Four Russian WWI aircraft released for CFS2!

[aleatorylamp]

Hello Roxane21,

The Viosin and the Ivanov-Voisin sat on their 4 wheels, but the AGO C-1
had a more delicate balance and tended to sit on its tail. The front wheels seem
to have been more for landing, and for elevator-down taxiing.


Hello Ravenna,

I decided to be quite prolific these days, and keep my nose on the grindstone,
because work on the twin-boom/fuselage model upgrades wasn´t arduous.

They came through with less work on the conveyor belt than other models, as I had
more building experience when I built them originally. Thus, they didn´t contain any
serious flaws to correct before starting, so the process was really quite straight forward.

Nevertheless, I don´t know how they will behave as AI planes, so it may be necessary
for someone who knows more about that to tweak the AI .air files a bit.
I wouldn´t like them to just be easy-to-shoot-down sitting ducks...

Anyway, Folks, thanks for your enthusiasm!
Cheers,
Aleatorylamp

 

[aleatorylamp]

The German twin-boom pusher

Hello Folks,

I´m fighting it out with the flight dynamics on this one - with similar problems to what was going on with the Porokovschikov twin-tail, but I´ll manage in the end.

One thing about the bombs, is that the slim French ones would probably be incorrect, as in the picture, and fatter ones would probably be more in order. I have to see if there are any better vertical bomb .bgl´s for this purpose.

Would anyone know?

Cheers,
Aleatorylamp.

 

[aleatorylamp]

Contradictory information - what to do?

Hello Folks,
As usual with a lot of aircraft, it seems that I´ve run into a bit of contradictory information on
the German AGO twin-boom pusher.

Almost all internet sites mentioning this aircraft have it simply as a well-performing reconnaissance
aircraft with a machinegun in the nose, that was in service in the first half of 1915.

Photos show the C.I with nacelle and booms darker than the wings, possibly dark red or dark brown, wings
most probably canvas-beige, and then the C.II with an overall lighter colour, possibly light blue or even yellow.

Models mentioned are the AGO C.I with the Mercedes D.II or Benz III engine, with a production of 15 units,
and the AGO C.II with a more powerful 220 Hp Mercedes D.IV engine and a production of 18 units.

Another site mentions a total of 50 C.I and C.II units being built.

Then, one site mentions it carried bombs, but doesn´t specify which model it was, or how many or what type
of bombs it carried.

It is interesting to note, however, that top speed for the lower-powered model was 90 mph, and 84 mph
for the more powerful C.II. The reason for this seems to have been the weight, although there are sites that
give the same weights for both models, and other sites don´t mention the weight of the C.I.

Could it have been that only the C.II that carried the bombs, and the C.I didn´t?

On the other hand, there´s nothing to stop any gunner in an observer-plane from dropping hand-held bombs
or grenades hanging from the sill of his gunner´s-well.

All quite confusing, and a bit brain-racking. So what shall we do?
Stick five French hand-bombs onto the gunner well sides like on the Ivanov-Voisin Anatra, or leave it without bombs?

Update: I just found a new site mentioning both models as being able to carry a small number of bombs, but without
specifying number of bombs or the type.
At least it looks like we could be back to the initial plan of carrying hand-bombs.
Would ten hand bombs hanging on each side be OK? Unless there are any objections, I think I´ll go for that.

A lot of tiring back-and-forth, all this, but at least it´s a bit clearer than before.

"It was as clear as mud, but it covered the ground,
and the confusion made me brain go round."
Harry Belafonte in "The birds and the Bees"

Cheers,
Aleatorylamp

 

[aleatorylamp]

Porokhovschikov-2 Bicoque Panel .cfg correction.

Hello folks,
I´m awfully sorry for an unfortunate glitch in the Panel.cfg in the uploaded Porokhovschikov-2 Bicoque.
It still contained the Beckwith Test Gauge Set for performance tuning, with restly gauges pushed out of the way to make space.

The correct file was Panel_backup001.cfg, that I forgot to rename correctly when I finished.
It´s crazy that I missed such an obvious thing.

I have just corrected the mistake in the Warbirds library, and I do indeed apologize!

For those who don´t want to download the whole file again, it will suffice to delete the Panel.cfg file in the panel folder of the
old upload and rename the file "Panel_backup001.cfg" to "Panel.cfg".

