Modding Piper J3 for FS2002

[Guest]

In Fs2000, I enjoyed mucking aorund with the following package:piprj3mm.zipFS2000 Piper J-3 Cub Maximum Complexity visual model. Designer : Manuel Medel; Flight Dynamics : Steve Small; Panel : Yannick Lavigne; Sounds : Aaron Swindle.Supported by FlightSim DevelopersFor a FS2000 aeroplane, it was way ahead of it's time and beats quite a few newer FS2002 a/c too :)Since then, I have accumulated around 8 hours actual real flying in a Super Cub and there's one thing that really annoys me. When taxying on the spot in real-life, you deflect the rudder in one snese and give short blips of power. The Cub then turns on a sixpence.Not so with this package. More like a turning circle of an oil tanker! There seems to be some kind of tailwheel lock (undocumented) that kicks in above a certain speed.Question: is it possible to fix the model myself? (ignore the legal argument for a sec). If so, how? I'm now using FS2002 BTW (with edited aircraft.cfg for model/type entries).If not, I guess I may have to buy the Super Cub 180 at FSD? http://www.fsd-international.com/ :(CheersNeil

[Guest jlwoodward]

The lines below are for the wheel contact points from the aircraft cfg file, which I believe, but am not positive, came with the original FSD download. The number 40.740 is probably the steer angle of the tail wheel. The latest download which has been upgraded to FS2002 has a value of 30. I tried the upgrade and to me it did not work as well as the FS2000 version, so I kept the old one.point.0=1.000, -14.917, 0.000, -0.917, 1573.938, 0.000, 0.507, 40.740, 0.071, 2.500, 1.796, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000point.1=1.000, 1.500, -3.583, -4.750, 1573.938, 1.000, 0.507, 0.000, 0.235, 2.500, 0.975, 0.000, 0.000, 2.000, 0.000, 0.000point.2=1.000, 1.500, 3.583, -4.750, 1573.938, 2.000, 0.507, 0.000, 0.235, 2.500, 0.975, 0.000, 0.000, 3.000, 0.000, 0.000Anyway, you would want to modify the steer angle. It is also possible that the tail is coming up as you increase speed, so then you just have rudder control. I haven't flown this plane in quite a while, so I may not know what I am talking about.John Woodward

[Guest Joe]

Neil,I enjoy the yellow bird myself. I gave my best effort to modify the contact points so it would turn better. It does...except on rough ground. They could stand more work!I have organized the contact points so they are a little easier to deal with. So, have at it! These should give you a good starting point if you want to make further changes.Right click on the link and "Save Target As".Modified J3 Contact Points]EDIT:[/b If you want to learn more about contact points, go to the following link and download the "Aircraft Container SDK"http://zone.msn.com/flightsim/FS02DevDeskSDK00.asphttp://myweb.cableone.net/joesumralliii/hook5.gif

[Guest]

i tried it but it did not workhelpleon schuiling

[Guest Douglas K]

The FSD J-3 and Super Cub 180 are two of my all time favorite FS aircraft. The visual models are superb, and the Super Cub 180 still looks great even among todays "Super" GMAX models. And I've had these aircraft since FS2000!. The Super Cub was my first payware purchase and I suppose I have a soft spot for both of them and for all "real" Piper Cubs as my first flight was in a Super Cub and first solo was in a J-3. They do need a little help with the taxi dynamics/turn radius though.This is what I did to fix the FSD J-3 ground handling:You will need an airfile editor called AirEd 1.52. Open the J-3 airfile and scroll down to Rec 1101 Primary Aerodynamics. Expand this record by clicking on the + sign, and then scroll down to the entry *Yaw Moment-Prop Effect on Rudder. Click on the value 0.025 shown there and in the box that opens change the 0.025 to 0.065. Hit the enter key to enter the new value and then save the changes you've made.When you try the J-3 again it will behave a little more like a real Cub, pivoting right around with full rudder deflection and a blast from the prop, at least it does for me! You can play with this airfile entry and increase/decrease the value there to attain the results you want. It is possible, depending on the throttle setting, to make small FS propellor driven aircraft spin like a top and bury a wingtip by increasing this airfile entry, with that in mind I stopped at 0.065. I also increased the steering angle (entry #7 under the gear section) in the aircraft CFG file to 50 degrees as values here of up to 60 degrees or so seem to help as well.As far as purchasing the FSD Super Cub 180 in hope of better ground handling, it is actually worse than the J-3!While the same fix mentioned above can be applied to the Super Cub airfile you will have to first replace the file with another suitable airfile as the one that comes with the Super Cub is protected against the necessary changes. If you don't want to do this, here is another, less effective way to improve things:In the Aircraft CFG under "Gear" change the contact point.0 items #1, #3 and #7 to the following:// Gear point.0=1.0, -15.0, 0.0, -2.35, 1300.0, 0, 0.5, 45.0, 0.1, 2.5, 0.7, 0.0, 0.0, 0After this change the tailwheel contact point will be a little higher and further aft and the aircrafts radius of turn will be a lot better, but still not as good as with the airfile fix.Regarding the increased height of the tailwheel contact point, it is hardly noticeable unless you look really close or watch the aircraft from spot plane view when it loads into FS2002. However, it seems to be necessary for an improved turning radius because if you set the correct height the aircraft reverts to its earlier reluctant to turn behavior.You will want to disable the scrape point.5 to avoid the occasional shower of sparks from the tailwheel area. Under Scrapes you can simply comment out point.5 with double forward slashes as below:// Scrapespoint.3=2.0, 12.2, -13.3, -6.40, 1500.0, 0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 5point.4=2.0, 12.2, 13.3, -6.40, 1500.0, 0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 6//point.5=2.0, -20.8, 0.0, -1.30, 1500.0, 0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 9 <----------point.6=2.0, 5.6, 0.0, -2.40, 1500.0, 0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 4If you are really ambitious you can adjust the scrape point for the proper contact, but I would rather be flying this beautiful little aircraft instead of tweaking it.These tweaks worked just fine for me, I hope your experience is the same!

