P-51 doesn't steer well on the ground. Why?

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JonB
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Joined: 15 May 2012, 10:20

P-51 doesn't steer well on the ground. Why?

Post by JonB »

Just installed the beautiful P-51. Very impressive! But it won't steer very well on the ground!

However, I have the very devil trying to steer the thing on the ground. Have to move very slowly and must work the brake constantly and kinda jerk it around a curve in increments. Locking and unlocking the tailwheel doesn't seem to have any effect at all. And if I use the keyboard for differential brakeing I have to be quick of else the brake on that side will lock and send the plane into a ground loop. Only way is to stop and work out of that position slowly.

Is that normal for this aircraft?

Would appreciate any comments/observations/advice. :|

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Skycat
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Re: P-51 doesn't steer well on the ground. Why?

Post by Skycat »

The P-51 had a steerable tailwheel, controlled by the stick. The 1945 training manual says:

"The tailwheel is both steerable and full swiveling. It is steerable 6 degrees right or left with the rudder. The tailwheel lock is different from that of most other planes--it is operated by the control stick. When the stick is in neutral position or pulled back, the tailwheel is locked and steerable. When you push the stick full forward, the tailwheel is unlocked and full swiveling."

Try this and see if it helps you.
Pax Orbis Per Arma Aeria

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CodyValkyrie
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Re: P-51 doesn't steer well on the ground. Why?

Post by CodyValkyrie »

The old P-51 has a castoring tailwheel. You have to use bursts of power and differential braking to make it work.
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Skycat
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Re: P-51 doesn't steer well on the ground. Why?

Post by Skycat »

Ahhh, well I haven't flown the original FS9 Wings of Power P-51D/H in a long while. The Wings of Power 2/WWII Fighters/SOLO version is fairly controllable with rudder inputs, throttle and brakes, and ground handling seems about the same regardless of whether the stick is pulled back, kept neutral or pushed forward.
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CodyValkyrie
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Re: P-51 doesn't steer well on the ground. Why?

Post by CodyValkyrie »

Skycat wrote:Ahhh, well I haven't flown the original FS9 Wings of Power P-51D/H in a long while. The Wings of Power 2/WWII Fighters/SOLO version is fairly controllable with rudder inputs, throttle and brakes, and ground handling seems about the same regardless of whether the stick is pulled back, kept neutral or pushed forward.
Correct Skycat. The original was a castoring tail, and there are not many differences between the solo package that was updated to FSX and the original FS9 P-51 package. There are indeed some differences, but as far as steering goes, not really much.
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titanium56
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Joined: 30 Aug 2012, 09:25

Re: P-51 doesn't steer well on the ground. Why?

Post by titanium56 »

To make the tailwheel steerable, in the Aircraft.cfg file go to the [contact points] section. In the "point0" entry, change the first value of "180" you encounter (from left to right) to "90" (Without parenthesis).
Sorry I cant give you a text file/line. I'm typing from memory as I'm not on base :wink:

Did the trick for my Uiver team DC2. Should work for all tailwheelers I think.

Cheers.

hupfernum
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Re: P-51 doesn't steer well on the ground. Why?

Post by hupfernum »

titanium56:

Thanks for that config tidbit! Worked like a charm! I don't know WHY those stock P51s couldn't have been fine right out of the box.

I made more changes to the config as well, prior to the one titanium56 suggested (his is at the end), to adjust for nose tipping so drastically during braking, weak braking, and weak output power. These changes make the model feel VERY realistic!

Your P51 config file should be in a folder similar to (C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\SimObjects\Airplanes\P51_Racer). Open the file with Notepad.
Try these out - just select/copy and select/paste over the corresponding data:

[WEIGHT_AND_BALANCE]
reference_datum_position = 1.9, 0, 0
empty_weight_CG_position = -3.0, 0, 0
station_load.0 = 200, -3.0, 0.0, 0.0
empty_weight_coupled_MOI = 0.4

[piston_engine]
power_scalar = 1.25
normalized_starter_torque= 0.2

[propeller]
thrust_scalar = 1.75
gear_reduction_ratio= 2.25
power_absorbed_cf= 0.1

[brakes]
toe_brakes_scale = 0.9

[contact_points]
point.0=1, -13.80, 0.00, -4.4, 1800, 0, 0.41, 90.0, 0.7, 2.5, 0.3, 2.0, 2.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0

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