To get everyone started.
I'll put together a short video to familiarize the cockpit procedures, but that will take a day or so.
Basics:
Start can be done with Ctrl+E, or you can use the start switches on the pilot switch box. (Right side of seat).
Mags are not programed yet, so just turn on the battery, beacon light, set the parking brake, fuel pumps, prime three flicks, flip up the start switch cover and hold the switch until the engine fires. Watch your mixture! Turn on the generator after the engine fires. Turn on avionics and lights.
Taxi
The plane will roll at about 15 MAP.
Steering is castor nose wheel, so no rudder pedal steering. Use your engines and brakes.
Cowl flaps open full.
TO
Flaps one notch, or as needed.
Cowl flaps to slightly open for TO. Watch your head temps.
Adjust your mixture for altitude...very important.
Props fine...I nudge mine back a tad. You should see 2600 prop RPMs for TO.
Elevator Trim +3.5 for medium weight and load out.
Rudder Trim neutral.
Hold brakes when you are lined up and roll throttles up to 30MAP.
Important:
The F7F was not counter rotated, so the airplane will pull left with the torque. Hold full right pedal once the plane rolls out and wait for the plane to begin to respond to pedal pressure. Bring the power up to 41MAP as you gain rudder authority. You can go to 50MAP as needed.
If you have crosswind, apply engine power for additional lateral control. The airplane is very sensitive here.
Slight back pressure on the stick to fly the nose wheel off ASAP. With light pressure the plane will rotate very smoothly.
Gear up as soon as possible.
Flaps up once you have steady climb rate @ 125+. The plane will accelerate and pitch up once you retract and raise the flaps. Adjust your elevator trim.
Aileron trim may need a tiny nudge depending on wind and weather.
Props can stay just below 2600 during climb out.
Roll back to 41MAP for climb.
I try to climb the airplane between 1200 and 1500 FPM. At that rate you can roll prop pitch back to 2200-2300...in the yellow. MAP 34-35 should give you 160-180 knots if you want reduced power (economy) climb out.
Important Mixture:
The FM is very sensitive to mixture, so watch your airspeed and listen. The engines will lug if you don't lean them by inching the levers slowly during climb.
Around 15,000' mixture should be in the low twenties...at FL20 you should be in the high teens.
Once you hit your altitude, roll back to 31.5 MAP and find your mixture. The airplane should settle in right about 200 indicated.
I've set the airplane up with variable engine smoke. Anything above 60% power you will get visible engine smoke. After climb out the smoke will disappear once you throttle back.
Important Engine Smoke Settings: The default smoke settings use a contrail effect. I did this so you could see the effect. To delete or change this, open the aircraft.cfg.
You can edit out the fx_contrail_l (in red here) or change it to an effect of your choice.
[smokesystem]
smoke.0 = -18, 9.70, -0.400, fx_contrail_l
smoke.1 = -18, -9.70, -0.400, fx_contrail_l
There are some very nice effects that work quite nicely here. I personally use a propsmoke effect that turns to contrail at altitude. You can be as creative as you wish.
This should get you going, but feel free to post up here as needed.
BTW: I have also been able to bring the model alive for FSX. I'll put together a small folder with the three FSX models tomorrow. OOOH RAHHH! As it stands now, the current download is P3D DX10+ only.
Thanks for helping me with the testing, and happy flying.
Gman