUIPC offset or FS Control (event). They are labelled as 5, 6 and 7 because the first 4 switches are dedicated to the Warning resets and switch 8 is dedicated as a lamp test switch (more of which is explained below).

Upgrade 3: New Lamp Test options

There are now two options for how the lamp test can be operated.

Method 1: The lamp test can be triggered by the user through the assigning of an offset which will then be used to trigger the lamp test. When this offset is changed, the outputs that have been 'flagged' will be lit. 


This can either be a valid FSUIPC offset, or any unused (reserved) offset that you are using
either from a Ruscool 64 Input board, another input controller or from within Flight Simulator. The offset type must be a single byte that sends either "1" or "0".

Method 2: A physical switch can be connected to the Ruscool 64 Outputs board and the lamp test can be controlled that way. Switch 8 on the 64 Outputs board is dedicated to this function.

You can also specify whether the lamp test is only triggered if the battery bus has voltage or whether it's always triggered regardless of the battery status.

Eg. Offset Trigger

Eg. Switch Trigger

A re-design of our ATR Autopilot Panel

A few years have elapsed since we designed the first version of our ATR Autopilot Panel and so, using some newer techniques that we've developed in the interim - along with some slightly altered dimensions - this panel has recently undergone some design alterations.

Below are some photographs of the prototype ...

For photographic purposes, the buttons here are only temporarily 

attached to the rear of the panel with masking tape.

It's difficult to show here, but the engraving of the panel isn't on the front surface, where it would be exposed to a lot of wear due to the pilot's operation of the trim wheel.

By means of comparison, below are a couple of shots showing the earlier version 

(circa 2005)

Cessna Citation Range: extended (and modified)

Over the past couple of months or so, as a result of some new information being provided to us by one of our customers who's currently building a Cessna Citation Mustang sim, we've been able to incorporate some measurements that now resemble those of the actual aircraft much more closely. 

As regards to the products that were previously up on our website, these changes affect the dimensions of the Left Switch Panel, the Right Switch Panel, the Lighting Panel (all of which are considerably smaller), and the Landing Gear Panel also, although to a much lesser extent.   

As well as these alterations, we've also added a few more bits and pieces to our Cessna Citation range of products, including the Oxygen Control Valve Panel, the Test Panel, and IAS Placard (all on the MIP), and the Oxygen Supply Panel too, which is part of the main sub-panels.

Oxygen Control Valve Panel: The knob that is fitted here should actually be black, although as we were supplying this particular panel without any of its associated hardware, this was actually just one of the spares that we already had in stock (and used for photographic purposes ...) 

IAS Placard: not much to explain here ...

Oxygen Supply Panel: The asymmetrical appearance of this particular panel is due to its location on the extreme right-hand side of the sub-panel set. Attached is a push/pull switch with a flat aluminium knob fitted to it.

Test Switch Panel: complete with two-step knob

Combined Sub-Panel Layout

Lighting Panel: This panel has now been updated with the correct cut-out into which the throttle quadrant would normally sit. We're hoping to organise a Cessna Citation throttle kit set (similar to the King Air kit that we currently sell), although this is likely to be some months away yet.

As well as updating the dimensions of the Left Switch Panel, we've also altered the appearance of the starter buttonheads too. The previous photos and drawings that we'd worked off had always shown simple black buttonheads, although these designs are a bit fancier.

Here they are temporarily in position, though not held in place with the usual mounting bracket and switches that we can supply if required by our customers.

The Landing Gear Lever (above), although not overly affected by the measurement changes, has undergone something of an upgrade with regards to the indicators that are now housed within it. These small annunciators are actually part of a separate item that gets affixed to the rear of the panel itself (incorporating a new design that will be discussed in a subsequent post shortly). You'll notice too, that in this particular shot, there's a simple hole through which the gear lever protudes. This was due to our customer's request and the units that we typically sell have a 13mm vertical slot into which our own gear lever assembly can be fitted.

BK-117 Dummy Gauge

As one of a few customised projects that we've been working on lately, this is a (very) small dummy gauge that's destined for a local BK-117 helicopter simulator. The outside measurements of the gauge (not including the mounting bracket) are 36mm; a physical size that's not really conducive to its being made functional. 

