Twin Star DA-42 Engine "Upgrade"

[Guest]

Ever since flying the DA-42 I felt it was underpowered. Indeed, Alabeo modelled the engines on the Thielert 1.7 Litre units at the start of the DA-42's production run in 2004.

Real world it didn't take long for feedback to get to Diamond that the engines were word not allowed poor. Then Thielert went out of business and Diamond tried Lycoming for a bit before finally settling on Austro Turbo 300's which the current DA-42 IV are equipped with. Much faster and leaner burning and make this bird a joy to fly.

I tweaked the aircraft.cfg as I flew around the World. It essentially "upgrades" the engines from the Alabeo modelled Thielert 1.7 Litre (under-powered) to the current Austro Turbo 300. It ups the power quite a lot - you can achieve level flight a few knots down from Vne. I tweaked the cruise scalars and thrust and drag to represent the aerodynamic cleanup of cowlings and flush rivet heads that Diamond did for the IV together with the new propeller design done in 2012.

Bear in mind that with just you in the cockpit (solo) you won't need full power on TO - as in real Twin Star IV. You and three passengers and a load of luggage - full power.

Power should be applied on gaining altitude to give you realisitic KIAS's/ fuel consumption at cruise heights with power set between 70 - 84 %. Read the notes for the real thing.

 

PM me for a link to the Drop Box file.

 

Obviously don't forget to backup your original aircraft.cfg (rename it something like aircraftBACKUP.cfg and substitute this one.)

And the usual: Use at your own risk. Although it works well for me on my own system I take no responsibility for your use of this file, any damage caused or financial loss.

Enjoy,

Ganter

[John_Cillis 2,406]

Is it possible to post the lines you applied the mod too?  I too have noticed that it is underpowered, about 20 kts slower than the current Twinstar.

John

[Guest]

Hi John,

 

I honestly can't remember the exact lines I modded in the .cfg - it was a gradual process as I flew through varying weather and altitudes. In the main the Cruise Lift Scalar, drag, engine thrust, plus others got gradually tweaked to result in performance closer to the DA-42 IV - and yes, as you say approximately 20-25 Kts faster.

I've PM you a link to the aircraft.cfg if you want to go through it doing a comparison with the original.

Jim

[ms2 184]

Hi Jim

I just have the da42 in mine hangard

I red this topic and have interest for your aircraft.cjg

best regard

Marc

[John_Cillis 2,406]

I applied the mod and I really like it.  It powers up the DA42 just like the current one, and fuel burn is spot on, at 92 pct. power it hits the numbers for the current DA42.  It's a nice all around aircraft that is frugal on fuel, yet speedy for medium distance flights.  I just rediscovered all of my Carenado and Alabeo purchases from my old system on their websites, including the purchase keys, and I was able to reinstall quite a few aircraft.  So my disastrous crash that caused me to buy a new system turned out to be better than I thought.  My sim experience is almost fully restored.

John

[Guest]

41 minutes ago, Cactus521 said:

I applied the mod and I really like it.  It powers up the DA42 just like the current one, and fuel burn is spot on, at 92 pct. power it hits the numbers for the current DA42.  It's a nice all around aircraft that is frugal on fuel, yet speedy for medium distance flights.  I just rediscovered all of my Carenado and Alabeo purchases from my old system on their websites, including the purchase keys, and I was able to reinstall quite a few aircraft.  So my disastrous crash that caused me to buy a new system turned out to be better than I thought.  My sim experience is almost fully restored.

John

Cheers John, glad you're pleased with my mods to this unruly powered glider!

I've had requests for the mod from over twenty people so far.

I've got a lot of time for Alabeo/ Cerranado. Their models look fantastic and with a bit of tweaking under the hood they can fly as well as other devs at twice the price. I've got multiple A2A, Milviz in my hangar but sometimes, I just want to fly something that feels like an old familair friend. The DA-42 has a special place in my hangar as I selected it to fly around the (FSX) world last Winter. Took me nearly 2 months and the sense of achievement as I arrived back at my departure airport having circumnavigated the globe was really quite mind-blowing. I've also flown the Twin Star real World as well. She feels pretty much how she feels in the sim but man, does she yaw on take off unless the winds are dead ahead (those glider wings again!)

Whenever I get a bit bored with simming, or I've had enough of catting and trapping F-16's, VTOLS with the Harrier or just flicking A/P switches in the 777/ 737 NGX for my VA, etc, I know it's high time to get the Twin Star out of the hangar and start her up/ fly some ILS approaches at night and in rain and low vis/ Take her her up to FL120 and throw her around like the "Glider with twin engines" that she is, or just fly her by the numbers for a circuit - or seven!

 

Amazingly, given my hangar, she's still in my top ten best ever.

