Ground steering for a taildragger

[Guest Stan V]

I recently installed a couple of Gloster Gladiator models by Manuele Villa that look great and fly well but I am having problems with ground handling. Although the rudder visually deflects just fine, I get no steering control out of my rudder while taxiing. Can anyone suggest an aircraft.cfg parameter tweak that might improve the situation?Stan V.

[greeneg 0]

Try using differential braking to steer F11=Left BrakeF12=Right BrakeI have joystick buttons programmed for them and have the repeat function configured so the brake is applied as long as the button is depressed.Ed GreenKCLThttp://www.panelshop.com/Banners/DEV.jpg

---

http://www.oncourse-software.co.uk/forum_images/fdc_beta.jpg

[Guest nigelb]

If I had brake pedels I would use those, but lacking same, here is an alternative. You can change the configuration of the tail wheel in the aircaft.cfg file, although I suppose this is a bit of a cheet. Go to the contact_points section and look for any point that has a "1" in the initial value, then look for the 8th parameter and the value of "180.0"point.X=1, -56.00, 0.0, -2.3, 1200.0, 0, 0.60, 180.0, 0.200, 2.5, 0.695, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0note: X can be any number.Change it as follows:point.x=1, -56.00, 0.0, -2.3, 1200.0, 0, 0.60, 30.0, 0.200, 2.5, 0.695, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0The "180.0" which is the 8th parameter has been changes to 30.0. This example is from the default DC-3. 30.0 is the new steering angle for the tail wheel, but you could try other angles such as 45 or 20.Backup your aircraft.cfg before doing this in case..... well, you know!

[AlaskanFlyboy 7]

The issue is that some aicraft had a casting tail wheel, thus the rudder does nothing to turn it in taxi as there is not enough wind flow over the tail to do anything. Thus you have to use differencial braking, either the F11/F12 keys as mentioned, or assign two joystick buttons to them, or have rudder pedals with toe brakes. There is a setting to set it to a steerable tail wheel though. I don't remember what it is.----------------------------------------------------------------John MorganReal World: KGEG, UND Aerospace Spokane Satillite, Private ASEL 141.2 hrs, 314 landings, 46 inst. apprs.Virtual: MSFS 2004"There is a feeling about an airport that no other piece of ground can have. No matter what the name of the country on whose land it lies, an airport is a place you can see and touch that leads to a reality that can only be thought and felt." - The Bridge Across Forever: A Love Story by Richard Bach

[Guest nigelb]

>There is a setting to set it to>a steerable tail wheel though. I don't remember what it is.>>----------------------------------------------------------------See prior post

[Guest Stan V]

Thanks for all the answers, guys. I wasn't very clear in my original post - I actually was using rudder pedals with differential braking and still could not effect a turn. However, based on your suggestion, I then went to the aircraft.cfg file and noticed that the eighth parameter on every contact point line that started with a one had a zero value. (it wasn't a free castoring tailwheel as one person suggested - it was just a tailwheel movement limiting value that didn't let the tailwheel move at all) I arbitrarily changed these values to 20 and everything now seems to work as logically they should. Thanks again.Stan V.