I had a little surprise today on our Facebook group and also on Twitter when I saw someone posting something about VIRPIL being developing a collective.
While It’s not exactly news that they were considering making something for our community, I wasn’t expecting to see the images I saw (you can see all of them and a few others I found out below).
I eventually found this forum thread and was blown away. VIRPIL is going further than I was expecting, faster than I was expecting.
They not only released the images for the collective (which is interchangeable – more on that later) but they actually want to offer a full “helicopter kit”.
While these images are not the final ones – so they are not demonstrating the final product, they seem to be pretty close and VIRPIL is using them to collect feedback and information.
The helicopter kit, VIRPIL mention will be comprised of (please forgive me for some incorrections and I needed to translate it from Russian – and we all know Google Translate has its limitations). I had to be a little creative on some parts so, PLEASE, don’t hold VIRPIL responsible for my own bad translation skills):
- Metal ROSH Base - Collective Base (handles are removable as on all bases);
- Two removable ROSH handles at the start ("eastern" and "western");
- Bracket for attaching to the chair;
- The company already has the RCG - WarBRD Grip;
- The company already has the WarBRD Pedals;
- The control panel (the winner of the competition that VIRPIL held [/news/virpil-vote-helicopter-panel]);
- Helicopter-specific software;
All this material will be sold separately (except for the software – which I am presuming will be free?).
VIRPIL seems to be doing something that I’ve been asking some manufacturers to work on for some time and that companies such as Komodo Simulations have been delivered on higher end products: interchangeable parts, which allows users to combine parts and have their own kits for their particular needs.
