forteh Posted May 1, 2020 Report Share Posted May 1, 2020 Prepare to be bored! Im a casual PC sim gamer, I've never had the time to fully dedicate to learning an indepth sim (I can take off in an A10C, navigate, shoot things and land but sorely need more time in the office) but even so I like to dip in and out every so often. Because I'm something of a tool tart I will always want the very best equipment I can get my hands on (for as little money as possible). Roll back around 15 years, I bought my first proper joystick off ebay, a then 20 year old thrustmaster FLCS, TQS & RCS (Flight Control System, Throttle Quadrant System & Rudder Control System), it was a replica of the F16 fighting falcon stick and throttle and was a revelation in how to fly. Being a HOTAS (Hands On Throttle And Stick) means you can control the core plane systems without needing to remove your hands from the controls and hunt for keyboard buttons. However come the advent of windows 7, microsoft made the old gameport standard (which the thrustmaster kit was tied to) obsolete and there was no way of making the hardware work. As the flying was somewhat dead in the water I tried my hand at rallying with Richard Burns Rally, unfortunately the cheapy steering wheel setup I had was a bit crap with no ffb (forcefeedback) and general crapness; a colleague at work kindly gave me his old logitech ffb wheel setup (he got it for gran tourismo on the ps3) and that worked admirably unlike my rally driving skills, RBR was completely uncompromising though and would not allow for any mistakes. I soon gave it up as too much effort and the wheel got put away as it was taking up a load of space. Fast forward to 2012ish and I get interested in flight sims again, the DCS A10C sim was out (being my favourite combat plane of all time) so out of curiosity I looked at suitable hardware to use with it, thrustmaster being the obvious primary choice; lo and behold they have produced a replica of the A10 stick and throttle (down to the throw weight of the switches) for an eye watering 375 quid! Somehow I found one locally on ebay for 175 and it came bundled with the A10 sim as a bonus. In use it was magical, very heavy but so precise and comfortable. Unfortunately the lack of rudder pedals (my old RCS setup required plugging into the gameport FLCS joystick) really bugged me so I started thinking about how to convert them to USB so as to work in modern versions of windows. Come back to the logitech steering wheel I had shelved. It got cut to pieces, the motherboard and potentiometers harvested and with a bit of linkage fiddling I converted the RCS chassis to USB and all was good in the world again; ok so I was down a wheel but meh, the rudder pedals were getting more use. Fast forward to 2015ish and dirt rally has been released and being the natural successor to colin macrae rally (which I dedicated many days to at uni) and suddenly I want to drive rally sims, unfortunately having been spoilt rotten by the A10 stick and throttle there was no way I would drive it without a decent spec FFB wheel. Back onto ebay and again a thrustmaster wheel kit being sold locally as spares and repairs for 50 quid, essentially he had bought it, suffered from calibration issues (which are easily resolved if you plug it onto a PC rather than an xbox) and never bothed with it since. Got it home, replaced a noisy fan, recalibrated it and got a 300 quid setup for peanuts. Unfortunately the volume of the FFB motors was enough to keep the wife awake with the new baby so the wheel has been largely unused, just waiting dormant for the last 4 years or so. I acquire elite dangerous and a VR headset and suddenly manage to spend 400 hours getting lost in the milkway but the immersion is mind blowing, I'm still there flying through the black on a regular basis, but only in VR, 2D just isn't the same. Fast forward to 2020, now I'm set up with VR I get the hankering to skid cars down a dirt track again (but in glorious 3D), dirt rally2 had been released but I reckon that perhaps instead of just the FFB wheel and the two pedals I should go the whole hog and get a clutch and handbrake setup sorted out as well. Remember the logitech wheel I cannibilised to convert the rudder pedals? Well I used the main steering axis potentiometer for the pedals but retained the rest of the circuits so I could potentially use them in the future. Last week involved taking the old pedal base, cutting it in half and using one of the pedals as a clutch, making a block of wood so I could screw it to the wall in the right place and hey presto a working clutch pedal. This week has been converting the last spare pedal and potentiometer to make a functional rally handbrake with the addition of a little woodwork. Total cost of the sim equipment setup (joystick/throttle/rudders/wheel/pedals/clutch/handbrake) is around 230 quid. Retail cost to buy a similar setup would be in the region of over 1100, I love being an engineering nerd TL:DR I'm crap at playing sims but I like making stuff on the cheap 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manuel Posted May 7, 2020 Report Share Posted May 7, 2020 The Jordan documentary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isitafox Posted May 7, 2020 Report Share Posted May 7, 2020 15 minutes ago, manuel said: The Jordan documentary. