Friday, August 8, 2014
Saunders Roe SRA1
When I was working on the RC-3 I found a very interesting looking plane and thought that someday I would also create it for FlightGear. I'm talking about the Saro SRA1, it is a jet powered seaplane developed by the British shortly after WWII. They were inspired by some Japanese seaplanes. 3 prototypes were built, but two of them were lost. Here's a shot of the model as it is now. It flies pretty good and the mooring system is working. No cockpit yet and lot's of issues to work out but it's pretty neat. You can download it here if you want to try it out. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/84585372/SRA1_20140808.zip
Friday, June 20, 2014
Aerodynamics Calculator
Way way back when I first started with FlightGear I found it useful to record information for an aircraft in development. After some research I decided to use the JSBSIM FDM instead of YASIM. They both do what they do well, JSBSIM just seemed a better fit for me at the time. Back to my point. When creating a model there is a whole bunch of information to record. For example: aircraft length, wingspan, height, empty weight etc. It requires a lot of patience and research, but sometimes you just can't find the information you are looking for. In the JSBSIM manual they suggest using a good paint program and using the pixel locations to make measurements for various purposes. You have to make a bunch of measurements. What is my solution you ask?
I made a spreadsheet to help keep it all together. What I do is get the best to scale and highest resolution 3 view drawings of a plane. Usually you have some known distances so using the paint program (I use Paint.net for its power and simplicity) you record those pixel locations and then create a scale factor. Once you have that you can make accurate (pretty good) measurements. I have found by taking out all measurements to 2 places I can get good results.
Through time the spreadsheet has expanded to include much more. I wanted to calculate the center of gravity so through the RC Aircraft Proving Grounds CG Calculator I found a way to do it. I copied a lot of their work (I give them full credit) just in case the website went down and put it into the spreadsheet. I was going to put a link here but the site seems to have an issue at the moment. I hope it is not down permanently
I also found a moment of inertia calculator and have also incorporated it in the spreadsheet. Information for this came from http://www.aircraftdesign.com/. I also went to a library and checked out Dr. Raymers book.
The whole point is that my Aerodynamics calculator can be used to setup an aircraft JSBSIM FDM with good results. I have found by tweaking an FDM after using Aeromatic to initially get things going with my calculator that aircraft fly well. It usually requires quite a bit of work and for each aircraft the spreadsheet may need customizing, but for me I think it works well. Here a link to the calculator https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/84585372/Calculators.zip. This is a zipped file with the calculator for 3 different aircraft so you can see how it is used for different aircraft. Enjoy!
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I made a spreadsheet to help keep it all together. What I do is get the best to scale and highest resolution 3 view drawings of a plane. Usually you have some known distances so using the paint program (I use Paint.net for its power and simplicity) you record those pixel locations and then create a scale factor. Once you have that you can make accurate (pretty good) measurements. I have found by taking out all measurements to 2 places I can get good results.
Through time the spreadsheet has expanded to include much more. I wanted to calculate the center of gravity so through the RC Aircraft Proving Grounds CG Calculator I found a way to do it. I copied a lot of their work (I give them full credit) just in case the website went down and put it into the spreadsheet. I was going to put a link here but the site seems to have an issue at the moment. I hope it is not down permanently
I also found a moment of inertia calculator and have also incorporated it in the spreadsheet. Information for this came from http://www.aircraftdesign.com/. I also went to a library and checked out Dr. Raymers book.
The whole point is that my Aerodynamics calculator can be used to setup an aircraft JSBSIM FDM with good results. I have found by tweaking an FDM after using Aeromatic to initially get things going with my calculator that aircraft fly well. It usually requires quite a bit of work and for each aircraft the spreadsheet may need customizing, but for me I think it works well. Here a link to the calculator https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/84585372/Calculators.zip. This is a zipped file with the calculator for 3 different aircraft so you can see how it is used for different aircraft. Enjoy!
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Monday, September 9, 2013
Today I finally made a few much needed improvements to this site. On the left you will note a list of aircraft. These are links to my aircraft. You will also note a video bar of Youtube FlightGear videos for your enjoyment. These are not my videos they are whatever pops up from Youtube.
Now onto the aircraft:
1. C-141B This is a C-141B in the beginning stages of the buildup. I post it here as a way to show what is to come and is the third and final in the USAF Jet Transport series after the C-17/C-5. The model was originally from a very old MS Flight Sim version. I have since changed out the T-Tail and the wings. The rest will stay as is except for needed changes as I go along.
2. C-5M Galaxy. This is my first aircraft I modeled completely by myself (almost). A few parts are borrowed from other aircraft notably the CF-6 engines. I have since made the TF-39 engines and I am quite proud of them. In a future release I plan on having both the C-5M and the C-5A models, but for now just the C-5M. This model has all the parts of the plane including the cockpit, crew bunk area and the passenger area. I am still working on the ladders so sorry about the ladder sticking out. You could comment it out for now. Also of note the FDM has been redone using DATCOM PRO so enjoy!
