CONVERT YOUR THRUSTMASTER JOYSTICK TO A "FLIGHTMASTER" BY COMBINING THE GRIP OF A THRUSTMASTER WITH THE BASE OF A C&H FLIGHSTICK!! by R. W. Porter If you have used both the C&H FlightStick and the Thrustmaster, you probably have noticed that the Thrustmaster is a little heavy on the springs, while the FlightStick has a much smoother and superior feel. It also has trim tabs to make calibration easier. Unfortunately the FlightStick has a "not too cool" grip, no coolie hat and no extra buttons, while the Thrustmaster has all those in spades and the grip is very "authentic" in look and feel. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have the smooth, light feel of the FlightStick with the authentic grip of the Thrustmaster with all those extra buttons and the coolie hat? Well, you can! All you have to do is take the grip off the Thrustmaster and put it on the FlightStick. This is not as hard as it sounds. In fact, it is easy if you have just a few simple tools and a little mechanical aptitude. Here's what you need: 1 - a soldering iron 2 - a small phillips screwdriver 3 - an allen wrench to fit the screws on the grips (same size on both joysticks) 4 - a drill and a 1/8" bit (also about a 7/64" or so if you want to put screws in the blocks) 5 - a bottle of super glue, and maybe some epoxy putty or epoxy cement 6 - 3 small screws, about 3/4" long, with nuts (optional, see below) 7 - two small pieces of plastic or wood to glue inside the Thrustmaster grip to support the post, as the FlightStick's post is just a little too short (a couple of small, plastic, Leggo blocks are ideal for this) HERE'S HOW TO DO IT: 1. Open the bottom of the FlightStick by pulling off the little rubber feet and unscrewing the 4 phillips head screws. Save the rubber feet. You will replace them when you are done. 2. Get a pencil and paper and make a diagram showing which wire is connected to what on the FlightStick. Then unplug all the wires. 3. Using the allen wrench, unscrew the 5 screws holding the grip in place. Then separate the halves. Cut the 3 wires, leaving about 1" sticking out of the switches. The grip will come off and can be set aside. 4. Now remove the cable from the FliteStick. Notice the little grove that holds the near ends of the wires that go up into the grip. You can save the cable if you want to put it on the Thrustmaster base later, but you will be attaching the Thrustmaster cable to the FlightStick base as it is a much longer and better cable. 5. Now take the Thrustmaster, remove the little rubber feet, unscrew the 4 phillips screws and take off the bottom. Notice that the Thrustmaster is not as well made as the FlightStick. 6. Make a diagram showing which wires go where on the Thrustmaster, then take the soldering iron and unsolder all the wires from the two potentiometers. 7. Turn the Thrustmaster over and, using the allen wrench again (the screws are the same size as those on the FlightStick) unscrew the 3 allen screws holding the grip together. 8. Make a diagram of which wires go to which switches, then unsolder all of them. 9. Turn the Thrustmaster over, pull the wires out of the grip post, remove the cable and set the base aside. NOW COMES THE HARDEST PART: Since the post of the FlightStick is just about 1/2" too short to allow good attachment of the Thrustmaster grip, you have to exercise a little ingenuity and make some supports to hold the top of it in the Thrustmaster grip. This is NOT as hard as it sounds. All you need to do is glue two little blocks of plastic or wood or whatever, just below the top ring inside the Thrustmaster grip that normally grips the top of the post. I used two little white Leggo blocks, which fit in place with just a little trimming. On the half of the grip that holds the switches, the bottom switch gets in the way a little and you have to cut the bottom of the Leggo block a little to make it fit in place properly. (Actually, you could leave out the two blocks and just drill the new mounting hole as described in step 13, but you might end up with your grip being a little wiggly on the post. I checked mine and it seemed firm enough before I put the blocks in, but I just didn't feel comfortable with no support for the top of the post.) 10. Take the Leggo block and hold it down in the left grip half against the underside of the ring that used to support the top of the Thrustmaster post. You can see that a little section needs to be cut out of the bottom to allow it to fit next to the little red clamp that holds the bottom button in place. . Make a trial cut and check for fit. Cut a little more, and recheck. Continue this until you can fit the block into the left grip half in the proper position up against the underside of the ring. The block for the right half doesn't need a cutout. It will fit up against the ring without any trimming, since there is nothing to get in its way. FIGURE 1 -- Side view of the inside of Thrustmaster grip half ^ up toward top of joystick grip _____________ |_|________|_ | <--- Ring used to support top of Thrustmaster post | ________ | |_|________|__| <--- Leggo block | | | | <--- FlightStick post | | 11. After making the cutout in the bottom of the block for the half of the grip, glue the blocks into the grip halves with super glue. Align them quickly as the super glue will set in a few seconds. Try to get the top of the block aligned with the bottom of the circular cutout in the ring that used to hold the Thrustmaster post. If you are using a flat-topped block instead of a Leggo block, this may make any further trimming unnecessary. To make sure the blocks never come loose (the