Build airplanes that look great in the screenshots and use all three screenshots. Fill the screenshot--many posted builds are zoomed out; if the user can't see it, he won't download it and he won't upvote it. Then, if you really care, and if you want to build airplanes that people not only want, but also like to fly, build great looking airplanes that fly great.
In the builder menu, click on the tool that looks like a scale (a triangle balancing a line and three circles). You'll see two vertical lines on your airplane, one red, the other blue. The red (Center of Mass, or CoM) line should be a little bit in front of the blue (Center of Lift, or CoL) line. If the CoL is in front of the CoM, or even if the CoM is only barely in front of the CoL, your airplane will be unstable or will not even fly at all. There are several ways to shift the CoM and CoL lines, the easiest two methods are simply to add fuel or ballast forward or back on your airplane...the resizable fuselage has options to add both of these--be sure to never use the default fuel tanks, they are far less flexible than using the resizable fuselage part. Anyway, adding fuel or ballast to the forward parts of your airplane will shift the CoM line forward (the inverse is also true). You can shift the CoL line by shifting the wings forward or aft on your airplane, or even by increasing or decreasing the size of your wings.
@BogdanX yes, it does...in its current form. I'm seriously considering keeping the stock blocky wings due to the massive flying penalties if the shaped fuselage wings...it's going to be awhile, I'm out of town and away from my PC for the next 3 weeks.
@Franticmatty saw your YouTube video where you flew my plane...very entertaining. In case you were still wondering, the trim slider on the right of the screen is the trim, which works the same way trim does on real aircraft. You slide it down to pull and keep the nose up, or push it forward to push the nose down. You mentioned "I have to keep pulling the nose up", well, that's what trim is supposed to do for you so that you don't have to keep pulling back on the stick, you set the trim and the plane should fly close to level flight. You seem to be interested in aviation. If you ever do graduate from simulations into real life flying, this is one of the first things your flight instructor will teach you about.
There are many, many users who download and do not upvote because they don't have accounts, many more than DO have accounts. It's much easier to lurk on the site vs. signing up, that's the unfortunate truth of why this happens.
@SVT13 that's one way, but more often a rotator on the horizontal tail surfaces sync'd with the wing sweep control that pitches a little up or down as the wings move. You'll have to adjust and fine tune it to get it to work exactly right.
I'm not sure why anyone in SP is averse to using trim as trimming is one of the more realistic aspects of this game. The pitch effects that come from swinging the wings are pretty much what happens in real life for the same reasons they happen in the game. VG aircraft almost always have some sort of automatic pitch trim compensator system. You could try incorporating that into your VG designs to see if that helps...
Just to be clear, previous updates have loaded automatically to my iPhone 5...but not this time. Do I need to go to the App Store and re download the app?
So is it an inline engine setup similar to the Fw-190? That makes a good backstory..."Alexander Seversky designed another fighter in parallel with the P-47...this one powered by an experimental 2,500 hp inline Pratt & Whitney Condor engine...". Just saying 'cause you don't usually see exhaust stacks like that on a radial engine...very cool!
@Coltonlane it sure does, just like the real-life jet...an M61 Vulcan cannon. Of course, I had to use the minigun to simulate the cannon, but it's pretty close to the real thing and it's in the correct position on the jet, mounted on the pod under the radome.
Custom landing gear is a good start...download some 3-views to get an idea what to do. Also, the MLG track is too narrow, I would widen it if I were you.
@Tang0five hmm, not sure you want to delete it. I recommend just changing it and reposting. Also, if I may offer: Change the inboard trailing edges to "round" vs. "curved", which is more accurate, that way the engines will bulge out of the wing surfaces as they do on the real thing...
However, @QuantausAviation the way you write it comes across as a newly established rule. The way you announced your post comes across as authoritative.. if anyone could suddenly announce new rules and standards for the community, what's to prevent me from arbitrarily banning things I don't agree with? For example, should I decide Aussie flags traumatize me, what's to prevent me from establishing a new rule banning Australian flags? Also, the build you reference (and I did look at it) may very well have been intended as a replica of a fictional German jet. The answer, or course, is a sense of civility and politeness, which some lack, true, but establishing new rules leads to a loss of freedom. I'd rather let the issue work itself out by other users simply ignoring and not upvoting nitwit creations. The one you reference won't get many upvotes, I assure you and that builder will get bored and eventually go away.
Unfortunately, there's no way you can create this rule as you're not a Moderator. Please tag a moderator and discuss this with him or her. Then, they will consider making this a rule (or not).
Also, not sure if anyone else has noticed that typing descriptions can be frustrating, the font gets smaller and smaller each new line while you're typing.
Are you all considering modifying the wings in future versions of the game? The current wings work well enough, but look like Hershey bars. Sheathing them in fuse pieces works to make them look better, but adds an unrealistic amount of drag.
@Coltonlane I'm probably going to load it out with 2x or 4x AIM-7 Sparrows (Interceptors), 2x AGM-64 Mavericks (Infernos) and 4x Mark-82 500 lb bombs (Boom 50s). Users can swap the stores out for AIM-9s or rockets if they would like.
