@Zerkk I was about to remake the craft with some custom XML but then I discovered everything was already in place just as long as you remember not to land with the missiles still attached. Right now the only thing I would do is to set the detacher at "IAS>50" (will detach automatically when speed exceeds 100 mph) and then move the missiles to the top of the wings
Just discovered this one. Still debating between a flying camper van or a steampunk jungle land cruiser but I still got 3 days. So you might actually get an official entry.
Nice plane for 180 parts. Also one of the historical planes that deserves a bit more spotlight. Being mostly forgotten for being introduced smak between tht Lockheed Electra and the DC-2
Love the details, especially the engines.. unfortunately I play on an Android phone so calculating all the parts.slows the plane to about 2 frames per second.
So can I request a slimmed down version with simpler engines? Just deleting the ribs in favor of a tube for cylinder would free up 240 pieces.
@Trainz448 Udate: after I deleted the gyroscope, I found that the signs on the throttle input need to be reversed in order for the heli to turn in the right direction. Also I found that the hack only works at a throttle smaller than 30%. After that, the RPM governor takes over and rotor speed is the same in both regardless of your input.
However you can trick the throttle governor into going faster or slower by instead of the engine speed, apply the yaw to the collective Pitch input of the rotors.
So top rotor: input collective (2nd tab on XML overload editor) =VTOL-0.3Yaw, bottom rotor: input = VTOL+0.3Yaw
Love this one. Nice illustration of what one can do with just the basics and also a nice practical example of a working helicopter.
Ps, if you want to be able to turn your helicopter in hover Mode, click the top rotor and in XML replace the power input 'throttle' with 'Throttle +0.1'Yaw'. For the bottom rotor replace Throttle with 'Throttle -0.1 Yaw'
Not bad for a plane built with the materials that were available 7 1/2 years ago. Would be worth seeing how it would look if rebuilt using the latest version of SimplePlanes (VR cockpit, real gauges, custom wings....)
Say, you put in air brakes, but then you set their drag scale to 0? How they supposed to work when they don't generate any drag. I actually cheat by giving the air brakes in my builds an artificially higher draft, 3 or 4, sometimes as high as 7, to have them 'brake' far over their size.
@Kenzar go ahead, please. This is the beauty of SimplePlanes that you can build off of each other. So yes, Anti-submarine versions, radar-disk versions, paratrooper-dropping versions with opening release ramp.... Or just copying the wing folding or landing gear mechanism. Feel free to take what you need.
(Ps, and if you just switch the paint palette from 'cusrom' to 'default' you get something like an US American paint scheme to work with)
Interesting concept. You might want to get rid of the tail rotor though. A self-powered rotor would make them redundant. Just a big tail plane with some control nozzles for low speeds would do.
Thinking of nozzles. Ever thought of replacing the jets with one VTOL engine and fixed VTOL nozzles on the rotor? Because if you don't, I'm going to build one.
The left tail plane sticks out more than the right. I t does so by default when you mirror your plane because the flight computer/cockpit is offset 0.0391 clicks and so the program moves through whole plane 0.0391 clicks to the right but mirrors the wings and tail planes in reference to the flight computer.
By the way, check the tail plane 's rotators. I think they are turning that wrong way: tail plane down when you pitch forwards while it should be when you pitch back. Just a simple oversight
Ps, currently I am moving the rotor for-and backwards to find the spot where I can at least take off with the helicopter without it immediately flipping tail up or tail down. It is something in the range of z being between 3.3 and 3.4 once I found a good enough spot, I will turn on the gyro again and see how low I can set the values of gyroscopic speed and stability and still have a smooth flying heli with minimal control input just to keep it flying straight
Still fine-tuning the settings but already some findings after the first 5 minutes:
1) in the editor, you rotated the rotor 70° to the side. Which makes the pitch input work as 1/3 pitch and 2/3 roll and the roll input as 1/3 roll and 2/3 pitch. Just set it to zero and try again. It will make an immediate difference.
