Lear35A Extended Range Tip Tank Mod

[ark 1,288]

Back around 1998 a company called AVCON ( https://www.avconindustries.com/performance/ ) came out with a mod for the Lear35A that included extended range tip tanks as described in this article from the May 1998 Flying Magazine.

 

So having some time on my hands I decided to try and add the extended range tip tanks to the FSW Lear35A. This involved minor mods to the aircraft.cfg and Learjet_35A.cab files, and a modified Payload Manager. The modified Payload Manager looks like this:

 

 

You will note that just below the Light, Medium and Heavy fuel selection tabs there is a new entry called Extended Range Tip Tanks. In the first picture the associated tab says NO with a white background, which means the a/c has the regular tip tanks installed and so the white Max Fuel and Max Weight figures (6279 and 18,000) apply. In the second picture the tip tank tab says YES with a green background which means the extended tip tanks are installed and so the green Max Fuel and Max Weight figures (7030 and 19,600) apply. The regular tip tanks can hold up to 1215 lbs of fuel each, and the extended range tip tanks up to 1590 lbs of fuel each. The individual tank fuel quantities can be adjusted as usual by clicking on the + and - signs.

If you want to experiment with this, the three modified files can be downloaded in a zip file from my DropBox at

https://www.dropbox.com/s/uuj0zzl0g6ezhb3/AVCON%20L35%20TipTankMod.zip?dl=0

Backup the original existing files by renaming them, e.g., aircraft_Orig.cfg, PAYLOAD_MANAGER_Orig.cab, and Learjet_35A_Orig.cab. The aircraft.cfg file goes in the main Lear35A folder, and the PAYLOAD_MANAGER and Learjet_35A cab files go in the Lear's Panel folder. Restart the sim after making these changes.

These three files are the only changes I've made. I know less than nothing as far as modeling is concerned, and there has been no changes made to the external model. So nothing has changed from an appearance point of view. I've heard it mentioned that the extended range tip tanks may be approximately 3 ft longer than the regular ones, but I've not come across any definitive details. If you find something on this I'm sure we all would like to know.

Of course, I did have my A&P guy beef up the landing gear and make the other necessary structural changes required by this mod.  😉

Finally, please understand I'm not a Flysimware employee, and this is not an officially sanctioned Flysimware mod. Any experimentation is at your own risk.

Al

 

 

 

Edited June 9, 2020 by ark

[znatusch 3]

Very cool. An extra 250-300nm of range will be handy. I'll have to try this!

[rightseat 277]

That's pretty ambitious, for you and AVCON. Great work.

Can't say I'd want to be in the air any longer than the original fuel tanks' range. There's no can on this bird! 🙂

I wonder if there's even a relief tube. Maybe our resident corporate pilot can let us know. 

 

[ark 1,288]

15 hours ago, rightseat said:

That's pretty ambitious, for you and AVCON. Great work.

Can't say I'd want to be in the air any longer than the original fuel tanks' range. There's no can on this bird! 🙂

I wonder if there's even a relief tube. Maybe our resident corporate pilot can let us know. 

 

Yes, there is a 'potty' with a curtain for privacy that the first officer gets to empty upon landing!  I think that's the main motivation to upgrade to captain! 😉

Al

Edited June 20, 2020 by ark

[rightseat 277]

HA! So, it's a bit like camping with the family, only you clean other people's pots. Yikes

[Boeing or not going 578]

On 6/8/2020 at 10:42 PM, ark said:

Back around 1998 a company called AVCON ( https://www.avconindustries.com/performance/ ) came out with a mod for the Lear35A that included extended range tip tanks as described in this article from the May 1998 Flying Magazine.

 

So having some time on my hands I decided to try and add the extended range tip tanks to the FSW Lear35A. This involved minor mods to the aircraft.cfg and Learjet_35A.cab files, and a modified Payload Manager. The modified Payload Manager looks like this:

 

 

You will note that just below the Light, Medium and Heavy fuel selection tabs there is a new entry called Extended Range Tip Tanks. In the first picture the associated tab says NO with a white background, which means the a/c has the regular tip tanks installed and so the white Max Fuel and Max Weight figures (6279 and 18,000) apply. In the second picture the tip tank tab says YES with a green background which means the extended tip tanks are installed and so the green Max Fuel and Max Weight figures (7030 and 19,600) apply. The regular tip tanks can hold up to 1215 lbs of fuel each, and the extended range tip tanks up to 1590 lbs of fuel each. The individual tank fuel quantities can be adjusted as usual by clicking on the + and - signs.

If you want to experiment with this, the three modified files can be downloaded in a zip file from my DropBox at

https://www.dropbox.com/s/uuj0zzl0g6ezhb3/AVCON%20L35%20TipTankMod.zip?dl=0

Backup the original existing files by renaming them, e.g., aircraft_Orig.cfg, PAYLOAD_MANAGER_Orig.cab, and Learjet_35A_Orig.cab. The aircraft.cfg file goes in the main Lear35A folder, and the PAYLOAD_MANAGER and Learjet_35A cab files go in the Lear's Panel folder. Restart the sim after making these changes.

These three files are the only changes I've made. I know less than nothing as far as modeling is concerned, and there has been no changes made to the external model. So nothing has changed from an appearance point of view. I've heard it mentioned that the extended range tip tanks may be approximately 3 ft longer than the regular ones, but I've not come across any definitive details. If you find something on this I'm sure we all would like to know.

