just FYI (since having flown Multi-engine prop aircraft in real life)...
Hi James. I haven't flown multi-engine aircraft so I had to rely on my research.
My main sources for the taxiing techniques were the actual DC-2 operation manual included with the Uiver Team X DC-2 and a ten-page essay called
how to taxi a DC-3 from
http://www.douglasdc3.com. Both agree that taxiing is done using primarily differential engine power, and the latter comments (repeatedly) that using the brakes to steer is sloppy and inappropriate.
I also have the book
North Star Over my Shoulder by Bob Buck, which contains a wealth of first-hand information about the DC-2. In particular, he describes how taxiing a DC-2 was a two-man job, the brakes alone requiring coordinated use of one hand and both feet, while the second pilot operated the throttles and, in the event of a quartering crosswind, the elevator control. One of the pilots also had to operate the tailwheel lock, which was in itself rather fiddly and involved. It seems that later DC-2s (including the Aviodrome's Uiver replica) were fitted with DC-3 type toe brakes, but these were still used primarily for stopping the aircraft. The DC-3 source mentioned above also comments that trying to steer with the rudder in a crosswind is futile, as the forces required will often exceed the strength of the pilot's legs!
I think the only concession I made to FSX which, after all, can't approach the challenge of handling a real aircraft such as this one on the ground, was to recommend the use of the tail-wheel lock as a turn-stopper. It wouldn't work in real life as the tail-wheel casters until you run straight and it pops into its centre slot. As FSX doesn't appear to model the tail-wheel lock's effect in any situation
other than during a turn, I felt this was a fair trade! There are also some visual anomalies with the FSX tailwheel. If you lock it while it's off-centre, it behaves as if it's centred but the external views show it locked off-centre. I also realised (late) that FS-Recorder doesn't play back the tailwheel behaviour, so my ground turns in the video look like they were dragging the tail-wheel when really they were not. I decided it was too much trouble to go back and re-shoot the turns 'live'.
The only thing I forgot to put in the video when talking about cooling, particularly on the ground, was that I read you can increase the cooling airflow by increasing prop pitch, although sources also suggest taxiing was usually done with props fully fine.
Hope that helps.