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Landing lights for tail draggers

WarHorse47

WarHorse47

SOH-CM-2024
I'm still adding Shockwave lights to all my favorite aircraft. This evening I added them to my WBS Mustangs, and wasn't sure if I liked them or not. Here is the issue.

With a tail dragger like the P-51C with the light mounted in the wing, the lights shine upward when the plane is on the ground. That is with the standard light which points straightforward along the plane axis.

Is there any information available as to WWII landing lights, such as something that indicates if they were angled downward towards the runway? :salute:

I couldn't find any references or photos as to how actual lights work in such an install, so I was wondering if anyone could point me (pardon the pun) in the right direction.

Thanks :ernae:

--WH
 
Without knowing for certain, I'd guess that landing lights would be angled pretty much in line with the axis like tricycle planes, simply because that's the angle you'd need during the actual landing. Taxi light, if any, would then be angled further downward. But like I said, that's just a guess...
 
I know during install you get a choice as for the angle of helicopters lights. But I don't remember if that option for the planes. Tail draggers would need to have another light (optionally added) for use during taxi-to-level flight. I don't recall any fs planes set-up like that. I'm not even sure if you could edit the rotation angle via the config file for that matter
 
Landing lights can actually be aimed. I think you turn on the num-lock, then use Control + the ten-key numbers to move the landing lights around. The taxi lights can't move, though.
 
Did you try this one here?
fx_shockwave_landing_light_tail_old.fx

IIRC, its beam angle (and colour) should make it suitable for classic taildraggers.

Cheers,
Markus.
 
Wild Bill Kelso said:
Did you try this one here?
fx_shockwave_landing_light_tail_old.fx

IIRC, its beam angle (and colour) should make it suitable for classic taildraggers.

Cheers,
Markus.
Click to expand...
Hmmm.. thanks for the hint. I'll try it out today. As of last night, I ended up using fx_shockwave_landing_light_narrow_down_old with decent results, but your suggestion might be better still.

I've been working with the shockwave lights now for a couple of weeks and really like them. My biggest issue is the documentation for the REDUX package. Nowhere can I find any reference to fx_shockwave_landing_light_tail_old.fx and the manual that came with the package is incomplete so its a matter of trail and error. But the end results are quite satisfying.

--WH
 
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