Virpil VPC Rotor TCS Base and 60-Hawk Grip Full Review In MSFS! 

Please do a detailed video on mounting it to the chair and pushing the throttle out to make room for it.

So weeks before my collective arrived I reversed the throttle on my Thrustmaster. So forward was down and back was up. It made the transition much easier.

26:32 at first I thought you were going to discuss marriage at this point. I felt an instance bromance growing between us 😆

Man, I had the same realization as you! Last night I put together the same virpil controls collective setup, and I've flown a couple hundreds hours in DCS on the Apache AH-64D with the Logitech X56 split throttle, and I have to agree... using a PROPER collective stick is amazingly more intuitive right off the bat! In the first 3 mini test flights, my ability as a pilot increased 50% or more using the collective stick over the throttle. I had at least an 80% immediate increase in ability in takeoffs and landings with the collective stick! It wasn't even a close comparison to the throttle as a collective. Can you do it with a throttle, yes, but it's far less intuitive, more difficult to get fine turning movements out of it. Lightly handling the cyclic at fingertips for fine movement while forcefully pushing/pulling a throttle is aggravating and causes me to tense up too much resulting in worse flights and bigger crashes. Even with the X56 throttle tension turned all the way down, it takes a lot of force to move it. With the collective the travel range helps with finer motor movement without tensing up, it is more comfortable, it's more intuitive, and overall creates a more simple and elegant helo flight. Hands down, I WISH I had ate the cost initially and purchased the collective before I even attempted to fly a helicopter. You just don't know until you try it, but I guarantee, you will never go back to a throttle once you fly with a collective stick!! It. is. worth. every. penny.

wow just in time.. I literally waiting for this to be delivered hopefully over the next 2wks! ;)

Years ago my first 'serious' endeavor in to learning anything Flight Sim related was with Helos back at a place called Hover Control, miss the place like crazy! Took until now, 20 years later to finally get a collective and grabbed this one with the same grip. I immediately encountered what you did haha, that brain/motor control disconnect is too real but man is it a game changer. The h145 is by far my favorite helo right now with the mission pack and anywhere mod. Thanks for the great breakdown!

Great review! I have the WinWing Ka-50 Collective with the Genesis Throttle assembly. It really does make flying helos make sense. With the the jet throttle I had to leave it going forward for lift because when I tried to reverse the throttle axis I would always fail due to muscle memory.

Great review. I am just learning helicopters. This looks like something I would like to have some day, assuming I actually get to the point where I can fly these beasts.

Thanks ...I have one on back order ...being shipped in the middle of Feb. I didn't get a grip, as I haven't decided on a favorite heli yet ...lol. I too had to relearn the up & down collective action. I'm using a new Thrustmaster TQS throttle quadrant now & bolted my old X-56 throttle to the left side of my rig & attached a lever ...I had to invert the direction & then changed bindings to the collective. It worked fine on both MSFS & DCS but then a conflict occurred (I think) as I lost my DCS profiles & it would only work after disconnecting the X-56 throttle. But I was sold & ordered a VPC.

Hey there!👋 I'm just an old USN rotor head. Of course all naval helos have a tilt rotor head where the army does not until the latest Blackhawk. Mike model came out now they have adopted it. A tail rotor head will give you 30 to 40% more torque more lift capacity and that equals to more speed. As far as using your throttle as a collective, the secret to that is to invert the axis. This way when you push forward you're going down. You pull back to come up. It's a little bit more conducive until you get a collective. I do have the base in Apache setup with damper OTW. I should be receiving my UPS tracking# next week. I'm waiting a couple months now. Earlier versions of Apache had a tilt rotor head but they felt it was too much maintenance so the army did away with it until now. Nevertheless, reversing the axis on the throttle would give you the interpretation of pulling back to go up and push forward to go down. Of course, if you're running different mods going from Helo to the hornet, it will definitely throw you off a little bit. It did for me 🤔 But I'm an old man now so, is what it is. But I believe that would have helped you a little more. Maybe you can pass that down the line. Can't wait to get my set up! I'm looking for a cyclic setup for the Helo for all of my setups are from WW, can't wait to try out the VP 🤔 I also like the secondary pads as to programming and I can figured with the five-way switch rotor switch that would give you 75 programmable per pad. Surely love the tutorial that you gave. Can't wait to get! The reason why I chose the Apache from Ft. Rutger out of Alabama. Quarters of the US army helos. Had an opportunity to fly one at one time but instead me and my bud took the weekend and got hammered. Nevertheless, the collective itself or grip as they would say is very very close to the Apache. I really would like to to find a good cyclic setup from VP that would be able to let me set up All that I need to do to be solo such as the fcr in the Apache because everybody wants to fly it but nobody wants to be the gunny 🫣 So I'll be left to my own devices. But if you could show me a good helocyclic base stick and grip that would be awesome. That would be great and loved the tutorial. Just subscribed passing by. Really enjoyed it. Thank you and take care 🕊️

I've owned that collective for quite some time now and yeah, it's worth _every penny!_

I use my CM3 as a collective for Ka-50 and AH-64D -- I think one of the keys of this set up is making sure you reverse the collective. Also, I remove all detends so I have the full throw of the CM3 when using it as a collective. I have single shift state for fixed wing, and a different one for rotary. I'm not saying a collective like this isn't better, but I don't think I'd encounter problems using a more natural control when/if made available to me. My issue right now is my flight sim set up is also my work from home set up, and other productivity so my chair needs arms.

