I finally took it up for a spin, it was fantastic! Departed Rochester EGTO, flew up the Thames Estuary towards an early sunset, looped back around Canary Wharf and back to Rochester.
Such a stable plane to fly! I had it trimmed so well it held precisely at 1500ft with hands off. I was using an xbox controller so I wasnt expecting great control. I’ll try again later with the hotas, but I already love it.
To the Dev, is there any way you can fix the cockpit textures in the airplanes other than Cannibal Queen? I can post screenshots, but only Cannibal Queen looks the best for me. The rest have issues such as goofy font labeling the controls, Starter mis spelled “Starte” etc. It would be nice if they could all be to the Cannibal Queen standard.
Hi, the cockpit is identical for all variants so it should be the same for all airplanes?
Do you have an old un-updated version installed, maybe? I remember seeing YouTube videos with that comic sans type of font, but I don’t have that on mine.
update your Stearman or delete and reinstall
Strange… I just bought it 2 weeks ago from the market place… I will throw some screenshots up!
after review the placard over the starter button does say ‘starte’ - I thought the last letter was behind the framing but no. While it’s a small thing and makes no difference, other than to the fact that it’s true…it is what it is
OK, I know what’s happened there, one of the liveries must have the older text version in it, which is over-riding the correct one.
I just bought the plane and found that it has two different variants but no description. What are the differences between the two?
Can I mod the files to point to the right one?
I don’t want to stray too far off topic, but I mentioned Vicky Benzing the other day and thought I’d follow up and say I went to Airventure yesterday and had the privilege of watching her fly in person. I hope you guys don’t mind me sharing a few photos, but I imagine most of you who watch this thread will appreciate it. She only has the two ailerons, by the way. Watching her roll it over was fantastic!
The one without the engine cowling is the standard variant with about 225hp built in large numbers as military trainers.
The other one has an engine cowling and a retrofitted larger engine. In real life the 9-cylinder Wasp Junior radial (+/- 450hp) were often used. So this version has significantly more power - which can be gathered from the specs on the plane selection screen.
You backed this up by creating and releasing that livery, too, first… right? Otherwise, how rude <face_with_raised_eyebrow>
I’ll leave the livery making to the experts, but she has one nice looking Stearman for sure!
And the extremity dead zone at 48 % should be applied to both of them if you want a realistic experience?
Only on the standard PT-17, to replicate its slower rate of roll. The bigger-engined version normally has extra ailerons for higher roll rate in real life, so you can leave that one as it is.
I know many 450 Stearmans used engines (P&W Wasp jr.) and props from Beech 18’s. Some pictures that might help is here: Boeing Stearman
Both the Pratt R-985 (that’s the 450hp) and the Lycoming 300HP engine (that’s what’s actually on the Cannibal Queen) have controllable pitch props. The Lyc 300hp has always been my favorite on the plane… certainly not as much power as the 450hp, but super smooth and doesn’t gulp gas quite as voraciously. The 450 just doesn’t have much range.
Roll rate - especially on the stock Continental 220hp versions that presumably don’t have upper ailerons - is still significantly too fast. I actually timed aileron rolls from the same entry speed and compared it to gopro footage I took in a 220hp plane in real life… that’s how I arrived at my extremity dead zone setting - which I incorrectly remembered above as 48%. It’s actually 45%.
Drag - this is something that surprised me, how correct you got the drag. NOTHING falls out of the sky like a Stearman, especially in a full slip. Love it!
Only real critique now is I think an MSFS-ism because I see it on other planes too: when you apply rudder for a slip, the nose yaws initially to what appears a correct position, but then rebounds back towards a coordinated position even if you hold the rudder in. You do get the drag so the slip works fine from a functional perspective, it just doesn’t quite look right. But again, I think this is just a sim-ism. FSX and P3d do the same thing.
