Posting info regarding a few modifications I made to the amazing Flight Replicas Zlin Z-526F, which I have been flying extensively lately. If this is not permitted, please remove.
These are my personal mods to increase the versatility, and in some cases the realism (in my opinion), of this wonderful addon. This is not meant as a slight to the developer - just an exercise in taking an already excellent addon even further.


1. I used ModelConverterX to "convert" the model from FSX format to P3Dv4. I was getting some stuttering with it when using in P3Dv4.3, and I think running it through MDX may have helped, but it could be placebo. I didn't take a lot of time to rule out other causes because it was quick enough to do the conversion in MDX, so I don't want to point the finger at this addon definitively. With that being said, I "believe" I am getting some smoother performance. I will not be posting these files as 1) it's quick enough with MDX for a home user, and 2) I didn't seek permission.

2. I added a white navigation light to the tail by modifying the tail attachpoint in MDX. The addon calls for an effects file that is not included (at least in my installer from Simmarket) but the coordinates and attachpoint entry is present, so I just mapped the custom white nav light effect to the default P3D4.3 one. Still looks great and seems to match perfectly. I recommend doing this so you have all required navigation lights.

3. I added additional entries in the aircraft.cfg to introduce more robust panel lighting for night time flight. Not exactly realistic, especially when considering the Day-VFR Only placards, but it provides me with more versatility especially in low-light conditions. These edits are as follows - just replace your lights section with the below. This also adds night lighting to the front/forward cockpit. Please note that I had to map a switch to my joystick dedicated to "panel lights" in order to independently turn on/off the lights as there isn't a vc switch.

[LIGHTS]
light.0 = 4, -2.5, 0.00, 1.60, fx_Zlin_vclightred
light.1 = 3, -2.17, -17.46, -0.11, fx_526_navred
light.2 = 3, -2.17, 17.46, -0.11, fx_526_navgre
light.3 = 4, -1.8, 0.00, -0.1, fx_Zlin_vclightred
light.5 = 4, -2.5, 0.60, 1.60, fx_Zlin_vclightred
light.6 = 4, -2.5, -0.60, 1.60, fx_Zlin_vclightred
light.7 = 4, -2.2, -0.60, 0.35, fx_Zlin_vclightred
light.8 = 4, .9, 0.00, 1.2, fx_Zlin_vclightred
light.9 = 4, .9, 0.50, 1.2, fx_Zlin_vclightred
light.10 = 4, .9, -0.50, 1.2, fx_Zlin_vclightred
light.11 = 4, 2, 0.00, -.5, fx_Zlin_vclightred


4. I copied the sounds from PWDT's freeware Zlin Z-142 into the sound folder of this aircraft. This soundsystem is now accurate for this engine and aircraft.

5. I increased the pixel size of the vc guages to 2048,2048. Not sure if it had an effect but I do this with all of my aircraft. Easy modification - change the "pixel_size=" line in each [Vcockpit] section of the panel.cfg to the following:

pixel_size=2048,2048

6. The included switch sounds "gauge" obviously doesn't work on a 64-bit platform. Luckily we have a wonderful replacement "click" sound system. I downloaded Doug Dawson' DSD Sound Gauge for P3Dv4, as well as Daniel Gauthier's "Cockpit Sounds V2" from Avsim (cockpitsounds_v2.zip), and added the following to the [Vcockpit01] section of the panel.cfg:

gauge04=dsd_p3d_xml_sound_x64!Sound, 0, 0, 0, 0, .\Gauges\CockpitSounds\CockpitSounds.ini
gauge05=CockpitSounds!KeyEvent_SND, 0, 0, 1, 0



In Summary:

With the above, you'll have a slightly, subjectively, improved Zlin.

Outstanding Concerns:

The only outstanding concern I have is the fact that the right main landing gear wheel dissapears momentarily when touching down (and I believe briefly after takeoff). It seems to be an issue with a keyframe animation and I didn't confirm if this is a side-effect of the MDX treatment, a visual error that was there to begin with, or an issue when using in P3D.

Optional:
I may replace the 2D radios pop-up with something that looks closer to what is installed in the VC, but haven't gotten around to that yet.
One thing I have been VERY appreciative of is a transponder in the VC cockpit. I oftentimes fly under ATC control in areas that necessitate a transponder, and it's nice to see a developer that included one in an aircraft like this, when they easily could have omitted it.