Below is a larger-than-life photograph showing it in more three-dimensional detail ...

Fuel Valve Switch Guard

This post roughly details the evolution of the Fuel Valve Switch Guard that we designed recently for our Bell 206 MIPs, as we were never entirely happy with the look of the standard plastic missile switch cover that we had originally employed.

Through various discussions with those more intimately acquainted with this particular component than ourselves, as well as some online research, we've now developed a new version of our switch guard that we feel better reflects the real part.

The above photograph clearly shows an unpainted version of our initial trial - with the relative switch depths being taken into account on a dummy section of panel.

Here, with the cover lifted out of the way, you can see the lower section of the part sitting beneath the nut, through which we've fitted the appropriate switch. Because of the limited amount of room available to us behind the switch body itself (as the MIPs are designed to be positioned directly in front of an LCD monitor and thus can't have hardware protruding out the back!), we've needed to use the lowest profile switch that we can find whilst still having it maintain a decent quality and feel.

Below is a fully-painted finished version, complete with fitted spring etc.

And here it is fitted to the Fuel Switch Panel itself. 

These newly-designed aluminum switch guards are supplied as a standard part of one of our fully-populated Bell 206 MIPs, and there will be no increase in price. They can be purchased separately as well, with or without the Fuel Valve Panel itself, and we'll be getting those details up on our website shortly. 

Bell 206 MIP: Fully-wired, low-profile

As mentioned in the previous post regarding our needing to limit the amount of hardware extending out of the rear of the Main Instrument Panel's body (and thus preventing it from being held flush against the LCD monitors where the gauges are positioned), below are a couple of photographs to show the profile of a completed, fully-wired Bell 206 MIP that's ready to be sent to a customer. Please note that normally the sealing of the MIP is done with black material and not red as shown here (which might now be considered an easily identifiable mark of the first completed unit we ever supplied!) ...

This effect (the flattening of all wires and hardware) has been achieved by machining the appropriate recesses into the rear of the MIP itself and then running all of the cables and wires through these. Similarly, all five encoders, the Fuel Valve switch, the GPS/NAV switch, and the two pushbuttons have been recessed and/or modified so as to 'disappear' beneath the panel's rear surface.

The cables that we use are a combination of CAT5E and 6-Core, all of which extend out of the bottom of the panel where the pedestal would normally extend from. This keeps them all hidden away and tidily restrained. The 6mm bracket which covers these four cables together and holds them in the correct exit position is actually positioned well below the depth of where a normal LCD monitor would fit.

Our fully-wired and tested Bell 206 MIPs are naturally more expensive than our standard version (again, more details on our website soon), although for customers who wish to use the Ruscool range of Bell 206 hardware and software it might take a few extra hassles out of realising your own completed helicopter sim.

Kiowa Bell 206 Annunciator Panel

This particular panel has been designed for a Kiowa simulator (a military variant of the Bell 206) and will employ 14 specially engraved annunciators that we've already supplied to our customer. As a result of this panel being supplied separately however, this unfortunately means that we don't have a full set of the proper annunciators fitted. 

For purposes of illustration, we've populated the panel in these photographs with some spare annunciators that we had sitting around the workshop - the legends, of course, will not be correct (!) ...

This first photograph shows one of the indicators illuminated on our workbench. For the annunciators to be made functional, we're supplying a slightly modified version of our usual Annunciator Controller and LED Circuit Boards along with this panel (some modification was necessary to account for the annunciators here having slightly different dimensions and layout to those normally supplied with our Annunciator Hardware).

The panel again uses our dummy Dzus fasteners and the switches shown above are captured 'between panels' so that it becomes a stand-alone unit. 

As with all replicas of course, certain aspects just aren't viable to reproduce in exact detail, and so the glass window here is merely a dummy feature; there is no actual hinge for it to swing open. Our goal, as always, is to find (and hopefully provide) a good balance between cost, functionality, and appearance for our customers.

The dimensions of the entire panel are 230mm (high) x 55mm (wide) and the design was developed from the photographs below along with some measurements that were supplied to us.

Apologies for not attributing the above photos to the photographer - 

we're not exactly sure where they came from!