one on the left grip half is subjected to a lot of pressure and could come loose), you may also want to use epoxy putty or glue around the blocks, or drill small holes through them and through the ring above and put in screws. (I put one screw through the block in the left grip half and two screws in the block in the right grip half.) 12. If you are using a Leggo block, as I did, you will next need to trim the inner portion of the little posts on top of the Leggo block to allow the joystick post to fit well. You can use a knife for this. I used my little moto-tool which made the job easy. If you need to trim the blocks, you will know when you have it right by placing the FlightStick post against the block and sliding it up high enough so the top of the post rests in the ring that holds the Thrustmaster post. The FlightStick post should rest firmly against the block when it is held in proper position in the ring. If you haven't trimmed enough, it will not seat in the ring when it rests against the block. If you have trimmed too much, it will not be in contact with the block when it rests against the ring. (In that case, use a knife to remove the block, glue in a new one and start over.) Actually, you don't have to have it perfect, since it is just there to hold the top of the post so it doesn't wiggle. If it is just a little too tight, that's OK. If it is a little loose, that is not OK and you should remove the block, glue in another one and start over. (Be more careful next time. Go slooooow with the trimming and check for fit often. It's not hard. The whole process took me about 10 minutes. Of course, I used my moto-tool...) 13. When you have the blocks glued in place and trimmed to fit (if needed), you are ready to attach the post. Place the post against the left grip and, while holding it against the grip, move the stick to the full left position. You will notice that, if you have it to low on the post, it will hit the base before it reaches the stop. Move the grip up on the post until it can reach full left stick without hitting the base. You will notice that this will place the mounting hole in the left half of the Thrustmaster grip just a little above the hole in the FlightStick post, usually about 1/8 to 3/16" above it. Using your calibrated eyeball, make a little mark on the FlightStick post for a new hole that will line up with the mounting hole in the left half of the Thrustmaster grip. Then drill a 1/8" diameter hole there, all the way through the post. Now, using the original screw that attached the Thrustmaster grip to the Thrustmaster post, attach the left grip half to the FlightStick post. It should snug down well against the FlightStick post and make a firm fit. 14. If you have gotten this far, you are almost home. The rest is easy. Insert the Thrustmaster cable into the FlightStick base. Using the diagram you made of the Thrustmaster connections, carefully solder the wires to the proper terminals of the potentiometers in the FlightStick base. Notice that you will not be using the throttle potentiometer. The coolie hat on the Thrustmaster grip takes its place and uses its pins on the plug. 15. After you have finished connecting the wires to the FlightStick base, carefully thread the wires that go to the grip up through the FlightStick post. There are four channels through the center of the post. You can get almost all of the wires up through two of them, but you will probably have to put one wire through one of the two on the far side. Just make sure it is one of the ones that is long enough so that it will not pull tight when you move the stick around. When you have the wires threaded, slip the near ends into the little grove in the FlightStick base that holds them in place. You should have noticed it when you removed the wires from the base earlier. Then close the bottom cover and put in the 4 screws. Don't put the rubber feet on yet, just in case you have to open it again if something doesn't work. 16. Now, using your diagram for the Thrustmaster grip, solder the wires to their proper pins on the switches in the Thrustmaster grip. 17. Slip the trigger back into place, place the right grip half on the left and install the 3 screws. 18. Now start Falcon 3.0 or another similar program that uses all the buttons and the coolie hat and test everything. If everything works, put the little rubber feet on over the 4 screws in the base and your are finished! If something doesn't work, open everything up and check your wiring, you probably make a mistake or didn't solder something on properly. If you made careful diagrams before you removed the wires, it should be easy to find any errors. Now sit back and enjoy the best of both worlds: The smooth feel of the FlightStick and the authentic grip of the Thrustmaster with its coolie hat and many buttons. Check Six and Happy Landings!! R. W. Porter Compuserve: 71573,1166 August 1993 P.S. You will probably not want to go to the trouble of putting the FlightStick grip on the old Thrustmaster base. I did, but it was a lot of trouble. The Grip on the FlightStick has to be "reamed out" quite a bit before it will fit on the post of the Thrustmaster base because of the design of the FlightStick grip. If you do want to go to the trouble, just have patience, keep cutting, or moto-tooling or filing and check often for fit. Make sure you stop cutting while it is on the "tight" side as, unlike the Thrustmaster, the only thing holding the grip to the post and keeping it from twisting is the squeezing of the grip against the post. When you finally get it on, it actually looks very good and works fine.