For example the brake is a pull-lever in the middle of the panel.
That's likely not the brake itself, but a valve trapping the hydraulic pressure applied by the toe-brakes into the system. So to apply the parking brake, depress the toe brakes and keep them depressed while you pull out the little knob. I don't know what you've flown before and I don't know the TR182/Pitts S2C, but this is decidedly different from the PA28 or C172, where the parking brake lever applies brake pressure all by itself.
Occasionally you do see aircraft like this with the "parking brake" applied before they put pressure on the toe pedals. Useless.
Oh, and if you ever get to fly the DR400-135CDI: the arrangement and location of the knob is exactly the same, but due to the huge power lever you can't see the knob from the usual seating position. Always hilarious to watch people search for it the first time.
The master switch is a push-in control like an old-fashioned choke.
Mmm. Haven't seen that. Sure you're not confused with the carb heat? The ones I fly are all newer than 1976 and have proper master/alternator switches. Although I admit that some switches (particularly the avionics master) do seem to have been added afterwards.