Martin B-26B/C Marauder has been posted to SOH

[Radioman123]

B26B missing texture for Props

The fix was installed in the download. Just re download the model and install. You will be good to go.

Regards

Radioman123

 

[Radioman123]

B26B Marauder VC issues

Hi,

I downloaded the aircraft and am very impressed. I experienced no transparency problems. From my ignorant perspective, creating an aircraft simulation such as this borders on black magic. As such I've noticed some small problems and I don't know if correcting them is a simple matter or an impossible task. I did a little tweaking of the several things such as the checklist, cameras and eyepoint. I reset the eyepoint so it's centered on the yoke thereby improving my forward visibility and swapped a couple of gauges to make them more visible from the new location.
Here are several things that I noticed that I'd like to change but don't have the slightest idea of how to. With the parking brake set and engines idling there's a slight rotation of the aircraft. If I release the parking brake the rotation stops. I've never noticed this on any other aircraft. Once I've shut down the engines the only way I've been able to restart is with Ctrl + E. By clicking and dragging on the left prop and mixture levers (not the knobs) both levers move but only the left settings are changed. Clicking and dragging the right levers changes the settings without any visible indication. The pitch trim wheel only shows movement for a small range when zero pitch is crossed; dragging the wheel continues to change pitch but without any visible change.
I tried out several changes posted in this thread to the sound and panel files but decided to stick with the aircraft as downloaded.
If anyone has any insight as to the anomalies I noticed I would appreciate hearing it.
And to the creator of this aircraft thanks and you have my sincerest admiration.

Jim F.

Anomalies

Most can only be fixed with a recompile of the aircraft, some are very subtle and some are features.

1. rotation of the aircraft - nose down when on the brakes. That is a feature and is how the aircraft actually behaved when you stepped on the brakes. The stiffness of the front shock is controlled by the aircraft.cfg file. The compression is modelled along with the steering.

2. View point. I moved the pilot viewpoint to the right of the center of the yoke so to be able to see all of the instruments. The view in the cockpit of the original is terrible and the pilot needed to look around particularly at the airspeed indicator and VSI to keep from stalling the aircraft on takeoff or approach. The instruments are in the original location. Moving the viewpoint from its present location means that you cannot see critical instruments behind the yoke. Your compromise of moving instrument positions is fine but is not faithful to the original locations in the aircraft.

3. The restart from a cold start is something I am still working through the modeling on and is subtle issue. Instead of working another 6 months on the issue, I decided to release this version as a limited release on SOH for everyone's enjoyment and to get some feedback.

4.Trim Wheel. Is a problem. The compile code from the MS SDK does not seem to be correct and am working through experimental code for a future release to fix this. It is a compile issue and cannot be solved with changes to the panel or aircraft config files.

5 Knobs and controls. You should be able to grab just below the knobs and individually move the controls. Still need to merge the knobs with the levers.

Regards

Radioman123

 

[jandjfrench]

Hi Radioman,

Let me again express my admiration for your handiwork. When I really like something I find myself being very critical. If I didn't like the aircraft so much I'd simply dismiss any minor imperfections and move on. I hope you're not offended by my critique.
I never know if my observations are unique to my system or others have noticed the same things. When I said rotation I probably should have said pivoting. With the parking brake applied the aircraft stays in the same position but slowly changes heading. If I release the brake this pivoting stops but restarts when applied again. CW or CCW seems arbitrary as well as rate of change. Always very slow but present.
I noticed one other thing that seems strange. It takes quite awhile to get off the ground but once airborne it tends to climb at an angle that seems unnaturally steep. When I was quite a bit younger I recall taking off aboard a DC-7 and it was hard to tell when the plane was off the ground. The way this plane leaves the ground reminds me of my first flight in a DC-8.

Jim F.

 

[expat]

When I was quite a bit younger I recall taking off aboard a DC-7 and it was hard to tell when the plane was off the ground.

Off topic - but reminds me of a former DC-7C pilot friend of my Dad's who liked to say "she only left the ground due to sheer brute force and the curvature of the Earth."

Sorry - thread hijack over - the Marauder is probably my favorite WWII bomber and very grateful that you have shared your hard work with all of us.

expat

 

[Radioman123]

B36 issues

Hi Radioman,

Let me again express my admiration for your handiwork. When I really like something I find myself being very critical. If I didn't like the aircraft so much I'd simply dismiss any minor imperfections and move on. I hope you're not offended by my critique.
I never know if my observations are unique to my system or others have noticed the same things. When I said rotation I probably should have said pivoting. With the parking brake applied the aircraft stays in the same position but slowly changes heading. If I release the brake this pivoting stops but restarts when applied again. CW or CCW seems arbitrary as well as rate of change. Always very slow but present.
I noticed one other thing that seems strange. It takes quite awhile to get off the ground but once airborne it tends to climb at an angle that seems unnaturally steep. When I was quite a bit younger I recall taking off aboard a DC-7 and it was hard to tell when the plane was off the ground. The way this plane leaves the ground reminds me of my first flight in a DC-8.

Jim F.

Rotation: Sorry, I thought you were talking about the pitch rotation when under power with the brakes applied. The yaw rotation, slowly moving around the vertical axis, I have not noticed but will look for. A possible cause is that one of the engines is developing more thrust then the other. Is the aircraft turning to the left or the right?

Regards

Radioman123

 

[gaucho_59]

My freeware MS FSX SP2/A Martin B-26B/C Marauder has been posted at SOH under FSX/
American Aircraft.

