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#4445807 - 10/28/18 05:23 AM Q: Real rotary controls  
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 224
CCIP Offline
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CCIP  Offline
Member

Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 224
I have a question for the experts:
How would you recommend setting up the controls in WOFF to best reflect how the actual engines functioned?

I've got all the buttons and axes I could possibly want - but I my understanding of how the actual controls work is a bit blurry, seeing that I don't really have access to an actual rotary-engined plane.
From a bit of reading and watching, here's what I gathered so far:
-It's not quite an on/off engine, but you can't actually throttle a rotary
-Blipping (which I've always made a habit of anyway) is always the method of choice when trying to slow down
-Fine-tuning RPM could be accomplished by tweaking with the mixture
-There is some methods (?) to only run a certain number of cylinders (e.g. 5 out of 9) at a time, thereby reducing the effective power of the engine to that fraction of maximum


Is there anything I'm missing? And, regardless of whether I am - what's the best way to apply that to WOFF? Should I use a throttle axis at all, or should I just have a toggle button for throttle (power)? Or, should I set up a throttle, but only with a couple of detents, and if so, what should they be? Wherefore the blip?

Thanks in advance smile


If you're having trim problems, I feel bad for you son
I got ninety-nine problems, but my pitch ain't one...
#4445808 - 10/28/18 06:23 AM Re: Q: Real rotary controls [Re: CCIP]  
Joined: Jun 2016
Posts: 93
Mortuus Offline
Junior Member
Mortuus  Offline
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Joined: Jun 2016
Posts: 93
Ottawa, ON
Check out this thread in the FAQs section (http://SimHQ.com/forum/ubbthreads.p...-in-woff-credit-to-bletchley#Post4324145), and adjust your controls based on what aircraft you're flying. For example. I fly DH2s a lot, and I unbind the throttle axis entirely, and set it to my mixture, and just have a button for 100% throttle that I press after turning on the engine.

#4445810 - 10/28/18 06:33 AM Re: Q: Real rotary controls [Re: CCIP]  
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 936
VonS Offline
WWI Flight Sims on a Mac
VonS  Offline
WWI Flight Sims on a Mac
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Posts: 936
Hello CCIP,

While very specific fine-tuning of rotaries in not possible in the sim world (there was an attempt years ago for RB3D by GabiLaser, a nice little program called "ReLoad") - some realistic throttle settings that work well are:

- early rotaries such as on the Bristol Scout, Fok E.I/II/III at 100% power or off (use mixture adjustment and blip for limited control)

- Gnome rotaries on the Camel (for the Bentley variant if you want to use it as a Gnome-powered one), either at about 80% or 100% power (use mixture adjustment and blip for limited control); this also applies to Gnome engines on the DH.2

- all other rotaries, use something like 40, 60, 80 and 100% power, again with mixture adjustment and blip for further control

- for 3 / 6 / 9 cylinder power on Gnome rotaries for example, use again the 40/60/80/100% power brackets suggested above if you like, for realism

- keep in mind that most rotaries would cut out below about 50% power (I'm being optimistic with the 40% cutoff point for a "very nicely" tuned engine)

- on my rotaries I usually just toggle quickly between 40/60/80/100% power across all the types, for simplicity, and use blip to control further (without fiddling with mixture adjustment while in flight)

I'm sure some of the engine and carb. experts will pitch in further with more detailed info.

Von S smile2


~ For my various FM/AI/FPS/DM Mods. for First Eagles 2, WoFF, RoF & WoTR, and tips for FlightGear, recommended is to check over my CombatAce profile (https://combatace.com/profile/86760-vons/) and to click on the "About Me" tab while there. ~
#4445840 - 10/28/18 01:29 PM Re: Q: Real rotary controls [Re: CCIP]  
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 4,879
RAF_Louvert Offline
BOC President; Pilot Extraordinaire; Humble Man
RAF_Louvert  Offline
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Joined: May 2012
Posts: 4,879
L'Etoile du Nord
.

VonS, you've pretty much nailed it. I have a blip switch set up on my JS which allows me to cut ignition on and off as per historically used blip switches. I also have a lower toggle on my JS set to mimic the 40/60/80/100 power settings. Word of caution on the blip switch, do not hold it down for more than a few seconds as you risk either killing the engine entirely, or worse, starting it on fire due to loading the cylinders with unburnt petrol. While the latter does not tend to happen often in WOFF it most certainly did happen in real life, and fire in one of these crates is what is known as "a bad thing".

.


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#4445900 - 10/28/18 08:16 PM Re: Q: Real rotary controls [Re: CCIP]  
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 224
CCIP Offline
Member
CCIP  Offline
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Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 224
Thank you for the advice folks smile Toggle switches will do, then! I've got exactly what I need for a 40/60/80/100 set-up, and I've already always used blip whenever it was possible before. I'm playing a Pup/Tripe campaign at the moment, so I figured this was a good time to learn proper operation of the rotaries (since those are otherwise largely trouble-free planes that won't distract me with other control difficulties).


If you're having trim problems, I feel bad for you son
I got ninety-nine problems, but my pitch ain't one...

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