Lockheed L-18 Project

[lemonadedrinker]

Hi,

I've tried some old radio set-ups in the Harpoon, but cannot get any of them to work fully...just the Bendix as fitted. I did post lower down in the Harpoon thread, but am now trying higher up the line .
Is there a change or two to be made to a cfg?

Andy.

[pfflyers]

The problem might be the standby frequency option that the Bendix radios have. If that's it you can try this setup and see if it works better for you.

[Radios] // availiable, standby frequency, has glide slope
Audio.1 = 1
Com.1 = 1, 0
Com.2 = 1, 0
Nav.1 = 1, 0, 1
Nav.2 = 1, 0, 0
Adf.1 = 1
Adf.2 = 1
Transponder.1 = 1
Marker.1 = 1


Hope that helps.

[Milton Shupe]

As SrGalahad wraps up his panel mods, I have been focusing on the Republic XP47's and adding a few more VC touches to the L-18. I suspect in a week, I should be able to map her for textures. That will take 4-5 days then she will be off to the paint shop ... somewhere, or maybe several paint shops. We shall see.

Once we get the mapping done and as the other aspects of the project are fleshing out, I will move the share-able parts to the C-57 and C-60A to modify for the military side, and then they will be ready for mapping.

The PV-1 Vega Ventura benefits from all that work as some share-able parts will then move to her interior and she will be ready for mapping.

That is the game plan and status of this project right now.

Keep the faith

[fliger747]

Maarten:

Received the CD via the royal post, many thanks. Good thing too as it's rough sledding once the snow melts.

Regards: Tom

[Maarten -]

Maarten:

Received the CD via the royal post, many thanks. Good thing too as it's rough sledding once the snow melts.

Regards: Tom

My pleasure Tom!

Regards,
Maarten

[glh]

Milton:

Can you share a projected target date for your XP-47s ?? I don't remember seeing one published.

If you would rather not say, I'd understand that also.

Thanks.

[Milton Shupe]

Milton:

Can you share a projected target date for your XP-47s ?? I don't remember seeing one published.

If you would rather not say, I'd understand that also.

Thanks.

glh,

Thank you for your interest. I am preparing the Republic XP47's for beta as we speak and hope to get it out in a few days. If all goes well we should be going Gold by mid-April.

[glh]

Milton:

Thank you.

I have a bit more interest in them than the Harpoon or Lodestar. I prefer to wait for the final model
for the latter two whenever you are done but I have been (patiently) waiting for your XP-47s which
whetted my appetite when you first announced them. You and your associates do such excellent work.

[Motormouse]

/\ Bump!! /\

ttfn

Pete

[Milton Shupe]

LOL MM: Actually aside from preparing the XP47's for beta, I am working on the L-18 Civilian version daily. Just got the panels and gauges assimilated so I can finalize the panel layouts and go hi-res for the upper panel that is stocked full of period radios. Once I have that behind me, I can finalize the little things in the cockpit to flesh it out. Then I will be ready to the complete exterior and interior for textures before sending her to the paint shop.

Tom has the preliminary flight model phase completed.

Still lots to do and we are probably looking at early Summer here for a beta test.

I will be away for 3 weeks in May so that slows things down a bit.

[Milton Shupe]

I would just like to give a "shout out" to some people here for behind the scenes assistance that helps make these projects so much better than they would otherwise be.

Thanks to Maarten who has provided so many great resources and reference material, not just for this project, but nearly every project we work on.

Thanks to SrGalahad "Rob" for his relentless quest for details hidden in the recesses of the Internet and on bookshelves. The materials and info he finds sometimes blows me away. :-) Rob has also invested considerable time researching, suggesting, and finding the proper gauges and radios for the Lodestar cockpit.

There are others who always research and provide inputs early on in these projects, send stuff, provide links, pictures, scale drawings, etc. that tend to go unnoticed publicly. It's this kind of collaboration that helps bring better results on these projects to you, and we sincerely appreciate all your efforts and support.

We are trying to finalize the the Republic XP47's and 72 now and will be back on the Harpoon very soon to prepare it for beta, while I work to finalize the L-18 interior cockpit details and begin mapping the L-18 for textures.

[Maarten -]

Thank you very much, Sir Milton.

[Milton Shupe]

Update: The L-18 project is living and breathing and making headway every day.

Along with significant gauge and radio progress, (thank you Rob), Tom and I have been working everyday to improve the flight model for the commercial airliners. She is such a sweet hand flyer, not sure you will care much about an AP. :-) Tom has nailed the performance on these aircraft with both of the modeled engines. Just trying to tweak out the slow approach and flaps responses to finalize that side of it.