2) you seem to have put 1000lbs of dead weight on all the fuselage pieces. Not only makes this your helicopter obesely overweight, it also makes him completely tail heavy. If you click every fuselage block and set the 'dead weight' back to zero, flying, at least taking off will be a lot easier
3) for the gyroscope, gyroscopic speed and stability of 1000% is overkill. The aim of a design should be that even an inherently unstable design like a helicopter should be able to function with minimal gyroscope settings. Pitch Range, roll range and yaw power should ideally be set to zero as they make the gyroscope take over tht pitch, roll and yaw instead of the aerodynamic or rotor controls. They are handy for something like floating airbases or hover bikes, but shouldn't really be used in planes and helicopters. That is my personal opinion. However setting the yaw range and pitch range to 180° basically enabled you to flip your helicopter on its back while parked with engine shut down. If you use roll and pitch range, values of 30-45° are the most common design, even for hoverbikes.
Ps, In case you want a closer look at the code, I have since uploaded the finished plane HERE (the color has been changed from deep blue to sea gray though)
@WinsWings actually I didn't show the hardest part. That was constantly tweaking the gear trust, the rotator range, the gear enclosure fuselage shape and the panel's with to make sure the gear didn't bump into anything while retracting. That was tedious, but in the end just boring
@LettuceRob119 my first thought would be something like a French Sud-Est Vautour, but I decide to stretch the limits and go for something like a British Acro Vulcan as reimagined by German engineers
A bit old got a 1970's aircraft. Looks more like a late 1930's experiment to me, may be something Argentina or Paraguay could have tried to market in the early 1950's
@MA2211CwCABaerospace I have that problem from time to time. My solution is to make lots of connections between the actual wing, the fuselage and the wing segments you build around it. Just one connection won't do. You need at least a connection of the wing base with the fuselage, the fuselage wing structure with the fuselage and wing base and at least one between the wing center and the structure.
@Moonhead2131 I'm halfway building the fuselage. My main problem is that I translated 'simple' as 96 parts or less so it can be used as AI background traffic
I have to bow out on this one. My 5th Gen High Manoeuverability Technology Demonstrator ran into some problems.... Like .... Not flying and mistaking high Manoeuverability for chronic spinning out of control. May be one day I can get it fixed. Not on this challenge though.
Please explain 'simple': is it a maximum number of parts? Standard blocks only? No interior? No rotators? I'm wondering how detailed I can make. 1940's classic prop and still be within the 'simple' limits.
The elegant solution: increase the range of the two landing gear rotators from 90 to 135° the landing gear will no longer end up one over tht other and competing for space.
It took me 1/2 an hour to rearrange the input and rotor settings to my liking. But then, the helicopter flew like a dream, even without the gyro. Congratulations
@YuYsukablyat that's between about 500 and 650 mph. Good to know. My idea was to make a potent 2-seat trainer and transform it into a 1-seat light ground attack craft with the space for the second seat used for a cannon and bomb bay
@Zerkk I was about to remake the craft with some custom XML but then I discovered everything was already in place just as long as you remember not to land with the missiles still attached. Right now the only thing I would do is to set the detacher at "IAS>50" (will detach automatically when speed exceeds 100 mph) and then move the missiles to the top of the wings
Hurray, made the deadline. Although still with barely half the functions I wanted. So keep an eye out for newer versions
Just discovered this one. Still debating between a flying camper van or a steampunk jungle land cruiser but I still got 3 days. So you might actually get an official entry.
Nice plane for 180 parts. Also one of the historical planes that deserves a bit more spotlight. Being mostly forgotten for being introduced smak between tht Lockheed Electra and the DC-2
Nice rebuild. However, landing remains a challenge. Consider adding a braking parachute.
Love the details, especially the engines.. unfortunately I play on an Android phone so calculating all the parts.slows the plane to about 2 frames per second.
So can I request a slimmed down version with simpler engines? Just deleting the ribs in favor of a tube for cylinder would free up 240 pieces.
