homepage

Blennheim

Posted By: Bando

Blennheim - 04/08/11 12:07 PM

I play this game with CEM on.
I can get the Blennheims engines started.
I cannot take off in this aircraft as I blow up the engines halfway down the runway.
Is there anyone able to take off in the beauty or does noone care?
Been asking this on three forums and received no answer in about a week.
Please tell me who is able to take off the blennheim on full real settings and fly a circuit with her? And if you can; how?

Thanks in advance.

Bando
Posted By: the soupdragon

Re: Blennheim - 04/08/11 12:47 PM

If your engines are dying that quickly, it is probably an overheating issue, are you opening the radiator/cowlflaps fully? These engines are very susceptable to heat and overheat really quickly.

SD
Posted By: VonBarb.

Re: Blennheim - 04/08/11 12:52 PM

Sure would be better if someone could find a way to take them airborne... They're not quite as much fun to straffe neaner ar15

Cheers

Nico
Posted By: Frankyboy

Re: Blennheim - 04/08/11 01:05 PM

the british engines need their time to warm up in this game. before you should not give power to them. Unfortunaty the is no realism option "engines warmed up" as in RiseOfFlight frown
and disable the carb preheating before giving power,and im not sure if you use boost (that has to be enabled before you can use the throttle to 110%)
the mixture control logic for british planes is also sometimes irritating in game. the analog numbers are saying 0%mixture (you can enable these numbers by editing the info window) but the in cockpit 3D lever says full .... the developers have to work over that i guess.

im actually fighting its right way heading during start most biggrin
Posted By: huckster

Re: Blennheim - 04/08/11 01:33 PM

i cant even get it to taxi in a straight line, just wants to rotate clockwise all the time
Posted By: Frankyboy

Re: Blennheim - 04/08/11 01:33 PM

but after some, unseccessfull, tries now , again, i realy want to see a 1C developer starting the Blenheim with full CEM biggrin
Posted By: Para_Bellum

Re: Blennheim - 04/08/11 01:40 PM

The Blenheim is the only AC I haven't actually managed to start with CEM on.

nope
Posted By: huckster

Re: Blennheim - 04/08/11 02:23 PM

think i have it sorted :D, been up in it for about 15 mins so far, steadily climbing past 9k
Posted By: Frankyboy

Re: Blennheim - 04/08/11 02:37 PM

dont let us die dump !
Posted By: the soupdragon

Re: Blennheim - 04/08/11 02:38 PM

pictures or it never happened biggrin

SD
Posted By: huckster

Re: Blennheim - 04/08/11 04:09 PM

Originally Posted By: the soupdragon
pictures or it never happened biggrin

SD


was worth a shot biggrin
it's actually bugged, at around 950ft you start to shake alot, once you hit 1000ft feet you bounce off the deck
Posted By: Bando

Re: Blennheim - 04/08/11 05:35 PM

About the engines: I have monitored the engine temps and they were within limits (oil some 60 degr, engine temp around 220) The problem is the engine gives up after about 30 seconds of spooling up to some 1800-2000 rpm. The rpm gauge just starts showing the increase of revs (as it stays on 1600 with a cold start) so I *think* I'm not overrevving. As for flying it; I wouldn't know as I never took off with the Blennheim. All other ac no probs, but this one is ...well...different.

I sure hope someone succeeds and tells about it.
Posted By: Sokol1

Re: Blennheim - 04/09/11 06:34 PM

I think that tail wheel in Blenheim have a problem, still offset to right even if rudder is trimmed to left. The command "Lock tail skid" (dont find "Lock tail wheel") dont work in this plane.




I manage to take off - with CEM minus Overheating.

Sokol1
Posted By: FearlessFrog

Re: Blennheim - 04/09/11 08:16 PM

Ok, just took off - CEM on but the rest of the crew all voted me off the island, scariest take-off ever.

It seems on that quick mission the tail is trimmed hard to the right to cold start, use the trim wheels on your lower right of the cockpit to correct.