I have broken out the military variants separate from the commercial ones to give us more flexibility in load-outs, weights, configurations, and modeling differences.

Once we get the Republic XP47's and XP-72 out the door, this will get more active.

[t.creed]

thanks for the updates.., really looking forward to the Lockheeds !!

rgds
t creed

[srgalahad]

Update: The L-18 project is living and breathing and making headway every day.

Along with significant gauge and radio progress, (thank you Rob), Tom and I have been working everyday to improve the flight model for the commercial airliners. She is such a sweet hand flyer, not sure you will care much about an AP. :-) Tom has nailed the performance on these aircraft with both of the modeled engines. Just trying to tweak out the slow approach and flaps responses to finalize that side of it.

I haven't vanished, just getting ready for the summer job and getting new staff trained. In the meantime been flying the Lodestar in (mostly) non-destructive testing of Mr. Sperry's autopilot. Yes, the Sperry can be nice and it will work but pilots will have to be aware it's not a K-Tel "set it and forget it" device. It can control heading and pitch but is not intended as more than a 'relief pilot during cruise' to reduce the need for hand-flying for long periods. Particularly, with the trim changes associated with those big Fowler flaps, letting "George" fly the airplane on approach might produce some unpleasant moments! It'll be fine to get you to final approach but after that you'd best be off auto and have a hand/mouse close to the trim wheel/button. ('Realistic' is a word that comes to mind...)

However, as Milton has said, it's a wonderful aircraft to hand-fly so why let some automaton have the fun?

Milton, I should have a draft of the appropriate "Pilots' Notes" for you in the next few days.

R

[jbDC9]

Well, crap! I must have been in a coma for the last few months since I'm a Lodestar junkie and just now stumbled onto this project... beautiful work Milton! Can't wait to see and fly the finished product.

May I suggest one small change to the exterior model? The ADF loop antenna on top of the fuselage appears to be a wee bit too big; I've attached two pics of a C-60 Lodestar with a similar antenna in that location, looks to be a smaller loop...



BTW, that's me in the right seat landing at the Midland CAF airshow last October. I don't know who took the pics so I can't give credit, but he/she did a nice job. I have roughly 45 hours in this ship and just passed my PIC type ride in it last week, sweeet! It's a nice flying airplane, fast, handles well. It gets kinda funky in pitch when the gear and flaps are in motion (gear down, pitches down; flaps down, pitches up), but you get used to that pretty quickly. No autopilot needed, but thanks! The cockpit pic in post #203 on this thread is this airplane; it's basic. She's based in Houston, TX, owned/operated by the Commemorative Air Force... we're working on getting it set up on the ride program (similar to the touring B-17s), so if you wanna Lodestar ride, it could hopefully happen soon. Bring some $$ though, she's a thirsty beast with those twin Wright R-1820s!

[Milton Shupe]

Well, congrats on the PIC achievement! That's great!

Regarding the loop antenna, apparently there were several sizes over the years, or on different models as my reference pictures used during modeling showed large ones. Anyway I have a big inventory of available antennae so your input is valuable.

Just getting the exterior model prepared for mapping (for textures) now and still some work to do inside on the overhead panel underside.

We have the flight model pretty close to where we want it now displaying the flap and gear characteristics you described. VFE was a bit disconcerting for me as I am used to a faster deployment speed at least for the first notch. Flaps responses were based on the POH or Operating Guide description as attached.

The L-18 will be available with both the Wright and the P&W setup like the C-57 and C-60A.

Thanks for jumping in; we look forward to your involvement. :-)

[jbDC9]

Whoops! I stand corrected on the loop antenna; I didn't know there were various sizes... carry on then!

Regarding the flap deployment speeds, yes indeed the original Lockheed spec for that is just silly slow at 100 kts for flap extension. Luckily, our ship has the partial Learstar mods done; the flap trailing edges are straight across compared to the standard tapered or curved trailing edge... I don't know if there were any structural mods done to the flap tracks, but flap speed are bumped up a bit. The first 10% can extend at 135 kts with the rest going out at 105 kts. The ability for flaps 10% at 135 kts is a huge help in slowing things down in the pattern... but then again, when in doubt, you can toss the gear at 145 kts. That's a huge speedbrake!

Attached is a pic of the V-speed placard riveted to the throttle quadrant; I'm assuming this would only apply to ships with Learstar/Howard mods. With a Google search of the old N9980F reg some interesting pics come up of a previous life as a '50s-'60s corporate transport and a '70s weather research ship.

