Ahh, okay. Yeah, I tuned and tweaked the engine/props so that they always start going the right direction on the first startup. If you stop the engine when the props are both positioned completely horizontal, it sometimes restarts in the wrong direction. If you stop the engines when the props are at any other angle, however, they will restart in the correct direction. Also, you could try starting with the props at a pitch angle of 0 (VTOL slider all the way down) and then throttle up to 100, then start increasing prop pitch slowly. Then you might get away with it without hurting the engine. I’ve noticed that if you put too much load on this engine, it will somehow get janky/damaged and run less smoothly. But all in all I think it’s a fantastic engine! Well packaged/compact, reliable (like you said already) and looks great. I highly recommend it! Haha :) @CRJ900Pilot
Thanks a lot man! Do you mean you were able to go 100% throttle? If so, do you mean once airborne, or from a dead stop? Because I fly it at 100% no problem, but if I go to 100 from a dead stop it blows up sometimes. Are you not experiencing that? Because ever since the 1.8 update, I’ve been having a few weird glitches that other peeps are saying they don’t have...
Anyway, yeah, I can totally post the engine for you! It’s not mine anyway; I don’t know if you saw in the description, but @BaconAircraft built the engine. But I think he may have taken it down, because I dl’ed it a while ago, and I went searching for it when I built this (to make double sure it was Bacon’s) and I couldn’t find it. Oh well. I’m tagging him in this comment, so he can say if I’m mistaken or if he doesn’t want it used by others (seems extremely unlikely), or whatever. @CRJ900Pilot
One thing you could try to counteract the prop torque is: make the angle of incidence slightly positive on one primary wing and negative on the other. Not the best solution because even if you dial it in to where it flies perfectly level at full throttle, then it will auto-roll at 0 throttle. Another thing you could try is: set the trim input on the ailerons to [on], so that you can adjust aileron trim to counteract prop torque on the fly. But then you will have to change the piston input (throttle) from Trim to VTOL, and change the prop pitch input from VTOL to Throttle. You wouldn’t be able to use the negative pitch on the prop, but that shouldn’t matter, because you can still run the engine in either direction. Slight loss of functionality, but I think it’s your best bet in terms of a quick fix. The ideal solution would be to have two engines with counter-rotating props. You’d have to redesign the plane from the ground up... but also you could put the two engines in tandem like this, and make the two props coaxial, which should still work with the engine you’re using, just might be a bit tricky.
Hmmm, bummer. Do you think that could include hinge rotators on custom control surfaces? And if so, perhaps if I replace them, check clearances carefully, and/or disable aircraft collisions on relevant parts...? I guess I could just go try it lol. Thanks for your help! @jamesPLANESii
Hmm, ok. This is the one I was just playing with. Just get up in the air, roll and pitch and yaw a bunch until you see it. I’ll look at some of my other old stuff to see if there’s a better example... @randomusername
I’m thinking about some old video clips of some of the early attempts at heavier than air flight, with reciprocating propulsion parts. It’s easy to see that it’s a non-starter. @ThomasRoderick
I really love this. I’ve seen some great ornithopters on SP but I’ve never seen one that is in a semi-realistic style, with a cockpit and everything (cockpit is great by the way). The wing flap function is smooth and effective. The benefits to using the infinite rotator to power flapping wings is that the power delivery is smooth, quiet, and reliable. The drawback to using it as power for an ornithopter is 1)it’s either 0 or 100% power, nothing in the middle, and 2) at 0% throttle, it starts going backwards to get back to the original angular position (which you know, of course). So the system you devised with the hinge rotators to rectify both of those problems is absolutely brilliant! And another great thing about this setup is that the wings always come to rest at 0% throttle at the exact same angle no matter what, so there’s no fussing around with getting them in the right angle for gliding or landing, which is like, an SP ornithopter benchmark imo. Also, making an ornithopter that can take off and land well is rather difficult, and this one does both beautifully. You did some really great work here, I’m very impressed! Looking forward to seeing what else you come up with!
On the 2-in1? Yeah, just can’t find the sweet spot. And it just doesn’t feel as smooth and responsive like the iPhone. Although that could be cause the 2n1 just isn’t powerful enough to run SP smoothly, I dunno.
