The previous builder had already constructed a control stick. It appears that he molded it out of micro and did a very nice job. I thought quite awhile about how to finish it, though. Any sort of paint would wear off very quickly. I finally found some very large i.d. heat-shrink tubing to cover it with – it worked great. A top plate for mounting buttons was fashioned out of aluminum. This was painted to match the panel. I used a top-hat control button for the pitch/roll trim and two micro momentary contact switches mounted on top for AP disconnect and COM switch, and a third micro switch at the back for PTT. I had sourced some very tiny micro momentary contact switches from Digikey, but replaced them with a bit larger, more comfortable ones on top for AP and COM switch (that’s why you see two different switch type in the different pictures) – I left the micro switch for PTT at the back.
The wires for the control stick were run down the control stick and out through a hole in the stick near where it pivots with the roll torque tube. A rubber grommet and two layers of heat-shrink (not shown) were used to protect against wear.