There´s always something that goes wrong, isn´t there...
Cheers,
Aleatorylamp

 

[aleatorylamp]

More problems, but strange this time.

Hello Folks,
On my computer the Porokhovschikov-2 BiCocque behaves well, except for a little forward-lunging and two small jitters on engine start-up, and after that everything is stable and docile.

Nevertheless, Kdriver has reported extreme abnomalities like a high-jump, and a summersault followed by an inevitable crash. So on some computers obviously there seems to be a problem. Strange that it´s not on all computers, because I´d have noticed. (...probably...!)

More proof to confirm that imformatics and computers are by no means an exact science.
They seem to me to be even more aleatory than Pixar´s animated desk lamp.
I am already sufficiently erratic too, (Aleatorylamp), so maybe the combination of the two factors gives a dire result.

Perhaps it´s the contact points. I´m not very good at that part of the .air file.
Also, the attitude seems to be a bit tail heavy, but that´s not a problem, as I corrected that easily by halving the value of the Pitch-moment at AoA=0. Now, on my computer it´s flying horizontally with no problems.

It´s such a light plane, with only 975 lb empty weight, so it´s a difficult one, this .air file. At first, when the gunner got in, the nose went down to the ground! Really crazy.

Anyway... Just to say, I´m working on it and will update the .air file once I´ve managed to cure this.

But come to think of it... How can I improve the .air file if on my computer the aircraft flies well?
I´ll dig out my old Pentium 4, install a minimal CFS2 on it, and test it there... Hopefully it will have problems.

Cheers,
Aleatorylamp

 

[aleatorylamp]

AGO C.I twin-boom observer with no bombs after all!

Hello All,
At the end it´s probably better to have the AGO C.I without bombs.
It seems historically more correct to keep it at being strictly an observer.
With the scarce information available, one may venture to say that most probably
only the more powerful and slower AGO C.II that carried bombs, and it´s not the plane
I´m building - I don´t know if it was beige, light blue or light yellow... even more unknown
factors than the colour scheme of the C.I!
Cheers,
Aleatorylamp

 

[aleatorylamp]

Porokhovschikov-2 BiCocque flight dynamics fixed!!

Hello Folks,
I have been a bit under the weather recently, but have managed to fix the Flight Dynamics on this Twin-tail pusher, that was having problems on some computers, but not all.

Thanks to Kdriver for testing at least three different Flight Dynamics!

I also managed improve other things, mainly the contact points. I looked around and found a more extensive description by Milton Shupe here in SOH, with extra explanations on how they work, and have finally been able to understand this
set of confusing numbers more fully, especially those regarding the suspension.

Thanks to Milton Shupe for his post!

Additionally, by comparing values applied to a number of other similar models, I managed to put in better entries for things like "Pitch Moment due to AoA Rate", "Lift due to horizontal stabilizer", "Pitch Moment Coefficient at AoA zero", "Prop effect on elevator". Then, in the Aircraft.cfg, the CoG also got a fine-tune, as well as gear-positions, and all this appears to have fixed the problem.

Now I have to do the Checklists for the Kneeboard, as I noticed that the CFS1 ones don´t work the same way...
Also, I want to put in an extra loading option in the Dp files, so that it can be flown with only one pilot and no bombs.
Most probably the weight difference will be quite noticeable, and should be quite interesting.

As soon as I´m done, I´ll update the model in the library, and also attach the flight dynamics to a post here for those who already have the model and don´t want to have to download the model yet again.

Note: The AGO C.I upgrade will also be released soon, as its Flight Dynamics were also pending improvement.

New Update:
Incidentally, I´ve just discovered something interesting for rotary engine control in CFS2:
Rotaries only have two throttle positions, Off or Full Power, and the only way to operate in lower revs is by by "blipping" the magnetos, i.e. switching them off and on again repeatedly.

Unfortunately, CFS doesn´t provide keystroke control for magnetos. Only mouse-clicking the magneto gauges on the instrument panel will switch them off and on again, but this is very cumbersome indeed when you are flying.

However, rotary engines were also controlled, or "blipped" by cutting off the fuel supply, and turning it on again, and
CFS2 does provide a keystroke option for this in the Controller Assignment Menu:

There are two Engine Control keystrokes that do exactly what is required:

Set Mixture to idle cut-off: Default keystroke Shift + 3
Set Mixture to rich..........: Default keystroke Shift + 4

Tapping the keys alternately will keep revs low. It seems easy and realistic, and Joystick buttons can also be defined.

