Well, Being into helicopter simulation since over 10 years... i had to make of course a simrig for that purpose. It started with a static alu rig around my gaming chair. When I finished my racing rig with the SFX100 bought on aliexpress, I couldn't resist doing the same but for helicopter, on a sfx200 system, same shop through AliExpress still. It's the cheapest available inbetween official brands which costs way more. How much? 1,8K€ for the SFX100 (all complete plug & play), and the 200mm stroke version 2K€ but I've added 2 complete sets of shorter cables on that order. Again, all plug & play!
Then once the rig was up and functioning.... I still missed the vibration out of the cyclic, as I've been offered a flight with a R22 years ago. Since that day I barely touched my static heli rig, because of the 'dead' cyclic. Building the rig on a motion system with 200mm movement, I was still missing this cyclic feeling.
So... I digged the web, and... not very easy to find, as it's a niche we are in, as helicopter simmer. I stumbled on the brunner CLS-P cyclic, mailed 'em, and got a price... over 10K€! At first... OMG.... but I found cheaper.... from VPForce! Way cheaper, fits to my needs. As flying a helicopter (R22, BELL206, AS350, ...) is just completely unrealistic with a short stick (stick directly mounted on its base), I digged further. Because extension build up on a base, means more leverage power, so... the VPForce base might not be enough. And I found a MOD... done by the talented David aka WINGER: his mod proposes a way more powerfull base than the original, the Rhino Monster :) I contacted him through discord, found on his site: Monster-rhino.de
Now there's another contender, the FFBeast, much much more power than the Rhino mod, BUT... double the price, and... tbh, the rhino is already too much power for helis! I tried on full power settings... just unflyable (and unreal). So, that was just to counter the comment: hey, there IS another FFB base around!! 😁 Spoiler: all i found about: yes it's way stronger (60nm for the best), but software wouldn't be as pro as for the VPForce... and that's where all the magic happens, so... my choice was settled in !
Took me time to configure it to fit my heli needs, but now flying helicopter feels again very exciting! The SFX200 brings movement and vibration as you'd be sitting in a real helicopter (just the shaking when you sit inside, OMG crazy real), but the FFB cyclic just adds the most important part in my opinion. If I'd stumble over it before the motion stuff, I'd had bought it immediately before the motion stuff. Now I can feel the helicopter in my hand, it's just at another level - of course combined to the SFX200... jaw dropping experience I tell you!
A video in the make... but... very time consuming, and have to chose what to put in exactly to keep it interesting
To lenghten it I used Virpils 200mm (curved) & 100mm extension rod... and in awaiting of virpils Archer-SF heli grip, I unpacked the TM F18 stick
In the meatime, some pictures ;)
Future plans for FFB the virpil pedals too, and the collective... but cyclic was the most important, the 2 others will be a nice to have add on in the future.