+1@Trainz448 Udate: after I deleted the gyroscope, I found that the signs on the throttle input need to be reversed in order for the heli to turn in the right direction. Also I found that the hack only works at a throttle smaller than 30%. After that, the RPM governor takes over and rotor speed is the same in both regardless of your input.
However you can trick the throttle governor into going faster or slower by instead of the engine speed, apply the yaw to the collective Pitch input of the rotors.
So top rotor: input collective (2nd tab on XML overload editor) =VTOL-0.3Yaw, bottom rotor: input = VTOL+0.3Yaw
Love this one. Nice illustration of what one can do with just the basics and also a nice practical example of a working helicopter.
Ps, if you want to be able to turn your helicopter in hover Mode, click the top rotor and in XML replace the power input 'throttle' with 'Throttle +0.1'Yaw'. For the bottom rotor replace Throttle with 'Throttle -0.1 Yaw'
+1Not bad for a plane built with the materials that were available 7 1/2 years ago. Would be worth seeing how it would look if rebuilt using the latest version of SimplePlanes (VR cockpit, real gauges, custom wings....)
Incredible level of detail. And a designer's dream
Here's my version
+1Looks quite spiffy and definitely has the look of something the British would have built in the 50's.
+1Trying to nfit an automatic hover function for working with the winch
+1Congratulations on making Silver.
Say, you put in air brakes, but then you set their drag scale to 0? How they supposed to work when they don't generate any drag. I actually cheat by giving the air brakes in my builds an artificially higher draft, 3 or 4, sometimes as high as 7, to have them 'brake' far over their size.
@WinsWings I'm taking the thing apart to see how exactly you did this. Thanks
+1Is there a plan to build out the cockpit?
@Kenzar go ahead, please. This is the beauty of SimplePlanes that you can build off of each other. So yes, Anti-submarine versions, radar-disk versions, paratrooper-dropping versions with opening release ramp.... Or just copying the wing folding or landing gear mechanism. Feel free to take what you need.
(Ps, and if you just switch the paint palette from 'cusrom' to 'default' you get something like an US American paint scheme to work with)
+1@C47skytrain just did. Just got too busy writing the text.
+1@canadianavgeek853 you're welcome
+1Interesting concept. You might want to get rid of the tail rotor though. A self-powered rotor would make them redundant. Just a big tail plane with some control nozzles for low speeds would do.
Thinking of nozzles. Ever thought of replacing the jets with one VTOL engine and fixed VTOL nozzles on the rotor? Because if you don't, I'm going to build one.
+1@NewWorldAerospace too bad, I'd love to use my knowledge of custom gears and variable propellers to give this babe a completely new engine
+1The left tail plane sticks out more than the right. I t does so by default when you mirror your plane because the flight computer/cockpit is offset 0.0391 clicks and so the program moves through whole plane 0.0391 clicks to the right but mirrors the wings and tail planes in reference to the flight computer.
By the way, check the tail plane 's rotators. I think they are turning that wrong way: tail plane down when you pitch forwards while it should be when you pitch back. Just a simple oversight
+1Before you publish this for good, consider uploading an updated version with cameras in the cockpit.
Ps, currently I am moving the rotor for-and backwards to find the spot where I can at least take off with the helicopter without it immediately flipping tail up or tail down. It is something in the range of z being between 3.3 and 3.4 once I found a good enough spot, I will turn on the gyro again and see how low I can set the values of gyroscopic speed and stability and still have a smooth flying heli with minimal control input just to keep it flying straight
Still fine-tuning the settings but already some findings after the first 5 minutes:
1) in the editor, you rotated the rotor 70° to the side. Which makes the pitch input work as 1/3 pitch and 2/3 roll and the roll input as 1/3 roll and 2/3 pitch. Just set it to zero and try again. It will make an immediate difference.
