Denarq Twin Beech - Beech 18 improvements mod

This is a mod to enhance the Local Legend V: Beechcraft Model 18.

Very important:
This mod has some advanced systems like oil system and others that require very precise knowledge. You have to read the manual in order to flight with this mod. Give special attention to oil system and startup procedures.

Denarq enhancement Beech D18S

Log V1.4

New features:
-Introduction of “Aircraft identity”:
Planes of the same model are generally manufactured to meet certain specifications and standards, so they should behave very similarly. However, there can be some variation due to factors like manufacturing tolerances, materials, and individual components that can contribute to little differences in behavior. So, while they’re designed to be consistent, you might still find some subtle variations between planes of the same model making each plane to have its own identity.
With v1.4, this “Aircraft identity” will focus mainly on engine performance and fuel quantity indicator error.

In reality, there are no two identical engines, especially when we talk about these older engines. Each engine has its own personality with slight variations in power, temperatures, etc.
Now, every time we perform a “reset” on the engine, a random value is generated that will influence many engine parameters, including power, temperatures, oil consumption, etc. This value will stay with the engine throughout its life until a new engine reset is performed and it will stay constant. The introduced variation can range from 0% to a maximum of 2%, so although the differences between engines will be marginal each one will behave slightly different from each other.
All the remaining variables that already existed will continue to coexist with this new engine variation concept.
-Fuel quantity needle. Every real pilot knows that fuel endicator needles give us good estimations, but aren´t to be totally thrusted. They all have small errors. In Denarq mod, on your first flight, a deviation error is created for each fuel tank measure instrument. This error will stay the same during all aircraft life until state settings file is deleted. Than a new deviation error will be generated.
This error is small but sufficient to give us slightly inaccurate indications of the fuel quantity, either more or less.

-Fuel pressures drops gradually when active fuel tanks are near empty. This will trigger fuel pressure warning lights around 1 minute prior to minimum usage fuel for that tank. This is your best and thrusted method on knowing when to change fuel tanks (see item above).
-Nose high attitude may cause fuel feeding problems to engines if near empty rear tanks are in use. It also cause wrong fuel quantity indication for rear tanks.

-Completely new scratch made propeller feather and propeller feather buttons behaviour according to real Beech POH. (See manual)

-Engine prime now requires aux fuel pumps to be ON. Engine prime knob will move nonetheless but it will not prime without fuel pumps.

-Fuel selector and crossfeed valve knob are now persistent beetween flights.

-Update Denarq Mod manual.

Improvements:
-Improved ground handling with free castering tail wheel.
-Improvement of fuel flow/mixture using new options added in SU13. This should fix Msfs core limitations on fuel consumption.
-Fuel tank quantity needle animation adjusted.
-Adjusted RPM/manifold pressure ratio calculation on detonation to allow a wider range os settings covered in real POH.

Fixes:
-when engine was outputing less than 117HP, oil consumption was negative. FIXED.
-Fuel detonation wasn’t affecting engine power when engine wear is above 95%. FIXED.
-In some very rare ocasions, during startup, aircraft starts to spin in the air. This is due a MSFS glich during flight loading where some hardcoded variables can reach super values for a fraction of time. POSSIBLE FIXED.
-Batteries persistent voltage levels not saving. FIXED.
-AP not following HSI heading but real heading. FIXED

Credits:
-Mod creator: Alexandre Baptista
-Original sound packs:
"Single Engine Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior Radial Engine " by Skyhigh Audio Simulations.
“FSX Pratt & Whitney Wasp Junior R-985 Radial dual engine sound set” created by ElmoSlack
(According to these sound packs creators, these sounds are freeware and must remain so.)
-Help on compass light: katIX3647 from https://forums.flightsimulator.com
-Help on many many subjects regarding real life aviation: Donovan, aka donovankoch from Flightsim.to

-Beta testing and feedback:
Isidro Magalhães
Pedro Costa
Pedro Trindade
Donovan, aka donovankoch from Flightsim.to
Alexandre Baptista
Martin “CommanderTin” from https://forums.flightsimulator.com/
Jason “CFJDH” from Flightsim.to


The objective of this mod is to provide a more realistic experience of this fantastic aircraft.

The main aspects that are already implemented in this mod are:

*New oil system with persistent oil quantity, oil tanks, oil leaks, oil consumption and new oil instruments.

*New modern propeller model.

*New advanced [FUEL SYSTEM] with increased functionality like cross-feed valve.

