As the holidays have passed, and we are well into the new year, it's a good time to provide an update on the progress with the Mosquito Engine Control Box. The ECB contains a LOT of controls, including:
- 2 Throttles
- 2 Propeller Controls
- 2 Rocket launch buttons (on the right throttle lever)
- The Climb Boost engine controls (located on each throttle lever)
- The Supercharger Gear Change Switch (will require the next Universal Hub revision)
- The High Altitude Mixture Control
As you can imagine, all this functionality makes for a relatively complex design, but our design wizard has performed his magic, and we are currently printing the first production-level prototype. The first engineering prototype is the feature image of this post.
Here's what the first production-ready print looks like, currently in process:
A few details on the photo above. Firstly, you probably noticed the prop levers and the prop lever friction disk are white, not orange. You will likely see these parts in colors other than white in photos from World War II, and other images of actual Mosquitos. According to our research, and experts who know more about the Mosquito than anyone alive today, these items were white, as they came out of the factory. In most cases, though, as they aged, and were exposed to UV from the Sun, nicotine from in cockpit smoke, and just general age, they turned an orange or yellow color. We've decided to make them white, to match how they appear in DCS, and to represent the actual color.
In addition, the large piece in the back, which is the port (left) side cover for the ECB, is actually two printed parts. We've split this item up, to allow for all parts to be printed on a standard-sized (Ender 3) home 3D printer. This design uses all standard AuthentiKit printing conventions, and standard material and parts.
We will start publishing shorter, more frequent posts going forward, and we will be making rapid progress on this exciting design. In addition, look for a "cinema quality" video of the ECB in action within DCS.