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forteh Posted May 9, 2020 Report Share Posted May 9, 2020 (edited) Persephone (just turned 5) has been making the most of lockdown, she's taught herself to ride her bike (islabike cnoc16 handed down from her older brother). Unfortunately our garden has an area about 10' square in which to cycle. This week she discovered that if she paddled round in circles she could manage to get some good speed up, then she put her outside foot on the pedal and scooted round in faster 10' circles. At some point on thursday morning there was much squeaking of excitement from the back garden, she had progressed from scooting to full blown pedalling in circles. As of today she has mastered the feet up and start from a standstill, circles of various radii, circles at high speed, circles at less than walking pace, emergency stops when Aneurin (now 14 months) runs in front of her and endos. She likes doing endos Only problem is, she can only go in clockwise circles, if she tries anticlock she crashes into a wall Edited May 9, 2020 by forteh 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Yoshi Posted May 10, 2020 Report Share Posted May 10, 2020 4 hours ago, forteh said: The fact she can only go one way is bloody adorable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forteh Posted May 10, 2020 Report Share Posted May 10, 2020 (edited) Today has progressed onto standing up and pedaling, still only clockwise mind edit: boris's announcement today has made her all excited because I'll be able to take her out on her bike properly Edited May 10, 2020 by forteh 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davetrials Posted May 12, 2020 Report Share Posted May 12, 2020 First day of working from home... I built an office with a view of the garden, and now I'm here.. not much happening it seems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Yoshi Posted May 13, 2020 Report Share Posted May 13, 2020 I'm happy there's a digger in my dining room. Sorting the solem out and doing the pipe work just now then it'll be ready to pour the floor. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manuel Posted May 18, 2020 Report Share Posted May 18, 2020 Went for a ride - creak fixed, knee didn’t hurt as much, smashed some pr’s. Got home watched the last two MJ episodes. Buzzing. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamKidney Posted May 24, 2020 Report Share Posted May 24, 2020 I have ordered a ramp/lift for my unit. No more rolling around on the floor under cars! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Booth Posted May 25, 2020 Report Share Posted May 25, 2020 Building up your tools/equipment is the best feeling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manuel Posted May 26, 2020 Report Share Posted May 26, 2020 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadManMike Posted May 26, 2020 Report Share Posted May 26, 2020 I want one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davetrials Posted May 27, 2020 Report Share Posted May 27, 2020 Be nice to see this reunion ride actually come together! when ever this shit blows over 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadManMike Posted May 27, 2020 Report Share Posted May 27, 2020 19 hours ago, MadManMike said: I want one! I ordered one 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forteh Posted May 30, 2020 Report Share Posted May 30, 2020 Now we're a little more relaxed on the lock down and Persephone can view ride, I've been taking the kids out on short bike rides. I'm sure the child is made of blutack. Dusty rooty downhill path with loose pine cones and sticks, going a bit fast and gets a wobble on, grabs a handful of front brake, front wheel folds under her and slams her face down in the dirt. She jumps up, shouts "I'm alright" and sets off. Procedes to do exactly the same thing ten seconds later. She's going to make a proper rugby player at this rate 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marg26 Posted May 31, 2020 Report Share Posted May 31, 2020 Our 1st boy is at the stage of trying to transition