Anyway, I’m more or less content with my setup. I guess I have to be, cause it’s definitely not changing anytime soon haha. @iwannabeelected
Huh, interesting! I use an iPhone 7 without a screen protector, which I find to be perfectly adequate. The onscreen controls on my Lenovo 2-in1, however... not satisfactory. So I got a cheap controller for that, which is significantly better. Although the machine isn’t really powerful enough to run SP smoothly, so I mostly only use it for XML modding. Interestingly, using on screen controls in the builder on the 2-in-1 is terrible, where as using the builder on the iPhone is my favorite configuration. @LiamW
Ahh, word. I think my fundamental problem with the mouse is that I’m a lefty, but I’ve been doing right-handed mouse all my life. So my right hand mouse dexterity isn’t all that good, but my left hand, which has greater potential, is hopeless since it’s completely unpracticed. @LiamW
It handles... exactly like you’d expect it to! Haha. Jk. Cool build man. @atgxtg is right about the port side “primary” wing having inverted trim. I would say it’s imperative that that gets rectified haha. Also, I changed the airfoil on both “primary” wings from symmetric to flat bottom. Made a huge difference in flight characteristics. Give it a try, see what you think. I tell you what, make those two fixes, repost and tag me in it, and I’ll spotlight, yeah?
Man, isn’t it just like, sooo much better building on the phone? Seems counter-intuitive, but... I dunno I’m just so much better with the screen than with the mouse I guess haha. Also for the actual flight controls. I mean, I’m guessing joystick is the way to go, but I like the on-screen controls just fine, and with the mouse I find it unplayable. I kinda want to get an iPad just for SP haha. But I can’t afford that kind of expense right now just for SP. Plus, iPad won’t support mods either. @iwannabeelected
No not at all man! I mean, I know I’m not going to be building all of those. It’s just a good list of options. And I, too, share that love for heli’s my friend :) @AerialFighterSnakes
Thanks man, very kind of you to say :) and thanks for your help, the spin limit is most certainly what’s holding me back, thank you for bringing it to my attention. The mod sounds like just what I need. Unfortunately, I do most of my SP business on iOS. I do have a pc for when I need to XML Edit while building, but the poor little machine isn’t really powerful enough to play on. It can handle lower part count builds okay, but certainly not this monster! Haha. Nevertheless, I will give it a go and let you know what I discover.
I definitely understand what you’re saying about this/these build/s being a working model; that it’s more about watching all of the fantastic mechanisms in action and appreciating them. Which is usually what I do when playing with builds like these... it’s just that yours functioned so well that I wanted to drive it around for the sake of the drive as well! @iwannabeelected
Cool man! I’ll keep those in mind! I’m starting small; right now I’m working on a tiny autogyro. But it’s kind of a special one, IMO, so I hope that you like it! @AerialFighterSnakes
Oh and also, if I am successful in my modifications: I wasn’t planning on posting it publicly, but I will if you’d like, as it might get you slightly more exposure, and you’d get some points for any upvotes I might receive (as you know, I’m sure).
Hey man, this build is so spectacularly cool! But I wanted two things more out of it; I wanted smoother power delivery and I wanted more speed. So I took out the pistons (even though the V4 reciprocating piston engine is super cool), and I added some jet engines to the discs (that kind of look like counter-weights) on the crankshaft. I got the car to run and drive alright, and I am pleased with the smoothness of power delivery and operation. But no matter what I try, I can’t get the machine past that 5-6 mph barrier... do you have any suggestions?
So, are you interested in some suggestions that might help it to fly better? If not that’s totally cool, of course. I just like your build and I think I might be able to help make it better. @gunsou03
By ‘more helicopters’, are you referring to this and this?
Oh, and I guess possibly this ?
What sort of helis are you interested in?
@AerialFighterSnakes
It’s a cool build man, I like it! Cool idea, definitely has potential. But it is pretty much uncontrollable, as far as I can tell... I have some suggestions if you’re interested. Also, for a bigger build like this, with more complicated controls, it is highly advisable to add instructions — flight controls, action group controls, etc. to the description of your post.
Ahh, okay. Yeah, I tuned and tweaked the engine/props so that they always start going the right direction on the first startup. If you stop the engine when the props are both positioned completely horizontal, it sometimes restarts in the wrong direction. If you stop the engines when the props are at any other angle, however, they will restart in the correct direction. Also, you could try starting with the props at a pitch angle of 0 (VTOL slider all the way down) and then throttle up to 100, then start increasing prop pitch slowly. Then you might get away with it without hurting the engine. I’ve noticed that if you put too much load on this engine, it will somehow get janky/damaged and run less smoothly. But all in all I think it’s a fantastic engine! Well packaged/compact, reliable (like you said already) and looks great. I highly recommend it! Haha :) @CRJ900Pilot
Thanks a lot man! Do you mean you were able to go 100% throttle? If so, do you mean once airborne, or from a dead stop? Because I fly it at 100% no problem, but if I go to 100 from a dead stop it blows up sometimes. Are you not experiencing that? Because ever since the 1.8 update, I’ve been having a few weird glitches that other peeps are saying they don’t have...