Thanks!

hello, please, how do you attach the vpc base to this type of cockpit. I have all of these and I am stucked with original plate and vpc base😭 you have there the plate I have for CM3 base😯

Grats man !

That looks real & the business is also an excellent video demonstration. Have fun, Mike 😮incredible details. One day, bro, one day.Your taking it to the max, as in overkill, fairplay to you.😅 Slan Michael 👍❤🎉

Sweet review! Thank you, but as a tip, try to learn to fly in trim the apache gives you a great visual in the hmd but whatever helicopter you want to fly everything will get easier for you if you fly in trim meaning that you want the nose into the wind you are flying very very nose left in both your msfs and the huey.

Ohhh how i would love to be able to afford one of these, one day maybe.

Haven't gone back to copters after my initial attempts failed. Perhaps I need to give Virpil some more of my money. Hehehe...

Nice! Been looking at these recently, would love to give the proper kit a go. My neighbour is a HEMS pilot flying Agusta helicopters here in the UK, he's been round and had a go at flying helicopters in MSFS 2020, James said it's actually easier flying the real thing !! I guess not having the right kit doesn't help in the sim . Cheers

the base that you have, is that the new Mangoost 50 CM3, have maybe done a video covering it, setting it up for rotor operations

Certainly, it looks like a great piece of kit. But I won't get these costs past Mrs Finance controller. But I'm looking forward to seeing more videos on you using this collective. Try to with the DCS little bird mod, as having a rotary throttle will make flying it easier. Thanks for sharing.

I'm glad that you got it! I absolutely love my Virpil collective and Blackhawk grip. Wait until you map the search light for the Hype H145. I guarantee that you will be flying over downtown Tucson tracking vehicles. Besides DCS I think the Virpil products would definitely shone in Arma 3.

... would be nice if they had simpler heads also, ie a Bell 206 (simple/small), and maybe something like a Cabri and/or H145...

Lol. Can you give us your button bindings on another video for msfs and dcs?

Worth looking at when the AH64 grip is ready imho

The limit for acceleration in the Huey is not Rotor or engine RPM , the limit is “ do not exceed 16Lb of torque during acceleration

You can bind the collective throttle with the G2 in msfs2020. You just have to shut off the governor with the button on the collective. I would love to see you mount this on your H3. I am left handed so I just mounted it on the right side. I can’t figure out a way to get off and on my P3 DOF with controls mounted on both sides of the chair.

Could you post pics of how the collective is mounted ?

For those of you still using a throttle waiting to update to a collective invert your throttle axis so pulling back on the throttle will give you more lift same as a pulling up on a collective. This will help make the mindset transition much more intuitive when you are able to upgrade to a collective

I have the next level Boeing Seat. Just got the Virpil AH-64 collective. What is the mount you have for your throttle to extend it out for space for the collective?

How did you get the collective to attach to the Chair? I can see you used the joystick mount but i cant see how you got that to attach to the chair?

Could you review how good the base is? I have the winwing collective. The problem is it dont offer the consistent friction. If the friction is set to low, the stick wont hover and drop to the zero position. And I can't do small adjustments due to a bit strong static friction at the middle range.

Great equipment. It's a pity that MSFS doesn't simulate the flight physics of helicopters (and airplanes anyway too), but "playing" for nice views can be fun too ;-)

if i buy throttle from virpila ,and the whole stick with the base from VKB, will it work?

How do you feel about Gemini Black Shark Collective Combo compare to VPC Hawk-60 Collective Grip

Have you tried the winwing collective and throttle. Ive been eyeing it recently. Thanks for the content as always brother!

Which pedals are you using ?

No helicopter sim controls will ever fully replicate what it’s actually like without using force feedback.

By the way, Huey VNE “Do not exceed 123 kts “

Got a MD 500 set up.?

Maybe if these yahoos at Virpil (which should be renamed to 'back-ordered') ever get a Canadian distributor. I've heard there are fees in addition to the shipping and exchange of about $150 CAD (!) on top of the already insane price...$630 USD, which is close to $1,100 CAD with the added fees. Not likely. And yes, before some smug clown chimes in, I can easily 'afford it', but I have other things to do besides sit in front of my PC 😂 Winwing has a Canadian warehouse (free shipping and zero fees) and the prices look like they are about 1/2 what Virpil is charging.

Not cheap, but Virpil gear is excellent, for me the delivery time being the only negative. Hopefully that will improve over time. I got the Alpha Prime on a 200mm extension with a CM3 base and more recently the CM3 throttle. I made some custom very long Monstertech clone desk mounts, as I don’t have space for a cockpit, and am really enjoying the setup. I’m glad I skipped the mid tier Gladiator EVO, though for the money I’m sure it’s great. I’ve seen a few reviews that say the throttle on the collective isn’t really worth it for 50% more cost based on the fact you typically only use it for a few seconds during start up and shutdown. If it gets better support in MSFS that might change, but most choppers have a governor so it isn’t really that usable in flight. I’ll probably get one with a left Alpha Prime to also use in Star Citizen with a Warbird D. I currently reverse the throttle so pulling towards me adds collective which works well for me.

If you're poor like me...LOOK AWAY NOW!!😢

Waste of money. How many times will u fly this really