Old Top Gun Joystick at Thrift Store

[deadpool18]

I saw this old joystick (Official Top Gun Thrustmaster) at a Thrift Store for 5 bucks:

http://www.empirenet.com/f2comp/prodtg.htm

The only problem is, it is a serial joystick.  Is there a cheap way to convert it to USB and use it with mame?  Would it even be worth it?  It seems like a really sturdy joystick, and I can see myself using it with Afterburner and other games of that nature.

Any thoughts on whether or not I should pick one up?

[rufio]

Funny thing, registered just today and also has been working on my Top Gun joystick (that I bought like 10 years ago, first joystick ever) to convert it for mame

Easy enough to disassemble and work with, mine is a Gameport device, the one that goes in to old soundcards, is that what you mean by serial? Because then itīs as easy as buying an old (some new too surely) soundcard.

As far as feeling goes I think itīs great and looks really cool, and as you say pretty sturdy. Looks very similar to this by the way:

http://www.happcontrols.com/joysticks/95025100.htm

[deadpool18]

Yeah, I did mean gameport! 

I picked it up today because I really like the look and feel of it.  I couldn't really pass it up for 5 bucks.  I saw a converter here:

http://www.usbgear.com/ijoy1.html

I'm hoping to use that instead of getting a new sound card, but if it doesn't work I'll probably have to!

[rufio]

Yeah, that would probably work, although a new soundcards would be cheape, but USB is somewhat more future prooof anyway

[Afterburner]

How would you go about mounting the TopGun?

I have an old ThrustMaster FCS stick (very similar to the TopGun) that I've been wanting to use, but haven't had time to fiddle around with it, mostly cause it also has the gameport connector.

I was actually thinking about buying a used TopGun II and using it....virtually the same except it had a USB connector.

But I didn't want to do anything until I had a better understanding of how to mount it.

[ChadTower]

I bet you could bottom mount it with that case the same as you would an arcade stick.  I'm not sure it would hold up perfectly over time being made of plastic and all but there isn't much you could do about that.

[rufio]

The way Iīm converting it to a future mame-cabinet is something like this (sorry about poor paint-skills  )

Forgot the bolts that will go through the control panel holding it in place and also the MDF and metal-plate together.

[f4phantomii]

Ah, I see.

Basically you guys just take the stock stick, remove the bottom of the base, and then reinforce with a metal mounting plate, right?

Do you incorporate hard stops, or slightly undersize the hole in the metal plate to prevent undue strain on the pots?

[rufio]

Actually, havenīt really thought that far. I was just going to make the hole exactly the way it is on the original to avoid such problem.

[ChadTower]

Given that a joystick mount is often only "clamped" into the metal base, you may be able to fit that into an existing arcade mount.