Aeronca Champ Poll

I learned to fly in a 65 hp Champ in 1962 at the RCAF Rockcliffe Flying Club. I would be a customer for a MSFS Champ at whatever the going rate turned out to be

Champ flyers unite! The Champ is being worked on as we speak by @LagaffeVFR5476 . Perhaps he will post a status report here as it progresses. His time on this project is limited.

Hello,

This is moving slowly: the 3D external model is 80% ready (there will be details to add later) but it remains to find the right values of the center of gravity and contact points.
The aircraft is loading well in MSFS but due to the misplaced centre of gravity, the aircraft is tilting forward.

I would try to keep interested people informed of the progress.

1 Like

Thank you!

Some screens to illustrate the contact points computing to tune the CFG file:

and the first take-off.

7 Likes

The work is progressing well.
What a working afternoon with Blender can do for the inside and outside of the plane is:

  • the vc was pierced and gauges of my old planes were added
  • almost all the elements constantly in front of the user’s eyes were much more detailed and enriched with polygons
  • in most cases, the existing animations have been retained, it will be necessary to simply revise the XML code as some animations were coded in reverse of what is done under MSFS.

In fact the aircraft is ready to work … once all various elements have been separated from each other which actually requires the biggest modification work.

Now that graphics are better, we can make another compilation and see the result under MSFS …

5 Likes

Some news about this aircraft:
After a few days to break his head to get it off, it did not work at all:

  • it started well in line but as soon as he had a little speed “the tail of the fuselage passed ahead” and he started kinds of toupies,
  • moreover, the plane’s centring was incomprehensible: always outside limits.

I reviewed a lot of parameters until the moment when I questioned the geometry of the aircraft as proposed by MSFSLegacyImporter.
To be sure, I used in the DEV Mod the function Aircrat - Sim Forces to visualize these dithefts.
In fact the lift forces that normally are under the wings were between the wings and the drift … something was wrong!

Thorough proofreading of the SDK after checking the geometry parameters that seemed correct, I noticed that the value of aero_center_lift was too far back.
After a quick comparison with the first Cessna 152, I moved this value so that it is located in the middle of the “string” of the wing. By tapping a little, here is the result:

With these new parameters:

  • the aircraft’s balance is correct and continues from one session to another
  • the take-off is done well in line without “style figures”
  • the flight is perfect with a little trim

Now, I will works on interior details and gauges animations.

9 Likes

I have sent you a message about the status of the Aeronca Champ project just to bring you up to date. We aren’t ready for beta testing yet, but are still planning on your help. I hope you are still willing.

Sounds good. Due to my travel schedule, I haven’t been online recently but I am still ready to help out when needed. It looks you all are making good progress. I haven’t created an aircraft yet but am also an experienced software developer (previous career before flying professionally) so with a little technical coaching I could also help out on that end if needed.

@LagaffeVFR5476 is now about 50% done. He has a break before working on a Brunner Winkle Bird with GAS. He is making good progress every day. He even put my wife in the back seat so I can relive our dating years! He leaves surface textures until last. Right now everything is “clean” but I’m hoping he will “age” the plane some (at least in one of the liveries). He is doing a great job on animations – the cowl opens for preflight oil check. The cockpit controls all work with a mouse. He is using the 2024 SDK (which has some issues). Flight characteristics are good with a few minor issues to be addressed. Cockpit instrument gauges are in sync with MSFS HUD. We are relying on your help to fine tune the flight characteristics – you are our test pilot! The fact that you have software experience can only help. I was a lifelong mainframe systems programmer and PC programmer, but have little experience with graphics/gaming software. I can change a control file when told to.

There is more info in the forum message I sent you. Please see my email request there.

Thanks again for your involvement! :slightly_smiling_face:

Hello,

The plane is progressing well and in 3 weeks I managed to make it progress at a good level.
When carrying a native plane, I always work in several stages:
1 - use of MSFSLegacyImporter to draft the project and first version of CFG file,
2 - Blender source switching and tree cleaning to get a structure that is my own with explicit names
3 - use of basic textures to help the modeling phases
4 - compilation to get a basic version that loads into the simulator
5 - changes to CFG files with manuals available to me to have a 3D model that fits on its wheels with a satisfactory flight model
6 - addition of gauges and main elements in the cockpit to be able to refine the following tests
7 - from there, I start adding all the animations that I have in mind for the model
8 - once it is at the point I complete the graphic details to have a model as similar as possible
9 - the PBR texture creation phase follows
10 - It is only at this stage that we can look carefully at the flight model so as to have an aircraft that behaves as best as possible.

Currently, I am between 6 and 7 step. Step 10 takes a long time to come up with something satisfying.
I was able to make the most of almost 1 month when my workload for GAS dropped a bit, as we were waiting for the release of the 2024 SDK and the Dev Alpha. Now that we have these two pieces of software, we need to be able to study them to see what we can and cannot do in the future.
Therefore, I will work a little less on the Aeronca but it will still advance when I have some free time.
At the beginning of the year, I promised to Roy to realize it: he already has a model that works at 75% on MSFS 2020 and that lets me see very good possibilities on the future simulator.
During my professional life, I was dealing with military projects that could last over 10 years, the PBY-5 was started in 2013 and I’m still continuing to run it on MSFS 2024 so a little patience, it’s progressing :ok_hand:

If I have some time I will try to make a little teaser on Youtube with the current version. :wink:

PS: As I said before, the MSFS HUD and the cockpit gauges are NOT managed in the same way:

  • the instruments on the MSFS HUD are managed by a cockpit.CFG file without any variables A: and L: there are only fixed numerical values
  • the instruments 3D in the cockpit are managed by the XML files in the model directory, and only via the XML code and variables A: and L:; In these conditions, these instruments are the most reliable and realistic.

Therefore, if the cockpit.CFG file is not updated as work on the 3D model progresses, there are sometimes discrepancies between the data collected. This is a very brief indication: the reference’ are the data indicated by the 3D instruments in the cockpit.
For me, sorry to say that but MSFS HUD are for players and 3D gauges for simmers. :innocent:

4 Likes

I’d kiss the feet of anyone who brings a really good PBY to FS2024. Looking forward to the Champ as well. Thanks for your hard work.

1 Like

Some news of this project: Last week I worked on the gauges and the interior, the door can hear with the handle and even the lock is animated :ok_hand:

The pre-flight is at 75%, you can pull-through the propeller, open the engine cover, tests the surface controls and reluel. Oil filling is also planned :sunglasses:

4 Likes

This is a very interesting project. I’ve been training in a Champ since about May/June for my sport pilot license so I’m looking forward to see how this turns out.