 

Clear skies,

 

Jim

 

[John_Cillis 2,406]

I was intrigued by the TwinStar when Diamond first announced it.  I believe they did a transatlantic crossing with it. To use diesel engines on an aircraft was a unique idea.  The fuel economy is what's important vs. the speed it can attain.   Of course the sim doesn't have a diesel model, but the performance and fuel burn can be modeled.  Funny, if you haven't had posted about the Twinstar I would not have discovered that I could recover my other Carenado/Alabeo purchases.  I never paid attention to the product screen, LOL!  Now my P3d is enriched with a lot of aircraft, my last flight was the Cessna Conquest over California.  It took me four weeks to recover from my system crash, but I am happy with the outcome--a newer, more able computer, and more photoreal scenery to enjoy.

John

[flyblueskies 143]

On ‎9‎/‎16‎/‎2017 at 8:35 AM, ganter said:

Ever since flying the DA-42 I felt it was underpowered. Indeed, Alabeo modelled the engines on the Thielert 1.7 Litre units at the start of the DA-42's production run in 2004.

Real world it didn't take long for feedback to get to Diamond that the engines were word not allowed poor. Then Thielert went out of business and Diamond tried Lycoming for a bit before finally settling on Austro Turbo 300's which the current DA-42 IV are equipped with. Much faster and leaner burning and make this bird a joy to fly.

I tweaked the aircraft.cfg as I flew around the World. It essentially "upgrades" the engines from the Alabeo modelled Thielert 1.7 Litre (under-powered) to the current Austro Turbo 300. It ups the power quite a lot - you can achieve level flight a few knots down from Vne. I tweaked the cruise scalars and thrust and drag to represent the aerodynamic cleanup of cowlings and flush rivet heads that Diamond did for the IV together with the new propeller design done in 2012.

Bear in mind that with just you in the cockpit (solo) you won't need full power on TO - as in real Twin Star IV. You and three passengers and a load of luggage - full power.

Power should be applied on gaining altitude to give you realisitic KIAS's/ fuel consumption at cruise heights with power set between 70 - 84 %. Read the notes for the real thing.

 

PM me for a link to the Drop Box file.

 

Obviously don't forget to backup your original aircraft.cfg (rename it something like aircraftBACKUP.cfg and substitute this one.)

And the usual: Use at your own risk. Although it works well for me on my own system I take no responsibility for your use of this file, any damage caused or financial loss.

Enjoy,

Ganter

Hi Ganter,

 

Just dropped you a PM for the mod.

Thanks!

JeffB

 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, JeffB said:

Hi Ganter,

 

Just dropped you a PM for the mod.

Thanks!

JeffB

 

Jeff,

PM sent. 

All the best,

Jim

 

[ms2 184]

Hello JiM

I read with interest this topic.

A friend who fly the Da42 in the real life speak to me of the diesel version, he is unhappy of motorisation choice of Alabeo.

Your job make on this aircraft.cfg is interesting, shall be kindly to send me this file, I dropped a PM for the mod... ;-)

best regards and good we.

Marc

 

[Guest]

10 hours ago, ms2 said:

Hello JiM

I read with interest this topic.

A friend who fly the Da42 in the real life speak to me of the diesel version, he is unhappy of motorisation choice of Alabeo.

Your job make on this aircraft.cfg is interesting, shall be kindly to send me this file, I dropped a PM for the mod... ;-)

best regards and good we.

Marc

 

Hi Marc,

PM sent.

Let us know how you get on.

Jim

[Flyfox 114]

Hi Jim

Thanks for the mod! It works fine and makes the DA42 an even more interesting choice with up-to-date engine power and performance.

Best regards

[Guest]

13 hours ago, Flyfox said:

Hi Jim

Thanks for the mod! It works fine and makes the DA42 an even more interesting choice with up-to-date engine power and performance.

Best regards

Thanks Felix,

Glad it's working to your requirements.

Clear Skies!

Jim

[ErnstB 13]

Hi Jim,

I installed your mod and really like it very much!

Still I have a problem though:
When increasing power towards max, from  a certain point well before maximum the left engine is starting to inrease rpms much more than the right one. Fuel flow remains identical on both engines.
Moving the throttle for the right engine to rpm level of the left one will increase fuel flow for the right engine to much higher level than on the left one.

This imbalance shows also with the original aircraft.cfg.
No such effect with any other aircrafts.
I am using Saitek throttles (1 single lever for both engines) and FSUIPC to calibrate, which shows no imbalance.

Any idea about that effect?

Thank you again for your great mod and best regards

Ernst

[FDEdev 955]

1 hour ago, ErnstB said:

This imbalance shows also with the original aircraft.cfg.

Can you point me to the part of the original cfg file where this imbalance is, as I can't find it?