Also, you must let it warm up to 50C, then trundle down the runway at about 20% left, 45% right engine power. Then once up at a good running speed then (very slowly) increase power, correcting with the right engine first. Rotate late as you can and stay flat and low - lots of fuel in this mission. Oh, and tap the shoulder of the guy infront and apologize too - on my run just now he got a good look at the gable end of a hanger smile
Posted By: Bando

Re: Blennheim - 04/09/11 09:56 PM

Made my own mission without wind and tried to take off in the Blennheim.
First of all; rudder is trimmed all the way to the right when entering the Blennheim. Don't know why, but you have to correct it. Second: Tail wheel lock does not work.
Started her engines and after a minute or so stopped the carb heat for both. Had pitch halfway travel (60% or so) as well as mixture (50%) and let the engines run warm. There is a significant difference between Stbd and port engines in oil pressure. Again I don't know why. After some 10 - 15 minutes (made some coffee) I figured those engines where warmed up sufficiently and I pushed up some throttle slowly. Kept the brakes on till I saw some RPM indicator rise.
This mission had no wind and the aircrafts rudder was trimmed neutral, resulting in no right drift anymore!! Was able to slowly rev up, let go of the brakes and made a slow run for take off. Engines were doing some 2200 rpm, pitch at some 60% travel and flaps down, I finally got her up. Raised gear, climbed some and retracted flaps. I couldn't believe it, but there I was flying over southern England at 1900 on a summers evening. Awesome!!

It's a tricky plane for sure. Tried a couple of times after this success and mostly blew up engines again. Well, at least I got her to fly once.

Hope it helps someone fine tuning the take off techniques for this beautiful aircraft. partything
Posted By: huckster

Re: Blennheim - 04/09/11 10:07 PM

i made my own mission aswell, far easier to take off, made a track but i don't know how to upload it, anyone know?
you flying with a wingman per chance?, solo flight you get 1000ft ground crash bug, with a wingman your right engine dies
Posted By: Bando

Re: Blennheim - 04/11/11 09:10 PM

Finally cracked it.
It's all about temps.
After start up let the engines run until 40 degr. at least. Open radiators all the way, engine temp (stbd side of cockpit above the fuel cocks) should be around 200 degr.
Once airborne (shut carb heat down) you have to work to keep the engine temp at around 190 -220 degr and the engine oil around 50. Fiddle with prop pitch and throttle. My observation was that mixture does not do a lot, engine exhaust should be a small blue flame. Do NOT let the engine oil get below 40 and do NOT let the engine temp get above 240.
Hopefully we'll be able to gather info like this from all players and make some flip cards.

It's a joy to fly this at dusk.

On the runway

Finally took off

Flying the circuit

wow
Posted By: Koala

Re: Blennheim - 04/11/11 09:25 PM

Well done Bando. I've been wrestling with this one myself. I think the chaps with the dual throttle controllers are best set for the Bleny. Cross wind take-off in the default quick cross country is deadly. Will try my own FMB scenario. Thanks for your work on this.
Posted By: IvanK

Re: Blennheim - 04/11/11 09:56 PM

Great shot first one I have seen with RPM level ! How did you do that ? independent control ?

The Blenheim engine controls have imo a mind of their own.

Prop Pitch plungers work opposite to the intended operation (IRL In is FINE OUT is COARSE)
Props should be 2 speed VP ... they are some hybrid.
No one starts a piston with Carby heat on.
Mercury engines did require Warm Air in low power cruise (its well documented)
Mixtures setting are not incremental in the Blenheim (IRL) just two position.
Posted By: Koala

Re: Blennheim - 04/11/11 11:56 PM

OK, cracked it here too. Definately the key is a decent warm up. No wind also seems the way to go until whatever bugs are associated with tail wheel castoring are sorted.

I'm still confused about the mixture settings though. What can I trust? The settings on the CEM levers 'window' or the what I am seeing in the 'pit? I was trusting the readout in the window, assuming I was getting auto rich for the take-off run. I was however getting insufficient power. In desperation, as the runway grew shorter, I smashed both the mix levers to the top end of the "normal" marking on the quadrant and she leaped into life. Like a can of redbull in a pre-schooler.

So am I right in trusting the 'pit quadrant settings and not the 'window'?

Real nice soundfx btw, reminds me of how good the spit could oneday sound.

Edit. Been flying the Bleny some more. Effect of wind must(?) be over modelled. Any sort of a gust and it just noses straight into it and won't play despite heavy engine and brake inputs. Taxing to the runway was virtually impossible.

I watched the tail wheel in external view. It seems to castor sort of ok at slow speeds but stays locked forward at higher taxi speeds. Differential breaking appears to work at slower speeds (according to pneumatic pressure gauge behind control column) but not very helpful when going faster either. I suppose there is less wind blowing past the rudder with the twin engines, much less rudder authority at low speeds that in a fighter which makes it harder. Seems the only way to really control her is with throttle inputs, which is a PITA with single throttle - select/deselect engine routine.