2) you seem to have put 1000lbs of dead weight on all the fuselage pieces. Not only makes this your helicopter obesely overweight, it also makes him completely tail heavy. If you click every fuselage block and set the 'dead weight' back to zero, flying, at least taking off will be a lot easier
3) for the gyroscope, gyroscopic speed and stability of 1000% is overkill. The aim of a design should be that even an inherently unstable design like a helicopter should be able to function with minimal gyroscope settings. Pitch Range, roll range and yaw power should ideally be set to zero as they make the gyroscope take over tht pitch, roll and yaw instead of the aerodynamic or rotor controls. They are handy for something like floating airbases or hover bikes, but shouldn't really be used in planes and helicopters. That is my personal opinion. However setting the yaw range and pitch range to 180° basically enabled you to flip your helicopter on its back while parked with engine shut down. If you use roll and pitch range, values of 30-45° are the most common design, even for hoverbikes.
You deserve one upvote for the paint job alone.
And congratulations on making 1000 points
Ps, In case you want a closer look at the code, I have since uploaded the finished plane HERE (the color has been changed from deep blue to sea gray though)
+1@WinsWings actually I didn't show the hardest part. That was constantly tweaking the gear trust, the rotator range, the gear enclosure fuselage shape and the panel's with to make sure the gear didn't bump into anything while retracting. That was tedious, but in the end just boring
+1Actually it's just me reaching myself video editing on my phone.
@LettuceRob119 my first thought would be something like a French Sud-Est Vautour, but I decide to stretch the limits and go for something like a British Acro Vulcan as reimagined by German engineers
Aermachi? Looks more like a Mig15 designed by Studio Ghibli!
+1A bit old got a 1970's aircraft. Looks more like a late 1930's experiment to me, may be something Argentina or Paraguay could have tried to market in the early 1950's
+3@MA2211CwCABaerospace I have that problem from time to time. My solution is to make lots of connections between the actual wing, the fuselage and the wing segments you build around it. Just one connection won't do. You need at least a connection of the wing base with the fuselage, the fuselage wing structure with the fuselage and wing base and at least one between the wing center and the structure.
+190% done. Just some windows and I'll post my 1930's flying boat airliner tomorrow
.... Done
+2What's the matter with it?
@NewWorldAerospace aww. Okay. May be I'll take a swing at it with my own copter when I'm done with my other commitments
+1@Moonhead2131 I'm halfway building the fuselage. My main problem is that I translated 'simple' as 96 parts or less so it can be used as AI background traffic
+2@NewWorldAerospace I'll keep an eye out for the finished plane. Curious about that weight shifting ever since I tried making a hang glider
+1How do you steer the craft? Differential rotor speeds? Tilting rotors? Or hidden thrust gyros?
+1@ThomasRoderik, @TemporaryReplacement : There is a new version of this airplane with an upgraded cockpit and lots of labels to finish the paint job
@GorillaGuerrilla I guess I have to study that then. Chances are whatever I wanted to demonstrate, it's already done twice as good.
+1I have to bow out on this one. My 5th Gen High Manoeuverability Technology Demonstrator ran into some problems.... Like .... Not flying and mistaking high Manoeuverability for chronic spinning out of control. May be one day I can get it fixed. Not on this challenge though.
+2@dbqp no, sorry. Only the ones from the company website. I filled in the blanks with drawings from the 1929 airplane I got through Wikipedia
Please explain 'simple': is it a maximum number of parts? Standard blocks only? No interior? No rotators? I'm wondering how detailed I can make. 1940's classic prop and still be within the 'simple' limits.
+1Love it. Eagerly awaiting the version with instruments on the console
+1Great plane. It says something when my only gripe about it is that it flies so easy that flying it gets boring after a while
+1The elegant solution: increase the range of the two landing gear rotators from 90 to 135° the landing gear will no longer end up one over tht other and competing for space.
It took me 1/2 an hour to rearrange the input and rotor settings to my liking. But then, the helicopter flew like a dream, even without the gyro. Congratulations
+2@YuYsukablyat that's between about 500 and 650 mph. Good to know. My idea was to make a potent 2-seat trainer and transform it into a 1-seat light ground attack craft with the space for the second seat used for a cannon and bomb bay