[Fragmentum 1]

Doug,I know the post is a bit dated on this issue, and I also love both the FSD J-3 and the Super Cub 180.I recently reloaded the older FS2000 J-3 and flew it after installing Dennis Seeley's updated .cfg and .air files for FS2002 and the plane hardly gets off the ground! I recall flying it before in FS2002 and would only attain minimal flight speed, around 40mph max! I know it should cruise at least 60-75mph as it's maximum speed with a little 65 hp Continental engine up front.Any way of modifying the file for a bit better performance?Thanks,Don>The FSD J-3 and Super Cub 180 are two of my all time favorite>FS aircraft. The visual models are superb, and the Super Cub>180 still looks great even among todays "Super" GMAX models.>And I've had these aircraft since FS2000!. The Super Cub was>my first payware purchase and I suppose I have a soft spot for>both of them and for all "real" Piper Cubs as my first flight>was in a Super Cub and first solo was in a J-3. They do need a>little help with the taxi dynamics/turn radius though.>This is what I did to fix the FSD J-3 ground handling:>You will need an airfile editor called AirEd 1.52. Open the>J-3 airfile and scroll down to Rec 1101 Primary Aerodynamics.>Expand this record by clicking on the + sign, and then scroll>down to the entry *Yaw Moment-Prop Effect on Rudder. Click on>the value 0.025 shown there and in the box that opens change>the 0.025 to 0.065. Hit the enter key to enter the new value>and then save the changes you've made.>When you try the J-3 again it will behave a little more like a>real Cub, pivoting right around with full rudder deflection>and a blast from the prop, at least it does for me! You can>play with this airfile entry and increase/decrease the value>there to attain the results you want. It is possible,>depending on the throttle setting, to make small FS propellor>driven aircraft spin like a top and bury a wingtip by>increasing this airfile entry, with that in mind I stopped at>0.065. >I also increased the steering angle (entry #7 under the gear>section) in the aircraft CFG file to 50 degrees as values here>of up to 60 degrees or so seem to help as well.>>As far as purchasing the FSD Super Cub 180 in hope of better>ground handling, it is actually worse than the J-3!>While the same fix mentioned above can be applied to the Super>Cub airfile you will have to first replace the file with>another suitable airfile as the one that comes with the Super>Cub is protected against the necessary changes. If you don't>want to do this, here is another, less effective way to>improve things:>>In the Aircraft CFG under "Gear" change the contact point.0 >items #1, #3 and #7 to the following:>>// Gear >point.0=1.0, -15.0, 0.0, -2.35, 1300.0, 0, 0.5, 45.0, 0.1,>2.5, 0.7, 0.0, 0.0, 0>>>After this change the tailwheel contact point will be a little>higher and further aft and the aircrafts radius of turn will>be a lot better, but still not as good as with the airfile>fix.>Regarding the increased height of the tailwheel contact point,>it is hardly noticeable unless you look really close or watch>the aircraft from spot plane view when it loads into FS2002.>However, it seems to be necessary for an improved turning>radius because if you set the correct height the aircraft>reverts to its earlier reluctant to turn behavior.>You will want to disable the scrape point.5 to avoid the>occasional shower of sparks from the tailwheel area. Under>Scrapes you can simply comment out point.5 with double forward>slashes as below:>>// Scrapes>point.3=2.0, 12.2, -13.3, -6.40, 1500.0, 0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0,>0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 5>point.4=2.0, 12.2, 13.3, -6.40, 1500.0, 0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0,>0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 6>//point.5=2.0, -20.8, 0.0, -1.30, 1500.0, 0, 0.0, 0.0,>0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 9 <---------->point.6=2.0, 5.6, 0.0, -2.40, 1500.0, 0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0,>0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 4>>If you are really ambitious you can adjust the scrape point>for the proper contact, but I would rather be flying this>beautiful little aircraft instead of tweaking it.>These tweaks worked just fine for me, I hope your experience>is the same!>>>>

[Guest Douglas K]

Don, I haven't tried those updated cfg and .air files, but if you want to zip them up and e-mail them to me I will have a go at making your J-3 putt along a little faster. It's hard to say what the problem might be without looking at them first.I can say that the FS2000 FSD J-3 Cub I have will top out at over 85 mph, and I'm using it in FS2002.