I'm still confused about mixture - seems to be wrecking at least one engine per flight. Have done some interesting one engined landings though. Oil to cold and engine to hot also seems to be a prob.
Posted By: Bando

Re: Blennheim - 04/12/11 10:48 AM

Originally Posted By: IvanK
Great shot first one I have seen with RPM level ! How did you do that ? independent control ?

The Blenheim engine controls have imo a mind of their own.

Prop Pitch plungers work opposite to the intended operation (IRL In is FINE OUT is COARSE)
Props should be 2 speed VP ... they are some hybrid.
No one starts a piston with Carby heat on.
Mercury engines did require Warm Air in low power cruise (its well documented)
Mixtures setting are not incremental in the Blenheim (IRL) just two position.


Independent control. I have purchased (for ROF) a saitek quadrant and recently (since ROF introduced bombers) a CH quadrant. I also have a slider on the MSFFB2 and am using a game pad with all buttons assigned. CH rudder pedals complete the picture. So, yeah, quite some sliders and buttons over here. (some sort of HOTAS for sure)

You are right about the carb heat. Both engines will start without it.
About the pitch; I find that the sliders and the corresponding graphical presentation of it are without intermediate "steps" but the working behind it makes me believe there are only 2 conditions for the proppitch. I'm not quite sure, but the first 60% of travel on the sliders, there's no difference in performance. After that, the engine sounds change and the new pitch takes effect.
When starting in this AC, the rudder is trimmed to stbd, to be corrected immediately, for this plane is hard enough to taxi as it is.
Mixture, set forward during start (little red slider on the graph to up) and I leave it there, had no probs with it. Exhaust flame remains short blue.

I love this plane.
Posted By: Frankyboy

Re: Blennheim - 04/12/11 11:10 AM

there should be a realism option (like in RoF) for pre-warmed engines.....

and btw, i had also success biggrin its realy all about engine temp and beeing very carefully with the engine revolutions.
Posted By: Koala

Re: Blennheim - 04/12/11 08:10 PM

Just completed a training flight. Manston then south and west along the coast to Cowes, up past Southhampton and landed at Andover, takeoff at 0600. 50% fuel in inboard tanks and no payload. Flew as per Ivank's information on 2 speed prop and 2 stage mix.

Steady cruise in coarse pitch with +2 or +3 boost sat me on a constant 1750 rpm with an IAS of about 235. Kept mix at full/auto rich for the flight. The engine temps sat comfortably at about 200 - 210. Oil sat happily at 35. I'm not sure about the need to keep it above 40. If I closed the gills any more it just increased the engine temp without helping the oil. Maybe 35 is OK for cruise?

Didnt touch the carb heaters all flight - low alt though - 2 - 3000ft only. How would I know if I needed them on?

Landed with all systems intact and the crate ready to fly home if I could find the bloke with the fuel truck.

Very enjoyable flight. Sad that more landmarks are not present. I looked for the long man at Wilmington unsuccessfully. No Brighton pier/s. Couldn't see my old house.

Wind still kills successful taxying except when turned right off. Bit of a bummer not to be able to taxi clear at the end of a good flight.
Posted By: Koala

Re: Blennheim - 04/13/11 03:44 AM

Having fun here. 40 minute joyflight, Manston to Lympne. Arrived to find the chaps had laid on a spot of morning tea but for reasons unknown had all scarpered just as I arrived.


I mucked about with the carby heater during the climb and at around 8000 ft. Definately has an effect on the way the engines run, just not sure what it is. Seems to be incremental too. A little bit changes the engine note just a bit, a little more changes the note, and the characteristics of the exhaust, somemore. I didn't push it too far as I didn't want to arrive with a buggered kite, eh what?

It appears that the CEM is certainly sophisticated and genuinely deserves plane-specific cards.

Next - trying some heavy takeoffs.
Posted By: Freycinet

Re: Blennheim - 04/13/11 07:19 AM

Looking forward to hearing about your discoveries!
Posted By: Koala

Re: Blennheim - 04/13/11 12:41 PM

Just completed the same trip with a full load of 4 x 250 pdrs and 80% fuel, leaving about 350kg or so safety margin.

Certainly used the full main runway at manston but didn't need boost. Nice shallow climb away at +4 boost with temps at max safe, reducing to +2 after a while to keep temps down. About 8000 feet up as I crossed the coast at Dover and climbing steadily at 130 IAS, 40 on the oil and about 230 on the cylinders. Pretty pleasing and look forward to having time to go higher and further.