Could be interesting, I think...
Cheers,
Aleatorylamp

 

[aleatorylamp]

Hello Folks,
In my last post, I was mistaken about rotary engines in general being run at full power all the time. I found
out that later rotaries such as those on the Sopwith Camel and Sopwith Pup for example, had some degree
of RPM control between 800 and 1200 RPM.

This thread: http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26336 explains the subject very well,
and also makes for an interesting read!

The system of controlling RPM by "blipping" only, would then apply exclusively to very early rotary engines like
the one on the Porokhovschikov-2 BiCocque.

Although this "blipping" technique I described can be done realistically in the sim, and without too much
complication, it is debatable whether this kind of thing could be practical for simmers!

Cheers,
Aleatorylamp

 

[aleatorylamp]

AGO C.I is back on the conveyor belt.

Hello Folks,
After some very busy work on other aircraft, it´s the turn of the AGO C.I again to be in the production line again.

My doubts about the colour scheme have finally dissipated, as I have found evidencethat pale-yellow and pale-blue
only seem to apply to the AGO C.II and C.III.
For the C.I there is photographic evidence for two liveries, both for land and floatplane versioins:

A) all-round beige, clear-doped or possibly light grey, or
B) Beige clear-doped wings and tail surfaces, and dark fuselages. The latter could either be dark red or dark brown,
but judging by the shade of the dark fuselages on the b/w photos, interpretation favours the dark red.

Thus, there will be no change in the planned CFS2 upgrade for this model.

I only have to finish the flight dynamics, which are still a bit obnoxious!
Cheers,
Aleatorylamp

 

[aleatorylamp]

Flight Dynamics upgrade for Porokhovschikov-2 BiCoque

Hello folks,

I have just put in an improved .air file for the Porokhovschikov-2 BiCoque twin-tail aircraft:

This is the correct link now - I´d got it wrong before:

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...d=124&id=25463

As mentioned earlier on in this thread, some simmers had been reporting problems with the previous "zero or full power" rotary-engine throttle control, as well as some ground handling problems. It turns out there was a contact-points problem, that I have also put right.

Historically, "zero or full power" only applied to very early rotaries, and very soon they did have throttle control over the 800-1200 RPM range. Only for slow flight, as in approach and final approach, "blipping" the engine with magnetos was done. Thus, the aircraft now has a more progressive throttle control. Also, to make it more practical for simmers to fly, elevator trim and brakes have been included.

I do apologize for the time it has taken to correct the two flaws.

As they say... better late than never, I suppose

Cheers,

Aleatorylamp

 

[Roxane-21]

I have just put in an improved .air file for the Porokhovschikov-2 BiCoque twin-tail aircraft:

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/local_links.php?action=jump&catid=124&id=25323

This link leads to the Gotha G.IV pack.

 

[aleatorylamp]

Hello again Roxanne21,

Sorry about that, I must apologize again! I must have clicked on something I didn´t mean to.

Here´s the correct link: http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...d=124&id=25463

Cheers,

Aleatorylamp

 

[aleatorylamp]

AGO C.I twin-boom pusher biplane uploaded.

Hello Folks,
So, it´s finally done. I always have difficulties with contact points - they are so abstract.
One trick is to erase them all and let the CFS2Editor put its own in, converted from the .air file,
and then tweak those manually (taking out all the repeated digits in the long numbers wht the
text editor) until you get what you want. That strategy took some time to figure out too...

Here´s the link to the AGO C.I upload. The plane will be available in the Warbirds library as
soon as it has been approved:

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...d=124&id=25729

I think I got it right this time... Here are some pictures too.
Do let me know if something´s wrong!
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Aleatorylamp

 

[aleatorylamp]

AGO C.II successor on a different thread now.

Hello Folks,
I just realized this...

The continuation of the topic AGO C.I twin-boom pusher observer biplane now goes on with
the AGO C.II, a bomber/observer version that succeeded the AGO C.I, on the following thread:

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforu...-I-twin-boom-pusher-observer-biplane-1915-zip

Cheers,
Aleatorylamp