Much like the designer of the original Thing I was looking for extra buttons for VR flight sims. Since i play in an Obutto R3volution simpit, there is only a small throttle support plate rather than a desk for the throttle, so it was necessary to rigidly attach the button box to my Saitek X52 throttle. I redesigned the original item to have a split support cradle, which holds the X52 in place between the two button boxes. There is a channel running through the cradle for wiring from the bottom box to the top. The top and bottom sections mesh together but benefit from a little bit of CA glue to hold everything in place. USB cables from the X52 and the BBI-32 route through the top button box together.
Also I find myself having to eject a lot more than I should because apparently I'm a terrible pilot, so I modified this Thing into the bottom switchbox lid to include an eject button with a flip-up safety cover. The large printed button press-fits onto one of the momentary buttons listed below. The safety cover bolted into the frame with a couple of small bolts I had lying around - don't recall the size.
The original version of the bottom lid (in the pictures) had Pitch/Yaw/Roll included in it, but it turns out rotary encoders are terrible for adjusting trim so I removed it. Sorry!
As before, it's designed to be used with a Leo Bodnar BBI-32 interface board. The cover plates from the original Thing ought to fit this one just fine; I included the ones I designed as well. You can of course use any buttons you want - the top plates I included were designed for the following:
Large on/off/on momentary switch
Small on/off/on momentary switch
Rotary encoder
Small momentary push button
Any 3mm LEDs in these panel mounts
The author remixed this model.