The real Flight Simulator

I use the G3 Flight simulator so that is the version I will be referring to in this article.

It is a great simulator that does a good job of  imitating the way the simulated models fly in the real world.  However what is really useful is being able to enter the information relating to your own model and testing the flight characteristics on the simulator.

For instance they don't have a 40 size World Model's T-34 which is one of my favorites.  This is a very maneuverable little aircraft that is very easy to land so I tend to recommend it as a good plane to follow up a trainer with to hone up your landing skills.  Much easier to land than a high wing trainer.  So what I do is find a model included in simulator that is closest in design to my T-34 and make the changes needed to make it fly like my T-34. 

The first thing I see on the Texan is the swept back leading edge on the wing and that the wing tip chord is less that the root which is not present on the T34.  The first change I will make is to remove the sweep and make the tip chord the same as the root.

After this change I test flew the Texan and the feeling I got was  (ooh that is why I don't own a Texan)  sluggish, underpowered falls out of simple rolls.  The simulated model tends to climb to steep at mid throttle and requires a lot of down trim to fly level.  The Texan is powered by a .91 4 stroke with a 13x8 prop which is the best combination I have seen on the T-34 yet so will leave the engine as is except to replace the prop with and APC Sport prop of the same size since that is what is easily available in our area.

The Texan has  a flying tail while the T-34 Mentor has flat slabs so that is my next change.  Test flight show little difference still demonstrating steep climb and dive tendency. 

The next noticeable feature difference is the Mentor has a symmetrical wing design while the Texan has a semi symmetrical design.  After changing the foil design the Mentor flew much more to my liking.  Still falling on turns on rolls but better than the last flight.  Still climbing and diving to steeply on throttle changes.  Hmm think it might be a good time to check the control surface design.

The Texan has flaps and ailerons.  The Mentor has no flaps.  This should make a real difference in aileron effect on the evolving Mentor.  

Oh Wow!!  This test flight tempts me to pursue simple changes on the Texan to make it fly more to my liking.  Losing the flaps and making the ailerons full length of the wing and what a change.  The mentor does fall a bit in the rolls and the model as we have changed it here falls about the same as the actual model.  

 will deal with dimension changes.  The Texan has a wing span of