Of course, I did have my A&P guy beef up the landing gear and make the other necessary structural changes required by this mod.  😉

Finally, please understand I'm not a Flysimware employee, and this is not an officially sanctioned Flysimware mod. Any experimentation is at your own risk.

Al

 

 

 

Works great! A little quirk I noticed now the count up meter you press the black circle on the center pedestal has stopped counting I cant get it to start.

[ark 1,288]

9 hours ago, Boeing or not going said:

Works great! A little quirk I noticed now the count up meter you press the black circle on the center pedestal has stopped counting I cant get it to start.

I don't know what "black circle on the center pedestal" you are referring too. Are you talking about the center pedestal  between the seats, or what exactly? Where is the count up meter and what does it count?

Al

Edited June 28, 2020 by ark

[Boeing or not going 578]

15 hours ago, ark said:

I don't know what "black circle on the center pedestal" you are referring too. Are you talking about the center pedestal  between the seats, or what exactly? Where is the count up meter and what does it count?

Al

The counter, press the black dial and it counts up from 0000. Not always counting up right with the tip tank mod

[ark 1,288]

9 hours ago, Boeing or not going said:

The counter, press the black dial and it counts up from 0000. Not always counting up right with the tip tank mod

Ah, thanks -- I had the parking brake on so didn't see the counter.  I have not been able to reproduce the counter start problem you described. It has started counting every time I clicked on it.

Al

 

[ark 1,288]

When checking out the fuel used counter issue addressed above, I did notice there was some 'jitter' on the Total Fuel and Total Weight counters on the 2D Payload Manager popup. This apparently was caused by some timing issues. To fix this I have updated the Payload Manger and Lear35A cab files. The updated files are available at the original Dropbox link

https://www.dropbox.com/s/uuj0zzl0g6ezhb3/AVCON%20L35%20TipTankMod.zip?dl=0

This is basically just a cosmetic fix.

Al

Edited June 29, 2020 by ark

[bpcw001 22]

Some things finally come true. Amazing! Thanks for that mod!

[Boeing or not going 578]

On 6/29/2020 at 2:29 PM, ark said:

When checking out the fuel used counter issue addressed above, I did notice there was some 'jitter' on the Total Fuel and Total Weight counters on the 2D Payload Manager popup. This apparently was caused by some timing issues. To fix this I have updated the Payload Manger and Lear35A cab files. The updated files are available at the original Dropbox link

https://www.dropbox.com/s/uuj0zzl0g6ezhb3/AVCON%20L35%20TipTankMod.zip?dl=0

This is basically just a cosmetic fix.

Al

Thanks that works! Back to the panel lights I am climbing in vertical speed and want to switch to speed hold, i press SPD nothing lights up. I am at a high altitude it should light up as M for mach hold but is not doing that! Should I post in the panel lights topic sorry for getting off this topic! edit: the altitude hold is not lighting up in the AP panel. Neither is Altitude Capture. Before this new Fuel patch yesterday on my flight it was all okay.

Edited July 1, 2020 by Boeing or not going

[ark 1,288]

57 minutes ago, Boeing or not going said:

Thanks that works! Back to the panel lights I am climbing in vertical speed and want to switch to speed hold, i press SPD nothing lights up. I am at a high altitude it should light up as M for mach hold but is not doing that! Should I post in the panel lights topic sorry for getting off this topic! edit: the altitude hold is not lighting up in the AP panel. Neither is Altitude Capture. Before this new Fuel patch yesterday on my flight it was all okay.

 I know you have had problem with the AP lights in the past. Did you back up the Lear35A.cab file before updating the tip tank mod? If so you could try going back to the previous Lear35A.cab file to see if that makes a difference. However, the tip tank mod for the Lear35A.cab file only adds some code to the Fuel.xml file inside the standard Lear35A.cab file -- has nothing to do with the AP code in the cab file.

Do you start out with the F-35 and then switch to the Lear?

Al

Edited July 1, 2020 by ark

[Boeing or not going 578]

13 minutes ago, ark said:

 I know you have had problem with the AP lights in the past. Did you back up the Lear35A.cab file before updating the tip tank mod? If so you could try going back to the previous Lear35A.cab file to see if that makes a difference. However, the tip tank mod for the Lear35A.cab file only adds some code to the Fuel.xml file inside the standard Lear35A.cab file -- has nothing to do with the AP code in the cab file.

Do you start out with the F-35 and then switch to the Lear?

Al

Yes loaded into the default then on the ramp changed to the Lear. First time having the light issue in a long time.

[ark 1,288]

28 minutes ago, Boeing or not going said:

Yes loaded into the default then on the ramp changed to the Lear. First time having the light issue in a long time.

I don't see why the tip tank mod would impact the AP. The tip tank mod has nothing to do with the AP, and the latest changes to the tip tank mod are very minor. I assume you are using the latest ver of the Lear -- 4.3c. You could rename your current tip tank modded aircraft.cfg, Payload_Manager.cab and Lear35A.cab files (add _mod to each e.g., aircraft_mod.cfg) to back them up and then reinstall the Lear v4.3c to see if that makes a difference for some reason. Then to go back to the tip tank mod just return the three _mod files back to their original names. Before doing that rename the three original 4.3c installed files by adding _orig to their names. You can then switch back and forth without reinstalling the Lear as long as you save 'extra' copies of all six files with the modified names.

What are you computer system specs -- CPU, GPU, and RAM?

Al

Edited July 1, 2020 by ark