from his balance bike to his "big boy bike". One day it will have pedals and stabilizers, another day it won't. He's not keen on pedalling yet, but we keep chipping away at it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeyseemonkeydo Posted June 1, 2020 Report Share Posted June 1, 2020 Sack the stabilisers off! Easiest way is definitely to go straight from balance bike to proper bike without stabilisers getting in the way. Both of our boys were riding the 12" Hotrock without them from 2 years old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ali C Posted June 1, 2020 Report Share Posted June 1, 2020 so so so so happy I started my vlogging 4 years ago! I had previously been 100% reliant on demos for income and after 4 years of making a video every week, sometimes wondering why I bother, I'm finally getting enough revenue from YouTube and Patreon to make a living! I would've been in such a bad financial position right now if I hadn't gone down this route as there's zero shows at the moment. Also since lock down I've gained 10K subscribers...to put that into perspective I gained 16k all of last year. I'm not in it for the numbers but I'm quite excited to get to 100k, I never thought I'd ever reach that. I'm thinking of doing something to celebrate, maybe a group ride or something. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadManMike Posted June 1, 2020 Report Share Posted June 1, 2020 5 minutes ago, Ali C said: so so so so happy I started my vlogging 4 years ago! I had previously been 100% reliant on demos for income and after 4 years of making a video every week, sometimes wondering why I bother, I'm finally getting enough revenue from YouTube and Patreon to make a living! I would've been in such a bad financial position right now if I hadn't gone down this route as there's zero shows at the moment. Also since lock down I've gained 10K subscribers...to put that into perspective I gained 16k all of last year. I'm not in it for the numbers but I'm quite excited to get to 100k, I never thought I'd ever reach that. I'm thinking of doing something to celebrate, maybe a group ride or something. Nothing wrong with being in it for the numbers if you ask me, social media is all about views and follows - everyone that puts content out wants to see big numbers. Your videos are great, so it's good to see you gaining followers... well deserved. It's funny seeing how lockdown has had an impact on numbers actually, I made a tutorial video on setting up DJ streams from decks to OBS Streamlabs back in 2018 and it had a couple of hundred views over the year. Suddenly in March this year it shot up and is now on 12k views! Pretty big number considering I have about 120 followers and I don't really put "content" out, it's more just somewhere to stick holiday videos / go kart / mtb sessions... I'm certainly not a YouTuber as such. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Rainbird Posted June 1, 2020 Report Share Posted June 1, 2020 Epic stuff Ali, that's great to hear. Lots of hard work involved in that, so all very much well-earned Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isitafox Posted June 1, 2020 Report Share Posted June 1, 2020 36 minutes ago, Ali C said: so so so so happy I started my vlogging 4 years ago! I had previously been 100% reliant on demos for income and after 4 years of making a video every week, sometimes wondering why I bother, I'm finally getting enough revenue from YouTube and Patreon to make a living! I would've been in such a bad financial position right now if I hadn't gone down this route as there's zero shows at the moment. Also since lock down I've gained 10K subscribers...to put that into perspective I gained 16k all of last year. I'm not in it for the numbers but I'm quite excited to get to 100k, I never thought I'd ever reach that. I'm thinking of doing something to celebrate, maybe a group ride or something. I think you should spearhead a post lockdown 24tour. Would also make excellent Vlogging material! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ali C Posted June 1, 2020 Report Share Posted June 1, 2020 28 minutes ago, isitafox said: I think you should spearhead a post lockdown 24tour. Would also make excellent Vlogging material! Thanks guys! I can't do a 24Tour, I'm on 26 now! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manuel Posted June 1, 2020 Report Share Posted June 1, 2020 I’m in for a 26tour Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Rainbird Posted June 1, 2020 Report Share Posted June 1, 2020 3 hours ago, manuel said: I’m in for a 26tour 700c tour, surely? Bloody MAMIL. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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