  • Persistent engine wear afecting engine performance and fuel and oil consumption with the ability to view and reset it in the cockpit.

  • New flight model with both air and ground handling.

  • Aircraft performance tuned to much more realistic numbers

  • Underthehood engine code with damage and wear associated.

  • New systems modeled like oil shutters, oil bypass, cabin heat, etc.

Detail log:

Flight model:
-Much more progressive yoke response.
-Takeoffs: More stable behaviour during the runway roll. The tail wheel, if locked, holds the aircraft heading much better. While the tale is on the ground, it requires the use of differential brakes or
differential throttle as described in the real manual and as reported by real Beech pilots.The tail lifts at around 40 kn as real plane and in a much more gentle way. Once tail is up, rudders get much more authority, like real plane.
-Gliding speeds and stall speeds adjusted to real values according to Beech18 Flight Handbook.
-Tuned stall behaviour that is very well described in Beech18 Flight Handbook.
-Many other small details that make each aircraft unique, such as “spongy” controls at low speed or adverse yaw.
-The landing gear behaviour has been completely revised, eliminating the bouncy characteristic.
-Cowl flaps and landing lights have drag. Cowl flaps open reduces IAS by 5 to 8 kn according to pilot reports. Landing lights is much less, probably less than 1 kn but drag is there nevertheless.
-Gliding performance adjusted to match Beech18 Flight Handbook data.

Performance:
-Where default plane engine power is off sometimes by more than 100 HP to real values depending on situation, my engine is always within 10 to 15 HP to real engine data. This is at all manifold and RPMs combinations and all altitudes.
-Landing and takeoff distances also much closer to real performance charts. Tested at different altitudes.
-Engine overboost at low altitudes modeled. Despite this engine being rated for 36.6 manifold pressure, in reality, it is capable of delivering more than 40 at sea level. This is modeled in this mod.
-Propeller friction and thrust adjusted to match real world behaviour.
-Carburetor heat sensitivity and delta temperature adjusted to reflect real plane icing conditions. “Carb Mixt Temp” gauge in Cº (celcius).
-Oil and Cylinder temperatures adjusted.

Engine custom code:
(All new local variables associated with engine damage are not absolute but proportional to its operating regime.)

-Overboosting engine to more than 36.5 rated MP would lead engine wear and eventually engine damage with possible catastrophic event on that engine (kill the engine). It also rapidly increase cylinders temperatures.
-According to real plane, operating the engine at more then 1000RPMs with oil temperatures less than 40º will make the engine run rought, lead to engine wear and increase cylinders temperatures because of less efficient lubrication.
-Operating the engine with oil temperatures above 90º would lead to engine wear and at higher temperatures to engine damage with possible catastrophic event on that engine (kill the engine).
-Engine 1 minute full power and 30 minutes power is also modelled. Operating the engine above these settings for more than expected time will lead to engine wear. The counter would move backwards once we ease engine effort. Like real plane manual, 30 minutes power setting is altitude dependent.
Sea level: 34.5MP / 2200RPM
5000ft: 33.5MP / 2200RPM
-Operating the engine at high cylinders temperatures will lead to engine wear and if too high will give catastrophic or partial engine event.

New modeled systems:
-Oil shutters. In default plane the animation don’t have any real effect associated and has a dummy oil temperature gauge associated. In my mod I removed this dummy gauge animation. Because MSFS SDK don’t have oil cooling flaps independent for each engine, right now both levers open or close these flaps independent of the engine. But it will give proper oil temperatures changes.
-Oil bypass modelled and independent to each engine modeled. (custom code).
-Cabin heat: In real plane, cabin heat is used not only for passengers and pilot confort but also do deice windshield. In my mod, right lever is used to switch on/off wind shield deice. Left lever is used in conjunction with the engine selector switch to resel left/right engine wear and damage.
-Persistent engine wear. There are many factors that contribute to engine wear. This engine wear can be viewed using “Gal.Reserve” and “Gal.toDestination” positions of FF gauge knob to watch engine 1 and 2 wear. This wear is persistent between flights and it can be saved when on ground and batteries are turned off. Not only bad engine use contributes to wear but there is always a constant value that represent natural engine wear independent of how we use the engine. This constant is such that engine wears 10% each 100 hours of combustion time. Linked to this wear is a lack of engine performance that starts at 95% and is obviously proportional to wear percent.
-Propeller deice has real propeller deice associated and not only a dummy animation.
-Engine now requires prime and starter boost to startup.

