Let's start with the disclaimer: the only reason why this crazy batch of reviews are possible is because VIRPIL sent me a ton of stuff for me to try. But, rest assured, I will be completely unbiased and totally honest with both you and VIRPIL. If something is not right, I will call it. But if it is, I will obviously say so as well.
Thanks again for the review. Iām using it and it improved dramatically my ability to control the Bell 47. Iāve not used the throttle so much so far, because Iām still relying on the governor. Hopefully, some day, I will, either when Iām bold enough to turn of the governor, or when I fly some other bird.
One thing I noticed, is that the weight of the base+grip tend to pull the collective down, so, you have to apply some friction to prevent this, and maybe a bit more than would be ideally desirable to achieve a perfectly smooth operation. A simple remedy would be to have some kind of counter weight attached to the rear end of the base. Iād be curious to see if anybody had tried this.
Thank you for reading and your input!
I havenāt noticed that issue with the excess friction myself but it can be a problem if you tighten it too much, for sure.
Give it a try at flying without a governor sometime. Itās quite the challenge and very fun!
Well, Sergio, you talked me into getting a collective, and I donāt regret my Virpil TCS Plus one bit. I was neglecting helis without having a proper collective, but now itās all Iām flying in MSFS & DCS!
I initially ordered it without throttle, but changed my mind on the order before they shipped it, glad I did. I donāt use the throttle a lot, but it is SO nice to use practicing autos. I was amazed that for the DCS Huey & MSFS Bell 47 that I did not have to do any special calibration for the idle/fuel cutoff point, itās at 50% axis travel, I guess that was planned by everyone. I think that might be why the travel is so long for you, the fuel cutoff side wouldnāt really need to be a whole half of travel in real life.
I did fly the Bell 47 manually with no governor, great fun! But now Iām actually flying the Bell 47 only with AirlandFS using the R44 profiles, so I have been keeping the governor on in the Heli Manager, and off in AirlandFS. Iāll have to see if I can still have the governor off in the Heli Manager, not sure.
The lock switch in addition to keeping the grip from twisting below idle, can also be used to lock the throttle at 100%.
I did have the stock 30 degree cam loosen - there was no loctite on the 2 screws, and the cam gets a lot of force on it, so I had to loctite it in place, but even with blue loctite, it is slightly loosening again, so I might have to use a more permanent loctite.
Yes, the collective has a little stiction when the friction screws are tight enough so it cannot fall on itās own, but I guess that is unavoidable using friction to hold it in place. I have seen mods using a hydraulic damper instead of the friction screws, but it was on a sim rig frame, I donāt see any easy way to use a damper on my office chair installation. I did mod a damper onto my Virpil pedals, soooo nice to have the hydraulic feel on the pedals with no spring - and works great WITH a spring for fixed wing!
Best Regards,
Steven
Steven! Oh man, I am sorry I am the reason you spent even more money on the hobby!
Oh the other hand, I am so glad that you are happy with it. Itās quite the responsibility when people spend their hard-earned money because of you! And itās great to know you are enjoying the experience and it makes your helicopter flying more fun ā and more frequent as well!
Care to show that mod of yours? I would love to take a look at it! Show it off on our #hardware section!
Hello Sergio,
Iām ready to post the mod, but I have not been able to upload pictures.
I have jpgās I have tried to upload in the editor, but even after waiting half
an hour, the editor still shows āprocessingā.
The first picture I tried was 2016 x 1512, 2.28MB, and then I reduced the size to
1008 x 756, 724kb, but I still could not upload it.
I wonder if it is a permissions problem?
Thanks,
Steven
Can you please send me the images to sergio@helisimmer.com so I can give it a try?
You should have no issues uploading images. You have the same rights as our other members and some of them have uploaded images before.
Hi Sergio,
I emailed to you the first picture I was trying to upload.
Looks like you have found a bug on the forums! Please refresh and try again. I have found a work-around and you should be able to upload it now.
Itās up! The work-around worked!
Awesome! Thank you!
Hi, I have this collective and am trying to set up for the DCS Huey. Is there a way to set up the throttle and the idle release switch to work realistically? I cant get the throttle to work below the idle stop point and have had to bind a switch on the grip to throttle up and down below this point. Thanks.
Iād say thatās the most realistically we can make it. We do need to push the IDLE stop button to pass that point. Unfortunatley the physical IDLE stop button doesnāt work as a button 
Thnx for a thorough review, currently in the market for a collective, and this answered a lot of my questions. I think the best solution to the "Idle/cutoff " problem is using the āaxis to buttonā function in Virpil Config. This way you can set a button press to be initiated at an interval percentage of the axis travel. User āshagratā over in the DCS forums has a step by step on how to do it: Virpil Controls Rotor TCS Plus Base setup with āworkingā IDLE stop
Hi Helisimmer,
youāre one of the few that has tried and reviewed both Virpil and Winwing collectives and so Iād like to ask your opinion on both of these, and as to how they compare to each other.
And although itās a differently prized kit, the cheaper K-51 may even have one big advantage:
ā it has as a dampener included right?
So the problem with āover-frictionā on Virpil or WW, which has to be done, so that their collective doesnāt fall/move down on its own, is not an issue?
Thanks and cheers!
Hello there!
I would go with the VIRPIL one myself.
I like the grips better, thereās the option with the throttle and we can regulate the friction system. I have tried both collectives for a few days and never had an issue with āsticktionā but I have seen folks complaining about it. The reports are rare, though. Itās not like you see everyone complaining.
I have seen folks complaining about that on the Pro Flight Trainer too but I have used version 4 for 3-4 years and Iāve been using version 5 pretty much since it was released and I never found any issues myself. So, it could either be a random problem with the washers or people that are too sensitive to the friction force we need to apply.
As for the K-51, it also has a friction system but it uses nylon washers. I havenāt tried the collective myself but the person that reviewed it for me was very happy about it.
I hope that helps. Please let me know if thereās anything else I can answer to regarding these 
Hi, thx for getting back so quickly!
Good points about āsomeone is always bitchinā^^ Youāre probably right about that. I thought about screwing on some counterweight (maybe I can get a solid piece of metal somewhere); if it has more or less the same weight as the extension + grip, it should work like a charm!
Iāll probably go the Virpil route; firstly because the throttle is further down and thus āoptionalā and not the grip itself as its with the WWing, but also because: itās China, high transport and tax and import costs.
Virpil is Europe; you know what youāll gonna end up paying.
Thanks again; you have a truly awesome site here. Cheers!
If you think it needs a conterweight, you can always do that but I wouldnāt worry about it just right now. Give it a try, see how it works for you, how it goes over time and if you think it needs to be adapted for you, then you can do it. An hydraulic damper is also a good solution.
Glad I could help! Thank you very much for your kind words too!!!
Virpil just added their VPC Rotor Counter-Balance Kit, which is essentially a spring compensating the weight of the grip. With this installed, you can loosen the friction setting, and get a smoother collective operation. Itās not expensive (about 30 euros excl. VAT), so, itās worth a try. Iāve only used it for a few hours, but Iām quite happy with the way it feels.
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