@F104Deathtrap @superdeltaforce it's all cool...comparing the XB-70 to the TSR2 is comparing apples to oranges. One was a high altitude Mach 3 heavy bomber, the other a Mach 2 low altitude tactical/small to medium sized bomber penetrating bomber more akin to a Tornado or F-111. IMHO it was a tragedy to cancel either; politics and dirty play factored in both cancellations, though I do agree that US orgs or gov't probably did push for the U.K. To cnx the TSR2. Bottom line the XB-70 and TSR2 did not compete against each other and they were both amazing aircraft in their own right.
@freedompilot98 I really don't know, sorry. I'm only familiar with iOS and PC...however, it should be similar in Android. Take the screenshot, get an Imgur account (what I use, it's a free photo sharing site), post the shot on the site then link back to SP forums using the *.png address in the following format: ! [Title of Shot] (link.png). Be sure to omit the spaces between the exclamation points, brackets and parentheses.
Another good web series is AOPA's Safety Institute videos. Check out the accident case studies, much more technical than Air Crash Investigations and arguably more use to pilots.
@F4f879 Here you go. It's one of my early builds which I've never posted publicly, it's just a simple SP build, not really to "replica" standards, but fun to mess around with. Once, I posted a variation of this build here. You can swap out the Boom 25s and Infernos for Boom 50s.
Try this path:
ThisPC/C:/Users/[Your profile name]/AppData/LocalLow/Jundroo/SimplePlanes/AircraftDesigns
That's what I use on my Windows 10 PC, see if it works for you.
On iOS, no less.
Flies well, trims well (with flaps), despite the absence of trim, nice job.
Build airplanes that look great in the screenshots and use all three screenshots. Fill the screenshot--many posted builds are zoomed out; if the user can't see it, he won't download it and he won't upvote it. Then, if you really care, and if you want to build airplanes that people not only want, but also like to fly, build great looking airplanes that fly great.
In the builder menu, click on the tool that looks like a scale (a triangle balancing a line and three circles). You'll see two vertical lines on your airplane, one red, the other blue. The red (Center of Mass, or CoM) line should be a little bit in front of the blue (Center of Lift, or CoL) line. If the CoL is in front of the CoM, or even if the CoM is only barely in front of the CoL, your airplane will be unstable or will not even fly at all. There are several ways to shift the CoM and CoL lines, the easiest two methods are simply to add fuel or ballast forward or back on your airplane...the resizable fuselage has options to add both of these--be sure to never use the default fuel tanks, they are far less flexible than using the resizable fuselage part. Anyway, adding fuel or ballast to the forward parts of your airplane will shift the CoM line forward (the inverse is also true). You can shift the CoL line by shifting the wings forward or aft on your airplane, or even by increasing or decreasing the size of your wings.
@BogdanX yes, it does...in its current form. I'm seriously considering keeping the stock blocky wings due to the massive flying penalties if the shaped fuselage wings...it's going to be awhile, I'm out of town and away from my PC for the next 3 weeks.
@Franticmatty saw your YouTube video where you flew my plane...very entertaining. In case you were still wondering, the trim slider on the right of the screen is the trim, which works the same way trim does on real aircraft. You slide it down to pull and keep the nose up, or push it forward to push the nose down. You mentioned "I have to keep pulling the nose up", well, that's what trim is supposed to do for you so that you don't have to keep pulling back on the stick, you set the trim and the plane should fly close to level flight. You seem to be interested in aviation. If you ever do graduate from simulations into real life flying, this is one of the first things your flight instructor will teach you about.
+1Well, this thing is about as difficult to hit ships with as the original Ohka was rumored to be...but great fun trying! Nice work!
+1There are many, many users who download and do not upvote because they don't have accounts, many more than DO have accounts. It's much easier to lurk on the site vs. signing up, that's the unfortunate truth of why this happens.
@SVT13 that's one way, but more often a rotator on the horizontal tail surfaces sync'd with the wing sweep control that pitches a little up or down as the wings move. You'll have to adjust and fine tune it to get it to work exactly right.
I'm not sure why anyone in SP is averse to using trim as trimming is one of the more realistic aspects of this game. The pitch effects that come from swinging the wings are pretty much what happens in real life for the same reasons they happen in the game. VG aircraft almost always have some sort of automatic pitch trim compensator system. You could try incorporating that into your VG designs to see if that helps...
@DerekSP true, but back in the day, Douglas was THE mainstream manufacturer. Then they became McDonnell Douglas and later, absorbed by Boeing...
Just to be clear, previous updates have loaded automatically to my iPhone 5...but not this time. Do I need to go to the App Store and re download the app?
You should call this post "modern airliners"--there are also many DC-3/C-47s, DC-4s, etc.
@Coltonlane yes, but when they do, it still acts more like a rocket pod and less like an actual cannon.
@GhostHTX it would certainly be fun, I need to figure out multiplayer, sigh....