Electric systems.
-Engine generators are offline bellow 1100RPM according to Beach handbook.
-DME and ADF now use electric energy and being on or of reflects actual power suply.
(Right now I’m starting to model new electric systems so it is at a very early stage of development.)

Known problems:
You can’t operate throttle Levers with mouse

Installation :
Copy or extract the content of the archive to your community folder.

Special note about throttles and 3rd party software like Spad.next
If you use these softwares to config your throttle axis, you have to set them to control localvars:
-THROTTLE1_SET (LVAR)
-THROTTLE2_SET (LVAR)
and their value range from 0 to 1.
In spad.next assign a Custom axis and use a rescale value.
VERY IMPORTANT: There is also a simvar THROTTLE1_SET but from simconnect. Don’t use this. Use (LVAR).


Until there is some kind of manual here are some notes to help you:

Startup:
To startup engines remember that with this mod priming is required. What I do is:

-Proppeler and mixture levers full foward
-Throttle lever one inch foward
-Tank selector left front and right front
-Cowl Flaps OPEN
-Oil bypass - as req. (Pull on cold weather and monitor oil temps after, close once oil temps are at 40º)
-Batteries ON
-Generators OFF
-Magnetos ON
-Starter selector and prime knod towards the engine you want to start.
-clic booster
-clic starter
-2 or 3 pulls on prime knob (on very cold weather 3 or 4 pulls) - This must be performed while the engine is trying to start.

Engine warmup:
There are two very important rules you have to comply during engine warmup:
-Don’t run more than 1000/1100 rpm before oil temps get above 40º (red line on Oil temps gauge). Doing so will increase engine wear and will rise very fast cylinders temps due to low lubrication. With very high cylinders temps you could permanently damage your engine (can always reverse with reset wear procedure). And you’ll see MP needle started swinging around due to low lubrication of engine.
-Engine generators don’t become online with less than 1200 RPM so avoid any unnecessary electric systems until engine is warm.

Takeoff:
At lower speeds rudder authority is practically non-existent. Use diferential toe brakes or engine throttle to steer aircraft during takeoff run. Once the tail is up, around 40kn you can use rudder again.

Overboost:
Although these engines are rated to 36.5 in Hg of Manifold pressure (red line in MP gauge), they can deliever more than that at low altitudes. Never use more than 36.5, meaning at low altitudes you can’t takeoff using full power.
This is very importante because you are not only increasing engine wear and cylinders temps, using very highMP can damage or even ruin your engine in just a few seconds.

Oil, cylinders and carburator temps:
Here are the temperatures in with you should always operate your engines:

Oil temps under 40º was already explained above. Over to 93º adds to engine wear and at very high temperatures could lead to engine catastrophic event.

CHT (cylinder head temperatures) above 260ºC or 500ºF for a long time could lead to engine wear or even engine damage if for very long time. At higher temps could ruin your engine. Remember that at very high temperatures near or above red line) engine damage or worst could ocur in just a few seconds.

Carburator temperatures:

At very low carburator temps, you may experience a sudden loss of power. Usualy this ocus first at just one engine.If for no apparent reason one of the MP or RPM needles suddenly drops this almost means ice on carburator. Use Manifold Heat levers (Small levers between proppeler levers with MH tag) to keep carburator temperatures above 0º (yellow band).



Engine settings:
Even if you use engine settings below red lines there is limited time in which you can use high power settings. Both these settings are modeled in this mod and using them more than restricted time would lead to engine wear and high CHTemps.

-Takeoff power, red line (around 1 minute).
-Climb power, yellow band (around 30 min).Altitude restrictions are also modeled.


Watch and reset engine Wear.
You can see this engine wear usinf FF gauge and its knob in “Gal.Reserve” and “Gal.toDestination” positions. Left and right engine Wear.

To reset engine wear and damage put starter selector in the engine you want to reset and pull left cabin heat lever (IMPORTANT: use alway left cabin heat lever).

Oil Shutters:
Because Msfs SDK doesn’t have Oil cooling flaps separate by engine, both oil shutter levers do the same. Because of this you just have to have one in down position to close shutter but you have to have both in up position to open shutters.
You can use them in ground as in flight to keep your oil temps above 40º

Oil bypass:
In this mod, oil bypass levers have custom code and are separate by engine. Be verycarefull using these. Usually its advised to usethem under cold weather operation and mainly on ground. Because oil is bypassed directly to engine it gets hot very fast and because its warmed by engine, oil temperatur rises until cylinder temps that are always way above normal levels. I usualy use these to speed up oil temps to 40º and them push them in to turn off.