A new entry has been added to Add-Ons Library, category FSX American Aircraft

Description: FSX SP2/A B-26C-11-MO 41-18322 modeled as Hell's Belle II of the 439th BS/319BG based in Sardinia in 1944. This aircraft was from the 12th Air Force, 319th Bomb Group (Medium), 439 Bomb Squadron based in Rufisque French West Africa, Tafaraoui, Algeria (outside of Oran), Maison Blanche, Algeria (outside of Algers), Dejedeida, Tunisia (outside of Tunis) and Decimomannu, Sardinia (outside of Cagliari) in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations. She flew over one hundred missions between June 1943 and November 1944 in North Africa, Italy and southern France. Her first crew was led by Lt. J. H. Logan but was flown by other crews.

This aircraft is a native code FSX SP2/A aircraft created by W. E. Stephens. The pilot character "Pilotpfc" was originally created by David Eckert.

Have fun

Radioman123

Following to my last private message (I don't know how to enclose a jpg in it) here is a sample of a p51 profile I am currently working on...View attachment 34320

I would love to collaborate on texturing any model you create...

 

[jandjfrench]

Hi Radioman,

I did a little checking and the pivoting is on the aircraft "center". I switched to top down view and zoomed so that I could see the inside of the aircraft. The crosshairs are fixed on one spot. A check of camera.cfg defines its focal point as "Center". I eliminated wind and the engines as having any effect. Rotation had been in either direction but now each time I try either holding or setting the brakes it's CCW. One wheel will be moving in the opposite direction of the other but no wheel rotation is animated.
I changed the "normalized_starter_torque" to equal 0.1 and now I can start the engines without resorting to Ctrl+E. Clicking on the left starter switch animates both switches but only starts the left engine. Clicking the right switch shows no animation but starts the right engine.
Hope this helps.
Jim F.

 

[Radioman123]

Engine Starting

Hi Radioman,

I did a little checking and the pivoting is on the aircraft "center". I switched to top down view and zoomed so that I could see the inside of the aircraft. The crosshairs are fixed on one spot. A check of camera.cfg defines its focal point as "Center". I eliminated wind and the engines as having any effect. Rotation had been in either direction but now each time I try either holding or setting the brakes it's CCW. One wheel will be moving in the opposite direction of the other but no wheel rotation is animated.
I changed the "normalized_starter_torque" to equal 0.1 and now I can start the engines without resorting to Ctrl+E. Clicking on the left starter switch animates both switches but only starts the left engine. Clicking the right switch shows no animation but starts the right engine.
Hope this helps.
Jim F.

That helps to start solving the issue of cold start. Many thanks for the hint.

Regards

Radioman123

 

[muletrain]

I, too, noticed the rotation when brakes were on. Not sure what it is but reminds me of rotation secondary to the "slew" command. Guess I'll reload and see what happens when "y" is clicked!

 

[muletrain]

Nope, it's not a "slew" problem.
With the parking brake on there is a slow rotation to the left.
Rotation stops when brakes released.
Application of standard joystick activated brakes yields a slower rotation to the right!
Go figure....
:isadizzy:

 

[Radioman123]

slow rotation with brakes on

I am still looking at it. I am not sure the cause. It is not noticeable on my rig.

Regards

Radioman123

 

[jandjfrench]

Hi,

I came across this post yesterday, which is about the pivoting problem:
http://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/showthread.php?228849-Unwanted-Yaw-and-it-Ain-t-the-Wind!
It seems the problem is not unique to the Marauder but only its degree. I never noticed it with any other aircraft.
I noticed the [Airwrench] section in the .cfg file and downloaded the trial version. Not sure what to look for but noticed several values that seemed worth investigating. I think they were in regards to the center of gravity.

 

[Radioman123]

B-26B movement with parking brake

Hi,

I came across this post yesterday, which is about the pivoting problem:
http://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/showthread.php?228849-Unwanted-Yaw-and-it-Ain-t-the-Wind!
It seems the problem is not unique to the Marauder but only its degree. I never noticed it with any other aircraft.
I noticed the [Airwrench] section in the .cfg file and downloaded the trial version. Not sure what to look for but noticed several values that seemed worth investigating. I think they were in regards to the center of gravity.

Thanks for the heads up. It is certainly a aircraft.cfg issue.

Regards

Radioman123

 

[Radioman123]

B-26B/C-10 paintkit uploaded to SOH

I uploaded my B-26B/C paintkit to SOH.

<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <wunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <wontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026"/> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:shapelayout v:ext="edit"> <o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1"/> </o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--> [FONT=&quot]http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/local_links.php?catid=3&linkid=3838http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/local_links.php?catid=3&linkid=3838[/FONT]


It is fairly crude but it will be a good start to anyone wanting to repaint the model.

Regards

Radioman123

 

[limjack]

Thank you thank you and thank you radioman. I have been waiting for this aircraft to be apart of fsx for family reasons. My aunts husband died on the B26 heading to war by way of the northern rout. The aircraft went down during heavy weather near Iceland and the the plane was never found. Cant wait to get home and add this aircraft to the fleet. :salute:

Jim

 

[Milton Shupe]

I am still looking at it. I am not sure the cause. It is not noticeable on my rig.

Regards

Radioman123

A quick look at the aircraft.cfg and I see what I think is the problem. The empty weight yaw is 1/10th what it should be (typically the sum of pitch and roll values will put you in the ball park):

empty_weight_pitch_MOI=72639.00000
empty_weight_roll_MOI=80032.00000
empty_weight_yaw_MOI=14524.00000

I think a number is missing, maybe like a low order zero:
empty_weight_pitch_MOI=72639.00000
empty_weight_roll_MOI=80032.00000
empty_weight_yaw_MOI=145240.00000

Now you see that the yaw figure is in the ballpark and problem is solved for me.

Thank you for this very nice aircraft.

 

[jandjfrench]

Hi,

All better!

Jim F.