[Scale Dail]

I would like to thank the team so much for working on this project, the Lockheed L18 Loadstar! My FS era is prewar late 30's and I have hoped for this aircraft for many years and as FS 2004 gets older and older the hope began to fade. The Milton and freinds team have renewed the excitement in FS 2004 for me again! I decided many years ago that FS 2004 is where I would stop. I have so many tweeks and creations in my installation, this is where I plan to stay forever! I don't care how many cars roam the highways of FSX!
Once this project is done I will have no more wishes! By the way my real hobby is building scale RC aircraft. I'll be starting on my own A-20G in the fall of 2015.
Thanks again! I look forward to anything new that comes out for FS2004 especially if its American with American markings!

[Milton Shupe]

Whoops! I stand corrected on the loop antenna; I didn't know there were various sizes... carry on then!

Regarding the flap deployment speeds, yes indeed the original Lockheed spec for that is just silly slow at 100 kts for flap extension. Luckily, our ship has the partial Learstar mods done; the flap trailing edges are straight across compared to the standard tapered or curved trailing edge... I don't know if there were any structural mods done to the flap tracks, but flap speed are bumped up a bit. The first 10% can extend at 135 kts with the rest going out at 105 kts. The ability for flaps 10% at 135 kts is a huge help in slowing things down in the pattern... but then again, when in doubt, you can toss the gear at 145 kts. That's a huge speedbrake!

Attached is a pic of the V-speed placard riveted to the throttle quadrant; I'm assuming this would only apply to ships with Learstar/Howard mods. With a Google search of the old N9980F reg some interesting pics come up of a previous life as a '50s-'60s corporate transport and a '70s weather research ship.

jbDC9, wow, I cannot believe how long its been since we had a post here. Unfortunately, Nigel has had power issues at home for a time but that is now being corrected and we are getting back to full speed again. Trying to finish up the Harpoon now and we will be on the Lodestar next. She's mapped for textures and ready for Nigel to do his magic.

Thank you for posting the V-Speed placard. Where do you have that mounted on your aircraft?

[Milton Shupe]

I would like to thank the team so much for working on this project, the Lockheed L18 Loadstar! My FS era is prewar late 30's and I have hoped for this aircraft for many years and as FS 2004 gets older and older the hope began to fade. The Milton and freinds team have renewed the excitement in FS 2004 for me again! I decided many years ago that FS 2004 is where I would stop. I have so many tweeks and creations in my installation, this is where I plan to stay forever! I don't care how many cars roam the highways of FSX!
Once this project is done I will have no more wishes! By the way my real hobby is building scale RC aircraft. I'll be starting on my own A-20G in the fall of 2015.
Thanks again! I look forward to anything new that comes out for FS2004 especially if its American with American markings!

Scale Dail,

Hello and welcome to the project thread.

Thank you for your warm comments. Sadly we had this on hold for a bit while we get back up to speed. With the issues now resolved, maybe we can get some activity going here again.

I do have several variants of the models available in two engine cowling configurations and just a bit more work left in the VC to wrap her up. But even with that we are looking at the new year before release.
I'll keep you informed.

Attached are screen shots of the C-57, C-60A, and the L-18 in their current state.

[jbDC9]

Thank you for posting the V-Speed placard. Where do you have that mounted on your aircraft?

The new Vspeed placard is on top of the throttle quadrant, flat part ahead of the throttles... in the pic below the Garmin GPS is sitting on it, highlighted in red.



I like your posted screenshots, looking good! Still looks a bit weird with the big Pratts installed since I'm used to seeing the 1820s, but I can get used to it.

[Milton Shupe]

The new Vspeed placard is on top of the throttle quadrant, flat part ahead of the throttles... in the pic below the Garmin GPS is sitting on it, highlighted in red.



I like your posted screenshots, looking good! Still looks a bit weird with the big Pratts installed since I'm used to seeing the 1820s, but I can get used to it.

Thanks. Oh, I will have both engine nacelles available; already done awaiting textures to get started.

[tgibson]

Looking forward to this, especially the AI version.

If an AI version of the civil model is not on the table, I could always add LODs...

[Milton Shupe]

Looking forward to this, especially the AI version.

If an AI version of the civil model is not on the table, I could always add LODs...

Thank you Tom.

I would be happy to share the gmax source with you if you wish to add LODs. I have no experience doing that and would greatly appreciate it if you would make an AI version available.

The exterior models are completed and mapped and the interiors are mostly done and mapped awaiting some final cockpit changes but enough to do AI models.
Of course, for AI, one might prefer a more AI-friendly mapping.

Whenever you want the source, you may have it.