Panel mods and other tricks and tips for the LM Race

[PRB]

I’ve been messing around with the JBK Lockheed Orion 9D, replacing gauges with newer ones. A bit of a “pimp my cockpit” operation. During one of our Flight-19 gatherings, MM suggested that somebody should make a panel, which contained everything a racer would need to conduct ADF and dead-reckoning navigation in the upcoming MacRobertson race. The result can be seen in the last pic posted here. I’ve attached it if anyone wants to use it. It only has the minimum set of gauges needed, and I know many of us like to “pimp” our own panels, but just in case anyone finds this useful, here it is.

[Dangerousdave26]

If you find that your second ADF needle will not move you need to add this to the Raidos section of the aircraft.cfg

Adf.2 = 1

The only other thing I would have added is the Wind Drift Gauge.

FS2004 (ACOF) - FS2004 Panels FS2004 TWiD Gauge
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Name: twidgau.zip Size: 352,590 Date: 10-20-2005 Downloads: 885
FS2004 TWiD Gauge (track, wind, drift) versions 1 (corporate) and 2 (commercial/military). Both have five analog displays that show heading, course, track, drift, wind direction and wind speed information. By keeping the track cursor aligned with the course cursor while flying, the course-diviating effect of wind drift will be eliminated. Also helpful for hovering/landing helicopters because of the 360-degree track presentation. By Glenn Copeland.

[PRB]

Rgr that Dave. All that's in the readme file (I hope).

Here's my final panel configuration (yeah right...)

This is something I miss from FS9. I like messing with panels, and most FSX planes make that difficult. With this config, I have all my nav gauges in the VC, so I won't need any popups, or the 2D panel. We'll see...

[Spookster67]

Nice panel and gauges, thanks for sharing.

So is it correct that I can add the Sperry autopilot to any Golden Age aircraft then?

At the moment I'm thinking the DC-3 looks good because the stock aircraft has a dual nedle RMI and a Sperry autopilot, but if I can put those things in any aircraft, then I might try something more adventurous...

[PRB]

Actually, adding any sort of autopilot is legal for the race. It's just that the Sperry one is a little closer to what they would have had in 1937. Also, panel modifications are also ok, including adding a second ADF radio to the aircraft.cfg file, as Dangerous Dave pointed out above.

Basicially the panel.cfg file is your to play with. The aircraft.cfg file can be altered to add radios and autopilots, but not to alter the plane's performance in any way.

[Willy]

What I add to the panel for a vintage aircraft like this for "otto" are the altitude and heading hold switches out of Milton's Spartan Executive. I'll use the heading gauge out of his Beech 18 for it's heading bug to make fine adjustments to course once the heading is set.

Here are some pics of the panel I'm using in the Granville R-6. Some of the gauges are original to the aircraft, but I've "borrowed" the rest from here and there.