Anyway, yeah, I can totally post the engine for you! It’s not mine anyway; I don’t know if you saw in the description, but @BaconAircraft built the engine. But I think he may have taken it down, because I dl’ed it a while ago, and I went searching for it when I built this (to make double sure it was Bacon’s) and I couldn’t find it. Oh well. I’m tagging him in this comment, so he can say if I’m mistaken or if he doesn’t want it used by others (seems extremely unlikely), or whatever. @CRJ900Pilot
Thanks man I really appreciate that :) @ChiyomiAnzai
+1Haha thanks :)
How many hours do I need for what? @JaquesBriques
Haha. Yeah. Well obviously xml stuff is done on my pc, but I do most of the building on my phone since my comp is a piece. @ChiyomiAnzai
One thing you could try to counteract the prop torque is: make the angle of incidence slightly positive on one primary wing and negative on the other. Not the best solution because even if you dial it in to where it flies perfectly level at full throttle, then it will auto-roll at 0 throttle. Another thing you could try is: set the trim input on the ailerons to [on], so that you can adjust aileron trim to counteract prop torque on the fly. But then you will have to change the piston input (throttle) from Trim to VTOL, and change the prop pitch input from VTOL to Throttle. You wouldn’t be able to use the negative pitch on the prop, but that shouldn’t matter, because you can still run the engine in either direction. Slight loss of functionality, but I think it’s your best bet in terms of a quick fix. The ideal solution would be to have two engines with counter-rotating props. You’d have to redesign the plane from the ground up... but also you could put the two engines in tandem like this, and make the two props coaxial, which should still work with the engine you’re using, just might be a bit tricky.
Looks cool man, good luck! :)
Ahh, ok. Something to think about, thanks @randomusername
+1Alright thanks @jamesPLANESii
Are you running Android or pc? @randomusername
Hmmm, bummer. Do you think that could include hinge rotators on custom control surfaces? And if so, perhaps if I replace them, check clearances carefully, and/or disable aircraft collisions on relevant parts...? I guess I could just go try it lol. Thanks for your help! @jamesPLANESii
Hmm, ok. This is the one I was just playing with. Just get up in the air, roll and pitch and yaw a bunch until you see it. I’ll look at some of my other old stuff to see if there’s a better example... @randomusername
High quality build, love the livery!
I’m thinking about some old video clips of some of the early attempts at heavier than air flight, with reciprocating propulsion parts. It’s easy to see that it’s a non-starter. @ThomasRoderick
+1Me too!@spefyjerbf
Very cool concept! I wonder if this would work irl... haha
I really love this. I’ve seen some great ornithopters on SP but I’ve never seen one that is in a semi-realistic style, with a cockpit and everything (cockpit is great by the way). The wing flap function is smooth and effective. The benefits to using the infinite rotator to power flapping wings is that the power delivery is smooth, quiet, and reliable. The drawback to using it as power for an ornithopter is 1)it’s either 0 or 100% power, nothing in the middle, and 2) at 0% throttle, it starts going backwards to get back to the original angular position (which you know, of course). So the system you devised with the hinge rotators to rectify both of those problems is absolutely brilliant! And another great thing about this setup is that the wings always come to rest at 0% throttle at the exact same angle no matter what, so there’s no fussing around with getting them in the right angle for gliding or landing, which is like, an SP ornithopter benchmark imo. Also, making an ornithopter that can take off and land well is rather difficult, and this one does both beautifully. You did some really great work here, I’m very impressed! Looking forward to seeing what else you come up with!
+6Cool plane! I’d recommend adding flaps and a trim function though.
Very cool! Such a great build...
+1Thank you very much! :) @LordSatan
On the 2-in1? Yeah, just can’t find the sweet spot. And it just doesn’t feel as smooth and responsive like the iPhone. Although that could be cause the 2n1 just isn’t powerful enough to run SP smoothly, I dunno.
Anyway, I’m more or less content with my setup. I guess I have to be, cause it’s definitely not changing anytime soon haha. @iwannabeelected
+1Nice work! I like what you did with the camera and really fast piston, that was creative.
@SpiritusRaptor thank you sir! Love your work!
@Chancey21 thanks man! :)
+1Huh, interesting! I use an iPhone 7 without a screen protector, which I find to be perfectly adequate. The onscreen controls on my Lenovo 2-in1, however... not satisfactory. So I got a cheap controller for that, which is significantly better. Although the machine isn’t really powerful enough to run SP smoothly, so I mostly only use it for XML modding. Interestingly, using on screen controls in the builder on the 2-in-1 is terrible, where as using the builder on the iPhone is my favorite configuration. @LiamW
Very cool!