41 Likes

You just made my day! Downloading it now.

Oo nice! Thanks for this!

Can you do whatever you did to make it less bouncy on landing to the other Carenado taildraggers too?

My main issue with the Beech 18 has always been the preposterous trim behavior in flight, does this do anything to address that?

2 Likes

Thanks again for this mod!

yes,that is most need for this plane,

1 Like

thank´s for the Mod!
engine failture work but no reset ?
and yes i read wat to use to reset…
after test to damage engines i need to restart flight.
were nice to have option not to use engine wear and damage?

1 Like

My first flight with this was not successful. I started up, taxied to the runway, lined up and locked the tailwheel. Mixtures and RPM to max and then slowly increased throttle to max.

The plane started rolling, and almost immediately the MP needle started swinging around wildly, but I kept on rolling, and trying to takeoff. Shortly after that engines failed completely.

At this time the MP needles seemed to have given up altogether and remained stuck in the 34” (thereabouts) position, despite the engines being off.

I’m sure it’s all my fault, but found it hard to determine what was going on, or what I might have done wrong

you guys really need to read the notes that accompany this wonderful mod. :rofl:

can he make the plane less bouncy on landing? yes. he did and it’s right in the notes.

why does my plane stop functioning a short time after I go ham and throw the throttles all the way forward? that’s in the notes too. you overstressed the engines and they gave up on you.

the needles bouncing is normal and realistic too for these types of engines as well and it’s a beautiful addition.

edit: engines can be reset by pushing the start selector switch to either the right or left engine and then pulling up on the cabin air lever. I did this for both engines and it works as published in the accompanying notes.

3 Likes

Guys, I understand that without a manual, some systems may be difficult to understand without any additional information and I’m sorry for that.
Some kind of manual is in my to do list for next weeks but for know I’ll update today first post with some aditional information to help you.

4 Likes

You need to let oil temperatures to rise above 40º before using more than 1000 RPM. MP needle started swinging around due to low lubrication of engine. Operating engine at more than 1000 rpm without oil temps not only increase wear but make your cylinders temps to rise very fast. That is why your engine gave up and stuck around 34". You broke something inside due to very high cylinders temps.

4 Likes

Thanks,
ok,get it…
but if you load to runway ready for take off temps should be ok for take off?

that´s i most do,but if you need to wait for temps you spam on runway for to long now

That was my intention. I wrote a template to put oil temps at 50º if a flight on runway was loaded but sometimes it doesn’t work and honestly I really don’t know why. As a rule, always check your oil temps before rpms go above 1100.

3 Likes

yes,my was to cold,and before take off…bäng
so may ad a way to set ready to fly after loading to runway?

if temps ok,i take off and after 34miles all engines show 100% :+1:

that sometimes stuff not work is the Sim i think,get also some planes i need to reload flight to get them work

They were requesting he do the same thing to other taildraggers, not this one. They liked what he did to this one (though, I have to admit, I haven’t experienced the bouncy landings myself).

1 Like

You really need to read the posts that you reply to. :rofl:

I asked if it was possible to use the same technique on other taildraggers by Carenado, since they are all extremely bouncy on landing.

@AlexBap8588 Maybe you can shed some light on what you did to address this issue?

1 Like

well, i was trying to help but this is gettiing a little chippy. there was a post below yours that i was specifically addressing but that’s fine. i messed up by not quoting the person to begin with. my mistake and i will certainly try to make sure not to do that again.

I might be wrong here, but since the D18’s config files are encrypted (Carenado), he likely made the flight model config from scratch and doesn’t actually know precisely how he made the plane less bouncy than the stock addon. That being said, at least part of it likely has to do with the CG. Carenado taildraggers seem (again, I could be wrong) to have a CG that is too far aft. When the wheels touch, the tail immediately drops, AOA increases, lift increases, and you’re airborne again. Combined with an overly springy landing gear, the result is a bounce fest.

This mod looks amazing BTW; can’t wait to try it out. AlexBap8588, looking at the files, it’s obvious you put a lot of work into this.

4 Likes

I would think working from scratch would mean you’re more likely to know how to achieve each aspect of what you want. From the notes, reducing the bounce certainly seems like it was a goal, not an accident.

Yeah but think about it. He creates a flight model config, it doesn’t bounce, but without the stock config file to compare to, he still may be in the dark about what systemically is causing Carenado taildraggers to bounce.

1 Like