As this was a training run, I opened the bomb doors up and attempted to jettison the ordnance out in the channel (to the joy of trawlermen for the next 80 years). No joy with the key assignment I'd made for "safely drop bombs" so I paused, re-assigned and tried again, once more unsuccessfully. I then used the old fashioned "drop bombs" command and that got them away. Too busy watching the external view (which I rarely do) to see the bombs drop free to notice if she leapt up in the air with reduced weight. That's one for next trip. Anyway, possible minor bug with the jettison stores?

A very quick decent to find Lympne almost caused grief. I did put the carby heaters on the for decent but was still too inattentive to cooling and before I knew it, both oil and cylinder temps had plummeted and the engines started to sound very sick. I carefully coaxed some warmth back into the old dears and when they were running relatively smoothly again, I shut down the carby heaters, fined up the prop, settled them down some more and got ready for the circuit. Luckily I'd caught it before any serious damage occured, but I wasn't far off it. It would be a bugger to fly a full mission only to kill the engines while descending to attack altitude.

She's a nice old plane the Bleny.

Edit. One thing I forgot to add. There seem to be wing bomb bays and wing bomb rack positions, but no capacity to arm them in the FMB. Only 4 x 250 or 2 x 500 options for main bay. No options other than empty for wing positions. Are other, smaller british bombs modelled?
Posted By: LukeFF

Re: Blennheim - 04/13/11 06:53 PM

Sounds good. smile Do you need to open the bomb bay doors before the bombs will drop?
Posted By: danjama

Re: Blennheim - 04/13/11 09:01 PM

I am so jealous. Looks like us bomber pilots coming over from il2 are well catered for, and will have much more on our plates this time around!
Posted By: jdbecks

Re: Blennheim - 04/13/11 09:16 PM

its actually pretty fun to fly the bombers in COD , I often do not enjoy it in other games.
Posted By: Koala

Re: Blennheim - 04/13/11 10:25 PM

Quote:
Do you need to open the bomb bay doors before the bombs will drop?


I do. Haven't tried without it. Assignments are available for open bomb doors, close bomb doors and/or toggle bomb doors.
Posted By: Frankyboy

Re: Blennheim - 04/14/11 03:04 PM

does your key short cut "release bomb" is working in the Blenheim or only the yellow 3D button,used by the mouse (F10) in the bombaimers cockpit ??
Posted By: SC/JG_Oesau

Re: Blennheim - 04/20/11 03:21 AM

Bomb bay key shouldn't work as the doors were opened as the bombs dropped.

Haven't checked the latest version to confirm if this has been resolved.
Posted By: IvanK

Re: Blennheim - 04/20/11 07:12 AM

Not resolved as yet
Posted By: 911dan

Re: Blennheim - 04/29/11 08:05 AM

great thread! next time i'm in FMB gonna have to make a mission w/big tall clouds and fly Blenheim thru them to find out if carbs will ice. darkcloud
Posted By: xpupx

Re: Blennheim - 04/30/11 04:39 AM

Acording to pilot notes for the Blenheim the Carb Heat is for high altitude flight to stop the fuel iceing up!


Originally Posted By: Bando
Originally Posted By: IvanK
Great shot first one I have seen with RPM level ! How did you do that ? independent control ?

The Blenheim engine controls have imo a mind of their own.

Prop Pitch plungers work opposite to the intended operation (IRL In is FINE OUT is COARSE)
Props should be 2 speed VP ... they are some hybrid.
No one starts a piston with Carby heat on.
Mercury engines did require Warm Air in low power cruise (its well documented)
Mixtures setting are not incremental in the Blenheim (IRL) just two position.


Independent control. I have purchased (for ROF) a saitek quadrant and recently (since ROF introduced bombers) a CH quadrant. I also have a slider on the MSFFB2 and am using a game pad with all buttons assigned. CH rudder pedals complete the picture. So, yeah, quite some sliders and buttons over here. (some sort of HOTAS for sure)

You are right about the carb heat. Both engines will start without it.
About the pitch; I find that the sliders and the corresponding graphical presentation of it are without intermediate "steps" but the working behind it makes me believe there are only 2 conditions for the proppitch. I'm not quite sure, but the first 60% of travel on the sliders, there's no difference in performance. After that, the engine sounds change and the new pitch takes effect.
When starting in this AC, the rudder is trimmed to stbd, to be corrected immediately, for this plane is hard enough to taxi as it is.
Mixture, set forward during start (little red slider on the graph to up) and I leave it there, had no probs with it. Exhaust flame remains short blue.

I love this plane.
© 2024 SimHQ Forums