A couple of questions about the Albatros

The Austro-Hungarian Empire's finest scout
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turtleclock
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Joined: 01 Nov 2013, 18:05

A couple of questions about the Albatros

Post by turtleclock »

Just bought the Albatros a few days ago (my first A2A plane), and I have a few questions.

On Page 11 in the manual, the last line says <Fuel and Pressure levers set to off>. And on page 13 of the manual, in the 1st section, it says <Pressure source selector (Druck) - Off>. Shouldn't both of these say Closed, as the lever can't be placed in the Aus (off) position?

Also on page 13 in the manual, for the engine start procedure, it says to pressurize the fuel tank by using the manual air pump, and provide a pressure of 2,5 kg/cm2. The gauge in the plane only goes up to 0,5. Is this a misprint in the manual?

For the Benzin and Druck gauges, clicking with the mouse is odd. For the Benzin gauge, it's left click - counterclockwise, right click - clockwise. For the Druck gauge, it's the opposite, left click - clockwise, right click - counterclockwise. Can these dials be set up so left click always goes counterclockwise and right click always goes clockwise?

When clicking on the magnetos, the switch goes from Off, M2, M1, Both. Should M2 and M1 be switched, or is that how it is in the original plane?

The ASI looks like it's slaved to the Pitot heat code in FSX, since in cold weather it stops spinning. It seems that cold weather shouldn't affect this type of spinning ASI. Is the ASI affected by the Pitot Switch shortcut key?

In addition to the ASI camera view, can you add another view for the fuel gauge? Since it's far forward, it's hard to see (in fact, I didn't know it was there for quite a while), and a quick camera view to bring it up would be nice.

And speaking of hard to see, can the background of the Altimeter gauge be changed from gray to white, or can the needle be made more pronounced?

And one last thing, the Bosch starter handle panel has its text upside down. Is that intentional?

These are all nit-picky things, I know. :-) I've been having a lot of fun flying this plane around, and will probably have to pick up some more A2A planes in the near future!

Chris

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lucas
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Re: A couple of questions about the Albatros

Post by lucas »

Hello Chris and welcome on the A2A forums!
Thank you very much for spending such a long time with the Albatros and noticing all those little things. I will try to answer all of them one by one :)

1. Just checked the plane and you can move the lever to both (Closed) and (Off) position
2. Very good catch! It should be 0,5 kg/cm2 as this is the maximum value of the gauge. The typical pressure with the engine on is 0,25 kg/cm2 Obviously a mistake. Note that the plane is using standard FSX code so, once you stop pressurising the tank by the hand pump, the pressure lowers very quickly. In my opinion it should not go 'that' fast :)
3. Yes they could be, but only after rewriting the whole code and re-exporting the whole model from the 3D software.
4. Yes it should and it works this way - OFF, M1, M2, Both (marked '2' on the switch) Just tried it by pulling the switch with the mouse.
5. Yes. The plane is using standard FS code for the instruments. Just in case - use the key command for the pitot heat.
6. Of course. I can add a camera view which you can paste into your aircraft.cfg, so you will have a nice view for the fuel gauge. Note that this one is only for the main tank. The aux one do not have it, but allows you to fly for the 10 mins or so. The endurance was very short for the Oeffag. That 225HP Austro Daimler was very fuel consuming :)
7. This could be changed by changing the texture. Would you like to have a custom one ? With the dark needle or darker background ? Your choice :)
8. The Bosh starter was placed upside down because it was the only way to install it in that location. It looks odd, but this is how it was mounted.

Thanks for finding all those little things and we are happy that you are enjoying the plane. Please be aware that this is fairy simple one with basic FS systems. By adding some animations and gauges we wanted the users to get some feel of the plane - mostly to show what systems were common in the WW1 planes. And speaking of the instruments - the Oeffag D.III was very well equipped I must say!
While, again, this plane is a simple one, I am strongly suggesting you to try some "Accusim" line A2A products which contain completly different system emulation thanks to the Accusim which adds tons of externally programmed systems which modelling would be not possible by using the stock FSX animations. There are some nice videos on the A2A Youtube channel demonstrating the aircraft systems.

Best regards,
Lucas

turtleclock
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Joined: 01 Nov 2013, 18:05

Re: A couple of questions about the Albatros

Post by turtleclock »

Hi Lucas,

Thanks for clearing up my confusion about the pressure settings, and explaining about the Benzin and Druck levers. I could have sworn I couldn't put the Druck switch into the Aus position, but I'm checking the plane right now, and I see that it is possible. Sorry about that, my mistake. And I'll just remember to hit Shift-H for when the ASI stops spinning. :-)

As to the magnetos, what I was doing was pressing the M key, and then the = key a couple of times. Doing it that way makes the lever go from Off, to M2, then to M1, then to 2. I did a bit more research, and it seems that is the way a number of planes are set up. Robert L. Nuckolls III, from AeroElectric Connection, has an interesting article about Magneto Switch Options, and how it's common to only install one impulse coupler on the left magneto, which affects the placement of the switch when starting the plane. In fact, there is an option that can be placed in the aircraft.cfg file (magneto_order_left_right_both = 1 in the [piston_engine] section) that sets the order of the magneto switch direction. I learn something new every day!

I'd love a camera view I can add to bring up the fuel gauge! Though, I'm now looking at EZDok, and thinking maybe I should go that route. Then I can just add whatever camera views I'd like. And, for the Altimeter, I'd be happy with anything that has a bit more contrast. A gray needle on a gray background is tough to see for my old eyes. :-)

Thanks again for a great model that's really fun to fly!

Chris

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lucas
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Re: A couple of questions about the Albatros

Post by lucas »

Chris, please check this texture:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/927 ... f_int2.zip

just unzip it somewhere and place into texture.shared folder in SimObjects/Aircrafts/Albatros D.III (Oef)

Just in case - backup your original texture to something like x_oef_int2.dds
The new one has a light grey needle which should be visible better.

Lucas

turtleclock
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Joined: 01 Nov 2013, 18:05

Re: A couple of questions about the Albatros

Post by turtleclock »

Thanks so much for the texture, that really helps a lot! I've been having so much fun with this plane, that I went ahead and picked up the Corsair. I'm slowly working my way up to the Accusim planes. :-)

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