Wow, very nice work here...looks just like a Twin Otter, realistic performance and nice flight dynamics, an upvote and a Spotlight for you!
@EpicPigster1 👍
So is it an inline engine setup similar to the Fw-190? That makes a good backstory..."Alexander Seversky designed another fighter in parallel with the P-47...this one powered by an experimental 2,500 hp inline Pratt & Whitney Condor engine...". Just saying 'cause you don't usually see exhaust stacks like that on a radial engine...very cool!
Heavier than a P-47, though I'm really at a loss to figure out what "ELA" means...
You might want to wait until 1.7 releases on iOS...it should give your platform nudge and fine adjustment.
@GhostHTX I have no idea how to do multiplayer, but it would be awesome if we did a Falklands role play...you with your FRS.1, me with my Skyhawk!
I think this is the only Super Crusader I've seen on the site, nice job!
This thing is getting more and more complicated through the years!
@Coltonlane it sure does, just like the real-life jet...an M61 Vulcan cannon. Of course, I had to use the minigun to simulate the cannon, but it's pretty close to the real thing and it's in the correct position on the jet, mounted on the pod under the radome.
@Kevinairlines Main Landing Gear track...that's how wide it is.
Oh, and it really needs some weapons...
Custom landing gear is a good start...download some 3-views to get an idea what to do. Also, the MLG track is too narrow, I would widen it if I were you.
When you repost it, tag me and I'll spotlight it 👍
@Tang0five hmm, not sure you want to delete it. I recommend just changing it and reposting. Also, if I may offer: Change the inboard trailing edges to "round" vs. "curved", which is more accurate, that way the engines will bulge out of the wing surfaces as they do on the real thing...
Well, an impressive build. Where are the famous crescent wings?
However, @QuantausAviation the way you write it comes across as a newly established rule. The way you announced your post comes across as authoritative.. if anyone could suddenly announce new rules and standards for the community, what's to prevent me from arbitrarily banning things I don't agree with? For example, should I decide Aussie flags traumatize me, what's to prevent me from establishing a new rule banning Australian flags? Also, the build you reference (and I did look at it) may very well have been intended as a replica of a fictional German jet. The answer, or course, is a sense of civility and politeness, which some lack, true, but establishing new rules leads to a loss of freedom. I'd rather let the issue work itself out by other users simply ignoring and not upvoting nitwit creations. The one you reference won't get many upvotes, I assure you and that builder will get bored and eventually go away.
Try to build an accurate F-4, then discuss what's more difficult, that or a car...
Unfortunately, there's no way you can create this rule as you're not a Moderator. Please tag a moderator and discuss this with him or her. Then, they will consider making this a rule (or not).
Also, not sure if anyone else has noticed that typing descriptions can be frustrating, the font gets smaller and smaller each new line while you're typing.
Are you all considering modifying the wings in future versions of the game? The current wings work well enough, but look like Hershey bars. Sheathing them in fuse pieces works to make them look better, but adds an unrealistic amount of drag.
@Coltonlane, oh yeah, it already has an M61 Vulcan cannon (minigun) and will carry 3 bags (drop tanks).
@Coltonlane I'm probably going to load it out with 2x or 4x AIM-7 Sparrows (Interceptors), 2x AGM-64 Mavericks (Infernos) and 4x Mark-82 500 lb bombs (Boom 50s). Users can swap the stores out for AIM-9s or rockets if they would like.
Yeah, this one should have way more upvotes!
@F104Deathtrap you are correct, sir!
Nice! Some good build techniques here!
@F104Deathtrap @superdeltaforce it's all cool...comparing the XB-70 to the TSR2 is comparing apples to oranges. One was a high altitude Mach 3 heavy bomber, the other a Mach 2 low altitude tactical/small to medium sized bomber penetrating bomber more akin to a Tornado or F-111. IMHO it was a tragedy to cancel either; politics and dirty play factored in both cancellations, though I do agree that US orgs or gov't probably did push for the U.K. To cnx the TSR2. Bottom line the XB-70 and TSR2 did not compete against each other and they were both amazing aircraft in their own right.
@freedompilot98 I really don't know, sorry. I'm only familiar with iOS and PC...however, it should be similar in Android. Take the screenshot, get an Imgur account (what I use, it's a free photo sharing site), post the shot on the site then link back to SP forums using the *.png address in the following format: ! [Title of Shot] (link.png). Be sure to omit the spaces between the exclamation points, brackets and parentheses.
Ok, this thing is ridonculous...let's see...um, 800,000+ feet, 9,000 mph at 70,000 feet. An upvote for the insanity...
Certainly an upgrade from the original but much shorter legs!
Epic!
Another good web series is AOPA's Safety Institute videos. Check out the accident case studies, much more technical than Air Crash Investigations and arguably more use to pilots.
@F4f879 Here you go. It's one of my early builds which I've never posted publicly, it's just a simple SP build, not really to "replica" standards, but fun to mess around with. Once, I posted a variation of this build here. You can swap out the Boom 25s and Infernos for Boom 50s.
Flies nice and slow!