by Kurt Giesselman

  Speaking of helicopter control setups, have you ever heard of Copy Cat Controls? If you haven't and you are a hard core helicopter simmer, then reach for you credit card, partner, because I have the ultimate helicopter HOTAS to show to you.

This setup is based on the excellent Saitek 2000 joystick. The stick has been heavily modified, all with the approval and blessing of Saitek, into a fully adjustable helicopter HOTAS with rudders that plugs into your normal joystick port. And I mean fully adjustable like you have not seen before.

I watched the Copy Cat Control setup be adjusted to work with a twelve year old kid then a six foot plus tall adult. Everything is metal, everything moves. The throw of the stick is fully adjustable from tight for a modern helicopter to loose for a WWI fighter. The setup includes mounts for your monitor, optional mounts for a keyboard, MasterPilot, or just about anything else you can dream of. You supply your own chair, which I consider to be a big plus.

There are a whole range of attachments for this setup including an adapter for your standard joystick and throttle, mount for racing wheels, and several free form mounts to add PC Dashes or whatever else your heart desires. I was very surprised at how reasonable this all-metal setup was priced. It is on my Christmas list to say the least!

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We finished the once-around-the-show with a stop at TLC/Mindscape/SSi. As you might guess, their display was piled high with Flanker 2.0 boxes. I was lucky to find Jim Mackonchie, Managing Director for The Learning Company in Europe, manning the booth. Jim loves flight sims as much as anyone I have ever met. We talked at length about Flanker 2.0 and the future of this series and flight sims in general. Jim and Mindscape/SSi are really trying to stay in touch with their customers.

I was impressed that Jim was aware of virtually all the current problems in Flanker 2.0 and could tell me that their team was working hard to correct them with a minimum number of patch iterations. The best news he gave me was that SSi is looking at changing the multi-player mission planning process to the master-slave setup that Flanker 1.5 used. These guys are really listening.

The work on Su-39 is continuing along with the Su-27 patch process. Jim assured me that patching Su-27 and creating Su-39 are not mutually exclusive projects and that they build on each other very well. I thanked Jim for a great sim and asked him what was after the two Flankers. He gave me a sly grin and said he couldn't tell me but he guaranteed that I would like it (I told him I was a mud mover).

For some of the latest screens from B17 II go HERE

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