3. Indie Jones FW1. This is the flying wing from Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark. This movie has been on a lot lately so I was inspired to make it. The FDM is based on the specs for the Horton 229, but the 3D model is all Indie. It's a bit skiddish so ramp up the power slowly at takeoff and rotate at about 90 knots. I'm working on adding working machine guns and a rocket launcher. The cockpit is also a work in progress. Borrowed parts come from the A6M (props), 717 (wheels), BF109 (pedals & stick), HE 111 (machine guns) and B-17 (gun turret). I think it's pretty cool, enjoy!
4. P-47N This is a Dave Culp plane that I collaborated on and I still am making improvements. The FDM is all Dave so it flies pretty good. I added/changed the model around a bit to spice it up. The engine is from the F4U and I added the air ducts underneath. I also added the pilot and did some animations and some other modeling. Check out the wheels they have an actual diamond pattern, but don't look too closely they are not perfect by any means, but still pretty cool.
5. RC-3 Seabee. This is the plane that James Bond flew in "The Man with the Golden Gun" It's mostly complete, but there are a few issues with the cockpit I'm still working on. Check out the LS7 V8 under the engine cowl.
Some other planes I've worked on and may be adding to the site include the ATR 42 and the C-17 Globemaster III. Both of these planes have some issues at the moment so I will work on them before posting.
Now onto the aircraft:
1. C-141B This is a C-141B in the beginning stages of the buildup. I post it here as a way to show what is to come and is the third and final in the USAF Jet Transport series after the C-17/C-5. The model was originally from a very old MS Flight Sim version. I have since changed out the T-Tail and the wings. The rest will stay as is except for needed changes as I go along.
2. C-5M Galaxy. This is my first aircraft I modeled completely by myself (almost). A few parts are borrowed from other aircraft notably the CF-6 engines. I have since made the TF-39 engines and I am quite proud of them. In a future release I plan on having both the C-5M and the C-5A models, but for now just the C-5M. This model has all the parts of the plane including the cockpit, crew bunk area and the passenger area. I am still working on the ladders so sorry about the ladder sticking out. You could comment it out for now. Also of note the FDM has been redone using DATCOM PRO so enjoy!
3. Indie Jones FW1. This is the flying wing from Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark. This movie has been on a lot lately so I was inspired to make it. The FDM is based on the specs for the Horton 229, but the 3D model is all Indie. It's a bit skiddish so ramp up the power slowly at takeoff and rotate at about 90 knots. I'm working on adding working machine guns and a rocket launcher. The cockpit is also a work in progress. Borrowed parts come from the A6M (props), 717 (wheels), BF109 (pedals & stick), HE 111 (machine guns) and B-17 (gun turret). I think it's pretty cool, enjoy!
4. P-47N This is a Dave Culp plane that I collaborated on and I still am making improvements. The FDM is all Dave so it flies pretty good. I added/changed the model around a bit to spice it up. The engine is from the F4U and I added the air ducts underneath. I also added the pilot and did some animations and some other modeling. Check out the wheels they have an actual diamond pattern, but don't look too closely they are not perfect by any means, but still pretty cool.
5. RC-3 Seabee. This is the plane that James Bond flew in "The Man with the Golden Gun" It's mostly complete, but there are a few issues with the cockpit I'm still working on. Check out the LS7 V8 under the engine cowl.
Some other planes I've worked on and may be adding to the site include the ATR 42 and the C-17 Globemaster III. Both of these planes have some issues at the moment so I will work on them before posting.
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Indiana Jones Flying Wing
I was watching Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark and I thought the flying wing in that movie was really cool. Hey that's twice I saw a movie and was inspired to make a FlightGear plane out of it. The first was the RC-3 and now the flying wing which I am calling the Indie Jones FW1.
I don't have a screen shot but for now here it is, enjoy!!!
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
C-5 Latest Version
Here's the link for the latest version of the C-5 Galaxy
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/84585372/C-5%2020130702.zip
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/84585372/C-5%2020130702.zip
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Here is the initial release of the RC-3 Seabee. This is the plane James Bond used in "The Man With the Golden Gun" to fly to Scaramanga's hideout.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/84585372/RC-3_Seabee%2020120915.zip
If you go to this fantastic RC-3 Seabee website http://www.seabee.info/seabee.htm you can click on downloads and there are some movies of this plane in action along with a whole lot more.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/84585372/RC-3_Seabee%2020120915.zip
If you go to this fantastic RC-3 Seabee website http://www.seabee.info/seabee.htm you can click on downloads and there are some movies of this plane in action along with a whole lot more.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
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