Fantastic!!
Really wonderful work, I love it.
+1Cool plane, very unique! Although I wish you’d have called it the “fair weather flyer” haha
Great build. Just curious though; why didn’t you use the new rotor parts from the update?
+1Haha yeah. Seems like most everyone except for me hates the on screen controls. @iwannabeelected
+1Yeah that would be cool. You could add something to the wings/stabilizers too, like some call letters or something. @Minnererg
Ahh, word. I think my fundamental problem with the mouse is that I’m a lefty, but I’ve been doing right-handed mouse all my life. So my right hand mouse dexterity isn’t all that good, but my left hand, which has greater potential, is hopeless since it’s completely unpracticed. @LiamW
Sweet man! Yeah, livery is a great idea. I’d offer to help, but I’m pretty terrible when it comes to liveries haha :/@Minnererg
+1It handles... exactly like you’d expect it to! Haha. Jk. Cool build man. @atgxtg is right about the port side “primary” wing having inverted trim. I would say it’s imperative that that gets rectified haha. Also, I changed the airfoil on both “primary” wings from symmetric to flat bottom. Made a huge difference in flight characteristics. Give it a try, see what you think. I tell you what, make those two fixes, repost and tag me in it, and I’ll spotlight, yeah?
This thing is fun good work!
Oh and also, if you add tags next to the description, your post will be easier to find and will give you a little more exposure in the long run.
+1Neat! I agree with Chancey about the wings.
+1Man, isn’t it just like, sooo much better building on the phone? Seems counter-intuitive, but... I dunno I’m just so much better with the screen than with the mouse I guess haha. Also for the actual flight controls. I mean, I’m guessing joystick is the way to go, but I like the on-screen controls just fine, and with the mouse I find it unplayable. I kinda want to get an iPad just for SP haha. But I can’t afford that kind of expense right now just for SP. Plus, iPad won’t support mods either. @iwannabeelected
Haha okay right on man @AerialFighterSnakes
Sweet! I would definitely like to see the more advanced, efficient one!
+1No not at all man! I mean, I know I’m not going to be building all of those. It’s just a good list of options. And I, too, share that love for heli’s my friend :) @AerialFighterSnakes
Thanks man, very kind of you to say :) and thanks for your help, the spin limit is most certainly what’s holding me back, thank you for bringing it to my attention. The mod sounds like just what I need. Unfortunately, I do most of my SP business on iOS. I do have a pc for when I need to XML Edit while building, but the poor little machine isn’t really powerful enough to play on. It can handle lower part count builds okay, but certainly not this monster! Haha. Nevertheless, I will give it a go and let you know what I discover.
I definitely understand what you’re saying about this/these build/s being a working model; that it’s more about watching all of the fantastic mechanisms in action and appreciating them. Which is usually what I do when playing with builds like these... it’s just that yours functioned so well that I wanted to drive it around for the sake of the drive as well! @iwannabeelected
Btw that’s a great list of heli’s! I would love to see all of them built! I can’t even decide what I’d want to start with haha.
@AerialFighterSnakes
Cool man! I’ll keep those in mind! I’m starting small; right now I’m working on a tiny autogyro. But it’s kind of a special one, IMO, so I hope that you like it! @AerialFighterSnakes
Oh and also, if I am successful in my modifications: I wasn’t planning on posting it publicly, but I will if you’d like, as it might get you slightly more exposure, and you’d get some points for any upvotes I might receive (as you know, I’m sure).
Hey man, this build is so spectacularly cool! But I wanted two things more out of it; I wanted smoother power delivery and I wanted more speed. So I took out the pistons (even though the V4 reciprocating piston engine is super cool), and I added some jet engines to the discs (that kind of look like counter-weights) on the crankshaft. I got the car to run and drive alright, and I am pleased with the smoothness of power delivery and operation. But no matter what I try, I can’t get the machine past that 5-6 mph barrier... do you have any suggestions?
This is really an amazing build
So, are you interested in some suggestions that might help it to fly better? If not that’s totally cool, of course. I just like your build and I think I might be able to help make it better. @gunsou03
Thank you! :)
And yes, that’s the plan!
By ‘more helicopters’, are you referring to this and this?
Oh, and I guess possibly this ?
What sort of helis are you interested in?
@AerialFighterSnakes
It’s a cool build man, I like it! Cool idea, definitely has potential. But it is pretty much uncontrollable, as far as I can tell... I have some suggestions if you’re interested. Also, for a bigger build like this, with more complicated controls, it is highly advisable to add instructions — flight controls, action group controls, etc. to the description of your post.