Airbus A320 Parts

A couple of weeks back we were asked to design an Airbus A320 Gear Extension Panel to complement the label that we'd originally made and supplied a while ago (as part of a request for several small decal panels which included High Voltage, Call Sign, IAS Speed Limits, Park Brake, etc.) ... 

Below is a photograph of the finished panel.

Also, in the previous post we mentioned that rebates can be machined into the rear of our panels to allow for backlighting, although we don't currently offer panels that already have LEDs installed. We've made several prototypes for various backlighting designs, and whilst we're confident that this is readily possible, we just haven't had the time to properly focus our attentions in this area.

As this A320 panel is destined to have backlighting applied to it however (as we assume will be the case with most of our panels), all of the necessary precautions with regards to light bleed have been taken ... !

This particular panel will also be added to our website shortly; alongside the A320 decals that we mentioned earlier and which are already available.

Bell 206 Hydraulics Panel

Nothing too extravangant with this post, just a couple of quick shots showing the Hydraulics Panel we made this week. It's been designed as an entire unit, complete with a set of our replica Dzus fasteners and fitted switches, and (once we get the moulds completed) there will also be two small 'dummy' light diffusers positioned where there are presently just two small guide holes. The appropriate 5mm diameter detents can also be machined into the rear of the panel for fitting LEDs if backlighting of the text is required.

Throughout the design process, different customers have provided us with a wide range of measurements for this panel - and even our own personal measurements of a real one differed from these - so we've tried to come up with a design that satisfies as many of its elements as we can. 

A few photographs we've seen have shown the Hydraulics Panel attached by Dzus fasteners which sit outside of the smaller grey panel's extents, so we've made this measurement suit the standard rail measurements that Dzus fasteners require. This makes the inner panel somewhat smaller of course, although we've tried to keep the proportions of this balanced so that this panel can be utilised separately if necessary.

The entire width of the panel (as seen here) is 145mm, with its height being 49mm.

The grey panel, if used by itself, measures 120mm wide by 44mm high.

When used with the rest of our Bell 206 panels and electronics (and Dodosim 206FSX), all three of these switches operate in the correct manner. The Caution Lights BRT / DIM facility is actually utilised by placing a different voltage onto the LEDs in our Annunciator Panel.

Latest Bell 206 Indicator Configuration

As a result of a customer's request (and always wanting to improve our products), we've now added another possible configuration to our Bell 206 Annunciator Panels. Whereas our initial design employed black legends with orange or red illumination, this latest version uses a more accurate combination of orange on black, black on orange, and black on red. 

The following photographs show the relative differences when the indicators are illuminated in different light conditions. The top photo is how they appear on our workbench beneath some fairly bright overhead fluorescent lights, and the middle one is an approximation of how they look in condirtions that are much darker and probably closer to that seen in actual simulator (my amateur camera work is responsible for the slight 'burning out' of the legends ... !) 

Above is also a more detailed view of the Replica Korry Legends whilst the photograph below perhaps gives a better perspective of the various thicknesses involved.

As for the method of illumination, we're using the Annunciator LED Circuit Boards that are supplied along with the rest of the Annunciator Panel. There are actually two boards connected side-by-side (below you can see me holding just one of them), as configuring the boards in this manner allows us a greater range of freedom in the future and means that we can use them for units housing more annunciators than the twenty shown here.  

In the picture above, the circuit board at the top left of the photo is actually our Annunciator Controller Board, which is supplied as a separate item along with its own software. The software allows the user to program a variety of conditions under which certain annunciators will be illuminated. We'll write up some more detailed information about how exactly this works shortly ... 

Shown above, this is how the LED circuit boards and the annunciator panel look like from the rear, and to accommodate for the fact that each builder's glareshield thickness is likely to be different (and to allow for the widest range possible) our LEDs are actually mounted (unshortened) into adjustable LED sockets. This allows them to be simply pushed in to sit at the correct depth without any soldering or screwing etc. (or to change LED colours if you use them for a different application) ...

The LEDs used here are all ultra-bright, rounded 5mm LEDs, with all of them except for those behind the red legends being white in colour. White LEDs are good for illuminating most colours, but when it comes to lighting red material, red light will work much better.

The Annunciator LED Circuit Boards have the 'Lamp Test' functionality built in, so you just need to connect your pushbutton. (The pushbutton is already supplied with our B206 Annunciator Panel, of course)