In the immortal words of Ralph Wiggum, “I bent my wookie.”
I broke the ‘articulation sphere’ in my Warthog stick two days ago. Thankfully, it’s a relatively easy part to replace, but there is no guarantee that I won’t break the little nylon part again in the future. I’ve been curious about upgrading the stick gimbals anyway. So, would y’all back me up and tell me if I’ve missed any Warthog compatible stick adapters currently on the market?
Baur BRD
Virpil VPC Base
VKB Sim with Adapter
Am I missing any? Do y’all have any recommendations? I’ve read Troll’s BRD-N review, and am waiting to see how Virpil’s throttle plays out.
Basically, any of the BRD, VPC or VKB offerings are better than the Warthog base.
VPC just teamed up with BRD and are about to release the WarBRD stick with BRDs scissor cam setup. This type of mechanics are really cool as they create a positive centering force at all times. There is absolutely no center detent. It’s a very clever design.
I haven’t tested the latest VKB Gunfighter stick, but I did own the VKB Black Mamba, and that was an excellent stick. I got their cam upgrade gimbal for it too. My only problem with it was that I needed it to be floor mounted, and the long extension made the stick forces too light when using the heavy Warthog stick grip. I then got the BRD-N, which is designed to be floor mounted.
I also got the VPC MT-50, which I reviewed here
It is also a very good stick.
I guess It would be easier for me to give some guidance if you could supply some more info of what you need your stick to do. What is it you like about the Warthog?
I love the array of buttons on the Warthog and I like that the gimbal gradient force is radial from the center, vice having an X axis gradient and a Y axis gradient. I use a 120mm extension as I have the stick mounted to the front of my seat, between my legs, but not on the floor.
I think that radial gradient is my biggest concern as I fly a lot of rotary wing. I would also love to be able to swap my Warthog stick in and out with the new stick, but keep the gimbal base attached to the pit.
Got my Sculpteo articulation sphere in the mail. My stick is re-greased and put back together. There is slightly more left-and-right play in the yaw axis than with the original part but I will probably just get used to it. The 3D printed nylon part feels stronger than the original Thrustmaster part. Fit and finish were almost perfect, but I did use 800 grit sandpaper to smooth out the rolling surface. Were I to order it again, I would try to adjust the CAD model slightly and tighten up the center hole in the sphere to remove some of that play.
Now I can relax and do some more research into a full gimbal replacement!
My WH stick has the original gimbal ball that has been disassembled, greased, and carefully put back together. It has developed some of that yaw axis movement of which you speak. That hasn’t developed into jitter, but does not instill confidence either. For that reason, I’m watching this thread carefully.
I broke that small articulation sphere in my WH gimbal. It doesn’t like twist loads, at all!
I actually managed to save it with superglue and drilling holes that I filled with carbon fibre rods and superglue. I also got a replacement from TM, but the damage to my confidence was done.
I ordered the VKB Black Mamba.
The VKB base had the CH style pincher gimbal, but worked really well.
I still use that gimbal in my DIY RDR ConTrollR.
The VKB cam replacement gimbal was even better.
But I like to use an extension, and more centering force, so I got the BRD-N.
BRD-N sounds like a good fit. Just to confirm, my existing stick extension will screw on to the BRD-N base? (I know that’s a dumb question. If the Warthog stick screws on… the extension screws on.)
You order the BRD-N as tall as you want it. The stick is also slightly adjustable in length. So you will not need your old extension.
The stick will show as BRD Warthog (or something similar). It won’t be recognized in TARGET. If you want to use TARGET, you can remove the PCB from your Warthog base and put it inside the BRD base, and use a USB split. You will then be able to program the stick grip buttons like before, but the X&Y axis will be a separate unit. Basically two joysticks.
Good Morning fellas,
Just wanted to say thanks for the advice. I’m all In! I preordered a VKB Gunfighter II and a Warthog adapter. I will be able to have my choice of sticks now. I’m very excited. This is My Christmas gift to selfie. I now have 3 WT bases, two sticks and two throttles.
As some of you might know, I am a TARGET user. It serves my purposes well. I also must program Shift on my Throttle and Ctrl on my Joy, this doubles or triples the amount of controls I have. It makes it almost impossible to run out of buttons.
IM a bit nervous as to how the mechanism works. I had a CH stick and did not like it AT ALL. But I’m excited about the changeable cams and springs. This makes the stick worth its weight in gold to me. And speaking of weight, it seems as though if you want a floor mounted stick the WT is too heavy, so again I’m excited about the stick…
I finally went to Win10 this weekend so its time to upgrade everything else…
